Flying base stations are a feature that enhances wireless capacity and coverage footprint on the ground with ultra-dense traffic demands, to meet the requirements of 5G and B5G or beyond 5G cellular communications.  Researchers from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur have developed a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) assisted communication infrastructure for 5G that can serve as an air-borne mobile telecom tower during emergency situations. The system includes an Android-based application fitted to a fleet of drones which are programmed to create emergency communication networks by extending cellular network coverage from the closest available mobile tow.

Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, launched the “India Climate Change Knowledge Portal”. The Portal will be a “single point Information resource” which provides information on the different climate initiatives taken by various Line Ministries enabling users to access updated status on these initiatives. The portal captures sector-wise adaptation and mitigation actions that are being taken by the various line Ministries in one place including updated information on their implementation. The knowledge portal will help in disseminating knowledge among citizens about all the major steps Government is taking at both national and international levels to address climate change issues. 

In another move that re-affirms India’s seriousness to ‘walk the talk’ on climate change, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has constituted a high-level inter-ministerial Apex Committee for Implementation of Paris Agreement (AIPA) under the chairmanship of Secretary, MoEFCC. The purpose of AIPA is to generate a coordinated response on climate change matters that ensures India is on track towards meeting its obligations under the Paris Agreement including its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC). Another key function of AIPA would be to operate as a National Authority to regulate carbon markets in India under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.

India and Finland signed MOU for developing cooperation  in the field of Environment protection and biodiversity conservation. The MoU is a platform to further advance Indian and Finnish partnership and support, exchange best practices in areas like prevention of Air and water pollution; Waste management; Promotion of circular economy, low-carbon solutions and sustainable management of natural resources including forests; Climate change; Conservation of Marine and Coastal Resources; etc. The MoU will strengthen technological, scientific and management capabilities and develop bilateral cooperation in the field of environmental protection & biodiversity conservation.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Invest India have launched the SDG Investor Map for India, laying out 18 Investment Opportunities Areas (IOAs) in six critical SDG enabling sectors, that can help India push the needle forward on Sustainable Development.

India is one of the top three choices for overseas investments in the next two-three years, said a survey conducted by Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and EY to assess India’s competitiveness in terms of certain parameters and give constructive suggestions to policymakers. The survey said that new investments will be driven by capacity expansion, digital transformation, research and development and greenfield investments. According to the respondents, market potential, skilled workforce and political stability are the top reasons to make India their favoured destination.

BIS is in the process of setting standards for services provided by e-commerce companies and aggregators like Flipkart, Ola, AirBnB among others. BIS, has been in discussion with various stakeholders to lay out standards for several issues ranging from standardisation of invoices and websites. It also plans to come out with certification for secure websites in order to curb the menace of fly by night operators in the digital commerce industry. The certification will help consumers in identifying the reliable ones," said an official who did not want to be identified.

Govt., in exercise of the powers conferred upon it under Section 159 of the Patents Act, 1970 has passed the Patents (Amendment) Rules of 2020 (“The Rules”) on October 19, 2020. The Rules modify Form 27 of the Act through which statements regarding the working of patented invention on a commercial scale in India have to be filed by Patentees or Licensees. According to the amendment to Rule 131(2), the statement regarding the workings of the Patent have to be filed once in every financial year, within six months from the expiry of such financial year, due to which the due date for filing the same would be September 31st of every financial year.

The International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIITH) has set up a Smart City Research Center (SCRC) with support from MEITY (Government of India), Smart City Mission and Government of Telangana. As a part of it, Living Lab plans to create an urban area enhancing three value domains: social, economic, and environmental. It includes Living Lab, a test-bed to showcase new ideas and approaches in IoT.  IIITH existing centres will be lending their expertise to the Smart City Research Centre in various domains covering signal processing, OneM2M server, design of smart and automated buildings, optics and photonics, flexible electronics, embedded systems and IoT, radio frequency integrated circuit design and low-power VLSI design, research and development in fundamental aspects of computing systems etc.

As India strives to deliver over 100 smart cities across the country, standards-based deployment would help promote interoperability, security and multi-vendor deployments. International standards initiative for M2M and IoT technologies oneM2M has announced that its standard has been adopted at national level in India to develop the 100 smart cities plan of the country. oneM2M standard has been transposed in India by TSDSI.