Current Affairs Of 22nd July To 25th July 2021
National
The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) examining the Personal Data Protection Bill was on Friday given an extension till the Winter Session of Parliament to submit its long-pending report.
- The Personal Data Protection Bill seeks to regulate the use of an individual’s data by the government and private companies.
- The latest revelations in the Pegasus Spyware case have once again highlighted the lack of laws governing privacy of data in the country.
An exhibition highlighting the life of freedom fighter Chandrashekhar Azad was opened at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) , marking his birth anniversary.
To mark the 30th anniversary of economic liberalisation and the opening up of the Indian economy on July 24, Dr. Singh issued a statement in which he recalled the achievements, but expressed his pain at the devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the loss of lives and livelihoods.
- Speaking on 30 years of economic liberalisation, the former Prime Minister says a healthy and dignified life for every Indian must be prioritised.
- The 1991 economic reforms lifted millions out of poverty, unleashed the spirit of free enterprises, and catapulted India into a $3 trillion economy but the road ahead is even more daunting than the 1991 crisis.
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully flight tested the New Generation Akash (Akash-NG) surface to air missile.
- The test was carried out amidst inclement weather conditions proving the all-weather capability of the weapon system.
Navies of India and the U.K. participated in a two-day bilateral Passage Exercise (PASSEX) with the Royal Navy Carrier Strike Group (CSG-21) led by HMS Queen Elizabeth in the Bay of Bengal from July 21 to 22.
- At the India-U.K. virtual summit in May 2021, both countries adopted an ambitious Roadmap 2030 to elevate bilateral ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and guide cooperation over the next decade in several key areas.
India is seeking a multi-dimensional engagement with the Mekong region considering its great importance.
- External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has made these remarks while addressing the 11th Mekong-Ganga Cooperation (MGC) meeting.
- The MGC initiative comprising six countries — India, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam — was launched in 2000 to boost cooperation in a range of areas including connectivity, tourism and culture.
State
The J&K administration has rolled out the process to issue domicile certificates to the spouses of erstwhile State subjects who have a domicile certificate, which will allow husbands of women married outside to acquire the documents for the first time.
- Prior to August 5, 2019, when the Centre ended J&K’s special constitutional position, husbands of local women married outside J&K had no right to buy property or apply for jobs in J&K.
Environment
India would focus on implementing its “ambitious plans” through concrete actions domestically as well as globally via collaborations such as the International Solar Alliance and the Coalition of Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, said Bhupender Yadav, Environment Minister, on the concluding day of the G20 Energy and Climate Joint Ministerial Meeting held at Naples, Italy.
- Environment Minister stressed that common but differentiated responsibilities to combat climate change, “as per respective capabilities and national circumstances” were at the heart of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the Paris Agreement.
- India’s commitments to combat climate change within the multilaterally agreed convention and its Paris Agreement include establishing a 450 GW (giga watt) of renewable energy by 2030, enhanced ambition in bio-fuels, India’s NDCs (nationally determined contributions), and initiatives taken on Urban Climate Action.
The English city of Liverpool has been removed from UNESCO’s list of world heritage sites after the United Nations’ cultural agency found new buildings,including a football stadium, undermined the attractiveness of its Victorian docks.
- Liverpool was named a World Heritage Site in 2004, joining cultural landmarks such as the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal, and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The city is only the third place to be removed from the prestigious list.
Economy
Shares of online food delivery and restaurant listing platform Zomato Ltd. has debuted on the stock exchanges at a premium of 66% to the allotment price.
Non-banking financial company (NBFC) Magma Fincorp Ltd. has been renamed Poonawalla Fincorp Ltd. following the acquisition of controlling stake by the Adar Poonawalla-led Rising Sun Holdings.
The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for manufacturing speciality steel in the country with a budgetary outlay of ₹6,322 crore over a period of five years from 2023-24.
- Specialty steel is value-added steel wherein normal finished steel is worked upon by way of coating, plating and heat treatment to convert it into high value-added steel that can be used in various strategic applications such as defence, space, power apart from automobile sector and specialised capital goods.
The Reserve Bank of India is likely to soon kick off pilot projects to assess the viability of using digital currency to make wholesale and retail payments to help calibrate its strategy for introducing a full-scale central bank digital currency (CBDC).
- India is already a leader in digital payments, but cash remains dominant for small-value transactions.
- An official digital currency would reduce the cost of currency management while enabling real-time payments without any inter-bank settlement.
- India’s fairly high currency-to-GDP ratio holds out another benefit of CBDC — to the extent large cash usage can be replaced by CBDC, the cost of printing, transporting and storing paper currency can be substantially reduced.
- Transacting with CBDC would be an instantaneous process as the need for inter-bank settlement would disappear as it would be a central bank liability handed over from one person to another.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said that excise duty collected from petroleum products are being used for infrastructure development and other development items.
International
Israel has established a commission to review allegations that the NSO Group’s controversial Pegasus phone surveillance software was misused.
- NSO has said the leak is “not a list of targets or potential targets of Pegasus.”
- NSO has said it exports to 45 countries, with approval from the Israeli government.
- Reporters Without Borders has called for a moratorium on cyber surveillance software.
- Pegasus can hack into mobile phones without a user knowing, enabling clients to read messages, track location and tap into the phone’s camera and microphone.
Sci – Tech
Scientists for the first time have spotted a moon-forming region around a planet beyond our solarsystem – a Jupiter-like world surrounded by a disc of gas and dust massive enough that it could spawn three moons the size of the one orbiting Earth.
- The researchers used the ALMA observatory in Chile’s Atacama desert to detect the disc of swirling material accumulating around one of two newborn planets seen orbiting a young star called PDS 70, located a relatively close 370 light years from Earth. A light year is the distance light travels in a year, about 9.5 trillion km.
- It is called a circumplanetary disc, and it is from these that moons are born. The discovery, the researchers said, offers a deeper understanding about the formation of planets and moons.
In a written response to a question, Earth Sciences Minister Jitendra Singh said that the National Center for Seismology (NCS) will commission 35 new stations by December 2021, taking the strength of seismological network to 150. Subsequently, additional 100 new stations will be installed by March 2026.
- The NCS, under the Ministry of Earth Science, is the nodal agency of the government for monitoring and to study earthquakes in and around the country. For this purpose, the NCS maintains a National Seismological Network (NSN) consisting of 115 observatories spread across the country.
- However, research efforts are made in India and elsewhere for developing an Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) System, to alert people once an earthquake occurs based on the arrival time of P-wave of the Earthquake.
- The warning time, however, is much shorter and of the order of a few seconds. The robustness and success rate of such warning system are to be assessed thoroughly before the system can be considered for real time operations.
In a new study researchers reveals that Sun’s magnetism is the reason for Mercury’s big iron core.
- Earlier scientists had argued that hit-and-run collisions with other bodies during the formation of our solar system resulted in much of Mercury’s rocky mantle being removed, leaving behind the big, dense, metal core inside.
Sports
Mirabai Chanu has won India’s first medal at Tokyo Olympics.
- The Manipuri’s silver is only the second Indian weightlifting medal since Karnam Malleswari’s at Sydney 2000.
- She is the second Indian woman to clinch an Olympic silver after P.V. Sindhu.
World No. 1 para shuttler Pramod Bhagat was named Differently Abled Sportsman of the Year at Indian Sports Honour for 2019.
- Indian Sports Honours are awards given annually by the RPSG Group in association with the Virat Kohli Foundation to outstanding sports personalities of India.
- The awards were founded in 2017.
Also refer :
