News in Short

• The fifth and final Test between England and India, which was scheduled to begin at the Old Trafford in Manchester has been cancelled.
• The BCCI and ECB held several rounds of discussion to find a way to play the Test Match, however, the outbreak of Covid-19 in the Indian team contingent forced the decision of calling off the Old Trafford Test Match.
• As of now, India are 2-1 ahead and have not been officially declared winners simply because there could be a chance of the fifth Test being played during the window in July next year when the team visits for a six-match white-ball series.

• India and the U.S. have agreed to expand their energy partnership by adding emerging fuels to the list of areas of cooperation that previously included power and energy efficiency, oil and gas, renewable energy and sustainable growth.
• This followed a Ministerial meeting of the U.S.-India Strategic Clean Energy Partnership (SCEP).
• The SCEP was launched in accordance with the U.S.-India Climate and Clean Energy Agenda 2030 Partnership announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden at the Leaders’ Summit on Climate held in April this year.
• The two sides also announced rechristening of Gas Task Force to India-U.S. Low Emissions Gas Task Force, which would continue to forge collaboration between the U.S. and Indian companies on innovative projects.

• The IAF carried out a demonstration on NH-925, at GandhavBhakasar section in Rajasthan’s Jalore, of how it would operate from the airstrip during a military emergency.
• There are over 20 other locations identified across the country for similar emergency landing fields. Similar projects are being planned in Punjab, Haryana, West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu amongst others.
• The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has developed a 3 km stretch as a landing strip on the highway. It has a width of 33 metres and was constructed at a total cost of Rs 43 crore.

• Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhanreleased the NIRF Rankings 2021. The Rankings have been released under various categories, including, Engineering, Pharmacy, Management, Overall, Research etc.
• IIT Madras has topped the Rankings in the overall category, while IISc Bengaluru has come second, which is followed by IIT Bombay at the third place.
• This year NIRF has released the sixth annual ranking list of higher educational institutes of the country.
• The rankings for all colleges and universities across the country given by the Ministry were based on teaching, learning, and resources; research and professional practice, graduation outcome; outreach and inclusivity; and peer perception.

• Veteran all-rounder Mohammad Nabi has been named Afghanistan skipper for the upcoming T20 World Cup after star spinner Rashid Khan stepped down from captaincy protesting the selection of the national squad without his inputs.
• The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) is yet to officially announce Nabi’s appointment as captain but the 36-year-old all-rounder tweeted that he had been chosen to lead the team.
• Rashid’s stepping down came immediately after the ACB named him the captain of the 15-member squad for the showpiece event.