Vision IAS Weekly Focus Space Exploration: Changing dynamics & pathway to the future PDF
Vision IAS Current Affairs Monthly Magazine April 2021 PDF
1) World Thyroid Day celebrated on 25 May
•World Thyroid Day is observed globally on 25 May every year. The main purpose of the WTD is to aware of the importance of Thyroid and the prevention and treatment of thyroid diseases. This day is established in 2008 as a part of the campaign led by the European Thyroid Association (ETA) and the American Thyroid Association (ATA) followed by the Latin American Thyroid Society (LATS) and Asia Oceania Thyroid Association (AOTA) to commemorate the patients with Thyroid diseases and doctors and physicians who treat them.
2) International Missing Children’s Day: 25 May
•International Missing Children’s Day is observed globally on 25th May every year. This day is observed for missing children who have found their way home, remember those that are victims of crime, and continue efforts to seek out those that are still missing. 25 May is now widely referred to as Missing Children’s Day, with the forget-me-not flower as its emblem.
3) Haryana govt launches ‘Sanjeevani Pariyojana’ to treat COVID patients at home
•Haryana government has launched an anti-Covid “Sanjeevani Pariyojana”, which will provide supervised and quick medical care at home for people, with mild to moderate symptoms of Covid-19, residing in rural areas. This Pariyojana has been launched to extend medical care in rural areas where awareness regarding the second wave of Covid-19 and related treatment remains low. It is an important step of bringing medical care for the people who need it most and when they need it most.
4) Maharashtra govt launches “Mission Oxygen Self-Reliance”
•Maharashtra government has launched the “Mission Oxygen Self-Reliance” scheme to meet the state’s oxygen needs. Special incentives will be given to oxygen-producing industries under this scheme. At present, the state’s oxygen generation capacity is 1300 MT per day. Units set up in Vidarbha, Marathwada, Dhule, Nandurbar, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg regions will be eligible for incentives up to 150 per cent of their eligible fixed capital investments and units set up in the rest of Maharashtra will be eligible for up to 100 per cent general incentives.
•The government will also give a refund on gross SGST, stamp duty, electricity duty and unit subsidy of power cost for five years and interest subsidy for MSME units with a fixed capital investment of up to Rs 50 crore. Only those applying before June 30 will get the benefits of this policy. With these incentives, Maharashtra’s healthcare system is expected to be strengthened by increasing manufacturing and storage for becoming an oxygen self-reliant state soon.
5) Uttarakhand CM declared Vatsalya Yojana for children orphaned due to Corona
•Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat has announced Chief Minister Vatsalya Yojana for orphaned children who have lost their parents due to Covid-19. Under the scheme, the State Government will make arrangements for their maintenance, education and training for employment up to the age of 21 years. The Chief Minister said that such orphaned children of the state will be given a maintenance allowance of 3000 rupees per month.
•The state government will make laws for the paternal property of these orphans in which no one will have the right to sell their paternal property until they are adults. This responsibility will be with the District Magistrate of the concerned district. The Chief Minister also said that the children whose parents have died due to Covid-19 will be given 5 per cent horizontal reservation in government jobs of the state government.
6) World’s largest iceberg breaks off from Antarctica
•European Space Agency (ESA) has confirmed using satellite images that the world’s largest iceberg has broken off Antarctica. Named as A-67, the iceberg was 4320 square kilometres in size, which is half the size of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The finger-shaped iceberg broke off from the Ronne Ice shelf, a massive ice shelf that encompasses an area of more than 400,000 sq. km.
•The images were captured by Copernicus Sentinel-1. The Copernicus Sentinel spacecraft is the first ESA Earth Observation spacecraft to implement communications security on the command link.
7) NASA to send its first mobile robot to search for water on the moon
•The United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration is planning to search for water and other resources on the moon in 2023. The US agency, as part of its Artemis program, is planning to send its first mobile robot to the Moon in late 2023 in search of ice and other resources on and below the lunar surface. The Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER will collect data that would help NASA map resources at the lunar South Pole that could one day be harvested for long-term human exploration at the Moon.
8) UK launches plan for ‘Global Pandemic Radar’
•The United Kingdom will develop an advanced international pathogen surveillance network to identify Covid-19 variants and emerging diseases. This Global Pandemic Radar will ensure the early detection of new variants and emerging pathogens, so vaccines and treatments needed to stop them can be rapidly developed. Prime minister Boris Johnson announced the plans, ahead of the Global Health Summit hosted by Italy and the European Union (EU).
9) Indian-Origin Anvee Bhutani Elected as Oxford Student Union President
•An Indian-origin Human Sciences student from Magdalen College at the University of Oxford has been declared the winner at the end of a Student Union (SU) byelection. Anvee Bhutani, Co-Chair Campaign for Racial Awareness and Equality (CRAE) at Oxford SU and President of the Oxford India Society, was in the fray for the by-election for the 2021-22 academic years, which attracted a record turnout.
10) IMF proposes $50 billion global vaccination plan
•The International Monetary Fund has proposed a $50 billion global vaccination plan that would cover at least 40 per cent of the global population by the end of 2021 and at least 60 per cent by the first half of 2022. The vaccination target requires additional upfront grants to Covax, donating surplus doses and free cross-border flows of raw materials and finished vaccines.
•With strong and coordinated action now and with little in terms of financing relative to the outsized benefits the world can durably exit this unprecedented health and economic crisis, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in her address to the G20 Health Summit.
1) World Turtle Day celebrated on 23 May
•The World Turtle Day is observed on May 23 every year by American Tortoise Rescue, a nonprofit organization. The day is celebrated to raise awareness among people to protect turtles and tortoises and their disappearing habitats around the world. The day is being celebrated since 2000 by American Tortoise Rescue, a nonprofit organization established in 1990 for the protection of all species of tortoise and turtle. The theme of 2021 World Turtle Day is “Turtles Rock!”.
2) Italy hosts the Global G20 Summit
•The Global G20 Health Summit was co-hosted by European Commission along with Italy as part of its G20 presidency amid the surge and spread of coronavirus cases. The summit adopted the agenda to overcome the Covid-19 pandemic. It also decided to develop and endorse a Rome Declaration of principles.
•Summit noted the risk of more transmissible variants has increased with nine people losing their lives to Covid-19 per minute. As per WHO officials, the future of the pandemic is in hands of G20 leaders. G20 has also contributed to the launch of ACT-Accelerator as it was launched after G20 called for a global mechanism to accelerate the development of tests, treatments and vaccines.
3) ‘India and Asian Geopolitics: The Past, Present’ is authored by Shivshankar Menon
•A book has titled ‘India and Asian Geopolitics: The Past, Present’ is authored by Shivshankar Menon. He was the Prime Minister’s National Security Adviser and Foreign Secretary, is exploring these phases in their historical context to tell the story of how India weathered the many geopolitical storms of the past in his latest book.
•Menon has taken a different approach to history. He underscores the seriousness of China taking Tibet in 1950, which, according to him, was a pivotal moment in India-China relations, but challenges the argument that India failed to stop the Chinese invasion.
4) Cyclone Yaas to hit West Bengal, Odisha
•A category 5 cyclonic storm has been forecasted to make its landfall along the coastline of West Bengal and Odisha between May 26-27. Once formed, the cyclone will be named ‘Yaas’. Yaas will be as deadly as Amphan which was also formed in the Bay of Bengal in May last year. Yaas, named by Oman as such, refers to a Jasmine-like tree that has a good fragrance.
•A rotational list of the names of cyclones is maintained by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), with the names specific for each tropical zone. If a cyclone is especially deadly then its name is never used and is replaced by another name. The list has a total of 169 names at present which will be used on a rotational basis.
5) Narinder Batra re-elected as FIH President
•Narinder Batra has been re-elected as the President of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) for the second consecutive term. He was elected during the virtual 47th Congress of FIH, where he beat Marc Coudron, Chief of Belgium Hockey Federation, by just two votes. He will hold the office until 2024 because the FIH has reduced the term from four to three years.
•The veteran Indian sports administrator is the only Asian to be appointed to the top post in the world body’s 92-year-old history. He is also the President of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and a Member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
6) Himanta Biswa Sarma elected to BWF Council
•The Badminton Association of India (BAI) President Himanta Biswa Sarma has been elected as a Member of the c for the period 2021-25. Sarma was elected among 31 contestants to the 20-member BWF Council on May 22, 2021, at the virtual AGM and Council election of BWF, where he got 236 votes in favour. He is also the Vice President of Badminton Asia and the Chief Minister of Assam.
7) Naturalist Jane Goodall wins 2021 Templeton prize for life’s work
•The naturalist Jane Goodall has been announced as the 2021 winner of the Templeton Prize in recognition of her life’s work on animal intelligence and humanity. Goodall built her global reputation on her groundbreaking studies of chimpanzees in Tanzania in the 1960s.
•The Templeton Prize is an annual award granted to a living person, in the estimation of the judges, “whose exemplary achievements advance Sir John Templeton’s philanthropic vision: harnessing the power of the sciences to explore the deepest questions of the universe and humankind’s place and purpose within it.”
8) Asia’s richest and second richest persons are now Indians
•Billionaire Gautam Adani has edged past Chinese tycoon Zhong Shanshan to become the second-richest Asian, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index. China’s Zhong was the richest Asian till February when he lost the crown to Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest person and chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd.
•However, while Ambani lost $175.5 million this year, Adani’s wealth surged by $32.7 billion to touch $66.5 billion, against Zhong’s $63.6 billion. Ambani’s total wealth now stands at $76.5 billion, making him the 13th richest in the world, followed by Adani at 14th.
9) A book title “Nehru, Tibet and China” authored by Avtar Singh Bhasin
•A book has titled “Nehru, Tibet and China” authored by Avtar Singh Bhasin. The book based on years of meticulous archival research, this book in fascinating detail, analyses the events from 1949 to the Indo-China war in 1962 and its aftermath to explore the answers to these burning questions.
10) FIFA U-17 women’s World Cup to be held in India in October 2022
•The U-17 women’s World Cup will be held in India from October 11 to 30 next year, Fifa Council said on 21st May. India was earlier scheduled to host the 2020 U-17 World Cup but it was postponed to 2021 before being cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The FIFA Council approved key dates for the international match calendars, including the dates of the 2022 U-17 World Cup in India.
•The Council also approved dates for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup India 2022 (11-30 October 2022), FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Costa Rica 2022 (10-28 August 2022), as well as a 14-team playoff for the FIFA Arab Cup 2021, taking place between 19 and 25 June this year and Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023 from July 20 to August 20, 2023.
1) International Day for Biological Diversity: 22 May
•The United Nations celebrates International Day for Biological Diversity on 22 May every year to raise awareness about the issue of a significant reduction in biological diversity due to certain human activities. Biological Diversity comprises a wide variety of plants, animals and microorganisms including genetic differences within each species, for example, between varieties of crops and breeds of livestock.
•This year 2021 the theme is “We’re part of the solution”. The slogan was chosen to be a continuation of the momentum generated last year under the over-arching theme, “Our solutions are in nature”, which served as a reminder that biodiversity remains the answer to several sustainable development challenges.
2) RBI to transfer Rs. 99,122 crore surplus to Central Government for FY21
•The Reserve Bank of India will transfer Rs 99,122 crore surplus to the Central Government for the accounting period of nine months ended March 31, 2021 (July 2020-March 2021). The Contingency Risk Buffer will remain at 5.50%.
•This year RBI has changed its Accounting year from July-June to April-March to coincide with the accounting year of Government. As a result, the accounting year 2020-21 of RBI has only 9 months. It must be noted that every year, RBI transfers its entire surplus which it has earned as profit to Central Government.
3) RBI increases the limit for Full-KYC PPIs to Rs 2 lakh from Rs 1 lakh
•The Reserve Bank of India has increased the maximum amount outstanding in respect of full-KYC PPIs (KYC-compliant PPIs) from Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 2 lakh. Apart from this, The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has mandated that all prepaid payment instruments (PPIs) or mobile wallets such as Paytm, PhonePe and Mobikwik are fully KYC-compliant be made interoperable by March 31, 2022.
•The PPI issuers will have to provide interoperability through authorised card networks (for PPIs in the form of cards) and UPI (for PPIs in the form of electronic wallets). Interoperability shall be mandatory on the acceptance side as well. PPIs for Mass Transit Systems (PPI-MTS) shall remain exempted from interoperability. It will be optional for Gift PPI issuers to have the option of interoperability.
RBI has also permitted cash withdrawal from Full-KYC PPIs of Non-Bank PPI Issuers. The condition on such cash withdrawal shall be:
•Maximum limit of Rs. 2,000 per transaction with an overall limit of Rs. 10,000 per month per PPI.
•All cash withdrawal transactions performed using a card/wallet shall be authenticated by an Additional Factor of Authentication (AFA) / PIN;
•RBI has increased the limit of cash withdrawal from Points of Sale (PoS) terminals using debit cards and open system prepaid cards (issued by banks) to Rs 2000 per transaction within an overall monthly limit of Rs. 10,000 across all locations (Tier 1 to 6 centres). Earlier this limit was Rs 1000 for Tier 1 and 2 cities while Rs 2000 for Tier 3 to 6 cities.
4) DRDO develops Covid-19 antibody detection kit ‘DIPCOVAN’
•India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed a Covid-19 antibody detection kit. The DIPCOVAN kit can detect both spikes as well as nucleocapsid proteins of Coronavirus with a high sensitivity of 97%. It has been approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research and has been developed by the Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences lab of DRDO in association with Delhi’s Vanguard Diagnostics Pvt Ltd.
5) Microsoft to retire iconic Internet Explorer on 15 June 2022
•Tech-giant Microsoft has decided to retire its iconic Internet Explorer (IE) browser, with effect from 15 June 2022, after more than 25 years of its launch. The Internet Explorer (IE) browser was launched in 1995. Microsoft recommends its users shift to Microsoft Edge (2015) before June 15, 2022, for a faster, more secure and more modern browsing experience.
6) ITR filing deadline for FY21 extended by two months to September 30
•The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has extended the due date for filing income tax returns for assessment year (AY) 2021-22, for individuals, by two months, to September 30, 2021. Earlier the deadline was July 31, 2021.
•The decision to extend timelines for compliances under the Income-tax Act 1961 has been taken to provide relief to taxpayers due to the Covid pandemic. The government has also extended the due date of Income Tax Returns filing for companies for Assessment Year 2021-2022 from October 31 to November 30, 2021.
7) Bihar govt launches ‘HIT Covid App’ to ensure regular monitoring
•Bihar government has launched ‘HIT Covid App’ to ensure regular monitoring and tracking of those Covid-19 patients, who are in home isolation across the state. HIT stands for home isolation tracks. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said the app will help the health workers in regular monitoring of home-isolated patients.
•Health workers will visit the patients at home every day and feed data in the app after measuring their temperature and oxygen level. These data will be monitored at the district level. If the oxygen level is below 94, the patient will be shifted to the nearby dedicated Covid health centres for proper treatment.
8) IDBI Bank launches digital loan processing system
•IDBI Bank announced the launch of its fully digitized loan processing system, offering over 50 products to MSME and the agriculture sector. The Loan Processing System (LPS) for MSME and Agri products seamlessly integrate with data fintech, bureau validations, document storage, account management and customer notifications among others.
•These features of the fully digitised and automated loan processing system are further aimed at providing a superior tech-enabled banking experience to the bank’s MSME & Agri customers. The platform is designed to incorporate knock-off criteria & credit policy parameters for superior underwriting standards.
9) Sreejesh appointed FIH Athletes’ Committee member
•Star India hockey team goalkeeper PR Sreejesh was re-appointed as a member of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) Athletes’ Committee during the virtual meeting of the world body’s Executive Board. He has been a member of the panel since 2017. The experienced Sreejesh, who has led the Indian team in the past, was one of the four new members appointed by the EB which met two days before the 47th FIH Congress, which will also be held online.
•The EB confirmed the appointment of four new members for the Athletes’ Committee. Sreejesh Parattu (IND), Marlena Rybacha (POL), Mohamed Mea (RSA) and Matt Swann (AUS) are now joining the Committee. Steve Horgan (USA), the new chair of the FIH Rules Committee, succeeding David Collier.
Apti PLUS Prelims 2021 Mock Test – 04 Question with Solution
