Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers is being held in Kyrgyz capital Bishkek.
The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
India was an observer at the SCO since 2005 and has generally participated in the ministerial-level meetings of the grouping which focus mainly on security and economic cooperation in the Eurasian region.
India became a full member of the China-dominated grouping in 2017, Along with India, Pakistan was also granted SCO membership in the same year.
India is keen on deepening its security-related cooperation with the SCO and its Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS), which specifically deals with issues relating to security and defense.
IMCOR
Indo-Myanmar coordinated patrol (IMCORPAT) is the initiative between the two navies to address issues of terrorism, illegal fishing, drug trafficking, human trafficking, poaching and other illegal activities inimical to interest of both nations.
It has started in 2013, the CORPAT(Co-ordinate Patrol) series has enhanced the mutual understanding and fostered improved professional interaction between the two navies for maritime interoperability.
The ships would patrol along the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) between the two countries.
Mohalla Clinics
Mohalla clinics started in 2015, they are primary health centers in New Delhi, that offer a basic package of essential health services including medicines, diagnostics, and consultation free of cost.
Delhi’s Mohalla clinic initiative is set to be extended to several states, with Telangana, Karnataka, Jharkhand and J&K expressing interest in adopting the flagship project.
These clinics serve as the first point of contact for the population, offer timely services, and reduce the load of referrals to secondary and tertiary health facilities in the state.
Every such clinic has a doctor, a technician for uploading patients’ Aadhaar card details and a lab assistant for collecting blood samples and disbursing medicines.
The clinics run from 8 am to 2 pm and doctors are paid on the basis of the number of patients they treat — each doctor gets Rs 30 per patient per day.
Each clinic is ideally supposed to cater to a 5-km radius with a population of 10,000-15,000.
Kibble Balance
CSIR is in the process of making its own ‘Kibble Balance’, a device that was used to measure the Planck Constant and thereby reboot the kilogram.
Currently, Kilogram is defined by the weight of a platinum-based ingot called “Le Grand K” which is locked away in a safe in Paris.
Le Grand K has been at the forefront of the international system of measuring weights since 1889.
But the master kilogram and its copies were seen to change ever so slightly as they deteriorated.
In a world where accurate measurement is now critical in many areas, such as in drug development, nanotechnology and precision engineering those responsible for maintaining the international system had no option but to move beyond Le Grand K to a more robust definition.
In principle, scientists can define a kilogram, or any other weight, in terms of the amount of electricity needed to counteract the weight (gravitational force acting on a mass).
The Kibble balance has an electromagnet that pulls down on one side of the scales and a weight say, a kilogram on the other.
The electrical current going through the electromagnet is increased until the two sides are perfectly balanced.
By measuring the current running through the electromagnet to incredible precision, the researchers are able to calculate h to an accuracy of 0.000001%.
