4th One Planet Summit (OPS) 2021 held Virtually to Protect Biodiversity

• 4th edition of One Planet Summit (OPS) 2021 was virtually organized by France, the United Nations (UN) and the World Bank from Paris (France) to prepare negotiations for setting global biodiversity targets in order to protect nature in the next decade. The theme of the summit is "Let's act together for nature!".

• These negotiations will be utilized at a UN conference on biodiversity to be held in China in October 2021. It was postponed in 2020 due to COVID-19.

• The summit was not attended by India, Brazil, Russia, and the United States (US).

• High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People: It was initiated in 2019 by Costa Rica, France and Britain to set a target of protecting at least 30% of the planet by 2030 and already joined by the 50 countries.

• To make the Mediterranean an exemplary sea by 2030

Ministry of Power, BEE organize the 30th National Energy Conservation Awards 2020

• Ministry of Power in association with the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) organized the 30th National Energy Conservation Awards 2020 (NECA 2020). R.K. Singh, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power and New & Renewable Energy was the Chief Guest of the event.

• Around 57 units from 5 sectors were awarded for their energy conservation & energy efficiency efforts.

• Standards and Labelling Programme for Air Compressors & Ultra High Definition (UHD) TV on voluntary basis was initiated.

• SAATHEE (State-wise Action on Annual Targets & Highways on Energy Efficiency) A portal for State Designated Agency (SDA) for state level activities was also launched.

• Energy Management Centre, Kerala bagged the 1st Prize in the State Designated Agencies Category for its effective energy conservation programmes.

• Telangana State Renewable Energy Development Corporation (TSREDCO) bagged the 2nd prize in State Category for effective implementation of Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC). It was the 1st State in India to incorporate ECBC in state specific Municipal Act.

• Indian Railways bagged 13 awards at NECA 2020.

• The Star Labelling Program for Air Compressor & UHD TV will be effective from January 2021.

• SAATHEE - It is an Management Information System (MIS) portal developed by BEE for real-time monitoring of progress of implementation of various Energy Conservation steps at the State Level.

• RK Singh also highlighted the Perform, Achieve & Trade (PAT) Scheme being implemented by BEE.

• PAT is a compliance mechanism to accelerate improvements in energy efficiency in energy intensive industries.

• BEE is implementing it under the National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency (NMEEE). NMEEE is one of the 8 national missions under which the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) was launched by India in 2008.

About Ministry of Power:

• Minister of State (Independent Charge) - RK Singh

About Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE):

• Director General- Abhay Bakre
• Headquarters- New Delhi

CCI Approves Acquisitions of Adani Green Energy Ltd, Ecom Express Private Limited & 100% Acquisition of Virtusa Corporation

• CCI gave approval under Section 31(1) of the Competition Act, 2002 to the minority share capital acquisition in Adani Green Energy Ltd (AGEL), the renewable energy arm of the Adani Group by Total SE.

• CCI gave approval to the proposed combination that envisages acquisition of stake in Ecom Express Private Limited by PG Esmeralda Pte. Limited.

• BPEA, GIC Investor, CPPIB Investor Acquires 100% Equity Interest and Joint Control in Virtusa Corporation CCI gave approval to the proposed combination relating to the acquisition of 100% equity interest and joint control in Virtusa Corporation by Baring Private Equity Asia (BPEA), Atago Investment Pte Ltd (GIC Investor) and CPP Investment Board Private Holdings Inc (CPPIB Investor)

Punjab Cabinet approves One-Time Settlement Scheme for Traders

• Punjab Cabinet led by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder singh approved the 'One Time Settlement (OTS) Scheme for Recovery of Outstanding Dues - 2021' for Traders to clear their Pending Arrears.

• The OTS will help Traders to settle their Pending arrears under the Punjab Value Added Tax Act, 2005 & Central Sales Tax Act, 1956.

• It will cost around INR 121.06 Crore to the Punjab Government.

• Will benefit Small & Medium Business Dealers/Traders who suffered due to COVID-19.

• Dealers who have filed assessments upto December 31, 2020 can apply under the scheme till April 30, 2021.

• Based on assessments conducted for 2013-14, around 40, 000 plus dealers with demand of up to INR 1 Lakh will get 90% relief in Tax & 100 % relief in Interest & Penalty.

• They will pay 10% of due tax & zero amount on account of interest or penalty.

ICICI Bank to Acquire 9.09% Stake in Myclassboard Educational Solutions Pvt Ltd for Rs 4.5 Crore

• ICICI Bank entered into an agreement with Myclassboard Educational Solutions Pvt Ltd(MESPL) to acquire 9.09% stake in MESPL through acquisition of 100 equity shares and 104,890 Cumulative Compulsorily Convertible Preference Shares on fully diluted basis.
• The acquisition happens for a cash consideration of Rs 4.5 crore.

• LIC Sells 2.002% Stake in ICICI Bank

• Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has sold 13.8 crore shares(2.002% stake) of ICICI Bank

• After this sale, the holding stake of LIC in the bank has reduced to around 6.74% from 8.74% earlier.

About Myclassboard Educational Solutions Pvt Ltd{MESPL):

• Headquarters - Hyderabad Telangana
• Founded- 2008
• Founder & CEO-Ajay Sakhamuri

About Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC):

• Chairman- MR Kumar
• Headquarters - Mumbai, Maharashtra
• Founded 1st September, 1956

Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation Signs MoU with UNDP India

• Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation(PCMC) has signed an Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) with United Nations Development Programme(UNDP) India to co-create India's 1st Social Impact Bond(SIB).

• The Palladium Group has been appointed to design and structure the expertise of the impact bond.

• UNDP will provide technical assistance to PCMC through its Sustainable Development Goal(SDG) Finance Facility as a support to it in the design of SIB.

• A social impact bond (SIB) is a contract with the public sector or governing authority, whereby it pays for better social outcomes in certain areas and passes on the part of the savings achieved to investors.

• If the project succeeds, the investors are repaid by the Government

• The term SIB was originally coined by Geoff Mulgan, chief executive of the Young Foundation.

• The 1st SIB in the world was launched by UK-based Social Finance Ltd. in September 2010

• Mexico became the first country in the world to inaugurate sustainable financing program for the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by issuing a seven-year Sovereign SDGs Bond worth USD 890 million under its new "SDG Sovereign Bond Framework" developed with investment bank Natixis, located in Paris, France.

About United Nations Development Programme(UNDP) India:

• UNDP worked in India since 1951
• Resident Representative- Shoko Noda
• Headquarters, New Delhi, India

About Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC):

• Headquarters- Pune, Maharashtra, India
• Commissioner- Mr. Shravan Hardikar (Indian Administrative Service-I.A.S.)

DST Constitutes Committee for Conservation of Indian Heritage using Futuristic Tech

• The Department of Science and Technology(DST) under Frontier and Futuristic Technologies (FFT) Division constituted an advisory committee to use futuristic and new age technologies for conservation of Indian heritage conservation, documentation, and digital restoration.

• The committee will be chaired by Santanu Chaudhury, Director, IIT Jodhpur Rajasthan.

• With a focus on technical inputs to advance the heritage domain, Hardik Somani, Director and Chief Operating Officer of Sapio Analytics and lead of its Heritage Restoration Division is nominated as one of the members of the committee.

• The other members of the committee include Prof. PJ Narayanan, Director of International Institute of Information Technology(IIIT) Hyderabad, Dr. Rohini Srivathsa, National Technology Officer of Microsoft Corporation India.

• Along with them, Mamta Rao, Dean of National Institute of Design(NID), and Sachchidanand Joshi, Member Secretary, Indira Gandhi National Centre of Arts (IGNCA) among others.

• The Sapio Analytics Heritage Restoration Division is working on a pilot project of Ajanta caves, where the company digitises, restore and preserve art and culture.

About Department of Science and Technology(DST):

• Secretary- Prof Ashutosh Sharma
• Union Minister of Science & Technology- Harsh Vardhan(Constituency- Chandni Chowk, New Delhi)

About Sapio Analytics:

• CEO- Ashwin Srivastava
• Headquarters, Mumbai, Maharashtra

Harsh Vardhan launches 'Digital Ocean' - 1st of its kind digital platform for Ocean Data Management

• Union Minister for Earth Science, Dr Harsh Vardhan virtually launched Digital Ocean' (www.do.incois.gov.in) a 1st of its kind Digital platform for Ocean Data Management. The platform has been developed by INCOIS (Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services) of the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES).

• The platform will serve as a one stop-solution for all data related needs of a wide range of users such as research institutions, operational agencies, strategic users, academic community, maritime industry & public.

• Until now, there are multiple platforms for storing data from Oceans (Bay of Bengal & Arabian Sea). Digital Ocean will replace these platforms & will act as a single platform for repository of data.

• The integration of data into a single platform will ease the difficulty of handling vast ocean data sets required to make forecasts & weather modelling.

About Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS);

• An Autonomous Institution under the Ministry of Earth Sciences

• Director - T Srinivasa Kumar
• Location - Hyderabad, Telangana

BARC Develops India's first indigenous Ruthenium 106 Plaque to treat Eye cancer

• An eye cancer therapy namely "Ruthenium plaque therapy" developed by Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) has been successfully used for the first time for the treatment of patients with ocular tumours in All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS)-Delhi.

• The therapy used Ruthenium 106 plaque for treatment of a patient with choroidal hemangioma (benign tumour in blood vessels).

• The minister also informed that the Bhubaneswar Borooah Cancer Institute (BBCI) in Guwahati, Assam has been co-opted with the Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital, Mumbai which functions under the aegis of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE).

• This development followed the collaboration between the DAE and Dr Rajendra Prasad Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences, AIIMS, Delhi.

• Ruthenium-106 plaque has been made available free of cost for AIIMS-Delhi, Hyderabad (Telangana) based Centre for Sight and Sankara Eye Hospital in Bengaluru (Karnataka).

• It involves placing a radioactive source like Ruthenium-106 (a radioisotope) in contact with the surface of the eyeball for cancer therapy. Ru-106 is recovered from radioactive waste and has a simple and slim design. One plaque can treat about 50 patients and its usable life is one year.

Indian Oil Launches India's 1st Remote Monitoring System of Gas Turbines

• Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) launched India's 1st Remote Monitoring & Operation Centre for Tracking of Refinery Gas Turbines across all its refineries in Hyderabad, Telangana. The project has been implemented by BHEL-GE Gas Turbine Services (BGGTS), a joint venture of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited-General Electric (BHEL-GE).

• The technology behind the Monitoring system is called 'Proactive Predictive Analytics based Automated Anomaly Detection', it was developed by GE, BHEL & Indian Oil.

• Operational Data coming from 27 Gas Turbines of 8 Indian Oil refineries across India would be analysed 24*7 at the Remote Monitoring Center at Hyderabad.

• The monitoring system was originally proposed to operate from GE's Atlanta Analytical Centre in America, however due to India's Data Residency Clause & National Cyber Security Guidelines it was decided to operate from Hyderabad.
• IOCL's 8 refineries - Digboi (Assam), Bongaigaon (Assam), Paradip (Odisha). Panipat (Haryana), Gujarat (Vadodara), Mathura (Uttar Pradesh), Barauni (Bihar) & Haldia (West Bengal).

About BHEL-GE Gas Turbine Services (BGGTS):

• Chairman - Kamalesh Das
• Headquarters - Hyderabad, Telangana

About General Electric ( GE);

• Chairman & CEO - H. Lawrence Culp Jr
• Headquarters - Boston, United States of America

About Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL):

• Chairman - Shrikant Madhav Vaidya

• Headquarters - New Delhi

Book Titled 'Unscripted: Conversations on Life and Cinema' Authored by Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Abhijat Joshi

• The book titled 'Unscripted: Conversations on Life and Cinema' is authored by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Indian film director, screenwriter and producer and Abhijat Joshi, Indian screenwriter. "Penguin eBury Press' is the publisher of the book.

• He is the founder of Vinod Chopra Films and Vinod Chopra Productions.

• His well known films include, Parinda, 1942: A Love Story ; Munna Bhai film series (Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. and Lage Raho Munna Bhai); 3 Idiots(2009)among others

Padma Bhushan Awardee Prof Shashikumar M. Chitre, Renowned Astrophysicist & Mathematician Passed Away

• Prof Shashikumar Madhusudan(M.) Chitre, globally renowned astrophysicist and mathematician passed away at the age of 84 in Mumbai, Maharashtra. He is the recipient of Padma Bhushan.

• He retired as a senior professor from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, in 2001

• He served as the visiting professor of many universities across the world namely, University of Columbia, University of Virginia among others.

• He was instrumental to establish the University of Mumbai - Department of Atomic Energy Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences (UM-DAE CEBS) in the Kalina campus of the university.

• He performed extensive research on the Sun's magnetic activity cycle, the solar dynamo theory, and the role of neutrals in the solar atmosphere.