# Manipur

• Nongthombam Biren Singh will be the chief minister of Manipur for a second straight term.
• The 61 year old Biren Singh is a footballer turned journalist turned politician.
• Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and law minister Kiren rijiju are the two observers of Manipur appointed by BJP.
• The new ministry is expected to be sworn in after the five day Yaoshang – manipuri holi ends on March 22.

# Covishield

• The national technical advisory group on immunization has recommended that the second dose of Covishield can be administered from eight to sixteen weeks after the first dose.
• Currently, the second dose is being given 12 to 16 weeks after the first.
• The latest recommendation of the NTAGI is based on recent global scientific evidence derived from programmatic data.

# RCEP

• Japan has still not given up hope that India might reconsider joining the Regional comprehensive economic partnership (RCEP) from which it opted out in 2019.
• The Japanese official said that the RCEP “rules of origin” Clause could also make it more difficult for products that have an Indian component to be sold easily among the 15 member grouping countries in the future.
• The 15 nation RCEP, which is the world’s largest trade deal includes China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and 10 members of the Association of South Asian Nations.
• These countries represent about 30% of global GDP and Population.

# Arctic Council

• India aspires to have a permanent presence with more research and satellite ground stations in the Arctic region, suggests a persual of its Arctic policy document officially unveiled last week.
• India, now has a single station, Himadri, in Ny-ale-sund, Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago, where research personnel are usually present for 180 days.
• India is in the process of procuring an ice-breaker research vessel that can navigate the region.