Current Affairs in Short: 25 August 2021

•Jal Shakti Ministry on August 25, 2021, said the starting of SUJALAM, a 100-days drive as part of the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations.

•The campaign aims toward planning as many ODF Plus villages as potential by offering wastewater management at the village level.

•The campaign points at expediting actions under the Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin phase-2 through heightened consciousness about ODF Plus village projects and community support.

•The campaign centres to secure all emerging families in a village can reach toilet facilities.
Along with support with wastewater management, ten lakh soak-pits will be set up over the 100-days of the campaign.

•Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on August 25, 2021, published that all states in India will be given additional 2 crores COVID-19 vaccine doses in August 2021.

•Mandaviya also required all states to vaccinate all school teachers on preference before Teachers’ Day which is commemorated every year on September 5.

•Over 58.07 crores COVID-19 vaccine doses have been provided to States and Union Territories so far, as per the Health Ministry.

•The increasing vaccination coverage of India crossed the 59-crore mark on August 24, 2021, since the opening of the vaccination drive on January 16, 2021. Over 61 lakh vaccines doses have been applied in the past 24-hours.

•The total number of approved COVID-19 cases in India was reported 3,25,12,366 of which 3,17,54,281 are recoveries, 3,22,327 are active cases and 4,35,758 deaths so far. India’s COVID-19 recovery rate is currently at 97.67%.

•The 5th version of India-Kazakhstan Joint Training Exercise ‘KAZIND-21’ will be taken through Training Node, Aisha Bibi, Kazakhstan from August 30 to September 11, 2021. The common theme is designed to increase the bilateral relations between India and Kazakhstan.

•A unit of the Bihar Regiment comprising 90 groups started by a Contingent Commander will serve the Indian Army and a company group will represent the Kazakhstan Army during the exercise.

•The exercise will support the Indian Army and Kazakhstan Army forces to prepare for counter-insurgency or counter-terrorism agencies in the mountains or rural scenarios under UN mandate.

•The exercise will involve planning and performance of the operation in the counter-terrorism context at the sub-unit level and distributing expertise in battle shooting, guns, and expert exchange of experiences in counter-insurgency or counter-terrorism operations.

•The theme will be achieved with a 48-hour long validation action which will involve neutralization of terrorists in a semi-rural hideout scenario.

•US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry is expected to visit India in September 2021 to increase the India-US partnership on Clean Energy. The addition came in after a telephonic call between the Union Environment Minister and US Envoy for Climate.

•Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav on August 24, 2021, through a telephonic conversation with US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry deliberated on Climate Action and Finance Mobilization Dialogue (CAFMD) Track under India-US Climate and Clean Energy Agenda 2030 Partnership.

•US Envoy Kerry said that the starting of CAFMD as a piece of the India-US Climate and Clean Energy Agenda 2030 Partnership is to improve climate actions in the contemporary decade to reach the Paris Agreement goals.

•The Environment Minister said India is confined to serving with the US on Clean Energy.

•For the first time, the MRI centre of the SNM Hospital in Leh, Ladakh got a 1.5 Tesla Magnetic Response Imaging (MRI) machine. This is the first MRI machine to be established in Ladakh.

•Tashi Gyaltsen, the Chief Executive Councillor of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) inaugurated the department.

•The MRI machine in Ladakh has been established as part of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the LAHDC and the Airport Authority of India that was approved in September 2019.