VISION

 Shankar IAS Target 2021 Environment & Geography I PDF

1)  India celebrates National Technology Day on 11th May

•National Technology Day is celebrated on 11 May across India. This day marks the successfully tested Shakti-I nuclear missile at the Indian Army’s Pokhran Test Range in Rajasthan. This day will be focusing on rebooting the economy through Science and Technology. It also highlights the achievements of our scientists and engineers in the field of science and technology and encourages students to embrace Science as a career option.

2)  ISRO develops 3 cost-effective ventilators, oxygen concentrator

•The Indian Space Research Organisation’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), has developed three different types of ventilators and an oxygen concentrator at a time when a shortage of this critical medical equipment resulted in the deaths of many Covid-19 patients across the country. Based on designs, features and specifications, we have named them, Prana, VaU and Svasta. All three are user-friendly, fully automated and with touch-screen specifications, meeting all safety standards.

•Technology transfer will be done for the commercial production of these three ventilators and the one oxygen concentrator by this month itself. Likely to be priced around ₹1 lakh, the ventilators developed by the ISRO were cost-effective and easy to handle compared to the mini conventional ventilators that are currently priced around ₹5 lakh.

3)  NITI Aayog, Mastercard release report on Connected Commerce

•The NITI Aayog has released a report titled ‘Connected Commerce: Creating a Roadmap for a Digitally Inclusive Bharat’. NITI Aayog has released the report in collaboration with Mastercard. The report identifies the various challenges faced in accelerating digital financial inclusion in India and also provides recommendations for making digital services accessible to its 1.3 billion citizens.

4)  SpaceX to launch ‘DOGE-1 Mission to the Moon’

•Elon Musk-owned SpaceX is set to launch the “DOGE-1 Mission to the Moon”, the first-ever commercial lunar payload, paid entirely in the cryptocurrency Dogecoin. The satellite is scheduled to be launched in the first quarter of 2022 onboard the Falcon 9 rocket. The dogecoin-funded mission is led by the Canadian company Geometric Energy Corporation (GEC).

5)  Ujjwala Singhania takes over as 38th National President FICCI FLO

•Ujjwala Singhania has been appointed as the National President of FICCI Ladies Organization (FLO), the oldest women-led & women-centric business chamber of Southeast Asia. As the 38th National President of FLO Singhania will focus on empowering women by facilitating an enabling environment that promotes entrepreneurship, industry participation and economic development of women.

•Under her leadership, FLO will carry out many interventions towards fostering larger contributions of women in India’s Industrial and economic growth story.

6)  Indian-origin expert Sankar Ghosh elected to National Academy of Sciences

•Sankar Ghosh, an award-winning Indian-origin immunologist, has been elected to the prestigious National Academy of Sciences in recognition of his “distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. He was among the 120 newly elected members announced by the Academy.

7)  CBSE launches ‘Dost for Life’ mobile app

•Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has launched a new mobile app for students and parents. The new app ‘Dost for Life’ is an exclusive psychological counselling app for students and parents of CBSE-affiliated schools. The new App will simultaneously cater to students and parents from CBSE-affiliated schools in different geographies across the world.

8)  Dr Tahera Qutbuddin 1st Indian To Win Arab World Nobel Prize

•Mumbai born, Dr Tahera Qutbuddin, a professor of Arabic Literature at the University of Chicago, recently became the first person of Indian-origin to win the 15th Sheikh Zayed Book Award. The award is considered to be the Nobel Prize of the Arab world. She won the award for her latest book, “Arabic Oration – Art and Function” published by Brill Academic Publishers of Leiden in 2019.

•In the book, she puts forth a comprehensive theory of Arabic literature in its foundational oral period dating the seventh and eighth centuries AD. She discusses its influence on modern-day sermons and lectures as well.

9)  Tripura Launches Auro Scholarship Programme of Sri Aurobindo Society

•Education Minister of Tripura, Ratan Lal Nath launched the ‘Auro Scholarship Programme’ of Sri Aurobindo Society for all the students of the state. Auro Scholarship Programme provides the monthly micro-scholarship to the students in order to motivate them towards achieving better learning outcomes once students achieve benchmark performance in 10-min curriculum-aligned Quizzes.

10)  Pakistan’s Babar Azam Wins ICC Players of the Month for April 2021

•Pakistani skipper Babar Azam has been named the ICC Men’s Player of the Month for April 2021 for his consistent and stellar performances across all formats in the recently concluded series against South Africa. The ICC Player of the Month Awards recognise and celebrate the best performances from both male and female cricketers across all forms of international cricket throughout the year.

•Along with Babar, Australian women’s team wicketkeeper-batsman Alyssa Healy also bagged the ICC Women’s Player of The Month accolade for her incredible performances during the month of April. Healy’s consistency with the bat has played a significant role in Australia’s dominance. Healy has shown her class in all conditions and against all types of bowling in the recent series against New Zealand.

GS SCORE FACT FILE- Major Economic Committees PDF

 What is the issue?

• The Group of Seven (G7) countries held its ministerial meeting in London recently.
• This comes as a signal that the West is rebuilding its unity and strength, as against the perception of a declining west.

What led to the notion of a declining west?

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 GS SCORE Current Affairs May 2021 Week 2 PDF

1)  International Day of Argania: 10 May

•In 2021, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 10 May the International Day of Argania. The resolution, submitted by Morocco, was co-sponsored by 113 member states of the United Nations and adopted by consensus. The argan tree (Argania Spinosa) is a native species of the sub-Saharan region of Morocco, in the southwest of the country, which grows in arid and semiarid areas.

2)  Himanta Biswa Sarma chosen Assam’s new chief minister

•Himanta Biswa Sarma has been named as the 15th Chief Minister of Assam on May 08, 2021. He will replace incumbent Sarbananda Sonowal. He will take the charge of the office with effect from May 10, 2021.

•The BJP party won a second straight term in the 2021 assembly polls in the state. The party won 60 seats in the 126-member Assam assembly. Mr Sarma joined the BJP six years ago in 2015, after quitting the Congress.

3)  New Delhi ranks 32nd in Global Prime Residential Index by Knight Frank

•London-based property consultant Knight Frank has ranked New Delhi and Mumbai in 32nd and 36th positions respectively in the Global Prime Residential Index. While Bengaluru moved down by four places in Q1 2021 and is ranked 40; Delhi and Mumbai dipped one place each in the same period.

•Three Chinese cities – Shenzhen, Shanghai and Guangzhou lead the index this quarter. Shenzhen recorded the strongest performing world region with a growth of 18.9%, while New York was the weakest performing market with negative 5.8% growth. Some of the world’s top metropolises, New York, Dubai, London, Paris and Hong Kong are seeing prices soften. New York was the weakest-performing global city during the period.

4)  PM Modi Participates in Virtual India-EU Leaders’ Meeting

•Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated in the India-EU Leaders’ Meeting, held in a hybrid format. The India-European Union Leaders’ Meeting is hosted by Portugal. Portugal currently holds the chair of the grouping. PM Modi attended the event at the invitation of the President of the European Council Mr Charles Michel.

•The leaders of all the 27 EU Member States, as well as the President of the European Council and the European Commission, participated in the meeting. This is the first time that the EU hosted a meeting with India in the EU+27 format.

Key highlights of India in the meeting

•It was proposed to further strengthen the India-EU Strategic Partnership based on a shared commitment to democracy, fundamental freedoms, rule of law and multilateralism.

•The leaders decided to resume negotiations for balanced and comprehensive free trade (FTA) and investment agreements.

Three key thematic areas of discussion included

1.foreign policy and security;

2.COVID-19, climate and environment; and

3.trade, connectivity and technology.

•An ambitious and comprehensive ‘Connectivity Partnership’ was launched between India-EU with a focus on enhancing digital, energy, transport and people-to-people connectivity.

•A finance contract of Euro 150 million was also signed for the Pune Metro Rail Project by the Indian Ministry of Finance and European Investment Bank.

5)  Indian Army sets up Covid Management Cell for real time response

•The Indian Army has set up a Covid Management Cell to bring greater efficiency in coordinating real-time responses to address the exponential rise in Covid cases across the country. It helps in assistance to civil administration in the form of testing, admissions in military hospitals, and transportation of critical medical equipment.

6)  PESCO: EU approves US participation for the first time

•The European Union recently approved the requests of Norway, Canada and the United States to participate in the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) defence initiative. This is the first time, the European bloc has allowed a third state to participate in the PESCO project. The countries will now participate in the Military Mobility Project in Europe.

7)  Kalki Koechlin Authors her Debut Book Titled ‘Elephant In The Womb’

•Bollywood actress Kalki Koechlin is making her debut as an author, with her first book titled “Elephant In The Womb”. The book, which is yet to be released, is an illustrated non-fiction book on motherhood. It is illustrated by Valeriya Polyanychko and published by Penguin Random House India (PRHI). The book narrates about pregnancy and parenting for mothers, expectant mothers, and “anyone even thinking about motherhood”.

8)  Nepal’s Kami Rita scales Everest for record 25th time

•Nepalese climber, Kami Rita has scaled Mount Everest for the 25th time, breaking his own record for the most ascents of the world’s highest peak. Rita, 51, first scaled Everest in 1994 and has been making the trip nearly every year since then. He is one of many Sherpa guides whose expertise and skills are vital to the safety and success of the hundreds of climbers.

9)  Anupam Kher wins best actor award at New York City International Film Festival

•Anupam Kher won the Best Actor award for his performance in the short film Happy Birthday at the New York City International Film Festival. The film has been directed by Prasad Kadam and produced by FNP Media. Besides Anupam, Happy Birthday stars Aahana Kumra. The film also won the Best Short Film award at the festival.

10)  Lewis Hamilton clinches his fifth successive Spanish Grand Prix

•Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes-Great Britain) won the 2021 Spanish Grand Prix, held on 09 May 2021. This win is the fifth successive Spanish Grand Prix title of Lewis Hamilton and the third win of this season. Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing-Netherlands) came second followed by Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes-Finland) at third position. The race was the fourth round of the 2021 Formula One World Championship.

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