News Flash (15th September 2020): Top 10 Stories Of The Day

Education minister says, Govt has no plans to revise reservation policy under NEP

Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has made it clear that the government does not plan to revise the existing reservation policy under the new National Education Policy (NEP). The education minister said this while responding to a written question in Lok Sabha on Monsoon session’s first day. 

SII CEO admits there won’t be enough COVID-19 vaccines for all until 2024

Adar Poonawalla, CEO  of Pune-based Serum Institute of India’s (SII) has warned about the lack of enough vaccines against the coronavirus disease for everyone in the world until the end of 2024 at the earliest. He said providing a vaccine to each and everyone won’t be possible. While speaking to Financial Times, he said that that pharmaceutical companies of the world weren’t boosting their manufacturing capacity quickly enough to vaccinate the global population sooner. 

Over 5180sq km of Indian land of PoK was illegally handed over by Pak to China: Defence Minister

During the Parliament session, talking about the India-China tension, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said, “Under a so-called Boundary Agreement in 1963, Pakistan illegally handed over 5,180 square km of Indian land of PoK to China.” “As this House is aware, China has unauthorized occupation of approximately 38,000 square km of land in Ladakh,” the Minister said.

AIIMS to be established in Bihar’s Darbhanga, gets Union Cabinet’s approval

The Indian Government is now soon to establish All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at Darbhanga, Bihar under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY). This decision comes after the Union Cabinet’s approval for the same. The new AIIMS will have a hospital with a capacity of 750 beds. It is also going to have a medical college, AYUSH block, auditorium, night shelter, guest house, hostels and residential facilities.

YouTube launches the ‘YouTube Shorts’ feature in India

Online video platform YouTube has launched a new short-form video creator called YouTube Shorts in India with the aim to give competition to the much loved and missed TikTok. Under this new feature, YouTube will allow users to make 15-second videos and it can be set to music as well.

Astronomers might have discovered potential sign of life on Venus

Astronomers from the US, UK and Japan recently announced the discovery of rare molecule ‘phosphine’ in the clouds of Venus which indicate potential sign of life on the planet. Back on Earth, phosphine is only made industrially or by microbes that thrive in oxygen-free environments. 

Google completely eliminates its lifetime net carbon footprint bringing it to zero

Google, a tech giant has officially announced that it has completely eliminated its entire carbon legacy, bringing its lifetime net carbon footprint to zero. This announcement was made by Sundar Pichai, Google CEO. The company has also declared intentions of operating on carbon-free energy resources everywhere and at all times by 2030. “The science is clear: The world must act now,” the Pichai said.

Microsoft’s experimental undersea datacenter taken out after two years

After a period of two years, Microsoft has pulled out its experimental shipping-container-size undersea datacenter from the seafloor off Scotland’s Orkney Islands. Microsoft, which deployed the datacenter 117-feet-deep to the seafloor in 2018, said the experiment proved the concept of underwater datacenters is feasible. “Our failure rate in the water is one-eighth of what we see on land,” it said on data servers.

Bill Gates thinking of taking a COVID vaccine and manufacturing in India

Billionaire Bill Gates recently told PTI about his plan of “brokering the idea of taking a vaccine and manufacturing it in India even if it comes from AstraZeneca, Oxford, Novavax or Johnson & Johnson”. “India is a leading vaccine producer and we need cooperation from India on manufacturing COVID-19 vaccine,” he further added.

IT ministry to soon launch AI challenges for domestic entrepreneurs of the nation

The Union Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MeitY) is soon going to launch an artificial intelligence (AI) challenges with the motive to empower domestic entrepreneurs amid the pandemic. These AI challenges will be conducted for sectors like healthcare, education, agriculture, natural language processing and smart mobility and transportation. Applications will be accepted on MyGov, a citizen-engagement platform. 16 best AI start-ups will be selected on October 6 by a jury of experts from the industry, academia and the government.