WHY IN NEWS?

The new Prime Minister of Nepal, Sher Bahadur Deuba won a vote of confidence in the country’s Parliament days after the Supreme Court had reinstated the legislature which was dissolved in May.

ABOUT:

• Sher Bahadur Deuba has previously held the office four times and has won 165 votes (136 votes required) with 83 votes going against him.
• In the month of July, the Supreme Court ordered Deuba should replace K.P. Sharma Oli.
• Deuba faces the immediate task of controlling the spread of COVID-19 and procuring vaccines for the citizens of Nepal.
• Less than 4% of the country’s population (Total population is 30 million) have been fully vaccinated against the virus.
• As the government scrambles to procure shots more than 1.3 million people are awaiting a second dose.

Promises of the new Prime Minister

• In the coming three months the new government of Nepal has pledged to vaccinate a third of its populations and full vaccination by April, 2022.

WHY IN NEWS?

• Indian Port Rail and Ropeway Corporation Ltd (IPRCL) have prepared a Detailed Project Report or DPR for the pod taxi service between Noida Airport at Jewar and Film City.
• There are plans to run a driverless taxi between the two destinations. This will cost about Rs 862 crore, according to the detailed project report (DPR) submitted to the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (Yeida). This is a 14 km stretch. This will be India’s first pod taxi service.
• Pod taxis can accommodate four to six passengers per car. This important project will provide smooth connectivity to residential and industrial areas falling between film city and the Noida International Airport. As per the DPR, the corridor will pass through various sectors such as 21, 28, 29, 30 and 32, among others, falling under the Yeida region.

WHY IN NEWS?

• Top defence officials from India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives participated in a virtual trilateral table top exercise “TTX-2021”. The exercise focused on maritime crimes like curbing narcotics and assistance in maritime search and rescue in the region.
• The two-day exercise, TTX-2021 aimed at enhancing mutual understanding and exchange of best practices procedures for countering common transnational crime was coordinated by the Maritime Warfare Centre, Mumbai.
• TTX-2021 exemplifies the deep trilateral engagement between India-Maldives-Sri Lanka which has strengthened immensely in the maritime domain over the past years.
• Interaction between the three neighbouring countries in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) has also grown significantly in recent years, in consonance with India”s policy of ‘Neighbourhood First” and vision of ‘Security and Growth for all in the Region (SAGAR).

WHY IN NEWS?

• ‘Bonalu’ is a traditional folk festival celebrated every year in the Telugu month of Ashadham (falling in June/July), in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad, and some other parts of Telangana state.
• The Bonalu festival was declared a ‘state festival’ by the K Chandrasekhar Rao-led government after the state’s formation back in 2014.
• The Bonalu festival involves scores of devotees offering the traditional ‘bonam’ (derived from Bhojanam, meaning meals) to the goddess Mahankali at 25 temples across the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad.

WHY IN NEWS?

• The Kerala government’s campaign ‘Mathrukavacham’ to vaccinate all the pregnant women in the state against COVID-19 infection was inaugurated at the district level recently.
• Spot registrations for vaccination of pregnant women would be carried out at various government hospitals.
• Pregnant women can receive the COVID vaccine at any time during their pregnancy. The special vaccination drive comes as a strong defence to protect pregnant women.
• Vaccination will be made available in all district hospitals as part of the model program. In the beginning, the covid vaccine will be given to 100 pregnant women through spot registration.
• The State Health Ministry assured that in the coming days, covid vaccination for more pregnant women will be made accessible in all hospitals, depending on the availability of the vaccine.

WHY IN NEWS?

Recently, the European Union (EU) released a new climate proposal, the Fit for 55 packages.

• The EU in December 2020 submitted a revised Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement.

ABOUT:

• The new package attempts to deliver the NDC and carbon neutrality goal through proposed changes that would impact the economy, society and industry, as well as ensure a fair, competitive and green transition by 2030 and beyond.
  • Climate neutrality is achieved when a country’s emissions are balanced by absorptions and removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. It is also expressed as a state of net-zero emissions.
• It claims to achieve a balance between “regulatory policies” and market-based carbon pricing to avoid the pitfalls of each

WHY IN NEWS?

New Zealand chaired special virtual meeting of Asia-Pacific trade group called “Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)”.

ABOUT:

• During the meeting world leaders highlighted that, extensive COVID-19 immunization is a global public good and accelerating access to vaccines is essential in order to overcome health emergency.
• Leaders of APEC grouping vowed for redoubling efforts to expand vaccine manufacture and supply.

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)

APEC is a forum comprising of 21 Asia-Pacific economies. Member economies of APEC are home to 2.7 billion people and accounts for over half of global GDP. Member’s accounts for more than 70 percent of Australia’s total trade in goods & services. APEC was founded by Australia in 1989. It was established to encourage growing & prosperous regional economy by – trade & investment liberalisation & facilitation across the border, reducing costs of cross-border trade, economic & technical cooperation, exchanging best practice on trade & investment etc.

Member Nations of APEC

India is not a member of APEC. Its member nations include- Australia, Brunei, Chile, China, Canada, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Mexico, Peru, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Russia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Chinese Taipei, Vietnam and United States.

WHY IN NEWS?

According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), First case of rare human monkeypox was detected in Texas.

• Monkeypox was detected in a US. resident, who recently travelled from Nigeria to US.
• Though it is a rare viral illness but currently is not a reason for alarm and threat to public.
• As per laboratory testing at CDC, patient is infected with strain of monkeypox which is commonly found in parts of West Africa, including Nigeria.
• Infections with this strain of monkeypox are fatal among 1 in 100 people.
• Prior to this case, there have been six reported monkeypox cases in travellers returning from Nigeria in United Kingdom, Israel, and Singapore.

About Monkeypox

• Monkeypox is a rare but potentially serious viral illness which starts with flu-like illness & swelling of lymph nodes and progresses to a widespread rash on face & body.
• Most infections last 2-4 weeks.
• It shares same family of viruses as smallpox, but causes milder infection.

WHY IN NEWS?

• Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has launched a mobile application, called CPGRAMS to lodge grievances using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning tools.
• The Raksha Mantri was briefed that this AI-powered application will automatically handle and analyse the complaints of the people and would reduce human intervention, save time and bring more transparency to their disposal.
• This is the first AI-based system developed to improve grievance redressal in the Government.
• The AI tool developed as part of the initiative has the capability to understand the content of the complaint based on the contents therein.
• As a result, it can identify repeat complaints or spam automatically. Based on the meaning of the complaint, it can categorise complaints of different categories even when keywords normally used for such search are not present in the complaint.

WHY IN NEWS?

• China has officially begun the construction of the world’s first commercial modular small reactor ‘Linglong One’ at the Changjiang Nuclear Power Plant in the country’s Hainan Province.
• The project is based on China National Nuclear Corporation’s (CNNC’s Linglong One (ACP100) technology.
• The multi-purpose, 125 MWe SMR is a pressurised water reactor designed for electricity generation, urban heating, urban cooling, industrial steam production, or seawater desalination.
• CNNC began the development of the Linglong One in 2010, and it was the first SMR project to pass an independent safety assessment by International Atomic Energy Agency experts in 2016.
• Its integrated pressurised water reactor (PWR) design was completed in 2014 and it was identified as a ‘key project’ in China’s 12th Five-Year Plan.
• The design, which has 57 fuel assemblies and integral steam generators, was developed from the larger ACP1000 PWR. It incorporates passive safety features and could be installed underground.