India has notified the World Trade Organization its intention to make it mandatory for telecom products sold, imported or used in the country, including feedback device, transmission terminal equipment and broadband equipment, to be tested and certified by the Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC) under the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

In three separate submissions made to the WTO Committee on Technical Barrier to Trade on the three identified items, India sought comments from WTO members on the mandatory certification regime within 30 days.

A framework that would help cities follow a climate-sensitive approach in urban planning and development was launched. The objective of the Climate Smart Cities Assessment Framework (CSCAF) 2.0 is to provide a roadmap for cities for combating climate change while planning and implementing their actions, including investments. The framework has 28 indicators across energy and green buildings, urban planning, green cover and biodiversity, mobility and air quality, water management and waste management.

India Cycles4Change Challenge is an initiative of the Smart Cities Mission to support Indian cities to quickly implement cycling-friendly initiatives in response to the pandemic.  The housing and urban affairs ministry has launched the India Cycles4Change Challenge to support smart cities to implement cycling-friendly projects in response to the COVID-19. In the first phase, 10 cities will be selected and will receive technical support from the Centre and also a reward of Rs 1 crore (10 Million) each.

The five-year project will design a tailor-made transport emissions assessment framework for India. The NITI Aayog and the International Transport Forum (ITF) of Organization for Economic Co-operation & Development (OECD), have jointly launched a project aimed at decarbonizing India’s transport sector. The program, Decarbonizing Transport in Emerging Economies (DTEE), is a collaboration between the ITF and the Wuppertal Institute, supported by the International Climate Initiative of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety.

As a one stop solution for Indian automobile industry, portal a step towards the vision of ‘AatmaNirbhar’ Bharat. Department of Heavy Industry (DHI), Govt of India, has embarked on a mission to promote innovation, R&D and product development in India for various sectors. A step towards this mission is the creation of technology platform e-portals where such technology development, information exchange and innovation can be facilitated. There are five portals being developed for specific sectors by different organizations viz, BHEL for power sector equipment, HMT for machine tools, CMFTI for manufacturing technology, ICAT and ARAI for automotive sector.