1. Scientists have identified new shape called scutoid while studying epithelial cells. Scutoid shape has five sides on one end and six on the other and a triangular surface on one of its longer edges and it is completely new to geometry and resembles beetle’s scutellum (shield-like structure) from top-down view. Epithelial tissue is one of four kinds of tissue that forms human bodym which acts as safety shield of body that make up cell walls lining our blood vessels and organs.
2. e-Aksharayan - a desktop software to enable editing of text printed on scanned documents has launched by the Union IT ministry on July 31, 2018. It will convert scanned printed Indian language documents into a fully editable text format in Unicode encoding. The software can be downloaded for free from its website. The software supports editing in seven Indian languages - Hindi, Bangla, Malayalam, Gurmukhi, Tamil, Kannada and Assamese.
1. The proposal for acquisition of 8 Fast Patrol Vessels (FPVs) for Indian Coast Guard at an approximate cost of Rs 800 crore has approved by Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) chaired by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. These vessels will be procured under ‘Buy (lndian-lDDM)’ category. They will be indigenously designed and manufactured. Their induction will strengthen maritime security by undertaking day and night patrolling and policing of Maritime Zones of India.
2. The implementation of Strategic Partnership guidelines has approved by Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) chaired by Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. SP model aims to revitalise defence industrial ecosystem and progressively build indigenous capabilities in private sector to design, develop and manufacture complex weapon system for future needs of armed forces. It is considered as major step towards boosting private sector participation in domestic defence manufacturing. The SP model has four segments — submarines, single engine fighter aircraft, helicopters and armoured carriers/main battle tanks which will be specifically opened up for the private sector. The policy had come into effect in May 2017 but progress was delayed due to lack of specific guidelines.