VISION

6) Maharashtra launches largest plasma therapy trial “Project Platina”

•Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has launched the world’s largest plasma therapy trials “Project Platina” for COVID-19 patients. The state government has approved Rs 16.65 crore for the project from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.




•There are 21 centres have been picked for the trial, including 17 medical colleges under the department of medical education and drugs, the government of Maharashtra and four BMC medical colleges in Mumbai.

•Under the project, critical patients will receive two doses of 200 ml of plasma recovered from COVID-19 patients. The treatment will be provided free of cost to all coronavirus patients under the trial project. Plasma is the liquid part of the blood which have antibodies to the coronavirus, thereby fight the infection and helping critically-ill patients to recover.

7) MP govt to launch ‘Kill Corona’ campaign
•Madhya Pradesh government will launch a ‘Kill Corona’ campaign from July 1 to control the spread of COVID-19 in the state. Under the campaign, the door-to-door survey will be conducted and tests would also be done on citizens for other diseases as well.

•During the 15-day campaign, 2.5 lakh tests will be carried out and 15,000 to 20,000 samples would be collected daily. The recovery rate in Madhya Pradesh is 76.9 per cent, which is better than the national recovery rate.

8) World Bank approves $500 million for STARS Program
The World Bank has approved a $500 million for Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for States Program (STARS). The STARS program seeks to improve the quality and governance of school education in six Indian states namely Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Rajasthan. STARS program will help India in renewing focus on addressing the ‘learning outcome’ challenge. It will also help the students in preparing for the jobs of the future via series of reform initiatives. These reform initiatives includes:

•Focusing more directly on the delivery of education services at the state, district and sub district levels.
•Addressing demands from stakeholders, especially parents, for greater accountability and inclusion.
•Equipping teachers to manage the transformation.
•Investing more in developing India’s human capital needs.

9) Lazarus Chakwera wins President election in Malawi’s
•Lazarus Chakwera becomes the new President of Malawi. He defeated incumbent Peter Mutharika with 58.57% of votes. Chakwera won with 2.6 million votes against 1.75 million for Mutharika. He is the head of the Malawi Congress Party(MCP).

10) India signs agreement with Bhutan for 600 MW hydroelectric project
•India and Bhutan signed a pact for the construction of the 600 MW Kholongchhu joint venture hydroelectric project in Bhutan. The agreement for the project between the Bhutanese government and therefore the Kholongchhu Hydro Energy Limited was signed within the presence of Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar and his Bhutanese counterpart Tandi Dorji.

•The Kholongchhu Hydro Energy Limited is a joint venture between Bhutan’s Druk Green Power Corporation (DGPC) and India’s Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (SJVNL). The project is predicted to be completed within the last half of 2025. The 600 MW run-of-the-river project is located on the lower course of the Kholongchhu River in Trashiyangtse district in eastern Bhutan. The project includes an underground powerhouse of four 150 MW turbines with water impounded by a concrete gravity dam of 95 metres height.

11) Popstar Beyonce honored with BET 2020 Humanitarian Award
•Popstar Beyonce has been honored with the BET 2020 Humanitarian Award for her longstanding philanthropic work with her BeyGOOD Foundation, including her recent COVID-19 relief efforts such as #IDIDMYPART, a mobile testing initiative. The award was presented by the former First Lady Michelle Obama.

•“BET Awards” is an American award show which celebrates African Americans and other minorities in music, acting, sports and other fields of entertainment over the past year. “BET Awards” was established in 2001 by the Black Entertainment Television network.

12) Kiren Rijiju launches “NADA App” for athletes
•Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju has launched the National Anti-Doping Agency’s first mobile app named as “NADA App”. The recently launched mobile application aims to bridge the gap between NADA and the athletes by offering easily-accessible information on various aspects of sport, prohibited substances as well as dope-testing.

•The NADA app is expected to act as a one-stop guide for all anti-doping and medication related information. It also offers comprehensive information on commonly-prescribed medicines. Athletes can also use this mobile application in the Registered Testing Pool (RTP) to update their whereabouts, know about decisions from the disciplinary and appeal panels and for Dope Control Officers to record their availability for testing.

600 MW Kholongchhu venture termed a ‘milestone’ in ties

•India and Bhutan took a major step forward for the construction of the 600 MW Kholongchhu project, their first hydropower joint venture project in Bhutan’s less developed eastern region of Trashiyangtse.

•The project’s “Concession agreement,” which was signed in the presence via video-conference of External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in Delhi, and Bhutan’s Foreign Minister Tandi Dorji and Economic Affairs Minister Loknath Sharma in Thimphu, marks a shift as it is the first time an India-Bhutan hydropower project will be constructed as a 50:50 joint venture, not as a government-to-government agreement.

•Speaking at the ceremony, both Foreign Ministers called the agreement a “milestone” in the India-Bhutan partnership, under which four hydropower projects have been built in the last 30 years totalling a capacity of 2,100 MW, and another two are under construction. The Kholongchhu project is one of four additional projects agreed to in 2008, as a part of India’s commitment to help Bhutan create a total 10,000 MW of installed capacity by 2020.

‘Mutually beneficial’

•“[The] hydro power sector has been the most visible symbol of the mutually beneficial bilateral cooperation between our two countries,” said Mr. Jaishankar at the signing ceremony between the JV Partners Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN), a Himachal Pradesh PSU, and the Bhutanese Druk Green Power Corporation (DGPC).

•“I congratulate both the JV partners for this remarkable feat and hope that they will leave no stone unturned in expeditiously completing the project,” he said.

Signed in 2014

•The inter-governmental agreement for the Kholongchhu project was signed after prolonged negotiations on the structure of the joint venture, in April 2014, and the foundation stone was laid when Prime Minister Narendra Modi travelled to Thimphu a few months later.

•However, progress on preparing the site ground to a halt in December 2016 over India’s new power tariff guidelines (on Cross Border Trade of Electricity - CBTE), until the government amended its guidelines after negotiations with the Bhutan government. During Monday’s ceremony, the Bhutanese Foreign Minister said the delay had “some benefits” as many issues on the ground were ironed out during the period.

•According to the agreement finalised, the construction for the Kholongchhu Hydro Electric Power (HEP) project will begin soon, and be completed in the second half of 2025.

📰 Cautious, but firm

Why in news?

The Financial Action Task Force has granted Pakistan on its watch list a 3-month extension to fulfil its 27-point action plan.

Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is an independent constitutional body. It is concerned with recruitment of the all India services and central services-group A and B. In this article a set of 8 questions based on the Union Public Service Commission is given.

1. Who selects the Chairman and members of the Union Public Service Commission?