About:

• The aim of the Agreement is to drive ambition, leadership and knowledge on green energy transitions based on renewable energy in India. The Agreement will help India’s energy transition efforts and will also help the world in combating climate change.
• The areas of cooperation as envisaged in the Strategic Partnership Agreement will support India in achieving its ambitious target of 500 GW of installed non-fossil fuel electricity capacity by 2030.
• The salient features of the Agreement include enhanced cooperation in the following areas:
  • Facilitating knowledge sharing from India on scaling-up renewable energy and clean energy technologies
  • Supporting India’s efforts on long term energy planning
  • Collaborating to strengthen the innovation climate in India
  • Moving towards cost-effective decarbonisation through catalysing development and deployment of green hydrogen.
• Thus, the Strategic Partnership Agreement will help India’s energy transition efforts and will also help the world in combating climate change. 

About:

• The India Forum for Nature-based Solutions aims to create a collective of NbS entrepreneurs, government entities and like-minded organisations, to help scale urban nature-based solutions by
  • Defining a shared language and by communicating benefits that inform actions at the local level including scaling up of existing NbS interventions.
  • Driving investment and strengthening delivery mechanisms through multi-stakeholder coordination.
  • Mainstreaming urban ecosystem-based services and nature-based solutions in India through informing policy, plans and project interventions
• ‘India Forum for Nature-based Solutions’ is led by the National Institute of Urban Affairs’ Climate Centre for Cities (NIUA C-Cube) and anchored by World Resources Institute India (WRI Indija) under the Cities4Forests initiative.
• It is supported by Caterpillar Foundation, Department of Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA), Govt. of United Kingdom and Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative (NICFI). 

About:

• This will ensure marketing freedom for all Exploration and Production (E&P) operators.
• The condition in the Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) to sell crude oil to Government or its Nominee or Government Companies shall accordingly be waived off. All E&P companies will now be free to sell crude oil from their fields in domestic market.
• Government revenues like Royalty, cess, etc. will continue to be calculated on uniform basis across all Contracts. As earlier, exports will not be permissible.
• This decision will further spur economic activities, incentivize making investments in upstream oil and gas sector and builds on a series of targeted transformative reforms rolled out since 2014.

About:

• The suitability of coal mine pit lakes for inclusion in Ramsar List was discussed with MoEFCC, the nodal Ministry for identification of wet lands for placing on the Ramsar List.
• As per the guidance of MoEFCC, CIL has identified five pit lakes in the States of West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh for consideration of including in Ramsar list. CIL is in process of preparing Ramsar Information Sheet (RIS).
• These mine pit water bodies are regularly visited by different species of birds and also has avifauna population. The environment around these water bodies has ameliorated due to the efforts of CIL through large scale plantation and other soil moisture conservation activities. 

About:

• This project proposes computerization of about 63,000 functional PACS over a period of 5 years with a total budget outlay of Rs. 2516 crore with Government of India share of Rs. 1528 crore.
• The Primary Agricultural Cooperative credit societies (PACS) constitute the lowest tier of the three-tier Short-term cooperative credit (STCC) in the country comprising of approx.13 Cr. farmers as its members, which is crucial for the development of the rural economy.
• PACS account for 41 % (3.01 Cr. farmers) of the KCC loans given by all entities in the Country and 95 % of these KCC loans (2.95 Cr. farmers) through PACS are to the Small and Marginal farmers.
• The other two tiers viz. State Cooperative Banks (StCBs) and District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs) have already been automated by the NABARD and brought on Common Banking Software (CBS). 

About:

• Most vaccines contain a weakened or dead bacteria or virus. However, scientists have developed a new type of vaccine that uses a molecule called messenger RNA (mRNA) rather than part of an actual bacteria or virus.
• Messenger RNA is a type of RNA that is necessary for protein production.
• In cells, mRNA uses the information in genes to create a blueprint for making proteins. Once cells finish making a protein, they quickly break down the mRNA. mRNA from vaccines does not enter the nucleus and does not alter DNA.
• mRNA vaccines work by introducing a piece of mRNA that corresponds to a viral protein, usually a small piece of a protein found on the virus’s outer membrane. (Individuals who get an mRNA vaccine are not exposed to the virus, nor can they become infected by the vaccine.)
• Using this mRNA blueprint, cells produce the viral protein. As part of a normal immune response, the immune system recognizes that the protein is foreign and produces specialized proteins called antibodies. 

About:

• Aurangabad was founded in 1610 by Malik Ambar, the Siddi general of the Nizamshahi dynasty of Ahmadnagar. The city was named Khirki or Khadki at the time, and its name was changed to Fatehpur by Malik Ambar’s son Fateh Khan following Malik Ambar’s death in 1626.
• In 1653, the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb invaded the Deccan and set up his capital in the city, which he renamed Aurangabad. The city has borne the association of its name with Aurangzeb ever since.
• Chhattrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, the son and successor of Chhattrapati Shivaji Maharaj, was tortured and killed in brutal fashion on Aurangzeb’s orders in 1689. 

About:

• The satellite, launched on Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket from the Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, is heading toward an orbit intended in the future for Gateway, a Moon-orbiting outpost that is part of NASA’s Artemis program.
• As a pathfinder for Gateway, CAPSTONE aims to help reduce risk for future spacecraft by validating innovative navigation technologies, and by verifying the dynamics of the halo-shaped orbit.
• The orbit is known as a near-rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO). It is significantly elongated, and is located at a precise balance point in the gravities of Earth and the Moon. This offers stability for long-term missions like Gateway, NASA said on its website. 

About:

• The benefits of more motorcyclists wearing helmets would be the biggest in China, where 13,703 lives could be saved every year, followed by Brazil (5,802 lives), and India (5,683 lives), says the study published in The Lancet.
• Analysis of data from 74 studies in 185 countries estimates that targeting four key risk factors for road injuries and deaths (speeding, drink driving, and non-use of crash helmets and seat belts) could prevent between 25% and 40% of all fatal road injuries worldwide every year.
• The Lancet Series on road safety, published ahead of the first ever UN High-Level Meeting on Road Safety, calls for increased political and financial commitments, and for road safety to be included in mainstream development policies.
• It argues that this is essential to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including the target to halve road traffic crash fatalities and injuries by 2030.
• Deaths on roads are a major problem in India. Each year road accidents kill about 150,000 people and injure another 450,000 in the country.
• The World Bank noted in a report this month that with only 1 per cent of the world’s vehicles, India accounts for almost 10 per cent of all crash related deaths. 

About:

• PADMA is an automated platform leveraging latest technology which will provide seamless and timely disbursal of Pay & Allowances to around 15,000 Indian Coast Guard personnel.
• This module has been developed under the aegis of Défense Accounts Department and will be operated by Pay Accounts Office Coast Guard, Noida.
• The launch marked the beginning of the Centralized Pay System (CPS), the foundation of which is being laid down by the Defence Accounts Department Headquarters to provide one stop pay accounting solutions for all organisations under the Ministry.

About:

• The commissioning of this squadron marks a tremendous leap towards self-reliance in the field of Search and Rescue (SAR) and maritime surveillance. The ALH MK III helicopters have been indigenously manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).
• They feature state-of-the-art equipment including advanced RADAR as well as Electro optical sensors, Shakti engines, full glass cockpit, high-intensity searchlight, advanced communication systems, automatic identification system as well as SAR homer.
• The features enable them to undertake maritime reconnaissance as well as carry out SAR at extended ranges even while operating from ships during both day and night.
• So far, 13 ALH MK-III aircraft have been inducted in the Indian Coast Guard in a phased manner and four of these aircraft are positioned at Porbandar.

About:

• The CAB, which is required by the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 to meet once in six months, held its fifth meeting recently. The last meeting was in 2020.
• Fifth Meeting of the Central Advisory Board on Disability was held at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi under the chairmanship of Dr. Virendra Kumar, Minister, Social Justice and Empowerment.
• The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 provides a timeline of five years for making all existing public buildings accessible by 14.06.2022. 

About:

• Hermit is a commercial spyware that is known to be used by governments with victims in Kazakhstan, Italy and northern Syria. The spyware was first detected in Kazakhstan in April 2022 after the government violently suppressed protests against government policies.
• Hermit is a modular spyware that hides its malicious capabilities in packages downloaded after it's deployed.
• These modules, along with the permissions the core apps have, enable Hermit to exploit a rooted device, record audio and make and redirect phone calls, as well as collect data such as call logs, contacts, photos, device location and SMS messages.
• Hermit tricks users by serving up the legitimate webpages of the brands it impersonates as it kickstarts malicious activities in the background.

About:

• The Navi Mumbai International Airport, said to be one of the largest greenfield airport projects in the world, is being built in Panvel. The airport, which is aimed at easing congestion at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, is proposed to be named after Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray.
• Dinkar Balu Patil, also known as D B Patil, was born in Jasai, a village in the Uran taluka of Raigad district. He was associated with the Peasants and Workers Party (PWP).
• Born into a farmer’s family, Patil did his LLB in 1951 and, a year later, won an election to the Kolaba district local board. He then represented Panvel in the Maharashtra Assembly for five terms between 1957 and 1980. He was also the MP from Kolaba in 1977 and 1984, as well as a member of the Legislative Council in 1992.

Farmers protests

• Patil led several protests for farmers and land owners in Panvel district when CIDCO acquired land in the area in the 1970s and 1980s.
• During a massive protest in 1984, four farmers were killed, which eventually forced the state government to bring in the 12.5 per cent developed land scheme for local farmers, which is now applicable across the state.
• Patil fought for the villagers of the Uran area when their land was acquired for Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), and led the protest even while he was in an ambulance at the age of 86. Patil died in 2012 at the age of 87.

About:

• The Ministry of Ayush and President Secretariat, in a joint initiative, had established the first AYUSH Wellness Clinic (AWC) of the country with all systems under one roof at President’s Estate in July 2015.
• The AWC has treatment facilities in the streams of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha &Homeopathy, and it caters to the medical needs of the President, officials of President’s Secretariat and residents of the President’s Estate.
• It is a precursor of many such clinics in various government departments and reputed institutes like AIIMS across the country.

About:

• BIS, the National Standard Body of India, has published standards for Test Specifications for Lithium-ion Traction Battery Packs and Systems (Performance Testing) for Electrically Propelled Road Vehicles. The standard IS 17855: 2022 for these battery packs and systems is harmonized with ISO 12405-4: 2018.
• The IS 17855:2022 standard has been formulated after considering real-life scenarios for an EV such as a parked vehicle (battery is not used for an extended period of time), battery system shipped (stored), battery running at low and high temperatures, among others.
• The BIS is in the process of publishing two more standards for batteries to be used in electric passenger and goods carrying vehicles. 

About:

• Bharat-NCAP will serve as a consumer-centric platform allowing customers to opt for safer cars based upon their star-ratings, while promoting a healthy competition among OEMs in India to manufacture safer vehicles.
• Star Rating of Indian Cars based on Crash Tests is extremely crucial not only to ensure structural and passenger safety in cars, but to also increase the export-worthiness of Indian automobiles.
• The testing protocol of Bharat NCAP shall be aligned with Global Crash Test Protocols factoring in the existing Indian regulations, allowing OEMs to get their vehicles tested at India’s own in-house testing facilities.
• Bharat NCAP will prove to be a critical instrument in making our automobile industry Aatmanirbhar with the mission of making India the Number one automobile hub in the world. 

About:

• As per the strategy paper on ONDC, it is a not-for-profit organisation that will offer a network to enable local digital commerce stores across industries to be discovered and engaged by any network-enabled applications.
• It is neither an aggregator application nor a hosting platform, and all existing digital commerce applications and platforms can voluntarily choose to adopt and be a part of the ONDC network.
• The ONDC aims to enable buying of products from all participating e-commerce platforms by consumers through a single platform.
• Currently, a buyer needs to go to Amazon, for example, to buy a product from a seller on Amazon. Under ONDC, it is envisaged that a buyer registered on one participating e-commerce site (for example, Amazon) may purchase goods from a seller on another participating e-commerce site (for example, Flipkart).
• The ONDC model is trying to replicate the success of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in the field of digital payments. UPI allows people to send or receive money irrespective of the payment platforms they are registered on.
• The open network concept also extends beyond the retail sector, to any digital commerce domains including wholesale, mobility, food delivery, logistics, travel, urban services, etc.
• Current Status: Presently, ONDC is in its pilot stage in five cities — Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Shillong and Coimbatore — with a target of onboarding around 150 retailers.

Analysis: Benefits and Issues

• The ONDC will standardise operations like cataloguing, inventory management, order management and order fulfilment, hence making it simpler and easier for small businesses to be discoverable over network and conduct business.
• However, experts have pointed out some likely potential issues such as getting enough number of e-commerce platforms to sign up, along with issues related to customer service and payment integration.

About:

• In the milieu of the deteriorating security situation in the Gulf region, post attacks on merchant ships in the Gulf of Oman in June 2019, Indian Navy had commenced Maritime Security Operations, code named ‘Op SANKALP’, in the Gulf Region on 19 June 2019 to ensure safe passage of Indian Flag Vessels transiting through the Strait of Hormuz.
• This operation is being progressed in close coordination with all stakeholders including Ministry of Defence, Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Shipping, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and DG, Shipping. 

About:

• The ALH will be the first aircraft of the newly created “840 Squadron” of The Indian Coast Guard that will be stationed in Chennai and will be the first ALH MK-III to be positioned in the Coast Guard Region East.
• Three more ALHs will be added to the “840 Squadron” shortly.
• The aircraft are having Beyond the Visual Range detection, using modern radars. It is equipped for target neutralisation operations, using its mounted Heavy Machine Gun.
• The squadron’s operations area will encompass the entire Eastern Region due to its strategic importance and geographical location. 

About:

• The G20 countries include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United States and the United Kingdom.
• Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal was appointed as India's Sherpa for the G20 in September 2021. India will hold the G-20 presidency from December 1, 2022, and convene the first G20 leaders' summit in 2023.
• The participation of the delegates from G-20 countries will be a major boost to the efforts of the Centre to project the situation in J&K as normal, after J&K’s special constitutional position was ended in 2019. 

About:

• Parameswaran Iyer, a senior officials who helmed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet scheme, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, will be the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NITI Aayog. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet cleared his name for the post.
• At present, Mr. Iyer functions as the Programme Manager of the 2030 Water Resources Group, a platform hosted by the World Bank for water conservation.
• Mr Iyer will succeed Amitabh Kant who is completing tenure on 30th of this month. Mr. Iyer will get at least two years in the post.
• Kant was appointed CEO of the National Institutions for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog on February 17, 2016, for two years. He got three extensions during his tenure. Under Mr. Kant, the NITI Aayog helped the Centre launch several programmes such as Digital India and Make in India. 

About:

• GSAT-24, built by ISRO for NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), was launched by French company Arianespace.
• GSAT-24 is a 24-Ku band communication satellite weighing 4180 kg with pan-India coverage for meeting DTH application needs. It was the first demand driven communication satellite mission undertaken by NSIL post space sector reforms.
• NSIL, a Government of India company under the Department of Space, has leased the entire satellite capacity to Tata Play. 

About:

• The scheme provides for wayside amenities in public-private partnership mode with agencies, on a licence basis, which will design, build and operate the facility as per guidelines of the BRO.
• Proposed amenities include parking for two and four wheelers, food plaza, restaurant, separate rest rooms for men, women and differently abled, and first aid facilities, among others.
• Selection of licences will be done through a competitive process.
• These are intended to provide basic amenities and comfort to tourists and lead to boosting of economic activities in border areas, besides generating employment for the local people. 

About:

• The list released by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) did not contain the “usual culprits” of many protected areas in India – parthenium and lantana that threaten more than 40% of India’s tiger reserves, according to a global study in 2020.
• It did mention ipomoea (Ipomoea carnea) and mimosa (Mimosa himalaica) but marked them as largely controlled and not much of a worry now.
• Parthenium (Parthenium hysterophorus) is believed to have come to India as contaminants in a consignment of wheat imported from the U.S. in the 1950s while lantana (Lantana camara) was brought by the British as ornamental plants from South America two centuries ago.
• Some weeds have herbal properties, but their toxicity outweighs their utility. For instance, wild boars love to gorge on the succulent rootlets of the Leea macrophylla or ‘kukura thengia’ that is fast clogging the patrolling paths and grasslands.
• Another one is the Cestrum diurnum or day-blooming jasmine of West Indies origin “coming up gregariously” on the Brahmaputra sandbars. The plant is otherwise a source of Vitamin D3. 

About:

• Deka will assume charge for a tenure of two years from the date of assumption of the charge of the post or until further orders, whichever is earlier, by granting extension in service under the provisions of FR 56(d) and Rule 16 (1A) of All India Services (Death-cum-Retirement Benefits) Rules, 1958.
• He will be in service during the remaining term of the present government as the next Lok Sabha election will conclude in May that year.
• Deka, from the Himachal Pradesh cadre who was set to retire in February 2023, will assume office on July 1 after incumbent Arvinda Kumar retires on June 30.

Samant Kumar Goel

• Meanwhile, RAW Secretary Samant Kumar Goel, whose two-year fixed term would have ended on June 30, 2021, was granted another one-year extension by the ACC. Mr. Goel is a 1984-batch IPS officer from the Punjab cadre. 

About:

• The area is densely populated and is the centre of the Afghan Hindu and Sikh communities.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed shock over the cowardly terrorist attack on the Karte Parwan Gurudwara in Kabul.
• The gurdwara in Kabul has been home to at least 150 Sikhs, who have been staying there since the fall of the Ashraf Ghani government last August. The latest attack has come days after India sent a senior diplomat to hold dialogue with the Taliban in Kabul.

About:

• Russia has warned Lithuania of serious consequences after it banned the rail transfer of some goods to the Russian territory of Kaliningrad.
• Last week, the Lithuanian authorities announced they would ban goods subject to EU sanctions from passing through their territory to Russia.

Location

• As Russia’s westernmost federal entity, the Kaliningrad Oblast occupies 15,000 sq km and houses under 1 million people. Russia is divided into 85 such oblasts, or states.
• It is situated almost 300-km away from mainland Russia, and shares no borders with it.
• Home to the deployment of Moscow’s Iskander missiles and the Russian Baltic Fleet, Kaliningrad has been called the Kremlin’s “unsinkable aircraft carrier”.

History

• The end of the Second World War marked an important milestone in Kaliningrad’s history.
• The Potsdam Agreement was signed by America, Britain and the former Soviet Union in 1945 in which Kaliningrad, then known as Königsberg, was ceded to Russia.
• This was done as the Soviet Union, under Stalin, had already taken control of the East Prussian territory due to its strategic geographic location. 

About:

• The country is also banning their sale by the end of 2023 and their export by the end of 2025.
• Canada previously announced a ban on plastic, however, environment advocates were dismayed about delays. In addition to bags and takeout boxes, the ban will affect plastic straws, bags, cutlery, stir sticks and six-pack rings that hold cans and bottles.
• The federal government listed plastics as toxic under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act last year. 

About:

• The guidelines for the PLI Scheme for Telecom & Networking Products have been amended to introduce design-led manufacturing with additional incentive rates.
• The design-led manufacturing scheme is open for both medium and small-scale enterprises (MSMEs) and non-MSMEs, including domestic and global companies.
• The DoT also said applications for design-led manufacturing will be prioritised over other manufacturers. The scheme requires an investment threshold of Rs 10 crore for MSMEs and Rs 100 crore for non-MSMEs, excluding land and building cost.
• The Centre will provide additional incentives of over Rs 4,000 crore under the amended scheme.
• The incentives will be based on incremental sales of the manufactured goods, and range between 4 per cent to 7 per cent for different categories over the years. MSMEs will get an additional 1 per cent incentive in the first, second, and third years.
• The DoT has also approved 11 new telecom and network products to the existing list of products that can be manufactured under the scheme.
• Investment made by successful applicants in India from 1st April 2022 onwards and up to Financial Year 2025-2026 shall be eligible, subject to qualifying incremental annual thresholds.

About:

• It has been decided that ESI Scheme will be implemented in the entire country by the end of year 2022. Presently, ESI Scheme is fully implemented in 443 districts and partially implemented in 153 districts, whereas 148 districts are not covered under ESI Scheme.
• ESIC is going to start Certificate Courses in 10 disciplines in three of its Medical Colleges at Faridabad, Sanathnagar (Hyderabad) and K.K.Nagar (Chennai) for Health Care Link Workers, as a pilot project.
• It was decided that Radiation Oncology and Nuclear Medicine Departments at three ESIC Medical College & Hospitals at Sanathnagar, Faridabad and Chennai will be established. It will be the for the first time that such services will be made available at ESIC owned facility. 

About:

• This torch will be taken to 75 cities in a span of 40 days before the final culmination at Mahabalipuram near Chennai. It will then head over to the FIDE Headquarters, Switzerland.
• India is hosting the prestigious Chess Olympiad for the first time and in the process, Asia gets to host the event after a gap of 30 years. Philippines last hosted it from Asia in 1992.
• India, who made its debut at the event in 1956 Moscow (27th position), has a gold medal (joint winners with Russia in 2020) and two bronze medals (2021, 2014) from the Chess Olympiad.
• While the 2020 and 2021 editions were held virtually owing to the Covid 19 pandemic, the 2022 edition will be the first over-the-board Chess Olympiad being held since 2018 in Georgia. 

About:

• Researchers collected snow samples from 19 sites in the Ross Island region of Antarctica and found that all contained microplastics.
• While microplastics have been found across the world, from the world’s deepest ocean floors to the peak of Mount Everest, researchers say that this is the first time that they have been found in freshly fallen snow in Antarctica.
• How did they reach Antarctica? These particles, due to their light weight and low density, might have travelled through air from more than 6,000 km away. However, there is also a possibility that the human presence in Antarctica created a microplastic ‘footprint’.

Why is this discovery troubling?

• It shows that the spread of microplastics is so widespread, that even the remotest and least habitable places in the world are now infested by these particles.
• Microplastics are not biodegradable and can be toxic for plants and animals.
• The microplastics deposited in ice and snow can accelerate the melting of the cryosphere — regions where water is in solid form, like the planet’s North and South Poles. Dark-coloured microplastics are better at absorbing sunlight and retain more heat.

What are microplastics?

• Microplastics are tiny plastic debris that are smaller than 5 mm in length, tinier than even a grain of rice. There are two types of microplastics.
• Primary microplastics are tiny particles that are purposely designed as such for commercial use, like in cosmetics, nurdles-plastic pellets used in industrial manufacturing and in fibres from synthetic textiles like nylon.
• Secondary microplastics are formed through the degradation of larger plastic items like bottles, fishing nets and plastic bags. This occurs through exposure to the environment, like radiation from the sun, wind and ocean waves. 

About:

• Surya Nutan is a Stationary, rechargeable, and always kitchen-connected indoor solar cooking.
• This is a patented product designed and developed by IndianOil R&D Centre, Faridabad.
• It works on a Hybrid Mode (i.e. can work on both solar & auxiliary energy source simultaneously) which makes the Surya Nutan a reliable cooking solution for all weather conditions.
• Surya Nutan can be used in all weather and seasons including when the Sun is not available for long durations or for continuous days, such as monsoons and extreme winters.