• Digital India Mobile Van was launched by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. The main objective of this mobile van is to spread awareness about the Digital India initiative and to spread information about the G20 Digital Economy Working Group. Lucknow was the first stop of the mobile van where the first meeting of the G20 DEWG was held.

India Mobile Van

• The van will provide information on Digital India initiatives such as Aarogya Setu, India Stack Global, e-Rupee, PMJDY, Aadhaar, DigiLocker, e-Way Bill, Umang, e-Aushadhi, Co-Win etc.

• It will feature all the digital infrastructure and digital goods India has brought so far.

• During its journey, the mobile van initiative will also teach people about using technologies and digital products.

• Objective

• To inform people about digital services in the country.

• To give them a chance to try out the latest technologies in the country.

• Communicating about the G20.

• The Madrid Book Fair is being held in Spain since 1993. Over 350 stalls have been set up by publishers from across the globe. Book signing events are also held during the fair. India will be the theme country for the 2025 Madrid International Book Fair. Spain was the theme country for the International Book Fair to be held in Kolkata in January 2023.

Madrid book fair

• This is an annual event. E-books are not sold in this fair. Amazon and other e-commerce giants do not have scope in this fair. However, Amazon is planning to set up a stall at the fair.

• Most of the books sold at the fair are Spanish-speaking people. However, it does promote guest country books. In 2025, Indian books will be promoted in the fair.

• The former British colonies are deciding on their constitutional relationship with Britain. For example, India changed the name of Rajpath to Duty Path. Similarly, Australia is going to remove the face of the British monarch from its currency bills. Changes are being made to Australia's five dollar bill. The five dollar bill is the last note to bear the face of the British monarch.

• The Central Bank of Australia recently announced that it is removing the British monarch's face from its five dollar bill. His face was on Australian five-dollar notes, until Queen Elizabeth's passing. After his death in 2022, the Australian government was supposed to reprint notes with King Charles III on them. Instead, it has decided to completely remove the British monarch's face from the bills.

• Australia is an independent country. But to this day, the head of state of Australia is the British monarch. Currently, King Charles III is the head of state of Australia. However, his role is symbolic.

• FAME stands for Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles. It was launched in 2015 to increase the sales of electric vehicles in the country. This scheme was launched under the National Electric Mobility Mission. During the Union Budget 2023, the Government of India allocated Rs 5,172 crore for the financial year 2024. This is 78% more than the 2022 budget.

Allotment History

• In 2019, Rs 10000 crore was allocated to take this scheme forward in a phased manner.

• In the financial year 2020, the allocation was increased to Rs 500 crore.

• In 2021, Rs 318 crore has been allocated.

• In 2022, it was further increased to 500 crores.

• In 2023, the Government of India allocated Rs 2,897 crore.

• The Broadcasting Infrastructure and Network Development Scheme was recently launched to provide financial assistance to Prasar Bharati, the public broadcaster of India. Its objective is to boost the infrastructure of public sector broadcasters like Doordarshan, All India Radio etc. in the country.

• This scheme will increase the channels in All India Radio. This will ensure that AIR reaches 80% of India's population.

• 80 lakh free set-top boxes of Doordarshan will be distributed. Here the focus is on border areas, left wing extremism areas and tribal areas.

• The outlay of the scheme is Rs 2,500 crore.

• The focus will be on developing high quality content.

• DTH capacity will be increased; The number of channels being broadcast will be increased.

• OB van will be procured. OB stands for Outside Broadcasting. This van has all the facilities that you would find in a broadcasting station like vision controls, cameras, antennas etc.