Current Affairs 2021
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Current Affairs for May 18, 2021: Here aspirants will get the summarized events and facts incurring on daily basis for general awareness. The motive of this article is to help aspirants in preparation for competitive exams like; UPSC, UPPSC, SSC, Railway, IBPS etc.
(I) India Loses Farzad-B Gas Field
India loses the Farzad-B giant gas field discovered in 2008 by ONGC Videsh Ltd in the Persian Gulf, Iran. The National Iranian Oil Company, NIOC Iran has awarded the contract for developing the giant gas field to a local company 'Petropars'. The deal in the contract worth USD 1.78 billion.
About ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) - OVL is the overseas investment arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC). It was founded in 1965. It is a subsidiary of ONGC and also known as a 'Miniratna'.
About Iran -
Capital: Tehran
Currency: Iranian rial
President: Hassan Rouhani
Minister of Petroleum: Bijan Zangeneh
(II) Co-WIN portal in 16 Languages
Union Health Ministry has announced to add 15 regional languages apart from English in the Co-WIN. The Ministry will add Hindi and 14 other languages from next week. Furhter, 17 more laboratories will be added to the INSACOG network. Presently 10 laboratories located at different corners of the country are monitoring the variants of COVID-19.
INSACOG - Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Consortia
SARS-CoV-2 is a new variant, which was found in the UK, especially in the London region. It is defined by multiple mutations in the Spike region, as well as mutations in other genomic regions.
Co-WIN - Covid Vaccine Intelligence Work
For vaccination process across the country, central government has introduced an application named CoWIN. The app is available on Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store.
(III) Magnetometer
Scientists from Raman Research Institute (RRI), Bengaluru have developed a magnetometer for low cost in coordination with the Department of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) Government of India.
The device is more efficient, faster, and low-cost digital receiver system for the measurements of magnetic fields. The system costs less than 350$ in manufacturing.
(IV) Padmanabh Sinha Appointed as Executive Director & CIO in NIIF
National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) has appointed Padmanabh Sinha as executive director and chief investment officer of its direct private equity vehicle. Formerly he was working as managing partner at Tata Opportunities Fund.
Padmanabh Sinha will lead the NIIF Strategic Opportunities Fund (SOF). It is one of the largest funds focused on India with a target corpus of more than $2 billion.
(V) 69th Miss Universe
Andrea Meza of Mexico has been crowned as Miss Universe 2020. It was the 69th edition of the Miss Universe competition held on May 16, 2021, at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida, United States. Miss Universe 2019 - Zozibini Tunzi of South Africa crowned her successor Andrea Meza.
Julia Gama of Brazil was the first runner-up while Janick Maceta from Peru bagged the 3rd place in the competition.
About Andrea Meza - Alma Andrea Meza Carmona is a Mexican model and beauty pageant titleholder. She is a software engineer in Mexico.
