15th September, 2021 Current Affairs

VP Naidu, PM Modi, Amit Shah greet all engineers on Engineers Day

• Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu greeted all the engineers on the occasion Engineers Day.
• In a tweet, Mr. Naidu paid humble tributes to legendary engineer Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya on his birth anniversary.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has greeted all hardworking engineers on Engineers Day.
• The Prime Minister paid homage to the remarkable M. Visvesvaraya on his birth anniversary and recalled his accomplishments.
• Home Minister Amit Shah paid tributes to Sir M Visvesvaraya on his birth anniversary.
• Greeting engineers on Engineers Day, the Union Home Minister said, our brilliant engineers are constantly striving towards the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat through their amazing innovations.

Over 75.89 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in country so far

• More than 75 crore 89 lakh COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in the country so far under the Nationwide Vaccination Drive.
• Over 61 lakh 15 thousand vaccine doses were administered to eligible beneficiaries in the country during the last 24 hours.
• Health Ministry in a statement said that the country reported over 27 thousand new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours.
• The Ministry said, that the recovery rate currently stands at 97.62 per cent.

India and USA sign MoU for enhancing export potential of Ayurvedic & other Indian traditional medicine products

• The Ayush Ministry has paved the way for strengthening the quality of Ayurvedic and other Indian traditional medicine products globally and also enhancing their export potential especially to the USA market.
• A MoU has been signed between the Pharmacopoeia Commission for Indian Medicine and Homoeopathy and the American Herbal Pharmacopoeia, USA, on September 13, 2021.
• The MoU is aimed at strengthening promotion and development of standards in the field of Ayurveda and other Indian Traditional systems of medicine between the two countries on the basis of equality and mutual benefit.

India, UK aim for launching negotiations on free trade agreements by Nov 1, 2021

• India and UK have aimed for launching the negotiations on free trade agreements by 1st November this year.
• The matter came up during the discussions between Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and his British counterpart Secretary of State, Elizabeth Truss.
• Mr. Goyal said that the proposed free trade agreements (FTA) between the two countries will unlock extra ordinary business opportunities and generate jobs.
• Mr. Goyal added that Substantial work has already been done and extensive stakeholder consultations have been held involving Industry, Business associations, Export Promotion Councils and Buyers and Sellers Associations.
• He said, the consultation paper was also made public for wider participation as well.

North Korea fires two ballistic missiles off its east coast

• North Korea has fired two ballistic missiles off its east coast.
• This is the second weapons test North Korea has carried out this week.
• It had also tested a long-range cruise missile capable of hitting much of Japan on Monday, calling it “a strategic weapon of great significance.
• Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has called the launch “outrageous” saying it threatened peace and security in the region.
• Ballistic missile tests contravene UN resolutions designed to curb the North’s nuclear activities.

India’s UPI and Singapore’s PayNow will be linked by July 2022

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announce a project to link their respective fast payment systems viz. Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and PayNow. The linkage is targeted for operationalization by July 2022.
• The UPI-PayNow linkage will enable users of each of the two fast payment systems to make instant, low-cost fund transfers on a reciprocal basis without a need to get onboarded onto the other payment system.
• The UPI-PayNow linkage is a significant milestone in the development of infrastructure for cross-border payments between India and Singapore.
• It closely aligns with the G20’s financial inclusion priorities of driving faster, cheaper and more transparent cross-border payments.
• This initiative is also in line with RBI’s vision of reviewing corridors and charges for inbound cross-border remittances outlined in the Payment Systems Vision Document 2019-21.