Prime Minister Modi’s birthday that falls on September 17, Seva Diwas is celebrated. This year Seva Saptah has been organized to mark the PM’s 70th birthday. The Seva Saptah is observed between September 14, 2020 and September 20, 2020. Seva Saptah is also known a week of Seva.
Seva Saptah
The Seva Saptah is observed by the Bharatiya Janata Party to mark PM Modi’s birthday. The theme of Seva Saptah is “Seventy”. The party is to provide artificial limbs to 70 people, spectacles to 70 blind people, distribute fruits to 70 hospitals. Also 70 blood donation camps are to be organised on this Seva Saptah.
Seva Diwas
Every year, the birthday of PM Modi is being celebrated as Seva Diwas. Surat is to plant 70,000 saplings to commemorate PM Modi’s birthday.
- On September 16, 2020, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund agreed to supply 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, Sputnik-V to an Indian drug company Dr Reddy’s Laboratories. The deal has been finalized after the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) reached agreements with the Indian manufacturer to produce 300 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to India.
On September 15, 2020, the Serum Institute of India received a go-ahead from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) to resume clinical trials of Oxford COVID-19 vaccines. The vaccine has been developed by AstraZeneca along with the researchers of Oxford University.
ZyCOV-D is another COVID-19 vaccine whose clinical trials are ongoing in India. This vaccine was developed under Vaccine Discovery programme. The programme is supported by Department of Biotechnology under the National Biopharma Mission.
3.Parliament passed the Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda Bill, 2020 with approval from Rajya Sabha. The lower house, Lok Sabha had already passed the bill.
Bill aims to establish an institute of teaching and research in Ayurveda. The institute is to be declared as an Institute of National Importance. Also, the bill has provisions to merge three Ayurveda institutes that are situated in Jamnagar in Gujarat into one single institute. They are Shree Gulabkunverba Ayurved Mahavidyalaya, Institute of Post-Graduate Teaching and Research in Ayurveda and Indian Institute of Ayurvedic Pharmaceutical Sciences. The institutes are to be situated inside the campus of Gujarat Ayurved University, Jamnagar.The institute is being established to achieve the following objectives
To develop patterns of teaching in Ayurveda and pharmacy
To bring together educational facilities of training of personnel in all branches of Ayurveda
To attain self sufficiency in post graduation in the field of Ayurveda and to meet the needs of specialists and medical teachers of Ayurveda
To make a thorough and in-depth study in the field of Ayurveda.
4.The World Ozone Day is also called the International Day for the preservation of an ozone layer. The day is being celebrated since 1994. The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed September 16 as World Ozone Day to commemorate the signing of Montreal protocol in 1987. The Protocol aims to reduce usage of substances that deplete the ozone layer.
Theme: Ozone for life: 35 years of ozone layer protection
Progress
The Montreal Protocol has greatly helped to heal the ozone layer. The ozone layer is expected to return to pre-1980 values by mid-century. The Kigali Amendment came into force in 2019 in support of Montreal protocol. Kigali agreement works towards reducing hydro -fluorocarbons, greenhouse gases.