National Technology Day – May 11

In News: The day is a significant milestone in the history of India’s technological innovations as India successfully tested nuclear bombs in Pokhran on May 11, 1998 and is commemorated every year by honouring the architects of such innovations. Awards are given to several innovators and entrepreneurs on this day every year.

Context:

  • For the year 2021, Technology Development Board (TDB) invited application for National Awards under three categories and total 15 winners were selected after a stringent two-tier evaluation process with panelists being eminent scientists and technologists themselves.
  • Every year, for furtherance of its mandate, TDB seeks applications for National awards for commercialization of technologies under three categories National Awards, MSME awards, and Startup awards.
  • The details of National Awards for the year 2020-21 under three categories are as follows:
    • Category 1: National Award For Successful Commercialization Of Indigenous Technology
    • Category 2: National Award Under Msme Category
    • Category 3: National Award Under Technology Start-Up Category

Tocilizumab

In News:

  • Tocilizumab also known as atlizumab, is an immunosuppressive drug, mainly for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis, a severe form of arthritis in children.
  • Preliminary trial data has suggested that tocilizumab may be effective in improving outcomes for patients severely affected by the SARS-CoV-2 virus; REMAP-CAP trial has provided sufficient evidence for it to be added to the approved list.
  • It plays an important role in immune response and is implicated in the pathogenesis of many diseases, such as autoimmune diseases, multiple myeloma and prostate cancer.
  • The pathogenesis of the acute pulmonary treatment injury related to COVID-19 is related to a severe hyper-inflammatory state with high amounts of pro-inflammatory cytokines.

4th India-Swiss Financial Dialogue held virtually

In News:

  • The 4th India-Swiss Financial Dialogue was held virtually through video conferencing. Shri Ajay Seth, Secretary Economic Affairs led the Indian delegation.
  • The Dialogue, inter-alia, covered sharing of experiences by both countries for collaboration on various aspects including investments, International Financial Services Centre Authority (IFSCA), National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), FinTech, sustainable finance and cross border financial services.
  • Further, matters relating to G20, IMF and tax challenges arising from the digitilisation of the economy was discussed along with infrastructure financing.
  • Both sides emphasised importance of coordinated bilateral action on clean and resilient post-COVID world.
  • India and Switzerland have had cordial and friendly relations based on shared values of democracy and rule of law. India’s policy of non-alignment and Switzerland’s traditional policy of neutrality has led to a close understanding between the two countries. Both the countries have several bilateral dialogue mechanisms in place and this Financial Dialogue remains amongst the most important.

India and New Development Bank Seminar

In News:

  • Department of Economic Affairs and New Development Bank jointly organized a virtual seminar on “social infrastructure financing and use of digital technologies” as part of the Economic and Financial Cooperation Agenda under the Indian BRICS Chairship, 2021.
  • The COVID-19 Pandemic has reinforced the importance of investing in social infrastructure and underpinned the importance of leveraging Digital Technologies in both advanced and emerging economies.
  • This seminar will engage high-level participants from both public and private sector and will focus on the key issues surrounding social infrastructure financing and the use of Digital Technologies in the 21st century.

IREDA bags “Green Urja Award”

In News:

  • Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd. IREDA has been conferred with “Green Urja Award” for being the Leading Public Institution in Financing Institution for Renewable Energy this year by Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC).
  • IREDA under the administrative control of Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) is the only dedicated institution for financing Renewable Energy (RE) & Energy Efficiency (EE) projects in India.
  • IREDA gets the award for the pivotal and developmental role it plays in Green Energy Financing.
  • Despite of pandemic time, IREDA has ended the year 2020-21 ended on a strong note and disbursed the second highest (from the date of inception) amount of loan amounting to Rs. 8827 crore, which indicates that IREDA has the ability to translate this problem into an opportunity.
  • It was marked that IREDA has constituted an exemplary ‘COVID Care Response Team’ that is continuously taking care of COVID-19 positive employees and their family members starting from June 2020 resulting into ‘ZERO’ employees who are COVID infected/under treatment as on 11th May 2021.

Green panel green signal for Great Nicobar plan

In News: The Environment Appraisal Committee (EAC), Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) had flagged serious concerns about NITI Aayog’s ambitious project for Great Nicobar Island (‘NITI Aayog vision for Great Nicobar).

Context:

  • The committee has, however, removed the first hurdle faced by the project. It has “recommended” it “for grant of terms of reference (TOR)” for Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) studies, which in the first instance will include baseline studies over three months.
  • Documents uploaded recently on the MoEFCC’s Parivesh portal show that the 15-member committee headed by marine biologist and former director, Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), Deepak Apte, made the decision.
  • The EAC was responding to the 126 page ‘pre-feasibility’ report, ‘Holistic Development of Great Nicobar Island at Andaman and Nicobar Islands’, prepared for the NITI Aayog by the Gurugram-based consulting agency Aecom India Private Limited.
  • The proposal includes an international container transshipment terminal, a greenfield international airport, a power plant and a township complex spread over 166 sq. km. (mainly pristine coastal systems and tropical forests), and is estimated to cost ₹75,000 crore.

Concerns on site:

  • Seismic and tsunami hazards
  • Freshwater requirement details (6.5 lakh people are envisaged to finally inhabit the island when the present population is only 8,500; the current total population of the entire island chain is less than 4.5 lakh)
  • Impact on the Giant Leatherback turtle
  • Trees to be felled — a number that could run into millions since 130 sq. km. of the project area has some of the finest tropical forests in India.
  • Galathea Bay (the site of the port and the centre piece of the NITI Aayog proposal). Galathea Bay – is an iconic nesting site in India of the enigmatic Giant Leatherback, the world’s largest marine turtle.
  • The EAC has now asked for “an independent study/ evaluation for the suitability of the proposed port site with specific focus on Leatherback Turtle, Nicobar Magapod (sic) and Dugong”.

NASA spacecraft starts trip back to Earth

In News:

  • NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is attempting to complete a mission to visit Bennu, a skyscraper-sized asteroid some 320 million km from Earth, survey the surface, collect samples and deliver them back to Earth.
  • OSIRIS-REx arrived at Bennu in 2018. The spacecraft found traces of hydrogen and oxygen molecules – part of the recipe for water and thus the potential for life – embedded in the asteroid’s rocky surface, said the OSIRIS-REx mission’s principal investigator, in 2018.
  • The trip back to Earth will take about two years. The spacecraft will then eject a capsule containing the asteroid samples, which NASA says will land in a remote area of Utah.
  • The roughly $800 million, minivan-sized OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, built by Lockheed Martin, launched in 2016 to grab and return the first U.S. sample of pristine asteroid materials. Japan is the only other country to have accomplished such a feat.

Online flood reporting system launched in Assam

In News:

  • An online flood reporting and information management system was launched in Assam, which faces severe deluge every year.
  • The online system developed jointly by Assam State Disaster Management Agency and UNICEF will replace the existing manual flood control mechanism.
  • The current practice of flood reporting passes through a time-consuming manual verification and quality control system.
  • Driven by web-cum-mobile application technology, the new system will help delivery of relief and rehabilitation grants to flood-affected people.
  • Daily flood reporting between May 15 and October 15 has been made mandatory in Assam.
  • The digital initiative will facilitate tracking of damages to crops and loss of livestock and also help provide financial assistance for restoration.

Five Oceans’ extreme depths measured

In News:

  • The key locations where the seafloor bottoms out in the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic and Southern oceans were mapped by the Five Deeps Expedition.
  • The Five Deeps project removed a number of remaining uncertainties. For example, in the Indian Ocean, there were two competing claims for the deepest point – a section of the Java Trench just off the coast of Indonesia; and a fracture zone to the southwest of Australia. The rigorous measurement techniques employed by the Five Deeps team confirmed Java to be the winner.
  • Likewise, in the Southern Ocean, there is now a new place we must consider that region’s deepest point. It’s a depression called Factorian Deep at the far southern end of the South Sandwich Trench. It lies 7,432m down.
  • There is a location in the same trench, just to the north, that’s deeper still (Meteor Deep at 8,265m) but it’s technically in the Atlantic Ocean. The dividing line with the Southern Ocean starts at 60 degrees South latitude.

WHO Warns Against Use Of Ivermectin For COVID-19 Treatment

In News: The WHO’s warning against ‘ivermectin’ – the second in two months – comes a day after Goa approved its use as preventive treatment for all adults with COVID-19.

Context:

  • ‘Ivermectin’ is an orally given drug used – in specific doses – to treat parasitic infections.
  • WHO recommends against use of ‘ivermectin’ for COVID-19 except within clinical trials,” Dr Soumya Swaminathan, the global health body’s chief scientist tweeted.
  • No scientific basis for a potential therapeutic effect against COVID-19 from pre-clinical studies; No meaningful evidence for clinical activity or efficacy in patients with COVID-19 disease, and; A concerning lack of safety data in the majority of studies, WHO said.
  • ‘Ivermectin’ is one of a number of drugs, antiviral or otherwise, being studied for and offered as COVID-19 treatment options. Others include Remdesivir – which is in great demand in India – and anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine – large quantities of which were exported by India last year.
  • The WHO has still not approved hydroxychloroquine and, last month, the centre said remdesivir is not a life-saving drug and its “unnecessary or irrational” use on Covid patients is unethical.
  • Remdesivir is, however, routinely recommended for treatment in India.
  • Medication to treat or lessen the impact of COVID-19 continue to make headlines in India and around the world, as many countries battle devastating waves of the infection.