10 DECEMBER 2021 DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS | UPSC CDS CAPF AFCAT NDA SSB

1. WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME (WFP)

The World Food Programme (WFP) has suspended the distribution of food aid in two northern Ethiopian towns after gunmen looted its warehouses.

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The United Nations said, looters from rebel Tigrayan forces held aid staff at gunpoint in the town of Kombolcha. They stole large quantities of essential food supplies, including some for malnourished children.
Northern Ethiopia is facing mass starvation amid an ongoing civil war between Tigrayan and government forces. After more than a year of fighting, more than nine million people are in need of critical food supplies in the Tigray, Amhara and Afar regions, the UN says.
The World Food Programme (WFP) is the food-assistance branch of the United Nations. Founded in 1961, it is headquartered in Rome.

Source: All India Radio

2. NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF PHARMACEUTICAL EDUCATION AND RESEARCH (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2021

The Parliament has passed the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (Amendment) Bill, 2021, with passing of the Bill in the Rajya Sabha and on 6th December in the Lok Sabha.

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The Bill seeks to amend the original act of 1998 to declare six additional National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research as Institutions of National Importance.
These institutes are located in Ahmedabad, Hajipur, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Guwahati and Raebareli.
The Bill also provides for a Council to coordinate the activities among the institutes to ensure development of pharmaceutical education and research.
The NIPERs are for strengthening and enhancing research in the Pharma sector, in the country.

Source: All India Radio

3. BAN ON CIGARETTES

New Zealand said it will ban young people from buying cigarettes for life, one of the toughest approaches in the world to curbing smoking deaths as part of a wider plan that focuses on the disproportionate impact on its indigenous Maori population.

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New Zealand is already one of 17 countries where plain cigarette packaging is compulsory.
New Zealand plans to make it illegal to sell cigarettes to anyone aged 14 and under from 2027. The ban will remain in place for the rest of the person’s life. That means a person aged 60 in 2073 will be banned from buying cigarettes, while a person aged 61 would be allowed to do so.
It also bans sales to anyone under 18, but it says those measures are not enough to reach its goal of a national adult smoking rate of less than 5% by 2025.

Important Info :

Bhutan banned cigarette sales outright in 2010 (although it lifted the ban temporarily in 2020 to stop black market imports from India during a COVID-19 border closure, Al-Jazeera reported).

Source: Indian Express

4. IMO AWARD FOR EXCEPTIONAL BRAVERY AT SEA

International Maritime Organization (IMO) council has awarded Certificate of Commendation to Indian Navy, Indian Coast Guard and Master along with crew members of tugboat Ocean Bliss.

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The award has been given for exceptional and courageous efforts towards rescue operation of M/T New Diamond.
The rescue team members of the Indian Navy, Indian Coast Guard and the master and crew of tugboat Ocean Bliss, carried out sustained and effective fire- fighting operations.
They skilfully towed the vessel away from the coast, thereby preventing loss of life at sea and averted a serious marine pollution incident.

Source: All India Radio

5. NON-CONVERTIBLE DEBENTURES (NCDs)

Several companies, including IIFL Home Finance, Indiabulls Housing Finance and Edelweiss Financial Services, have announced public issues to raise funds through non-convertible debentures, offering interest rates between 8.25–9.7%.

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At a time when fixed deposit rates are in low single digits, these NCD offerings look lucrative.
Non-convertible debentures(NCDs) are a financial instrument that is used by companies to raise long-term capital. This is done through a public issue.
NCDs are a debt instrument with a fixed tenure and people who invest in these receive regular interest at a certain rate.
Some debentures can be converted into shares after a certain point in time. This is done at the discretion of the owner. However, this is not possible in the case of NCDs. That’s why they are known as non-convertible.

Source: Indian Express

6. WORLD INEQUALITY REPORT 2022

India stands out as a “poor and very unequal country, with an affluent elite”, where the top 10% holds 57% of the total national income, including 22% held by the top 1%, while the bottom 50% holds just 13% in 2021, according to the World Inequality Report 2022.

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The report has been authored by economist and co-director of the World Inequality Lab, Lucas Chancel, along with economists Thomas Piketty, Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman.
Key findings for India
It says India’s middle class is relatively poor with an average wealth of Rs 7,23,930, or 29.5% of the total national income, compared with the top 10% and 1% who own 65% (Rs 63,54,070) and 33% (Rs 3,24,49,360), respectively.
The average annual national income of the Indian adult population is Rs 2,04,200 in 2021. The bottom 50% earned Rs 53,610, while the top 10% earned over 20 times more (Rs 11,66,520), the report states. The average household wealth is Rs 9,83,010, of which the bottom 50% owns Rs 66,280, a mere 6%.
The share of the top 10% and bottom 50% in pre-tax national income has remained broadly constant since 2014.

Important Info :

Global, regional trends

The poorest half of the global population “barely owns any wealth” at just 2% of the total, whereas the richest 10% owns 76%, the report says. The richest 10% currently takes 52% of global income, and the poorest earns just 8%.
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are the most unequal regions in the world, whereas Europe has the lowest inequality levels, the report says.
In Europe, the top 10%’s income share is around 36%, and in MENA, it is 58%; in East Asia, it is 43%, and in Latin America, 55%.

Source: Indian Express

7. ANIL MENON

Indian-origin physician, Anil Menon has been selected by NASA along with nine others to be astronauts for future missions, the American space agency has announced.

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45 years old Menon, a lieutenant colonel at the US Air Force, was SpaceX's first flight surgeon, helping to launch the company's first humans to space during Nasa's SpaceX Demo-2 mission.
Menon previously served Nasa as the crew flight surgeon for various expeditions taking astronauts to the International Space Station.
Earlier, aeronautical engineer Sirisha Bandla in July became the third Indian-origin woman to fly into space after Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams.
Till now, Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma is the only Indian citizen to travel in space. The former Indian Air Force pilot flew aboard Soyuz T-11 on April 3, 1984, part of the Soviet Interkosmos programme.

Source: All India Radio

8. YUSAKU MAEZAWA

Billionaire Japanese entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa reached the International Space Station (ISS) for a 12-day trip, during which time he will complete 100 tasks in space, including playing a game of badminton.

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Maezawa and another space tourist Yozo Hirano–who will document the billionaire’s space flight–made the trip led by Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin.
The three reached the ISS aboard a Soyuz MS-20 that took off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Tourists in space

Companies including Virgin Atlantic, SpaceX, XCOR Aerospace, Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin and Armadillo Aerospace are working on providing space tourism services to people.
But Space Adventures is the only private company to send paying customers to orbital space so far, a report by the Congressional Research Service notes. In 2004, test pilot Mike Melville became the first private astronaut to fly beyond the Karman Line (recognised as the edge of space).

Source: Indian Express

9. CERTIFICATION COURSE ON HOME ENERGY AUDIT

The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) launched “Certification Course on Home Energy Audit (HEA)”, during "National Energy Conservation Week: 8th–14th December 2021".

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A Home Energy Audit (HEA) enables appropriate accounting, quantification, verification, monitoring, and analysis of energy use of various energy-consuming equipment and appliances in a house, with a cost-benefit analysis and action plan to reduce energy consumption.

The Certification Course would enable:

Creation of a pool of professionals to perform home energy audits based on the needs of the consumer (s);
Domestic consumers to get Home Energy Audit carried out through respective SDA Certified Home Energy Auditor(s);
Dissemination of information and raising awareness among engineering/diploma/ITI students, energy professionals, and industry partners about the importance and benefits of energy auditing, energy efficiency, and conservation.

Source: PIB

10. MAIN BHI DIGITAL 3.0

“Main Bhi Digital 3.0" campaign launched which is aimed at digital onboarding of Street Vendors who are provided loans under PM SVANidhi Scheme.

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Digital onboarding and training of Street Vendors (SVs) is an integral part of PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) Scheme.
Lending Institutions (LIs) have been instructed to issue a durable QR Code & UPI ID at the time of disbursement and train the beneficiaries in the conduct of digital transactions.
In order to give further impetus to the digital onboarding and training of beneficiaries, the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) and Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) jointly launched ‘Main Bhi Digital 3.0’from September 9 to November 30, 2021, to complement the efforts of in adoption of digital transactions by the PM SVANidhi beneficiaries.
PM SVANidhi Scheme is available to all street vendors across the country, including those from Dahod tribal area, who are engaged in vending in urban areas on or before March 24, 2020.

Source: PIB

10 DECEMBER 2021 DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS | UPSC CDS CAPF AFCAT NDA SSB

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