Defending the government proposal to increase duty on various items, Finance Minister said it was not done with a sense of protectionism but to promote Make in India. “If we have raised duty it isn’t done with the sense of protectionism. If there are medical devices being made in India, we want to give encouragement under ‘Make in India’, at least for those we don’t want imports flooding the market,” Sitharaman said in her post-Budget meeting. 

Defending the government proposal to increase duty on various items, Finance Minister said it was not done with a sense of protectionism but to promote Make in India. “If we have raised duty it isn’t done with the sense of protectionism. If there are medical devices being made in India, we want to give encouragement under ‘Make in India’, at least for those we don’t want imports flooding the market,”.

Make in India is set to get a major boost with the introduction of a special fund. During the announcement of Budget 2020, the government announced new measures to strengthen local manufacturing of mobile devices and components. Now, the government is going a step further to promote local manufacturing of mobile devices. It is also focusing on local manufacture of electronic components and semiconductor packaging. The scheme is said to help job creation in the country.

The government is working on a new National Science, Technology and Innovation Policy, to replace the existing policy framed in 2013, which will be forward-looking and have both a vision document as well as an action plan on the fundamental research required in crucial areas such as space, health, atomic physics and bio-technology. The Department of Science & Technology is steering the exercise and will soon initiate stakeholder interaction on what the new policy should include, said Principal Scientific Adviser to the Prime Minister K Vijay Raghavan in an interaction with journalists. 

With an imperative to empower the youngest minds of the country with the latest technologies, NITI Aayog, Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) in collaboration with the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) today launched an AI based Module rolled out for students in Indian schools. The AI-Base Module has been introduced with an objective for students to leverage the full potential of AIM’s Atal Tinkering Lab (ATL) and further empowers them to innovate and create valuable solutions benefiting societies at large. The module contains activities, videos and experiments that enable students to work through and learn the various concepts of AI.

The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) under the aegies of the power ministry today released the State Energy Efficiency Index 2019, a portal that will track the progress of energy efficiency initiatives in all the states and union territories based on 97 indicators. The Index launched by power minister will help states contribute towards national goals on energy security and climate action by helping drive energy efficiency policies and program implementation at the state and local level, according to a statement.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a loan of $250 million as part of an assistance package to Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a public sector energy service company, to expand energy efficiency investments in India. India has seen strong economic expansion over the last decade and a half, a period in which carbon dioxide emissions from fuel combustion have outpaced economic growth, reaching more than 2 billion tons in 2016, compared to 890,000 tons in 2000. The country is still largely dependent on fossil fuels, particularly coal power.

• Germany and India established the Working Group in 2013 to strengthen their economic and technical cooperation, reduce technical barriers to trade, and increase product safety. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs & Energy (BMWi) and the Indian Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution in collaboration with other Ministries are working closely together on standardisation, accreditation, conformity assessment, metrology, product safety & market surveillance. Read more
• Cabinet approves Updating European Union Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) MoU signed between SEBI and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), United Kingdom. Read More

India and EFTA countries recently interacted on crucial issues of IPR, rule of origin, services. India is making efforts to speed up free trade negotiations with the EFTA countries in parallel with its discussions with the EU on a similar pact. India’s focus on putting the stalled free trade talks, officially called the broad-based trade and investment agreement (BTIA), with both the EFTA and the EU back on track assumes greater importance given the fact that the country walked out of the ASEAN-led Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) involving 16 countries in November 2019.

India-European Union (EU) Flagship Call on Integrated Local Energy Systems was announced at India Smart Utility Week 2020. This partnership between Indian and the EU will help in Clean Energy and Climate, this partnership will foresee strengthened cooperation in energy research and innovation, mainly in renewable energy and its integration in the energy system. The collaboration can make energy supply cleaner, more efficient and affordable to all. This Indo-EU flagship call is fully in line with both the European Union’s and India’s involvement in Mission Innovation (MI).