International Affairs
US-India Strategic Clean Energy Partnership (SCEP)
Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri, and US Secretary of Energy Ms. Jennifer launched the revamped US-India Strategic Clean Energy Partnership (SCEP).
The fifth Pillar on Emerging Fuels and a new India-US task Force on Biofuels was also announced.
SCEP was launched in line with US-India Climate and Clean Energy Agenda 2030 Partnership announced by PM Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden in April 2021 at the Leaders’ Summit on Climate.
Quick Fact: The US is the world’s largest producer of Oil and Natural Gas.
Science and Technology
Digital Population Clock inaugurated by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
Union Minister of State for Health & Family Welfare, Bharati Pravin Pawar inaugurated the Digital Population Clock recently.
The clock was inaugurated at the Institute of Economic Growth inside the University of Delhi.
The clock will provide minute by minute estimate of India’s population and capture data on the Total Fertility Rate, Infant Mortality as well as Maternal Mortality Rate.
International Affairs
India-Japan Sixth Maritime Affairs Dialogue
India and Japan held their sixth Maritime Affairs Dialogue recently in a virtual format.
The dialogue involved exchanges on developments in the areas of regional cooperation activities, maritime security environment.
The countries also held a bilateral annual Maritime Exercise called JIMEX- Japan India Maritime Exercise.
Quick Fact: First round of the India-Japan Maritime dialogue was held in 2013 in New Delhi.
Science and Technology
Co-WIN develops new API called KYC-VS
The Central Government has announced an Aadhar-like authentication system to access the vaccination status of an individual on the CoWIN platform.
The new API is called ‘Know Your Customer’s or Client’s Vaccination Status’ or KYC-VS.
The API was developed as an extra security layer to protect personnel data before sharing it with any third-party verifying entity.
Quick Fact: CoWIN is dubbed as ‘Covid Vaccine Intelligence Network’.
International Affairs
El Salvador become first country to adopt Bitcoin as National Currency
El Salvadore has become the first country in the world to accept Bitcoin as legal tender.
The government claimed that the move will give many citizens of the country access to bank services for the first time.
The trading in cryptocurrency will help the country save around USD 400 million in fees that are levied by banks and financial institutions on the money sent home by exports.
Quick Fact: San Salvador is the Capital of El Salvador.
Science and Technology
China successfully launches new Earth observation satellite “Gaofen- 5 02”
China successfully launched a new Earth observation satellite Gaofen- 5 02 into space aboard a Long March- 4C rocket.
The satellite was launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre in north China’s Shanxi Province.
The satellite is the 24th in the series of Gaofen Earth-observation satellites of China to monitor environmental protection efforts and boost its natural resources.
Quick Fact: Renminbi is the Currency of China.
Miscellaneous
A book “Bullets Over Bombay: Satya and the Hindi Film gangster” by Uday Bhatia
A new book titled “Bullets Over Bombay: Satya and the Hindi Film Gangster” authored by Uday Bhatia has been released.
The book deals with the testimonies from Ram Gopal Varma, Anurag Kashyap, Manoj Bajpayee, Vishal Bhardwaj, and Saurab Shukla.
Uday Bhatia is a film critic with Mint Lounge in Delhi and his writings have been published in the Caravan GQ, The Indian Quarterly, The Indian Express, and others.
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