29-10-21 Daily-Gujarat-GPSC Current Affairs

With a strong demand Growth in thehealthcarespace and people focusing more on preventative care after the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic, pharma companies are adding more drugs and products to their existing portfolios.
As a result, there has been a substantial jump in productapprovalsgranted to manufacture medicines inGujarat.

For instance: Gujarat Food and Drug Control Administration (FDCA) in September issued 5,494 licences to make different allopathic drugs and products. Except January and April, the number of product permissions provided to pharma firms every month has hovered above the 5,000-mark this year, shows data compiled by the FDCA-Gujarat.

The issuance of fresh product licences started increasing after the pandemic and crossed the monthly mark of 5,000 in 2021. New product licences totalling 5,601, 5,324, 5,488 and 5,421 were issued by the state FDCA in April, May, June, July and August, respectively. The number stood at 5,095 in February and 5,123 in March this year. The product approvals were low at 3,981 and 3,725 in January and April, respectively, reveal the state FDCA data. As many as 48,909 product permissions have been issued by the state FDCA so far this year.

Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Air Force (IAF) have flight-tested the Long-Range (LR) Bomb on 29 October.

Highlights:

An aerial platform near Balasore, Odisha, was used to test a long-range bomb.
It was launched from an IAF fighter aircraft and guided to a land-based target within prescribed limitations and with pinpoint accuracy.

The Integrated Test Range used a number of range sensors, telemetry, radar, and an Electro-Optical Tracking System to track the bomb’s flight and performance.

In collaboration with other DRDO facilities, Hyderabad’s Research Centre Imarat (RCI) conceived and produced the bomb.

An aerial platform near Balasore, Odisha, was used to test a long-range bomb.

It was launched from an IAF fighter aircraft and guided to a land-based target within prescribed limitations and with pinpoint accuracy.

Affairs:In the Global Climate Tech Trend Report, India ranked in the 9th position in the Top 10.

Highlights

According to London & Partners and Co’s research ‘Five years on: Global climate tech investment trends after the Paris Agreement,’ India ranked ninth among the top ten countries for climate technology investment from 2016 to 2021.

During this time, Indian climate-tech companies garnered $1 billion in Venture Capital (VC) funding.

The paper looked at Climate Change developments since the United Nations Conference of Parties (COP) in Paris, France, in 2016.

The United States (US) led the list with USD 48 billion, followed by China with USD 18.6 billion.

Climate-tech venture capital investment surged nearly fivefold, from $6.6 billion in 2016 to $32.3 billion in 2021.

Facebook has rebranded as Meta, with the goal of creating the “metaverse,” a shared virtual Environment that it believes will succeed the mobile Internet.

Highlights

The name change, first reported by the Verge, is an important rebranding for Facebook.
It unveiled a new logo in 2019 to distinguish the company from its Social Media app.

Metaverse

The term “metaverse” was coined three decades ago in the dystopian novel “Snow Crash,” and it is now a buzzword in Silicon Valley.

According to Zuckerberg, the new moniker, which comes from the Greek word for “beyond,” symbolises that there is always more to build.

It refers to the concept of a shared virtual reality that may be accessed via a variety of devices.

China successfully launched a new satellite on 24 October to test and verify space debris mitigation technologies.

Highlights:

It was launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in southwest Chinas Sichuan Province.

The satellite, named Shijian-21, was launched by a Long March-3B carrier rocket, and it entered the planned orbit successfully.

The satellite will be mainly used to test and verify space debris mitigation technologies.

Shijian-21 was launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in southwest Chinas Sichuan Province on a Long March-3B carrier rocket.

The satellite will be mainly used to test and verify space debris mitigation technologies.

The Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology developed the satellite.

This launch marked the 393rd mission for the Long March series carrier rockets.

The mission also marked the 39th space launch mission for China in 2021.