1st December, 2021 Current Affairs

Sakshi Education

NATIONAL
Dept of Telecommunications and International Telecommunication Union commences India-ITU Joint Cyberdrill 2021

Department of Telecommunications and International Telecommunication Union ITU conducted India-ITU Joint Cyberdrill 2021
This Cyberdrill is intended for Indian entities especially Critical Network Infrastructure operators.
The cyber drill was conducted for the Critical Network Infrastructure operators of India. The Critical Network Infrastructure are the systems, assets and networks that are essential to ensure the security of a country.
It aims to improve the cyber security readiness of India. Also, it aims to improve the protection and incident response capability of the country.
During the cyber drill, the cyber-attacks and information security incidents were simulated. And the participants were trained to defend and respond against such incidents. Thus, the drill helped to test the cyber capabilities of an organization.

Char DhamDevasthanam Management Act

The Uttarakhand Government recently withdrew the Char DhamDevasthanam Management Act. The act was withdrawn due to the protests from priests and other stakeholders of Vishwa Hindu Parishadand the major shrines.
The Char Dham Shrine Management Act was legislated by the Uttarakhand State Assembly in 2019.
The act constituted a board called Uttarakhand Char DhamDevasthanam Board. The board brought the Char Dham of Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri and 49 other temples under its purview.
The Chief Minister was the Chairman of the board and the Minister of Religious Affairs was the vice chairman. Two MLAs of Yamunotri and Gangotri were members of the board and a senior IAS officer was the Chief Executive Officer.
The board was responsible for management of temples. It had powers to frame policies, sanction expenditure, budget formulation. Also, the board had powers to give directions for the safe custody of temple jewellery and properties.

Judges Bill introduced in Lok Sabha

The Judges Bill was introduced by The Union Law Minister KirenRijiju in Lok Sabha. The bill intends to amend the High Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Act and Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Condition of Service) Act.
The bill seeks to bring clarity whether the SC and HC judges are entitled to get additional pension on attaining a certain age. Currently, every retired judge or his family (after his death) is entitled to get an additional quantum of pension. This is generally referred as family pension.
Currently, the retired High Court and Supreme Court judges are provided with additional quantum of pension on completing 80 years or 85 years or 90 years or 95 years or 100 years whichever the case may be. These are the slabs of the pension. Now the confusion is should the pension be given from the first day of the month when he completes the age or the first day of the month when he enters the age. The bill inserts explanation about this issue.
The bill says that the pension shall be provided on the first day of completing the age and not in the starting. For this, Section 17B and Section 16B are to be included.

What are the constitutional provisions in regard to their salaries?

The salaries of SC judges are fixed based on Article 125. The Article 125 says that the salaries of SC judges are determined by the parliament by law.
Also, the parliament shall decide on the privileges and allowances provided to the judges in respect of leave of absence and pension.

EWS Criteria review panel formed

The Government of India recently formed an Economically Weaker Section (EWS) review panel. The panel will look in to the criteria of 10% reservation for the economically weaker section in government jobs and educational institutions.
The panel will review the criteria determining the EWS category.
It will examine approaches followed in identifying EWS category.
It will analyze and recommend a new criteria to identify the EWS in the country.
The panel was formed following the Supreme Court query to the Government of India. The SC asked “On what rationale, the central government is fixing the quota eligibility at Rs. 8 lakh?” For person to be labelled under OBC (Other Backward Caste), his income limit should be less than Rs. 8 lakh per annum. This was questioned by the Supreme Court.
Article 15 (4) says that nothing shall prevent the state from making special provisions for the advancement of the socially and educationally backward classes or scheduled tribes or scheduled caste.

INTERNATIONAL
Barbados becomes the World’s newest republic

Barbados has become the World’s newest republic, around 400 years after it became a British colony.
Barbados, the Caribbean Island nation, removed Queen Elizabeth II as the head of the state.
Dame Sandra Prunella Mason, took over as the President of Barbados.
Mason was selected to become the first president of Barbados in October 2021.
Mason was selected as President of Barbados, at a joint meeting of both the Houses of Parliament of Barbados.
His name was announced by Speaker of the House of Assembly, Arthur Holder.

World’s tallest railway bridge pier to come up in Manipur

World’s tallest rail bridge pier will soon come up in North-eastern state of Manipur.
This bridge is being constructed by Indian Railways at Noney Valley in Manipur. Bridge is having the height of 141 meters.
It is a part of ambitious 111 Kilometer long Jiribam-Imphal railway line.
It is being constructed with the aim of connecting the capital of Manipur with broad gauge network of India.
Bridge will break the record of Mala – Rijeka viaduct with height of 139 meters. It is located in Montenegro, Europe.
The bridge is likely to be completed by December 2023.
The 111-kilometre-long project comprises of 61 percent of tunnels.
Distance between Jiribam and Imphal on NH-37, is presently 220 kilometers. It takes around 10 to 12 hours of travelling. Once the construction of bridge is complete, travel time will reduce to 2.5 hours.

Bangladesh: Renowned scholar Rafiqul Islam passes away

Renowned scholar and national professor of Bangladesh Professor Rafiqul Islam passed away in Dhaka. He was 87.
Prof. Rafiqul Islam was one of the greatest scholars on the national poet of Bangladesh KaziNazrul Islam.
He was honoured with SwadhintaPadak and the Ekusheypadak, which is the highest civilian award of Bangladesh. He was a recipient of the Bangla Academy Literary Award. He had written close to 30 scholarly books.
Prof. Rafiqul Islam was currently the President of the Bangla Academy.
Expressing profound shock at the passing away of Prof. Islam, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that he will remain alive as a bright luminary in the field of Bangla literature and research. She said his literary works will always inspire the Bengalee nation with the spirit of Liberation War and patriotism.

WHO urges countries to remain calm & take rational measures against fast-spreading Omicron Corona virus variant

The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged countries to remain calm and take rational measures against the fast-spreading Omicron Corona virus variant, warning that blanket travel bans being rolled out globally will not prevent its spread. Omicron, first reported in South Africa less than a week ago, has already appeared in many countries, with borders shutting and dozens of governments imposing travel restrictions in defiance of WHO advice.
Germany's incoming Chancellor Olaf Scholz voiced support for compulsory vaccinations and the UK ramped up booster jabs as even nations with high vaccination rates scramble to contain spiralling infections and prevent health services from being overwhelmed.
WHO Chief TedrosAdhanom Ghebreyesus said that it was understandable that countries wanted to protect their citizens against a variant we don't yet fully understand, yet the UN health agency fears blocking travel could be unfair and dissuade surveillance. Blanket travel bans will not prevent the international spread and they place a heavy burden on lives and livelihoods.
The WHO, in a travel advisory on Omicron, has said that they can adversely impact global health efforts during a pandemic by dis incentivizing countries to report and share epidemiological and sequencing data.

ECONOMY
IPPB has enabled 1.36 lakh post offices to provide banking services: MoS Communications Devusinh Chauhan in Lok Sabha

India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) provides digital platform for distribution of different insurance products as per IRDA guidelines, through the extensive network of post offices as well as at the doorstep through postmen and GraminDaksevaks..
IPPB has been established under the department of posts, ministry of communication with 100 per cent equity owned by Union Government.
IPPB did a nationwide launch on September 1st, 2018 with 650 branches almost one in each district in the country.
As of now IPPB has enabled 1.36 lakh post offices to provide banking services and has equipped nearly 1.86 lakh postmen and GrameenDaksevaks with a smartphone and biometric device to provide doorstep banking services across the country.

India's GDP grows at 8.4 per cent in second quarter of current fiscal

India's Gross domestic product, GDP, for the second quarter of the current fiscal logged fastest growth among major economies in the world. According to the government data released yesterday, GDP of the country grew by 8.4 percent from a year ago.
As per the National Statistics Office, NSO, data, manufacturing output increased 5.5 percent during the period while construction segment grew 7.5 percent in the second quarter.
The NSO data suggest that household consumption rose in the second quarter, July-September, of FY22 despite the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, boosting hopes of a quicker recovery in consumer demand in the months ahead.
Economy of the country has gained momentum during the quarter as demand in the economy gradually came back to normalcy after coronavirus related disruptions. The economy had contracted 7.5 percent in the same period last year.

NSO Periodic Labor Force Survey – December 2021

The National Statistical Office recently released its findings of the Periodic Labor Force Survey (PLFS). This is a Quarterly bulletin and is tenth is the series. This is for January to March 2021.
The unemployment rate of people in the age of 15 years and above was 10.3%.
The unemployment rate of urban females was 11.8% in 2021. It was 13.1% in 2020.
The unemployment rate of urban males was 8.6% in 2021. It was 9.5% in 2020.
The Worker Population Ratio in urban was at 43.1%. It was 43.7% in 2020.
The Labor Force Participation Rate in urban areas was 47.5%. It was 47.3% in 2020.
The main object is to estimate employment and unemployment indicators. This includes labor force participation rate, worker population ratio, unemployment rate, etc. This is done in two ways. They are
Collecting “Current Weekly Status”
Collecting data on “Usual Status”
This is done in both urban and rural areas annually. In CWS approach, the person is considered unemployed if he or she did not work for even for one hour in the week.

ENVIRONMENT
Kyhytysukasachicarum: New Marine Reptile Discovered

Kyhytysukasachicarum is a new marine reptile species discovered by an international team of researchers. It is an extinct species. It was discovered from fossils found in central Columbia.
Earlier scientists believed that it belonged to Platypterygius genus. Recently, it was discovered that it is a different species. And thus it is now named as Kyhytysukasachicarum.
Kyhytysuka means “the one that cuts with something sharp”. The word belongs to the indigenous language of central Columbia.
The new species has been named Kyhytysukasachicarumto honor the Muisca culture of central Columbia. The Muisca are also called Chibcha. They were conquered by the Spanish in 1537. They were mainly agrarians. They also extracted salt from the sea.
The dentary is the longest bone of the species.
It measures 720 mm. The dentition is the most unique feature of the species. The teeth are seated in continuous grooves. The teeth are slightly curved posteriorly. Also, an alternating wave – like pattern is observed.

Science and Technology
Dhawan-1: Skyroot test-fires India’s first privately built cryogenic rocket engine

Skyroot Aerospace test-fired India’s first privately built cryogenic rocket engine called Dhawan-1.
Skyroot Aerospace demonstrated the upper stage of its Vikram-2 launch vehicle.
The cryogenic rocket engine is 100 per cent 3D printed and 100 percent made in India.
It has been named after Satish Dhawan, who was the third chairman of ISRO. He pioneered the development of advanced launch capabilities of India.
Vikram Rocket has been named after pioneering Vikram Sarabhai, who kick-started the ambitious space program in India. He also conducted advanced nuclear research.
The rocket uses a combination of Liquid Natural Gas, which is more than 90 per cent methane. Liquid Natural Gas is used in combination with Liquid Oxygen. In Combined form, it is called as “Methalox”, which form a cryogenic rocket fuel.
The combination provides for high performance and is having low cost. The fuel is environmentally friendly. Thus, leading this fuel is dubbed as “Fuel of the future” by the Skyroot Aerospace engineers.
Dhawan-1 engine comprises of a vacuum thrust of about 1.5kN. Engine was tested on a specially constructed testbed at Solar Industries in Nagpur. The engine is the upper stage of Vikram-2 launch vehicle. It uses environment friendly combinations called LNG and LOX. It is entirely 3D printed. Engine has been named in honor of Satish Dhawan.