# UP elections

• The high stakes electoral battle in Uttar Pradesh will commence on Thursday with voting for 58 seats in the Western belt.
• More than 2.28 crore voters will decide the fate of 623 candidates, including 73 women.
• Of the 58 seats going to the polls on Thursday, the BJP won 53 in 2017 assembly elections.

# Fusion energy

• Scientists in the United Kingdom said they have achieved a new milestone in producing nuclear fusion energy, or imitating the way energy is produced in the sun.
• Energy by nuclear fusion is one of mankind’s long standing quests as it promises to be low carbon, safer than how nuclear energy is produced.
• A team at the Joint European torus (JET) facility near Oxford in Central England generated 59 Megajoules of sustained energy during an experiment in December, more than doubling a 1997 record.
• A kilogram of fusion fuel contains about 10 million times as much as energy as a kilogram of coal, oil or gas.
• The record and scientific data from these crucial experiments are a major boost for the ITER, the larger and more advanced version of the JET.

# INCOIS

• Indian National Centre for Ocean Information services (INCOIS) has carried out coastal Vulnerability assessment for entire Indian coast at states level to bring out an atlas comprising 156 maps on 1:100000 scales to prepare a coastal vulnerability index (CVI).
• From the CVI, It can be delineated that Gujarat’s 124 coastal KM is going to get affected or 5.36℅, Maharashtra 11 KM or 1.22℅ and then Karnataka and goa 48 KM or 9.54℅.

# IITs

• Over 40℅ of teaching posts in all Indian Institute of technology are vacant according to data provided by the ministry of education in Rajya sabha.
• According to the data, while 6511 teaching faculty are working in the IITs, 4370 posts are vacant.
• Only 12℅ of the 6511 teaching staff are from scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and Other backward castes.

# Quad

• External affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will begin a visit to Australia to attend a meeting of foreign ministers of Quad countries.
• Foreign ministers are expected to discuss cooperation on vaccines, technology and regional security issues including issues related to China.