As part of the ease of doing business in the country, the government is committed to introducing a single-window clearance mechanism for investors by mid-April next year. This technology-based platform for both domestic or global investors envisages to give all the information about the land, procedures, requirements and requirements to get that investment proposal cleared. "It will lead to a unified single sheet of information, which other approval ministries will draw. So, the investor doesn't have to do multiple applications in the end. Although, it is not going to replace any important approval because these are all important approvals.  

The Centre has approved the health data management policy pertaining to National Digital Health Mission (NDHM), that sets out the minimum standard for data privacy protection that should be followed across the board in order to ensure compliance with relevant and applicable laws, rules and regulations. The policy will act as a guidance document across the National Digital Health Ecosystem. Data collected across the NDHE will be stored in at the central level, the state or Union Territory level and at the health facility level, by adopting the principle of minimality at each point.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will approach the Union Cabinet for approval of the structure of production-link incentives for telecom gear makers in India. In November, the Cabinet approved an incentive of Rs 12,195 crore (€1.5 bn) to introduce production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for telecom and network products. The Digital Communications Commission on December 1 approved the proposal for the scheme. The product lines that have been specified include core transmission equipment; 4G/5G, next-generation radio access network and wireless equipment; and access and customer premises equipment (CPE)

"With an aim to qualitatively improve the ease of doing business of the IT industry particularly business process outsourcing (BPO) and IT-enabled services, the government has drastically simplified the other service provider (OSP) guidelines of the department of telecom. The new guidelines reduce the compliance burden of the BPO industry. It is clarified that the registration requirement for OSPs has been done away with altogether and the BPO industry engaged in data related work have been taken out of the ambit of OSP regulations.

IESA, India’s leading alliance on energy storage & e-mobility welcomes the Union Cabinet’s approval to introduce the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Enhancing India’s Manufacturing Capabilities and Enhancing Exports – Atmanirbhar Bharat. A total financial outlay of INR 1,45,980 crore (€18 bn) over a period of five years, of which, Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) battery has been approved a financial outlay of INR 18,100 crores (€2.25 bn).

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval to introduce the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme in the following 10 key sectors for Enhancing India’s Manufacturing Capabilities and Enhancing Exports – Atmanirbhar Bharat. The PLI scheme will be implemented by the concerned ministries/departments and will be within the overall financial limits prescribed.

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.

BIS, has brought in some fresh standards for certain home appliances. The BIS in a statement said that these items will have to follow the norms set by the bureau. These include refrigerators with or without low temperature, freezers and household frosts. BIS standards that help to ensure quality certification of goods and incidental matters, have been made applicable to refrigerators and freezers from Jan 2020 and as such the industry players dealing in these goods will have to mandatorily comply with the standards issued by BIS and also obtain requisite BIS registrations.”

DPIIT India which is also responsible for formulation and implementation of IPR policies has recently published its annual report for the year 2019/2020. Chapter 5 of the annual report provides description of recent activities of the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks (CGPDTM) carried out in 2019/2020 including:

• implementation of new amendments in Patent Rules

• number of patents granted under the expedited examination procedure

• number of applications received by CGPDTM in the capacity of ISA and IPEA 

IIT Madras Researchers have booted up ‘MOUSHIK,’ an indigenously-made Microprocessor, that can cater to the rapidly-growing IoT devices, an integral part of Smart Cities of a Digital India.  MOUSHIK is an Indigenous RISC-V Microprocessor and is the third chip of the SHAKTI family, all of which were conceptualized and developed by this Centre and were first time ‘silicon successes.’ The Field Applications of ‘MOUSHIK’ include:

• Smart cards including Credit cards, ID Cards, Debit cards, Travel Cards for Metros and Driving Licenses

• Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs)

• Office Management Systems including Attendance, surveillance cameras and safe locks

• Personalized Health Management Systems

• Consumer Electronics including but not restricted to Washing Machines and Water pump monitoring systems