Exercise Desert Knight 21
On January 21, 2021, India and French Air Forces conducted Exercise Desert Knight 21 in Jodhpur. The Rafale fighter jets participated in the exercise.
IIT Roorkee and Ministry of Road Transport sign MoU
On January 22, 2021, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and IIT Roorkee signed a Memorandum of Understanding in New Delhi. Under the agreement, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is to focus on research and development and training, in the area of development of highway infrastructure.
India in third position in scientific publication
On January 22, 2021, the Department of Science and Technology announced that India is currently in third position in scientific publications after China and US. According to DST, the initiatives such as National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations have played a crucial role to reach this position.
Bhajan Singer Narendra Chanchal dies
On January 22, 2021, the popular Bhajan Singer Narendra Chanchal died at the age of 80.
BSE Sensex crosses 50,000
On January 21, 2021, the BSE Sensex crossed 50,000 for the first time.
RBI discussion paper proposes four tier structure for NBFC regulations
On January 22, 2021, the Reserve Bank of India released a discussion paper. The paper aimed to initiate a regulatory framework for the Non-Banking Financial Corporation. The four structures of the regulatory framework include base layer, middle layer, upper layer and top layer.
ShramShakti
- The Union Minister of Tribal Affairs Arjun Munda recently launched “ShramShakti”. It is a National Migration Support Portal.
- It would effectively help in the smooth formulation of state and national level programs for migrant workers.
- The tribal migration repository, ShramShakti would be able to successful able to address the data gap and empower migrant workers who generally migrate in search of employment and income generation.
- The various data that will be recorded via Shram Shakti include demographic profile, livelihood options, skill mapping and migration pattern.
- He also launched a tribal migration cell, a tribal museum at Goa and “ShramSaathi”, a training manual for migrant workers.
- With this, Goa is going to be first destination state of India to set up dedicated migration cell to address diverse issues of migrant workers.
Treaty on Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons enters into force
On January 22, 2021, the first treaty to ban nuclear weapons called the “Treaty on Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons” came into force. The treaty was approved by United Nations General Assembly in 2017. It was supported by 120 members of the UN. However, none of the nine members of the UN that possess nuclear weapons supported it. These nine countries are US, Britain, Russia, China, France, Pakistan, India, Israel and North Korea.
Asia Cooperation Dialogue held virtually
On January 21, 2021, the Asia Cooperation Dialogue was held virtually under the theme “The new Normal and Safe and Healthy Tourism”. The Asia Cooperation Dialogue countries also adopted the “Ankara Declaration “in the end of the meet.
United Nations adopts resolution to safeguard religious sites
The United Nations recently adopted a resolution to promote a culture of peace and tolerance. The resolution aims to safeguard religious sites spread all over the world.
Sri Lanka sets up panel to probe findings of previous commissions
On January 21, 2021, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed a three-member panel to probe the findings of previous commission that investigated the alleged rights abuses committed by both LTTE and the government troops during the 2009 armed conflict.
Jerenga Pothar in Assam
Jerenga Pothar, an open field in Sivasagar town, is popularly connected to the valour of 17th century Ahom princess Joymoti. The place Joymoti was tortured to death was Jerenga Pothar.
Haripura
- A day before his Kolkata visit for the launch of ‘Parakram Diwas’ celebrations to mark the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reminisced about Haripura in Gujarat, a significant venue in Netaji’s political journey.
- Haripura session:
- During the Indian independence movement, it was the venue of annual session of the Indian National Congress in 1938, referred as the ‘Haripura Session’.
- The Indian National Congress met at Haripura during 19 to 22 February 1938, under the presidency of Subhas Chandra Bose; he was elected President of the Haripura Congress Session in 1938.
SREE NARAYANA GURU
- Vice President of India launched a book of poems, “Not Many, But One” (Two Volumes), an English translation of poems of Sree Narayana Guru by Prof G.K. Sasidharan.
- Narayana Guru (1855 – 1928) was a philosopher, spiritual leader and social reformer in India.
- Shri Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (also known as SNDP Yogam) is an Indian spiritual organization that was formally founded by Dr. Padmanabhan Palpu in 1903, with the guidance of Shri Narayana Guru. The main aim of SNDP Yogam was to spiritually uplift the people of the Ezhava/Tiyyar communities.
- Vaikom Satyagraha (1924–25) was a social protest in erstwhile Travancore against untouchability and caste discrimination in Hindu society of Kerala. Sree Narayana Guru involved himself with the Vaikom Satyagraha and extended much co-operation.
- He published 45 works in Malayalam, Sanskrit and Tamil languages which include Atmopadesa Śatakam, a hundred-verse spiritual poem and Daiva Dasakam, a universal prayer in ten verses.
SMART ANTI-AIRFIELD WEAPON (SAAW)
- DRDO successfully conducted captive and release trial of indigenously developed Smart Anti-Airfield Weapon (SAAW) from Hawk-I of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) off the Odisha coast.
- The smart weapon was successfully test fired from Indian Hawk-Mk132 of HAL. This was the 9th successful mission of SAAW conducted by DRDO till now.
- SAAW is indigenously designed and developed by DRDO’s Research Centre Imarat (RCI) Hyderabad.
- This is 125 Kg class smart weapon, capable of engaging ground enemy airfield assets such as radars, bunkers, taxi tracks, and runways etc. up to a range of 100 kms. The high precision guided bomb is light weight as compared to weapon system of the same class.
PRODUCTION LINKED INCENTIVE (PLI) SCHEME
- The Government has given approval to drug firms including Aurobindo Pharma and Karnataka Antibiotics & Pharmaceuticals under the PLI scheme for promotion of domestic manufacturing of critical bulk drugs.
- The Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme aims at promotion of domestic manufacturing of critical key starting materials (KSMs)/drug intermediates and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in the country.
- This will be achieved by setting up greenfield plants with minimum domestic value addition in four different target segments.
- The scheme was launched by Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers.
- The Target Segment-I includes 4 eligible products, viz., Penicillin G; 7-ACA; Erythromycin Thiocyanate (TIOC) & Clavulanic Acid, in which the country is presently fully import dependent. These were considered on priority as per the decided evaluation and selection criteria.
AIR QUALITY MANAGEMENT DSS FOR DELHI
- The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) in NCR and adjoining areas has begun the process of setting up a Decision Support System (DSS) having a web, GIS and multi-model based operational and planning decision support tool.
- This tool will help immensely in capturing the static and dynamic features of the emissions from various sources.
- The sources covered will include industries, transport, power plants, residential, DG sets, road dust, agricultural burning, refuse burning, construction dust, ammonia, volatile organic compounds, landfill etc.
- It will have an integrated framework to handle both primary and secondary pollutants using chemical transport model.
- The system will also be able to handle the source specific interventions with the framework to estimate benefits of interventions and will focus on presenting the best results in a comprehensive user friendly and simple format for different users.
