CSIR-CMERI has handed over the “CSIR-CMERI developed Solar DC Cooking System” to Asansol Braille Academy in West Bengal on September 22, 2021.
Solar DC cooking System will help in curbing the Carbon Dioxide emissions, because even LPG usage emits Carbon Dioxide. Widespread usage of the System will also play a critical role in achieving the target of 200 GW of Solar energy.
The Technology after reaching to the market will cost around Rs 65,000 to Rs 70,000.
CSIR CMERI is a public engineering research and development institution located in Durgapur, West Bengal. It is a constituent laboratory of Indian Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). It was founded in February 1958, to develop national mechanical engineering technology, in a bid to help Indian industries.
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has named a Lunar crater at the south pole of the moon after the Arctic explorer Matthew Henson.
Artemis Programme was launched by NASA which aims to land the next slate of lunar explorers on the Henson Crater. They will be selected from NASA’s increasingly diverse astronaut pool. Henson Crater is located between Sverdrup and de Gerlache craters at the south pole of the Moon. This program provides a cornerstone to study planetary processes as well as to create the infrastructure to advance the human exploration at the Moon and on Mars.
Henson was an experienced explorer and skilled carpenter & craftsman. He stood at the front lines of almost a dozen Arctic expeditions that were organized by Robert Peary over the period of 18 years, including the one that reached the North Pole. Final push of that expedition was made by Henson. He was born in Maryland in 1866.
IAU is a non-governmental organisation set up with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects such as promoting astronomical research, outreach, education, and development. IAU was founded in 1919 with its headquarter in in Paris, France.
Leh is all set to host the first edition of the Himalayan Film Festival, which is starting from September 24, 2021.
The five-day festival is being organised with the aim of creating an interactive and exposure platform in order to promote aspiring local filmmakers as well as to showcase Ladakh as an attractive film destination.
This festival is being organised by Leh in association with the Directorate of Film Festivals under Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
The film festival will be held at the Sindhu Sanskriti Kendra in Leh.
Himalayan region of India attracts filmmakers from worldwide due to its unique scenic endowment. Unique geography of this region is documented along with its indigenous people, occupations and traditional skills. Film festival thus presents an opportunity for local filmmakers in order to narrate their stories to a wider audience. Himalayan Film festival will also envision institutionalising of a Himalayan film fraternity, which will be having productive repercussions for filmmaking in the Himalayan region of India.
India and United Arab Emirates (UAE) have launched the negotiations for a mutually beneficial comprehensive economic partnership agreement on September 22, 2021.
India and the UAE are each other’s largest trading partners. CEPA will help in enhancing the bilateral trade and investment flows. This agreement will also assist in post-Covid economic recovery and future economic growth of both the countries. It will create new job opportunities, boost living standards, and improve general welfare of the people of both the countries.
The UAE is India’s third-largest trading partner, having a bilateral trade of $59 billion in Financial Year 2020. UAE is also the second-largest export destination of India, after the US. Its exports are valued at around $29 billion in FY20. India is also the second-largest trading partner of UAE, as of 2019 with bilateral non-oil trade is valued at $41 billion. UAE is also the eighth-largest investor in India, that invested $11 billion in between April 2000 to March 2021. Investment by Indian companies in the UAE is valued at around $85 billion.
Major exports to the UAE comprise of stones, petroleum products, precious metals, gems and jewellery, minerals, food items like sugar, cereals, fruits & vegetables, meat, tea, meat & seafood, textiles, chemicals and engineering & machinery products. India imports crude petroleum and petroleum products, precious metals, minerals, stones, gems & jewellery, chemicals & wood and wood products from UAE.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently published the Assessment Report from Working Group I titled “Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis”. The report call for is a clear climate action.
Sea level rises due to the expansion of warm ocean waters, melting of ice sheets in Greenland & Antarctica and melting of glaciers on land.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has revised its global air quality guidelines and recommended more stringent standards for key pollutants.
At the current relaxed standards, most of the Indian cities fail to meet these levels. Annual PM 2.5 average in India is at 40 micro-g/m3 against the annual limit of 10 micro-g/m3 (2005) by WHO. As a result, India needs to revise its air quality standards to make them more stringent.
Under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), India is committed to minimise 20-30 per cent of air pollution in cities. To check the stubble-burning, Bio-decomposer will be used on 6 lakh acres land in UP, 1 lakh acres land in Haryana and 7,413 acres land in Punjab. Use of bio-decomposers is part of the action plan of preventing and controlling stubble burning in Delhi-NCR region.
NCAP was launched in January 2019 by the MoEFCC. It is the first-ever effort in India to frame a national framework for the management of air quality with a time-bound reduction target. This action plan seeks to reduce the concentration of coarse and fine particles by at least 20% in the next five years (base year 2017). This plan comprises of 102 non-attainment cities in 23 states and Union territories. These cities were identified by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) by analysing their ambient air quality data between 2011 and 2015.
The Supreme Court has rejected a plea by Central Government to postpone the entry of women into National Defence Academy (NDA) till May 2022.
The Centre had told the supreme court that women cadets’ entry into the NDA is possible in the year 2021 because several facilities had to be developed for them before they are allowed into the academy.
Central government informed the apex court that, Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) will release notification for women to participate in the NDA exam in May 2022. It also highlighted the preparations to issue a notice, allowing women candidates to apply for the exams for their recruitment in the Army, Navy and Airforce, are underway and it will be released in May 2021. Centre has also formed a committee to prepare a training curriculum for female candidates because there is a need to prepare separate aspects of training as well as curriculum for women candidates.
Supreme Court allowed the women to appear for National Defence Academy (NDA) exam on August 18, 2021 following a writ petition filed by Kush Kalra. She filed petition, seeking permission for women to sit in the NDA entrance exam while highlighting the violation of Articles 14, 15, 16 and 19 of the Constitution.
As per Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) study, India is all set and is on the right track to become industrial trans fat-free by 2022.
To test compliance by the industry, the FSSAI collected 6,245 samples of processed foods, in association with the Quality Council of India. Samples were collected from six predefined categories in 419 cities. As per survey,
According to WHO, Increased intake of trans fat that is, more than 1% of total energy intake, increases the risk of coronary heart disease mortality.
Trans fat intake is associated with 5,00,000 premature deaths worldwide, due to coronary heart disease each year.
Trans fat is considered as the worst type of fat. Unlike other dietary fats, trans fat or trans-fatty acids increases bad cholesterol and lowers the good cholesterol. A diet comprising of trans fat increases the risk of heart disease.
According to India’s federal cyber security agency, CERT-In, a banking Trojan malware has been detected in Indian cyberspace. This trojan is lurking to attack bank customers using Android phones.
In the first instance, user receives an SMS comprising of a link to a phishing website which is similar to the website of Income Tax Department. On the website, users are asked to enter personal information, download and install the malicious APK file to complete the required verification. If user does not enter any information on the website, same screen with the form is displayed in Android application where users are asked to fill in to proceed.
Data that are required to be filled includes full name, address, date of birth, mobile number, email address, PAN, Aadhaar number and financial details like account number, CIF number, IFS code, debit card number, expiry date, CVV and PIN.
Once the details are entered by the user, application states that there is a refund amount that could be transferred to the bank account of user. When the user enters amount and clicks transfer, application shows an error and demonstrates a fake update screen. When the screen for installing update is shown, Trojan sends user’s details to the attacker’s machine, in the backend.
According to a study, published in the journal BMJ Open, out of 150 patients hospitalised for Covid in the United States in the initial phase of the pandemic, 73 per cent had delirium.
According to the study, patients with delirium tended to be sicker, with other comorbidities like hypertension and diabetes. They appeared to have more severe Covid-related illness.
Delirium is a serious disturbance in mental state in which a person is confused, agitated and unable to think clearly. Start of delirium is usually rapid that is within hours or a few days. It can often be traced to one or more contributing factors like a severe or chronic illness; changes in metabolic balance like low sodium; infection, medication, surgery, alcohol or drug intoxication or withdrawal.
Symptoms of delirium and dementia can be similar. Signs and symptoms of delirium usually starts over a few hours or a few days. Symptoms often fluctuate throughout the day. There may be periods of no symptoms as well. Symptoms gets worse during the night. Some of the major signs and symptoms include:
Possible causes if Delirium include:
Newly-appointed Foreign Minister of Nepal, Narayan Khadka, seeks to maintain friendly ties with India as well as China.
He will work towards maintaining friendly and balanced relations with both the countries and forge national consensus with political parties on the foreign relations matters.
Narayan Khadka, aged 72, was sworn in as the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Nepal on September 22, 2021. His oath of office and secrecy was administered by President Bidya Devi Bhandari in a ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. He is the fifth minister to be appointed in the Deuba government, formed on July 13. There are now seven ministers in the government.
He argued that, foreign policy of a country is not specific to any political party. Thus, he would work towards forging national consensus with other political parties on foreign relations. According to him, issue of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact Agreement would also be resolved,
MCC compact agreement was put forward by United States. Under the US $500 million MCC programme, US government would provide grant assistance that would be utilised to strengthen Nepal’s transmission line in order to facilitate the export of hydro-electricity to India in near future. It also seeks to improve the road networks in Nepal.
Both the countries initiated their relationship in the aftermath of 1950 Indo-Nepal Treaty of Peace and Friendship. India is the largest trade partner and largest source of foreign investments in Nepal. India also provides transit for third country trade of Nepal. Indian are engaged in manufacturing, services power sector and tourism industries in Nepal.
Sri Lanka is seeking for a $100 million loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in order to procure 14 million doses of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine.
Sri Lanka has vaccinated over 50 per cent of the 21 million population, as of now. Government has targeted to vaccinate over 75 per cent of the population within next few months. According to the public health inspectors, those below the age of 30 are reluctant to get vaccinated. Only about 35 per cent of them had received the vaccine as of September 20.
IMF is an international financial institution. Its headquarter is in Washington, D.C. It comprises of 190 countries that seeks to “work together in order to foster global monetary cooperation, facilitate international trade, secure financial stability, promote high employment & sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty across the world. It was established in 1944 and came into formal existence in 1945. IMF plays a key role in managing the balance of payments difficulties as well as international financial crises.
It is an mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine developed by BioNTech in collaboration with American company Pfizer.