To keep pace with rapid global manufacturing prowess, India needs to adopt an integrated approach to additive manufacturing in all segments including defence and public sectors, especially within the nation?s small, medium and large-scale industries. The National Strategy on Additive manufacturing (AM) will aim to create a conducive ecosystem for design, development and deployment, and to overcome technical and economic barriers for Global AM leaders to set up their operations with supporting ancillaries in India, facilitating development of the domestic market and enhancement of global market share.

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.  

Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways issued following notifications:

• Changes in the Model Concession Agreement (MCA) for NHs works under Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM) Projects. Read more>>
• Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Maintenance & Repair (M&R) of NHs. Read more>>
• Safety requirements for Construction Equipment’s Vehicles. Read more>>

India's own 5G technology, TSDSI 5Gi, has completed the evaluation phase of ITU's International Mobile Telecommunications 2020 (IMT-2020) vision and now conforms with the stringent performance requirement. This means that India's contribution is now being accepted as the global 5G standard. The Telecom Standards Development Society of India (TSDSI), India’s body for telecom standards, said that global vendors will now need to make handsets and base stations conforming to this standard. The other two technologies that have completed the evaluation phase are 3GPP 5G-SRIT and 3GPP 5G-RIT submitted by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has formed eight working groups to create a roadmap for the deployment of fifth-generation or 5G in different sectors such as agriculture, fintech, transportation and education. The working groups include members from Chinese vendor company Huawei, who will look at healthcare and fintech sectors, according to a notification by the department. “The objective is to conduct a study and to produce a report with actionable points which brings out the use of 5G mobile technology in the respective sectors and how global use cases of 5G mobile technology in these sectors can be utilised and adapted to the Indian requirements," the DoT said in a notification.

Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) has got the green signal to roll out the ambitious Artificial Intelligence (AI) mission, resolving a long-standing issue of which arm of the administration would implement the prestigious project. The AI Mission is a five-year programme announced in the Budget two years ago. For the last couple of years, India has been harbouring big ambitions to develop its own AI roadmap and strategy to counter the lead that China already has in this area.

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.

Telecom equipment from China may face fresh curbs after the Cabinet cleared a proposal to secure telecom infrastructure by designating a “trusted source” for the purchase of equipment by service providers. IT Minister said a National Security Directive on Telecommunication Sector has been framed keeping in mind the national security. Under the provisions of this directive, the government will declare a list of trusted sources and trusted products for installation in the country’s telecom network. The methodology to designate trusted products will be devised by the designated authority, the National Cyber Security Coordinator.

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)

The number of internet subscribers in India increased to over 743 million at the end of March 2020, clocking a growth rate of 3.4 per cent on a sequential quarter basis, showed TRAI data on sector’s quarterly performance