CURRENT AFFAIRS

The growth in India's real GDP during 2020-21 is estimated at -7.7% as compared to the growth rate of 4.2% in 2019-20, said government on Thursday as part of its first advance estimates of the economic growth.

The draft of the 5^th National Science Technology and Innovation Policy has been finalized and is now available for public consultation.

The Centre, in a first move of its kind, has issued Rs 5,500 crore in zero-coupon bonds for recapitalising Punjab and Sind Bank (P&SB) and allowed it to park the paper in its held-to-maturity (HTM) category at face value rather than the discounted market rate.

With the advent of 2021, the Indian regulators deliberate over approving the use of Covishield, Serum Institute of India’s version of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine there is a sense of optimism in the public, investors and market participants.

The scale of a sophisticated cyber attack on the U.S. government that was unearthed recently is much bigger than first anticipated. 

The approval of Drug regulator to Cadila Healthcare Ltd to conduct Phase 3 clinical trials of its ZyCoV-D vaccine candidate for Covid-19.

Despite Covid-19 restrictions and the risk of animal to human disease transmission, illegal wildlife trade on social media networks has continued, with wild animals sometimes sold as “lockdown pets”.

Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) unveiled India’s first indigenously developed pneumococcal vaccine.The world’s largest vaccine manufacturer by doses, SII is also the maker of Covishield, the Indian version of the AstraZeneca-Oxford coronavirus vaccine.

Even as industrial output picked up as the economy reopened, buoyed by pent-up demand and a festival spending boost, consumer sentiment remains weak.

India has been ordered to return up to $1.4 billion to Cairn Energy PLC of the U.K. after an international arbitration overturned tax demanded retrospectively — an award the government indicated it may challenge.