Current Affairs in Short: 28 January 2022

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to Convene all-party meeting on January 30

•  Lok Sabha Speaker, Om Birla, ahead of the Union Budget 2022 session, will convene an all-party meeting on January 30, 2022, to ensure the smooth functioning of the house.

•  Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu has also called an all-party meeting virtually on January 31.

•  The Government of India has also convened a party meeting on the same day to seek cooperation from all political parties to ensure the smooth functioning of the Budget session.

•  The Union Budget 2022 session will begin on January 31 with President Ram Nath Kovind’s address to both the Houses of Parliament. The Budget 2022 will be presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1.

Central Government likely to issue advisory on reopening schools soon

•  As the COVID-19 vaccination drive for children aged 15 years and above gathers pace, the Central Government is most likely to issue an advisory to reopen the schools across the country.

•  The Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has asked the National Expert Group to suggest ways and work on modalities to open the schools worldwide.

•  Reportedly, the Government wants to reopen the schools in a staggered manner and under strict adherence to the COVID-19 protocols. Ever since the outbreak of the pandemic, schools have remained by and large shut.

•  The COVID-19 vaccination campaign in the country for adolescents in the age group of 15-18 years started on January 3, 2022.

Bangladesh passes bill for Election Commission formation

•  The Bangladesh Parliament has passed a bill for the appointment of Election Commissioners and Chief Election Commissioner for the formation of the next Election Commission.

•  The bill which was passed by the voice vote gives a legal shield to the appointments of the Chief Election Commissioner and the Election Commissioners to form the EC. The tenure of the current Election Commission will end on February 14, 2022.

•  The bill passed by the Parliament envisages a six-member search committee appointed by the President to recommend the names of the Election Commissioners and CEC.

•  The opposition Bangladesh National Party, however, has criticized the bill for being passed in a hurry.

Research portal of National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research launched

•  The Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has launched a research portal of the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research.

•  It aims at disseminating the information and details of the research activities, publications, and patents of all NIPERs.

•  While speaking on the occasion, the Union Minister said that healthy competition between academia and research is extremely significant and that research and innovation are necessary for sustained growth of the pharmaceutical sector.

•  He further added that India has young talent and human resources, however, this pool needs to be channelized effectively.

Australian Government announces billion-dollar package to protect Great Barrier Reef

•  A billion-dollar plan has been unveiled by the Australian Government to protect the Climate ravaged Great Barrier Reef. The plan aims to prevent the vast networks of corals from being removed from UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

•  The plan has been announced months after narrowly avoiding the reef being placed on UNESCO’s in danger list.

•  As per the recent study, bleaching had affected 98% of reefs since 1998, leaving just a fraction of untouched. People in Australia are also in favour of action to limit climate change after experiencing strings of global warming-worsened disasters.