Important Current Affairs : July Last Week of 2021 from The Hindu |

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National Current Affairs

OBC and EWS reservation in medical courses

The Union Health Ministry has announced 27% reservation for the OBCs (Other Backward Classes) and 10% quota for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in the all-India quota (AIQ) scheme for undergraduate and postgraduate medical and dental courses from 2021-22.

The AIQ was introduced in 1986 under the directions of the Supreme Court to provide for domicile-free merit-based opportunities to students from any State aspiring to study in a medical college located in another State.
It comprises 15% of the UG seats and 50% of the PG seats in government medical colleges.
Initially, there was no reservation in the AIQ. In 2007, the Supreme Court introduced reservation of 15% for SCs and 7.5% for STs in the scheme. When the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act became effective that year, providing for uniform 27% reservation to the OBCs, the same was implemented in all the Central educational institutions.

Geo-imaging satellite

Geo-imaging satellite for earth observation EOS-03, which would enable near real-time monitoring of natural disasters like floods and cyclones, is scheduled for launch in the third quarter of 2021.

EOS-03 is capable of imaging the whole country four-five times daily, the Minister of State for the Department of Space said in a written response in the Rajya Sabha.
In addition to natural disasters, EOS-03 would also enable monitoring of water bodies, crops, vegetation condition, forest cover changes.

Academic Bank of Credit

The Academic Bank of Credit will be rolled out for students in over 290 top institutions from the current academic year 2021-22 onwards.

All institutions in the top 100 of the National Institutional Ranking Framework as well as those who have achieved an A grade under the National Assessment and Accreditation Council will be allowed to participate in the credit transfer system, which will also allow multiple entry and exit options for students.
Other initiatives on the first anniversary of the National Education Policy (NEP)
- credit transfer system that will allow multiple entry and exit options in higher education,
- engineering programmes in regional languages.
However, other promised reforms such as the Higher Education Commission of India (HECI), the four-year undergraduate degree, and the common university entrance test, are not ready yet.

Other Important National NEWS

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its economic growth forecast for India to 9.5% for the fiscal year to March 31, 2022 as the onset of a severe second COVID-19 wave cut into recovery momentum.
- This forecast for 2021-22 is lower than the 12.5% growth in GDP that IMF had projected in April before the second wave took a grip.

According to Earth Sciences Minister Jitendra Singh, The ISRO-NASA joint mission NISER (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellite, aimed at making global measurement of land surface changes using advanced radar imaging, is proposed to be launched in early 2023.
- It is a dual-band (L-band and S-band) radar imaging mission with the capability of full polarimetric and interferometric modes of operation to observe minor changes in land, vegetation and cryosphere.
- NASA is developing L-band SAR and associated systems while ISRO is developing S-band SAR, spacecraft bus, the launch vehicle and associated launch services.
- The major scientific objectives of the mission are to improve understanding of the impact of climate change on Earth’s changing ecosystems, land and coastal processes, land deformations and cryosphere.
- NISER is one of the crucial collaborations of the ISRO and NASA. India and the U.S. had agreed upon this mission during then President Barack Obama’s visit to India in 2015.
Intel said it has collaborated with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to launch the ‘AI For All’ initiative, aimed at creating a basic understanding of artificial intelligence (AI) for people in India.
A digital treasure hunt game, developed by Amrita Vishwam Vidyapeetham students in Chennai, wins at Toycathon 2021.
Plastic sticks used in balloons, candies, ice-cream to be prohibited by Jan 1, 2022: Govt.

Economy

Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) Krishnamurthy Subramanian acknowledged that some parts of the economy may be witnessing a K-shaped recovery, as smaller firms and urban poor had been hit harder by the pandemic, but stressed that India’s overall economic rebound remains V-shaped.
Output at India’s eight core sectors grew by 8.9% in June but the pace remained below the production levels seen before the COVID-19 pandemic as well as its second wave this year, indicating the economy’s recovery remains uneven.
- Crude oil was the only component whose output shrank from a year earlier in the June Index of Eight Core Industries released by the Commerce and Industry Ministry, contracting 1.8%.
- Natural gas and steel both posted growth of more than 20%, while cement, coal, electricity, petroleum and fertilisers recorded moderate expansions in the range of 2% to 7.4%.

International

BRICS Counter Terrorism Action Plan

The BRICS Counter Terrorism Action Plan that will strengthen counter-terror cooperation among the members of the grouping has been finalised.

The Action Plan is one of the key deliverables during India’s Chairship of BRICS and is expected to come up for adoption during the meeting of BRICS National Security Advisors scheduled in August.
The document will help in increasing intra-BRICS collaboration on “combating terrorism, radicalisation, financing of terrorism, misuse of the Internet by terrorists”.
It will also curb travel of terrorists, strengthen border control and protect soft targets. The Action Plan is the result of adoption of the BRICS Counter Terrorism Strategy by the BRICS leaders in 2020.
The meeting of the BRICS Counter Terrorism Working Group was preceded by the five thematic sub-working groups on misuse of Internet for terrorist purpose, deradicalisation, countering terrorist financing, capacity building and countering foreign terrorist fighters, held on July 26-27.

Defence Exercise

The navies of India and Russia concluded the 12th edition of the biennial Exercise Indra Navy in Baltic Sea. The Army version of the exercise is scheduled to be held from August 1 to 13 in Volgograd.
Indian Naval Ship Talwar is participating in the annual Exercise Cutlass Express 2021, being conducted from July 26 to to August 6 along the East Coast of Africa.
- The 2021 edition of the exercise involves the participation of 12 eastern African countries, the U.S., the U.K., India and various international organisations like the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Interpol, European Union Naval Force (EUNAVFOR), Critical Maritime Routes Indian Ocean (CRIMARIO) and EUCAP Somalia.

Other International NEWS

The UN Security Council extended the arms embargo against the Central African Republic for a year despite an appeal from China to lift it, saying the government hasn’t met UN benchmarks including ensuring the protection and control of all weapons.
President Joe Biden urged local governments to pay people to get vaccinated against COVID-19, and set new rules requiring federal workers to provide proof of vaccination or face regular testing, mask mandates and travel restrictions.
Biocon Biologics and Viatris Inc said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had approved Semglee, a long-acting insulin injection, as the first interchangeable biosimilar product for the treatment of diabetes.

Person and Places in NEWS

Vice-Admiral S.N. Ghormade on Saturday assumed charge as the Vice- Chief of Naval Staff.
SCO Defence Ministers meet was held at Dushanbe.
Gujarat cadre IPS officer Rakesh Asthana was appointed Delhi Police Commissioner.
Nasir Kamal, a 1986 batch IPS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, has been appointed as the Director General of Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) in the Ministry of Civil Aviation till his superannuation on July 31, 2022.
U.S. President Joe Biden has nominated Indian-American attorney Rashad Hussain as the Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, the first Muslim to be nominated to the key position, according to the White House.

The Harappan city of Dholavira, in present-day Gujarat, was named the 40th Indian site on UNESCO’s World Heritage list.
- The ancient city of Dholavira is one of the most remarkable and well-preserved urban settlements in South Asia dating from the 3rd to mid-2nd millennium BCE (Before Common Era).
- Discovered in 1968 by former Archaeological Survey of India Director General Jagat Pati Joshi, the site is set apart by its unique characteristics, such as its water management system, multi-layered defensive mechanisms, extensive use of stone in construction and special burial structures.

Sports

This is the first time the Indian women Hockey team have qualified for the quarterfinals at the Olympics.
- Vandana, became the first Indian woman to score a hat-trick at the Olympic Games.

Health

The Delta variant of the coronavirus is as contagious as chickenpox, probably causes more severe disease than past strains, and breakthrough cases in vaccinated individuals may be as transmissible as unvaccinated cases, according to a leaked U.S. government document.

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