Chief Justice of India has advocated for more SAT benches in view of rapid growth in market and increased volume of financial transactions.

About SAT

• Statutory body under SEBI Act, 1992.
• Location: Only one bench in Mumbai.
• Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Finance.
• Jurisdiction: Whole of India
• Composition: Presiding Officer, and Judicial Member and Technical Member
• Tenure: Five years and eligible for reappointment for maximum five years (upto age of seventy years).
• Functions: Hears and disposes of appeals against orders passed by 
  • SEBI or an adjudicating officer under SEBI Act; Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India; Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority.

Union Minister of State for Science and Technology unveiled the results of 15th round of AISRF.

About AISRF

• Established in 2006, it is a platform for bilateral collaboration in science, jointly managed and funded by India and Australia.
• Objectives: 
  • Support Australia-India research collaboration in advanced Science and Technology (S&T) to strengthen strategic alliances and foster innovation.
  • Facilitate India’s and Australia’s access to global S&T system.
• It is funding projects across various disciplines, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, biotechnology, urban mining and electronic waste recycling.

SEBI has amended regulations to allow equity-oriented Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and Index Funds to invest more in the listed securities of their sponsors’ group companies.

About ETFs

• ETFs are marketable security that track an index, a commodity, bonds, or a basket of assets like an Index Fund.
  • Index fund is a fund which tracks the performance of an underlying index, like the Nifty or the Sensex.
• It trades like a common stock on a stock exchange and its trading value is based on net asset value of the underlying stocks that an ETF represents.

Recent volatility in Stablecoin market, like the collapse of TerraUSD, has raised concerns about the stability and reliability of these digital assets.

About Stablecoin

• It is a type of cryptocurrency whose value is pegged to another asset, such as a fiat currency or commodity such as gold, to maintain a stable price.
• It provides an alternative to the high volatility of popular cryptocurrencies, making them potentially more suitable for common transactions.

India is set to carry out trials for US-made Stryker Infantry Combat Vehicles (ICVs) in Ladakh & deserts.

About Stryker Combat Vehicles

• It is a family of eight-wheel-drive combat armoured ICV.
• It has been built by General Dynamics Land Systems Division in the United States. 
• It is a V-hull armoured infantry vehicle equipped with a cannon and a mobile gun.
• India and the US are also considering joint production of latest generation of Stryker as part of defence-industrial cooperation roadmap.

Ministry of Defence (MoD) sanctioned over Rs 300 crore through its TDF to enhance capabilities in cutting-edge technology and promote 'Aatmanirbharta' in defence.

About TDF

• Flagship programme of MoD executed by DRDO under ‘Make in India’ initiative. 
• Objectives: 
  • Provide Grant in Aid to Indian industries, including MSMEs and Start-ups, academic and scientific institutions for development of Defence and dual use technologies.
  • Focus on Research, Design & Development of Niche technologies. 
• Initial Corpus: Rs. 100 crore.
• MoD approved Fund Enhancement under TDF Scheme from Rs. 10 crore to Rs. 50 crore per project.

Japan has issued new yen banknotes packed with 3D hologram technology to fight counterfeiting.

• Holograms' intricate patterns and properties make them difficult to duplicate completely, which deters counterfeiters.
• Also easily recognized by trained individuals, facilitating quick identification of genuine products.

About Hologram Technology

• It is a photographic pattern that gives a three-dimensional image when illuminated by coherent light.
• Holograms show different images and colors depending on the angle at which they are viewed.
• Formation of Holograph involves principles of interference and diffraction.
• Applications: Medical imaging, weather forecasting, security holograms on credit cards etc.

Global INDIAai Summit 2024 summit hosted by India (lead chair of GPAI in 2024) was recently concluded.

Key Highlights and Outcomes of the Summit

• India emphasized on democratizing AI and making it accessible to all.
• A new integrated partnership on AI announced by OECD - OCDE and GPAI (Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence).
• GPAI members came to a consensus about the future vision of GPAI, giving recognition to the New Delhi 2023 GPAI Ministerial Declaration.