1. Sri Lanka Cabinet clears Trincomalee oil tank farm deal with India
Tags: International News
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government in Colombo has approved a proposed deal with India to develop and modernize most of its strategic petroleum storehouses from the World-War-II-era in Trincomalee on the north-east coast of the island nation.
- The pre-WWII era oil storage facility covers an area of 850 acres and has a capacity of nearly 1 million tonnes, which far outstrips the demand in Sri Lanka. Trincomalee is also the nearest port to Chennai and can be used for developing it as a refueling facility for small ships.
- The Sri Lankan Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal to allocate 14 oil tanks of the Lower Oil Tank Complex already in use by the Lanka Indian Oil Corporation, a subsidiary of the Indian Oil Corporation, for the company's business activities.
- It also approved the allocation of the 61 tanks to joint venture company, Trinco Petroleum Terminal Private Limited, with 51% stakes to be owned by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation and 49% by the Lanka IOC. The arrangement is for the next 50 years.
- Talks were being held intermittently since the agreement between then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan President J R Jayewarndene as part of the annexure to the India-Sri Lanka Accord of July 29, 1987 — that the tank farm would be developed jointly.
- India was initially reluctant to heavily invest in Trincomalee. India's interest in Trincomalee got boosted after China heavily invested in Hambantota port.
2. Centre ask States to share intelligence on a common grid
Tags: National News
In a recent high-level meet with the Directors General of Police(DGP) of all states, chaired by Union Minister of Home Affairs Mr. Amit Shah, the central government has asked the States to share more intelligence inputs through the Multi-Agency Centre (MAC).
- The Multi Agency Centre (MAC), is a common counter-terrorism grid under the Intelligence Bureau that was made operational in 2001 following the Kargil War as per suggestions of Kargil Review Committee Report and Group of Ministers (GoM) Report.
- The Multi-Agency Centre (MAC) functions under Intelligence Bureau(IB) and is headquartered in New Delhi.
- The state offices have been designated as subsidiary MACs (SMACs).
- As many as 28 organizations, including the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), armed forces, and State police, are part of the platform.
- Various security agencies share realtime intelligence inputs on the MAC
- At the MAC level, the meeting of all these agencies is convened almost every day where the intelligence of the last 24 hours is brought on to the table, discussed and followup action is devised or agreed upon
- As per the parliamentary standing committee report in 2020, one of the major hurdles in the functioning of MAC is that states are often reluctant to share information on the platform, thus creating several gaps in sharing critical information at the right time.
- The Union Home Ministry, along with the IB, was contemplating to extend the connectivity of SMAC to the districts in a phased manner.
3. ICMR approves indigenous kit to detect Omicron
Tags: National News
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has approved an indigenous testing kit for detecting the Omicron variant of SARSCoV2.
- The kit is manufactured by Tata Medical and Diagnostics and is named 'OmiSure'.
- The kit can detect the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV2 as well as other variants of SARS-CoV2 in nasopharyngeal / oropharyngeal specimens during the RT-PCR tests.
- The test kit is compatible with all standard Real-Time PCR Machines. The first target is based on S-gene dropout or S-gene target failure (SGTF), and the second target is based on S-gene mutation amplification (SGMA).
- The company has applied for a license with the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), once the license is approved by the CDSCO, the kit will be manufactured by TATA MD at its Sriperumbudur facility in Tamil Nadu.
Currently the kit that is being used to detect the Omicron variant in India is developed by US-based scientific instrumentation company Thermo Fisher. It uses the S Gene Target Failure (SGTF) strategy to detect the variant.
4. PM Modi’s visit to Manipur and Tripura, to launch several development projects worth over 4,800 crore rupees
Tags: National News
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Manipur and Tripura on 4th January 2022.
Highlights of PM’s visit to Manipur:
- The PM inaugurated 13 projects worth around 1,850 crore rupees and laid foundation stone of 9 projects around 2,950 crore rupees.
- These projects are related to diverse sectors such as:
- Road Infrastructure
- Drinking Water Supply
- Health
- Urban Development
- Housing
- Information Technology
- Skill Development, among others
- The inaugural and foundation laying program was held at Hatta Kangjeibung in Imphal where he also addressed a public gathering.
Highlights of PM’s visit to Agartala (Tripura):
- The PM inaugurated the New Integrated Terminal Building of Maharaja Bir Bikram (MBB) Airport built at a cost of about 450 crore rupees, and
- Launched Key Initiatives:-
- Mukhyamantri Tripura Gram Samriddhi Yojana- which aims to achieve the benchmark standards for service delivery in core development sectors at the village level.
- Project Mission 100 of Vidyajyoti Schools- which aims to improve the quality of education in the state by converting 100 existing High/Higher secondary schools to Vidyajyoti Schools with state of art facilities and quality education. The project will cover about 1.2 Lakh students from Nursery to class XII and will cost around 500 crore rupees in the next three years.
The Prime Minister also laid the foundation stone for various projects which include Manipur Institute of Performing Arts at Gurgaon, 72 projects to be taken up under the PM Jan Vikas Karyakram, 13 projects related to diverse sectors, five National Highway Projects with a cumulative length of more than one hundred ten kilometers, a Cancer Hospital along with a Covid Hospital.
5. Sudan’s Prime Minister resigns
Tags: International News
- Abdalla Hamdok Al-Kinani, Sudan’s 15th Prime Minister (2019-2022) resigned from his position after a major crackdown on protesters citing reasons of lack of political consensus, and conflict with the military.
- Hamdok played a major role during the 2019 Sudanese transition to democracy following the transfer of power from the Transitional Military Council to the Sovereignty Council of Sudan.
- Hamdok also served as Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).
Republic of Sudan
It is Africa’s 3rd largest country by area
Capital - Khartoum
Currency - Sudanese Pound
Currently under a military junta.
6. ISRO gearing up for multiple missions in the year 2022
Tags: Science and Technology National News
One of the most anticipated launches of ISRO in 2022 is that of its first unmanned mission of Gaganyaan to Lower Earth Orbit(LEO). GSLV Mk III will be used for this mission. Glavkosmos, which is a subsidiary of the Russian space corporation Roscosmos is supporting ISRO in this mission.
Other notable launches include-
- Earth Observation Satellites EOS4 and EOS6 onboard the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
- Earth Observation Satellite EOS02 on board the maiden flight of the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV)
- Chandrayaan 03 - It will be India’s third planned lunar exploration mission. It will be a mission repeat of Chandrayaan-2 but will only include a lander and rover similar to that of Chandrayaan-2 but will not have an orbiter. GSLV Mk III will be used for this mission.
Aditya Ll - First Indian mission to study the Sun. It is a planned coronagraphy spacecraft to study the solar atmosphere. Aditya-L1 will be placed in a ‘libration orbit’, which is about 1.5 million km from Earth. It is about 1% of the distance between the Sun and the Earth, where the gravity of the two celestial objects equalizes. Placing it in such an orbit allows the spacecraft to circle along with the earth, thereby constantly facing the Sun.
- XpoSat - The X-ray Polarimeter Satellite (XPoSat) is a planned space observatory to study the polarization of cosmic X-rays. It will be launched on a Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV). It will be a five-year mission, carrying a polarimeter instrument made by Raman Research Institute to measure cosmic radiation. The spacecraft will be placed in a circular 500-700km orbit
- IRNSS - Indian regional navigation satellite system
Other notable future missions of ISRO are-
- Venus mission,
- DISHA (Disturbed and quiet-type System at High Altitude) –twin aeronomy (uppermost layer of Earth’s atmosphere) satellite mission at an altitude of 450km.
- TRISHNA (Thermal infraRed Imaging Satellite for High-resolution Natural resource Assessment), an ISRO-CNES [Centre national d'études spatiales France] mission in 2024 for accurate mapping of land surface temperatures across the globe. It will be launched in sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 750km with a mission life of 5 years
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)
Headquarters - Bengaluru, Karnataka
Chairman - Kailasavadivoo Sivan
Nodal authority - Department of Space under Prime Minister of India
Main launchpad - Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh
7. Most searched on internet by Indians in 2021
Tags: National News
- The data is released by Google Trends.
- As per Google search data, Indian Premier League is the most searched topic in India in 2021 followed by CoWIN and ICC T20 World Cup.
- Whereas sporting events garnered interest only when they were streamed live, CoWIN or Covid Vaccine related searches sustained interest throughout the year.
Highest Searches as per categories -
- Near Me - Covid Vaccine near me followed by Covid test near me
- How To - How to register for Covid Vaccine followed by How to download vaccine certificate
- What Is - What is black fungus followed by what is the factorial of hundred
- Movies - Jai Bhim followed by Shershah
- News Events - Tokyo Olympics followed by Black Fungus
- Personalities - Neeraj Chopra followed by Aryan Khan
- Recipes - Enoki Mushroom followed by Modak
- Sports events - Indian Premier League followed by ICC T20 World Cup.
8. Covid Vaccination for 15-17 age group starts in India
Tags: National News
- The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare rolled out the first dose of vaccination for teenagers in the 15-17 age group in India on January 3, 2022. Those born in 2005, 2006, and 2007 are eligible for getting jabbed in this group.
- Registration for this age group started on January 1, 2022.
- The only covid vaccine approved for inoculation in this age group is Covaxin by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech. This is an inactivated vaccine with the second dose after a gap of 28 days.
- Zydus Cadila’s ZyCov-D also received Emergency Usage Listing(EUL) from Drugs Controller General of India(DCGI) on August 20 for vaccination of children aged 12 and above, but this is not included in the government’s public immunization programme for children which started on the 3rd January. Zydus is India’s first needle-free DNA Vaccine.
- Beneficiaries can either take appointment online through the CoWin application or can directly walk-in at the notified centers for their dosage.
- Student-ID card is accepted as proof of identity.
- Parental Consent Form is also required for this age group.
- In many states, the vaccination programme is rolled out in collaboration with schools and pre-university colleges.
- As per CoWin dashboard, 4199584 youngsters were jabbed on the first day of the children’s mass vaccination programme.
9. China constructing bridge on pangong lake
Tags: International News
- Continuing with infrastructure build-up on its side of the area near the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, China is building a new bridge on Pangong Tso.
- However, the construction of the bridge is taking place in China and is 25 to 30 kilometers away from India’s claim of Line of Actual Control.
- The bridge connects the North and South banks of the lake which will provide an additional axis to deploy troops faster and closer to the LAC.
Pangong Tso, an endorheic lake, is 135 km long, of which more than two-thirds is under Chinese control. Khurnak Fort, close to where China is building the new bridge, is near the halfway mark of the boomerang-shaped lake. Historically a part of India, Khurnak Fort has been under Chinese control since 1958. From Khurnak Fort, the LAC is considerably west, with India claiming it at Finger 8 and China claiming it at Finger 4
10. Ayush Minister lays foundation stone for Heartfulness International Yoga academy
Tags: National News
The Union Ayush Minister Shri Sarbananda Sonowal laid the foundation stone for the Heartfulness International Yoga academy at Hyderabad on 3rd January 2022.
- The Heartfulness International Yoga Academy comprises:
- Yoga halls that can accommodate 100 Yoga students in each hall,
- therapeutic Yoga rooms for consultation,
- one to one training spaces or small group classes;
- prenatal Yoga rooms;
- a lecture hall with 200 seating capacity;
- a full-fledged recording studio with editing suites for pre-recorded wellness programs;
- a recording Yoga hall fully equipped for Live online Yoga Classes;
- a Yoga library with books from every Yoga Institutions and access to Yoga research articles.
The “75-crores Suryanamaskar” Initiative as part of Azadi ka Amrit Mhotsav was also inaugurated at Kanha ShantiVanam the world headquarters of Heartfulness Meditation by Mr. Sonowal.
- It aims at creating the largest congregational Surya Namaskar event.
