1) WHO names Covid-19 variants first found in India as ‘Kappa’ and ‘Delta’
•The UN health agency, World Health Organisation (WHO), has given easy-to-say labels to two variants of the Covid-19, first found in India. The two variants are B.1.617.1 and B.1.617.2. The B.1.617.1 variant of the Covid 19 has been named as ‘Kappa’ while the B1.617.2 variant is named as ‘Delta.’
•The naming of these variants do not aim at replacing the existing scientific names of these #SARSCoV2 Variants of Concern (VOCs) & Interest (VOIs), but is aimed at helping the public discussion about VOI/VOC.
2) OECD estimate growth cut of India to 9.9% FY22
•The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has cut India’s growth projection to 9.9 % for Financial Year 2022. In March, it estimated growth to 12.6%. The rate was cut witnessing covid cases lockdowns which have threatened to stall the nascent economic recovery of India. As per OECD, “pandemic can be contained quickly but GDP (gross domestic product) growth will still be about 10% in 2021-22 and 8% in 2022-23.
3) Justice A.K. Mishra to head NHRC
•Former Supreme Court judge Arun Kumar Mishra will be the new chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) after a high-powered recommendation committee proposed his name. The selection panel consisted of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, Harivansh, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge.
•Former Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court, Mahesh Mittal Kumar, and former Director of Intelligence Bureau, Rajiv Jain, had also been recommended by the high-powered panel as members of the NHRC but the official notification is yet to be out until the filing of this report.
4) SBI Economists Revises GDP Growth Estimate in FY22 to 7.9%
•SBI economists, in its research report “Ecowrap”, has sharply cut the GDP growth estimates for the Indian economy to 7.9 per cent in FY22, compared to an earlier projection of 10.4 per cent. This is the lowest growth rate estimate for India among all analysts.
•The key factor for revision in the growth estimate is the impact of the second wave of COVID-19 infections. The SBI economists project a “W-shaped” recovery in FY22, with two troughs, instead of the earlier anticipated “V-shaped” recovery.
5) Centre for World University Rankings 2021-22 announced
•Centre for World University Rankings 2021-22 has announced, 19,788 institutions were ranked, and those that placed at the top made the global 2000 list. Harvard University has topped the ranking globally followed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, University of Cambridge, and Oxford University respectively.
•As many as 68 Indian institutes have made it to the list of the top 2000 higher education institutes across the world, as per the Centre for World University Rankings (CWUR) 2021-22. The Indian pack is led by the IIM-Ahmedabad which has bagged 415th rank followed by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) at 459th rank.
6) IIT-Ropar Develops ‘AmbiTAG’ India’s First Indigenous Temperature Data Logger
•Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar (IIT Ropar) in Punjab has developed a first-of-its-kind IoT device, “AmbiTag” that records real-time ambient temperature during the transportation of perishable products, vaccines and even body organs and blood. That recorded temperature further helps to know whether that particular item transported from anywhere in the world is still usable or perished because of temperature variation. This information is particularly critical for vaccines including the Covid-19 vaccine, organs and blood transportation.
