Relevance IN - Prelims (about P7 Heavy Drop System)
What's the NEWS

• DRDO has developed P7 Heavy Drop System which is capable of para dropping military stores up to 7-ton weight class from IL-76 aircraft.

• P-7 Heavy Drop System is used for Para drop of military stores (vehicle/ ammunition/ equipment) of 7 Ton weight class.
• Heavy Drop System (P-7 HDS) for IL-76 Aircraft consists of a platform & specialised parachute system.
• System has been developed successfully with 100% indigenous resources. P-7 HDS has been inducted in the Army.
• This system is fully indigenous and being manufactured by L&T who makes the platform system, parachutes manufactured by Ordnance Factory.
• Defence scientists have enhanced India's capabilities in para dropping key military equipment and supplies from heavy lift aircraft like the IL76 to beef up the Army's strike power.
• It has been developed by the Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment (ADRDE), an Agra-based laboratory of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Corosure)
What's the NEWS

• The Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry e-launched the world's most affordable probe free RT-PCR based #COVID19 diagnostic kit, COROSURE developed by Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT)

• The test, Corosure, has been billed as the world's most affordable probe free RT-PCR based Covid-19 diagnostic kit.
• The test kit uses an alternative testing method for testing Covid-19 samples and is launched by the company Newtech Medical under the name ‘Corosure'.
• The kit roughly comes to around Rs 650. "This certainly makes it very affordable as compared to other probe tests that are being imported from other countries," he said.
• The product is approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI).

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about India-US Strategic Energy Partnership + about India Energy Modeling Forum + Mains ( GS II Bilateral relations)
What's the NEWS

• Sustainable Growth Pillar is an important pillar of India-US Strategic Energy Partnership co-chaired by NITI Aayog and USAID.
• The SG pillar entails energy data management, energy modelling and collaboration on low carbon technologies as three key activities.

• In the joint working group meeting of the Sustainable Growth Pillar on July 2, 2020, an India Energy Modeling Forum was launched.
• The forum provides an unbiased platform to discuss the contemporary issues revolving around energy and environment.

• Provide a platform to examine important energy and environmental related issues;
• Inform decision-making process to the Indian government;
• Improve cooperation between modelling teams, government, and knowledge partners, funders;
• Facilitate exchange of ideas, ensure production of high-quality studies;
• Identify knowledge gaps at different levels and across different areas;
• Build capacity of Indian institutions.

o NITI Aayog will initially coordinate the activities of the forum and finalizing its governing structure.
o The forum would include knowledge partners, data agencies and concerned government ministries.

• The United States and India have a long and successful strategic partnership in the energy sector.
• Under the Partnership, the United States and India will pursue four primary pillars of cooperation: (1) Oil and Gas; (2) Power and Energy Efficiency; (3) Renewable Energy and Sustainable Growth; and (4) Coal. Both parties may consider establishing additional pillars of cooperation based on mutual agreement.
• In November 2009, the United States and India launched the Partnership to Advance Clean Energy (PACE), which is working to accelerate inclusive, low carbon growth by supporting research and deployment of clean energy technologies.
• The activities of the PACE initiative are aligned to support India's ambitious clean energy targets.
• In order to track progress of the various levels of bilateral engagement on energy, the U.S.-India Energy Dialogue is convened annually, and was last hosted by the Department of Energy in Washington, D.C.
• In addition, the United States also engages India in the multilateral Clean Energy Ministerial forum.
• Over the past year, India has revised its renewable energy target to 175 GW by 2022. The national solar target was scaled up by five times, reaching 100 GW by 2022, of which 40 GW is expected to come from solar rooftop.

• The country's first fully indigenously developed vaccine against pneumonia has got approval from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI)

• With the help of Special Expert Committee (SEC) for vaccines, the drug regulator reviewed the phase I, II and III clinical trial data submitted by Pune-based firm Serum Institute of India and then granted the market approval for Pneumococcal Polysaccharide Conjugate Vaccine.
• The vaccine will be used for active immunisation against invasive disease and pneumonia caused by 'Streptococcus pneumonia' among infants.
• The Serum Institute of India first obtained the approval of the DCGI to conduct Phase I, II and III clinical trials of the vaccine in India.

• The $ 1.5-billion project is the second power project under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), for which an agreement has been signed in the last two months.
• The first agreement, for the 1,100 MW Kohala project, was signed on June 23. That project, worth $ 2.3 billion, too will come up on the Jhelum near Muzaffarabad.

• The 700-MW hydel power project is being built on the Jhelum river in Sudhoti district of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir
• Pakistan and China signed an agreement for the 700 MW Azad Pattan hydel power project on the Jhelum river in Sudhoti district of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK).
• The project is a run-of-the-river scheme with a reservoir located near Muslimabad village, 7 km upstream from the Azad Pattan bridge, in district Sudhnoti, one of the eight districts of PoK.
• The Azad Pattan project is one of five hydropower schemes on the Jhelum.
• Upstream from Azad Pattan are the Mahl, Kohala, and Chakothi Hattian projects; Karot is downstream. Like Kohala and Azad Pattan, Karot too, is being developed under the CPEC framework.

• This is a 1,124 MW hydel project that will come up on the Jhelum at Muzaffarabad near the Siran and Barsala villages.
• A "tripartite" agreement for implementing the project as part of the CPEC was signed on June 25 between China Three Gorges (CTG) Corporation, the government of PoK and Private Power and Infrastructure Board.
• This project is one of the biggest investments by China in PoK. Construction is expected to be complete by 2026.

• The Karot Hydropower station, the third project being executed by China on the Jhelum is on the boundaries of Kotli district in PoK and Rawalpindi district in Pakistan's Punjab province.
• According to the CPEC site, construction is under progress, and the project is expected to be commissioned by the end of 2021.