July 14th Current Affairs

1. BHIM–UPI in Bhutan.

IN NEWS:

Finance Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman and Finance Minister of Bhutan Mr Lyonpo Namgay Tshering jointly launch BHIM–UPI in Bhutan.

KEY POINTS:

• Launch fulfils the commitment made by two countries during Prime Minister of India’s State visit to Bhutan in 2019.
• services have started in Bhutan under India’s neighbourhood first policy.
• BHIM UPI is one of the brightest spot and an achievement for digital transactions in India during the time of COVID-19 pandemic with more than 100 million UPI QRs have been created in last 5 years and BHIM UPI in 2020-21 has processed 22 billion transactions worth value Rs 41 lakh crore.
• India and Bhutan have already enabled inter-operability in acceptance of Rupay cards in each other’s countries in two phases – acceptance of Rupay cards issued in India at Bhutan based terminals in the first phase, and vice versa in the second phase.
• With  launch of BHIM-UPI in Bhutan, the payment infrastructures of the two countries are seamlessly connected and will benefit a large number of tourists and businessmen from India who travel to Bhutan each year.
• This will enhance the ease of living and ease of travelling through cashless transactions at the touch of a button.
• Bhutan is the first country to adopt UPI standards for its QR deployment, and the first country in our immediate neighbourhood to accept mobile based payments through the BHIM App.

SOURCE:PIB

2. India’s single largest solar park.

IN NEWS:

NTPC to set up India’s single largest solar park at Rann of Kutch.

NTPC successfully commissioned India’s largest Floating Solar of 10 MW on the reservoir of Simhadri Thermal Power Plant.

KEY POINTS:

• NTPC Renewable Energy Ltd , a 100% subsidiary of NTPC, has received the go-ahead from Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) to set up 4750 MW renewable energy park at Rann of Kutch in Khavada, Gujarat.
• This will be India’s largest solar park to be built by the largest power producer of the country.
• As a part of its green energy portfolio augmentation, NTPC Ltd, India’s largest energy integrated company aims to build 60 GW Renewable Energy Capacity by 2032.
• Currently, the state owned power major has an installed capacity of 66 GW across 70 power projects with an additional 18 GW under construction.
• 100 MW Floating Solar Project on the reservoir of Ramagundam Thermal Power Plant, Telangana is in the advanced stage of implementation.
• Additionally, NTPC RE Ltd. has recently signed an MoU with UT, Ladakh and Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) for the generation of green hydrogen and deployment on FCEV buses.
• The signing of the MoU was also marked with the inauguration of NTPC’s first solar installations in Leh in form of solar trees and a solar car port.

SOURCE:PIB

3. Green Hydrogen Mobility Project.

IN NEWS:

Union Power Minister Shri R. K. Singh congratulates NTPC for signing MoU with UT of Ladakh and LAHDC to set up country’s first Green Hydrogen Mobility Project.

KEY POINTS:

• Leh is soon to become India ‘s  first city to implement a green hydrogen  based mobility project with zero emission.
• REL, a 100% subsidiary of NTPC, signed a MoU with Union Territory of Ladakh, to set up the country’s first green Hydrogen Mobility project in the region.
• The signing of the MoU was also marked with the inauguration of NTPC’s first solar installations in Leh in form of solar trees and a solar car port.
• The MoU will enable NTPC to help Ladakh develop a carbon free economy based on renewable sources and green hydrogen.
• This is also in line with the  Prime Minister’s vision of a ‘carbon neutral’ Ladakh.
• NTPC has planned to ply 5 hydrogen buses, to start with, in the region and the company will be setting up a solar plant and a green hydrogen generation unit in Leh towards this end.
• This will put Leh as the first city in the country to implement a green hydrogen based mobility project. This would be zero emission mobility in true sense.
• NTPC has been aggressively pushing for greening its portfolio and green hydrogen project is another step towards achieving low carbon footprint.
• NTPC has also been promoting usage of green hydrogen based solutions in sectors like mobility, energy, chemical, fertilizer, steel etc.

SOURCE:MINT

4. WHO issues recommendations on Human Genome Editing

IN NEWS:

World Health Organisation (WHO) has released two new companion reports, providing first global recommendations that will help in establishing human genome editing as a tool for public health.

KEY POINTS:

• It also emphasises on safety, effectiveness and ethics.
• Report was prepared by 18 members of Committee in two years. Apart from that, they developed several products and new initiatives.
• Governance framework on human genome editing form a set of two publications providing advice & recommendations on institutional, national, regional & global governance mechanisms for human genome editing.

Significance:

• Potential benefits of human genome editing are:
• New strategies for diagnosis, treatment & prevention of genetic disorders
• New avenues of treating infertility
• New ways of promoting disease resistance
• Contribution towards development of vaccine and enhanced knowledge of human biology.

SOURCE:PIB

5. Blue Origin.

IN NEWS:

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has approved “Blue Origin license” in order to carry humans on New Shepard launch system into space.

KEY POINTS:

• Blue origin an American aerospace manufacturer and sub-orbital spaceflight services company. It is privately funded and is headquartered in Kent, Washington. It was founded in 2000 by Jeff Bezos who is also the founder & executive chairman of Amazon.
• Former Amazon.com Chief Executive, Jeff Bezos, is to fly to space on July 20 through Blue Origin’s maiden crewed voyage.
• Blue Origin is authorized to carry humans while FAA license is valid through August.
• Blue Origin is approved to conduct these missions from its Launch Site One facility in Texas.
• This flight is coming after space-tourism rival Virgin Galactic successfully sent its crew to the edge of space.

Important  information:

Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin, spaceX firm are working to usher in new era of routine commercial civilian space travel. Space travel has been popularized as “billionaire space race.” Proving rocket travel is safe for public is a significant key of developing a space tourism market which is going to be $3 billion market, as per an estimate of Swiss-based investment bank UBS.

SOURCE:IE