Current Affairs in Short: 5 January 2021

UK PM Boris Johnson cancels trip to India

•British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on January 5, 2020 cancelled his scheduled trip to India to be the chief guest at the Republic Day Parade.
•The UK Prime Minister spoke to PM Narendra Modi to express his regret that he would be unable to visit India as it was important for him to stay back in the UK to focus on the battle against the COVID-19. 
•The Prime Minister took the decision a day after he announced a national lockdown in Britain to tackle the spread of a new mutated variant of coronavirus.

Finance Ministry ministry releases 10th installment of GST compensation to states

•The Finance Ministry released the 10th weekly installment worth Rs 6,000 crore on January 4, 2021 to the states to meet the Goods and Services Tax (GST) compensation shortfall.
•Out of the total amount, a sum of Rs 5,516.60 crore has been released to 23 states and Rs 483.40 crore has been released to the three Union Territories (UT) with Legislative Assembly - J&K, Delhi and Puducherry.
•The remaining five states including Sikkim, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh do not have a gap in revenue on account of GST implementation. 
•With this, over 50 percent of the estimated GST compensation shortfall has been released to the states and UT with Legislative Assembly.

Alexander Ellis appointed as next British High Commissioner to India

•Alexander Ellis has been appointed as the British High Commissioner to India. He will be succeeding Philip Barton.
•Ellis has initially started as the Deputy National Security Adviser for the Integrated Review on diplomacy, development, and defence in January 2020.
•Before this, he was the Director-General in the Department for Exiting the European Union for three years.
•Ellis took to Twitter to share his excitement over coming to India after 35 years.

PM Narendra Modi to inaugurate Rewari-Madar section of freight corridor on January 7

•Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate a new stretch, Rewari-Madar section of the Dedicated Freight Corridor for commercial operations at 11 am on January 7, 2021. This comes days after the Prime Minister inaugurated the 351-km Khurja-Bhaupur section of the mega project. The new stretch will connect Haryana's Rewari with Rajasthan's Madar. 
•PM Modi will also flag off the world's first Double Stack Long Haul 1.5 km long container train hauled by electric traction from Haryana's Ateli to Rajasthan's Kishangarh. It is expected to have an enhanced axle load of 25 tonnes.
•PM Modi during his address on December 29, 2020 said that these freight corridors are expected to play a major role in making India "self-reliant" and will benefit everyone including farmers, traders and consumers.  

Serum Institute, Bharat Biotech jointly pledge smooth rollout of COVID-19 vaccines

•The Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech on January 5, 2021 jointly communicated their pledge for the smooth rollout of COVID-19 vaccines to India and the world. 
•Adar Poonawala and Dr. Krishna Ella, on behalf of the two companies, communicated their combined intent to develop, manufacture and supply the COVID-19 vaccines for India and globally.
•While Adar Poonawala is Chief Executive Officer of SII, Dr. Krishna Ella is Chairman/ Managing Director of Bharat Biotech.
•They said that the most important task ahead of them is saving lives and assured that both the companies are fully engaged in this activity and consider it their duty to the nation and the world at large to ensure a smooth rollout of vaccines.