Sci&Tech, Medical and Envirnoment:

The Centre has sought the Attorney General's (AG) opinion on the contentious issues faced by ultra mega power projects (UMPPs), including some observations made by the Comptroller and Auditor General on the 4,000-MW Sasan UMPP in Madya Pradesh being executed by Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Power.
The Rs.20,000-crore Sasan project has come under the CAG's scanner on the issue of diversion of coal from captive mines to sources other than the Sasan project.
The EGoM, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, is learnt to have discussed the progress of Mundra (Gujarat), Krishnapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and Tilaiya (Jharkhand) UMPPs.
The issue of sudden inflation in cost of imported coal also came up for discussion.

Astronomers have confirmed the discovery of an Earth-like planet which they say could be a potential future home for mankind outside the solar system.
Kepler 22-b lies about 600 light years away and is 2.4 times the size of Earth.
It is the closest confirmed planet yet to one like ours — an “Earth 2.0,” says a team at NASA.
It has a temperature of about 22 degrees Celsius.

A total lunar eclipse is expected to be observed on Saturday — the second time the Earth will cast a long shadow over the Moon this year.
The next lunar eclipse is expected to be observed in the country in 2018.

In case of a tear or wobbly lens, the lens material drops into the eye's cavity, causes an increase of the eye pressure, infection, swelling, and can even lead to retinal damage.
Conventionally, sinking lens cataract surgeries are handled by a long incision that requires multiple sutures, and consequently leads to slower recovery and elaborate post-operative management.
Intra Ocular Lens (IOL which replaces the natural lens after the cataract is removed) to support the cataract so that the material does not drop into the eye. It worked well on the first patient, on whom it was tried impromptu.
“It is so simple I have been wondering why I had not thought of this earlier. Nothing changes from the regular micro-incision cataract surgery that we do through the phacoemulsification technique. Only, the lens is introduced before, instead of after clearing the cataract,” Dr. Agarwal explains.

Kerala will become the first State in the country to roll out pentavalent vaccine as part of the Universal Immunisation Programme
The pentavalent vaccine is a conjugate vaccine which combines the antigens against five infections — Diphtheria, Pertussis and Tetanus (DPT), hepatitis B and Hib — in a single shot
The National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation in 2008 itself had recommended that Hib vaccine be introduced as pentavalent vaccine in the UIP because of the high mortality due to meningitis and pneumonia caused by Hib infection. It suggested that that as two States with excellent immunisation coverage and good vaccine delivery system, the vaccine be introduced in Kerala and Tamil Nadu first.
there had been much opposition to the introduction of Hib as pentavalent vaccine with many questioning the piloting of the vaccine in the State without sufficient Hib incidence or surveillance data.
With the Centre fully bearing the entire costs, this is an opportunity to provide the protection afforded by this vaccine to all the poor children in the State
As in the case of any vaccine, extreme precautions will be taken to maintain all procedures and to monitor any adverse effects which may occur when the pentavalent vaccine is newly introduced
The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) is supplying the vaccine free of cost to the Union Health Ministry for the first three years.