Important Current Affairs of First Week of October 2021 |

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National Current Affairs

Union Minister, Dr Jitendra Singh, launched state-of-the-art Heli-borne survey technology.

Heli-borne geophysical mapping technique will provide high-resolution 3D image for sub-surface up to a depth of 500 meters below the ground level.

The state-of-the-art technology, Heli Survey Technology, will be used to map the groundwater sources in arid regions.
This technology has been developed by CSIR-NGRI Hyderabad.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is set to digitally launch the ‘Indian Space Association’ (ISpA) on October 11, 2021.

Founding members of ISpA include Nelco (Tata group), Bharti Airtel, Larsen & Toubro, Mapmyindia, OneWeb, Walchandnagar Industries and Ananth Technology Limited.
Core members include BEL, Godrej, Hughes India, Centum Electronics, Azista-BST Aerospace Private Limited and Maxar India.

Other Important National NEWS:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with his Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen with a focus on expanding overall bilateral cooperation in a range of areas including health, agriculture, water management, climate change and renewable energy.
The maiden sea trials of the indigenous aircraft carrier Vikrant have progressed very well and the second phase of trails are expected to begin end October with the third phase planned in December. Vikrant is expected to be delivered to the Navy in April and likely to be commissioned in August 2022.

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) approved a credit plan on September 28, 2021 for yak husbandry in Arunachal Pradesh.
Recently “Nata-Sankirtana” festival was celebrated in Manipur. The festival is a three-day festival of Dance and Music.
First consignment of GI tagged sweet dish Mihidana from West Bengal was exported to Bahrain.
Pandora Papers have come to spotlight after millions of documents related to hidden world of offshore wealth got leaked to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalism (ICIJ).
On October 2, 2021, World’s largest national flag was inaugurated in Leh in the Union Territory of Ladakh. It is made up of Khadi.
On the occasion of World Teacher’s Day, “United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)” released its “State of the Education Report (SOER)-2021 for India: No Teachers, No Class”, on October 5, 2021.

International current Affairs

The World Health Organization (WHO) has endorsed the Malaria Vaccine called “RTS,S/AS01”.

RTS,S vaccine is known by the brand name Mosquirix. It is the world’s first vaccine against the mosquito-borne disease. Most of the deaths are report among African children.
This decision was taken following a review of a pilot programme deployed since 2019 across the countries like Kenya, Ghana, and Malawi where more than two million doses of the vaccine were given.
This vaccine was first made in 1987 by pharmaceutical company GSK.
As per findings, vaccine resulted into reduction of severe malaria cases by 30 percent

The Russian Defence Ministry said the Zircon missile was launched from the Severodvinsk submarine and hit a designated mock target in the Barents Sea.

The launch marked Zircon’s first launch from a submarine. It previously has been repeatedly test-fired from a navy frigate, most recently in July.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Zircon would be capable of flying at nine times the speed of sound and have a range of 1,000km (620 miles). Mr. Putin has emphasised that its deployment will significantly boost Russian military capability.

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) published its “UNCTAD Digital Economy Report 2021, recently.

In its report, UNCTAD noted the Philippines as one among six countries that allows free flow of data across borders. Free flow of data is required to boost the digital economy.
Other five countries allowing free-flow of data across border include- Canada, Australia, Mexico, Singapore and the United States. These countries use “light-touch approach” for data flow.
The “restrictive” or “guarded” approach for cross-border data flows is followed by countries like India, China, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Rwanda, Russian Federation, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam.

Other Important International NEWS:

Japan’s parliament on Monday elected Fumio Kishida, a former moderate turned hawk, as Prime Minister.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has been sworn in for a second five-year term running a country in the grip of a nearly year-long war.
Nepal has introduced a third gender category in its census for the first time, a move the Himalayan nation’s LGBTQ community hopes will bring them greater rights.

Economy Current Affairs

Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) maintained an accommodative stance and kept the repo rate unchanged at 4 per cent, in order to revive & sustain growth and reduce the impact of Covid-19 pandemic.

Reverse repo rate was also kept as earlier at 3.35 per cent.
Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rate and bank rate also remain unchanged at 4.25 per cent.

MPC has retained the GDP forecast for FY 2021-22 at 9.5 per cent. GDP projection for Q2 FY22 is estimated at 7.9 per cent, Q3 at 6.8 percent while Q4 at 6.1 per cent. Real GDP growth for Q1 of FY 2022-23 is forecasted as 17.2 per cent.
For financial year 2021-22, CPI inflation is projected at 5.3 per cent.

Rating agency Moody’s Investors Service upgraded the sovereign rating outlook of India to stable from negative. Moddy’s has retained India’s rating at Baa3. It reflects the lowest investment grade rating.

Union Cabinet has given its approval, to set up seven PM MITRA parks, accomplishing the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to establish Atmanirbhar Bharat. PM MITRA parks stands for “Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel” parks. These parks will be established at Greenfield or Brownfield sites at different states. PM MITRA initiative is motivated by PM Modi’s 5F vision of- “farm to fibre; fibre to factory; factory to fashion; and fashion to foreign”.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) granted the licence to the Rs 6,000 crore National Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd. (NARCL). NARCL was incorporated in Mumbai in July 2021 after registration with the Registrar of Companies (RoC).

Sci-Tech Current Affairs

All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA), under the AYUSH ministry, has developed “Bal Raksha Kit” which is an immunity boosting kit.

Facebook launched the largest “creator education and enablement programme” in India. This programme will provide an opportunity to content creators, on its platform and Instagram, to learn, earn and grow their communities.

American Space Agency, NASA has announced to launch “asteroid-killing Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft” on November 24, 2021. Under this mission, NASA will build advanced technologies which would protect the Earth from hazardous asteroid collision.

American Space Agency, NASA, is set to send its “Psyche Mission” to visit a giant asteroid called Psyche, which could be the frozen remains of molten core of a bygone world. NASA will send its Psyche Mission in August 2022 launch. Psyche asteroid orbits around the Sun in main asteroid belt, in between Mars and Jupiter. According to data gathered through Earth-based radar and optical telescopes, Psyche is made largely of metal.

A team of Indian scientists have developed a non-toxic, environmentally friendly, biodegradable polymer using guar gum and chitosan.

Guar gum and Chitosan are polysaccharides that are extracted from guar beans and shells of crab & shrimps.
Fabricated guar gum-chitosan film with high water stability, high mechanical strength, and excellent resistance against harsh environmental conditions can be used in packaging applications.

United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced its plan to send a probe on an asteroid between Mars and Jupiter for collecting data regarding origins of the universe.

If this mission is successful, UAE will join the elite club of the European Union, Japan and the United States. These countries have already completed its mission either an asteroid or a comet.
Project will be launched in 2028 and will landing on asteroid in 2033.
This project was announced in the backdrop of first successful launch of “Hope probe” in orbit of Mars in February 2021.
UAE has also planned to send an unmanned spacecraft to the moon in the year 2024.

Awards in NEWS

Nobel Prize in Literature 2021 was conferred to Tanzanian novelist “Abdulrazak Gurnah”.

The novelist was awarded with the Prize for his uncompromising & compassionate penetration of “effects of colonialism” and fate of refugees in the gulf between cultures & continents.

The 2021 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to journalists Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov of Russia.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee cited their fight for freedom of expression, stressing that it is vital in promoting peace.

Ms Ressa in 2012 co-founded Rappler, a news website that has focused “critical attention on the (President Rodrigo) Duterte regime’s controversial, murderous anti-drug campaign.
Mr Muratov was one of the founders of the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta in 1993.

The Nobel Prize for physics has been awarded to scientists from Japan, Germany and Italy.

Syukuro Manabe (90) and Klaus Hasselmann (89) were cited for their work in “the physical modeling of Earth’s climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming”.
The second half of the prize was awarded to Giorgio Parisi (73) for “the discovery of the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from atomic to planetary scales.”

Two U.S.-based scientists were awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for their discovery of the receptors that allow humans to feel temperature and touch.

David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian focused their work on the field of somatosensation, that is the ability of specialised organs such as eyes, ears and skin to see, hear and feel.

The 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to German scientist Benjamin List of the Max Planck Institute and Scotland-born scientist David W.C. MacMillan of Princeton University “for the development of asymmetric organocatalysis”.

The “Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi Award for National Integration and National Contribution 2021” was conferred by the Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu.

Awards were conferred to “Shillong Chamber Choir”, Assam branch of Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust as well as writer Nirod Kumar Baruah.

Defence Exercise

India is set to host its largest naval exercise, Ex Milan, early next year for which 46 countries have been invited. All Quad countries are participating in it. Milan, which began in 1995, is held biennially and brings together Navies of all the countries in the region. It has so far been held at Port Blair but is now being shifted to Visakhapatnam which offers more space and infrastructure.

Exercise in NEWS:

India and Australia participated in the fourth iteration of the biennial maritime series called ‘AUSINDEX’ on September 30, 2021.
8th Edition of the “India Sri Lanka bilateral joint Exercise” called Mitra Shakti will be conducted from October 4 to October 15, 2021 at Combat Training School, Ampara in Sri Lanka.
JIMEX : The 5th edition of the bilateral maritime exercise JIMEX, between Japan and India, was conducted in the Arabian Sea from 06 – 08 October 2021.

Important Days

World Cotton Day was observed on October 7, across the world, in a bid to raise awareness regarding the cotton sector among people.
Indian Air Force is celebrating its 89th Foundation Day on October 8, 2021.
The Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare is observing the “Mental Health Awareness Campaign Week”, starting from October 5, 2021. Highlights The campaign will culminate on October 10, 2021. October 10 is also marked as the “World Mental health Day”.
World Habitat Day was observed on October 4, 2021. Theme “Accelerating urban action for a carbon-free world”.

Sports Current Affairs

Anshu Malik has become the first Indian woman wrestler to reach the final of 2021 World Wrestling Championships.
The Indian men’s table tennis team has won bronze medal at the Asian Table Tennis Championships. Indian team won bronze after losing to South Korea by 0-3 in the semi-finals.

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