1. PROJECT DANTAK

Project DANTAK is commemorating its Diamond Jubilee in Bhutan.

About:

• Project DANTAK was established on April 24, 1961 as a result of the visionary leadership of His Majesty the Third King and then Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru. DANTAK was tasked to construct the pioneering motorable roads in the Kingdom.
• DANTAK completed the road connecting Samdrup Jongkhar to Trashigang in 1968. In the same year, Thimphu was connected to Phuentsholing by DANTAK. Many Bhutanese had also volunteered to work with DANTAK.
• Some other notable projects executed by the project include the construction of Paro Airport, Yonphula Airfield, Thimphu – Trashigang Highway, Telecommunication & Hydro Power Infrastructure, Sherubtse College, Kanglung and India House Estate.
• The medical and education facilities established by DANTAK in far flung areas were often the first in those locations.
• Over 1,200 DANTAK personnel laid down their lives while constructing important infrastructure in Bhutan.

Source : PIB

2. 93rd ACADEMY AWARDS

U.S. road movie Nomadland emerged as the big winner at the Oscars on Sunday with three major prizes, including a history-making award for director Chloe Zhao.

About:

• Chloe Zhao makes history as first woman of colour to get best director award. She is also only the second woman to win best director after Kathryn Bigelow, who broke the glass ceiling in 2010 when she won the prize for The Hurt Locker.
• Zhao’s drama about marginalised Americans roaming the West in vans was honoured for best picture, director and actress for Frances McDormand, who now is in elite company with her third Academy Award.
• Hopkins’ win at 83 for his shattering portrayal of a dementia sufferer in The Father makes him the oldest actor to win a competitive Oscar in history.

List of winners of the 93rd Academy Awards:

• Best picture: Nomadland
• Best actress: Frances McDormand
• Best actor: Anthony Hopkins
• Best supporting actress: Yuh-Jung Youn
• Best supporting actor: Daniel Kaluuya
• Best director: Chloe Zhao

Source : Indian Express

3. SINGLE CRYSTAL (SX) COMPONENTS

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed single crystal blades technology and supplied 60 of these blades to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) as part of their indigenous helicopter development program for helicopter engine application.

About:

• It is part of a program taken up by Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL), a premium laboratory of DRDO, to develop five sets (300 in number) of single crystal high pressure turbine (HPT) blades using a nickel-based super alloy.
• Helicopters used in strategic and defence applications need compact and powerful aero-engines for their reliable operation at extreme conditions.
• To achieve this, state-of-the-art Single Crystal Blades having complex shape and geometry, manufactured out of Nickel based superalloys capable of withstanding high temperatures of operation are used.
• Very few countries in the world such as USA, UK, France and Russia have the capability to design and manufacture such Single Crystal (SX) components.
• Special ceramic composition had to be formulated for making strong ceramic moulds which can withstand metallostatic pressure of liquid CMSX-4 alloy at 1500°C and above during casting operation.

Source : outlook

4. PRIVATE SECTOR BANK

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) fixed the tenure of MD, CEO and whole-time director (WTD) in a private sector bank at 15 years and prescribed the maximum age of 70 years for such functionaries.

About:

• These directives form part of the instructions issued by the RBI with regard to the chair and meetings of the board, composition of certain committees of the board, age, tenure and remuneration of directors, and appointment of the WTDs.
• The RBI said it would come out with a Master Direction on Corporate Governance in banks in due course.
• The post of the MD & CEO or WTD cannot be held by the same incumbent for more than 15 years.
• Thereafter, the individual will be eligible for re-appointment as MD & CEO or WTD in the same bank, if considered necessary and desirable by the board, after a minimum gap of three years, subject to meeting other conditions.
• It added that during this three-year cooling period, the individual shall not be appointed or associated with the bank or its group entities in any capacity, either directly or indirectly.
• With regard to upper age limit for MD & CEO and WTDs in the private sector banks, the RBI said that no person can continue in such positions beyond the age of 70. The maximum age limit for chairman and non-executive directors has been fixed at 75 years.

Source : The Hindu

5. LADAKH IGNITED MINDS PROJECT

To provide better educational opportunities for Ladakhi students, the Indian Army has initiated the project Ladakh Ignited Minds: A Centre of Excellence and Wellness

About:

• On behalf of Indian Army, Fire and Fury Corps has signed a couple of MoUs with partner Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and executing agency, a Kanpur based NGO, National Integrity and Educational Development Organization (NIEDO), in Leh.
• The project is aimed at providing better training facilities to disadvantaged Ladakhi students to give them opportunity to study in niche educational institutes.
• Fire and Fury Corps of Indian Army with the support of HPCL and execution agency NIEDO will provide a holistic training for Ladakhi youth.
• In the first batch, comprising 20 girls, 45 students from Leh and Kargil districts, would get training for JEE and NEET entrance examinations.

Source : All India Radio

6. SOMALIA

Somalia, already fragile after decades of civil war and an Islamist insurgency, is facing its worst political crisis in recent years after the failure to hold planned elections in February.

About:

• President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, best known by his nickname Farmajo, has faced harsh criticism from foreign allies after signing a law approved by parliament which extended his mandate by two years.
• The clashes — mainly in the northern neighbourhoods of Sanca and Marinaya and the busy KM4 crossroads in the centre — began after dozens of opposition supporters marched in protest against Mr. Farmajo’s term extension.
• Somalia is a country in the Horn of Africa.
• It is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the Northwest, the Gulf of Aden to the north, the Indian Ocean to the east, and Kenya to the southwest.
• Somalia has the longest coastline on Africa's mainland.
• Its Capital is Mogadishu.

Source : The Hindu

7. CSIR-CMERI, DURGAPUR

The CSIR-CMERI, Durgapur has indigenously developed Oxygen enrichment technology which may be effective for treating COVID-19 patients.

About:

• The Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute (also known as CSIR-CMERI Durgapur or CMERI Durgapur) is a public engineering research and development institution in Durgapur, West Bengal.
• It is a constituent laboratory of the Indian Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
• This institute is the only national level research institute in the field of mechanical engineering in India.
• The CMERI was founded in 1958.

Source : PIB

8. HERD IMMUNITY

Does “herd immunity” really protect from subsequent waves? The answer is not a simple yes or no. It depends on how widespread the virus is in a community and its transmission rate.

About:

• When a person gets vaccinated against a disease, their risk of infection is also reduced – so they’re also less likely to transmit the virus or bacteria to others.
• As more people in a community get vaccinated, fewer people remain vulnerable, and there is less possibility for an infected person to pass the pathogen on to another person.
• 'Herd immunity', also known as 'population immunity', is the indirect protection from an infectious disease that happens when immunity develops in a population either through vaccination or through previous infection.
• Herd immunity does not mean unvaccinated or individuals who have not previously been infected are themselves immune.
• Instead, herd immunity exists when individuals who are not immune, but live in a community with a high proportion of immunity, have a reduced risk of disease as compared to non-immune individuals living in a community with a small proportion of immunity.
• In communities with high immunity, the non-immune people have a lower risk of disease than they otherwise would, but their reduced risk results from the immunity of people in the community in which they are living (i.e., herd immunity) not because they are personally immune.

Source : Indian Express

9. SAHEL

Chad, the former French colony is now prime outpost of the West in fighting Islmamist militants across the Sahel. France still has a strong military presence in the sahel region.

About:

• The Sahel is the ecoclimatic and biogeographic realm of transition in Africa between the Sahara to the north and the Sudanian savanna to the south.
• Having a semi-arid climate, it stretches across the south-central latitudes of Northern Africa between the Atlantic Ocean and the Red Sea.
• The Sahel part of Africa includes from west to east parts of northern Senegal, southern Mauritania, central Mali, northern Burkina Faso, the extreme south of Algeria, Niger, the extreme north of Nigeria, the extreme north of Cameroon and Central African Republic, central Chad, central and southern Sudan, the extreme north of South Sudan, Eritrea, and the extreme north of Ethiopia.

Source : Indian Express