12 JULY 2021 CURRENT AFFAIRS | UPSC CDS CAPF NDA SSB

1. LEMRU ELEPHANT RESERVE

The proposed Lemru Elephant Reserve in Chhattisgarh, in the pipeline for 20 years, has become the subject of yet another controversy.

About:

The state Forest and Environment Department asked the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) to make a presentation for decreasing the area of the proposed reserve from 1,995 sq km to 450 sq km.
Lemru is one of two elephant reserves planned to prevent human-animal conflict in the region, with elephants moving into Chhattisgarh from Odisha and Jharkhand.
The Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) described the reserve as part of an elephant corridor that connects Lemru (Korba), Badalkhol (Jashpur), Tamorpingla (Surguja).
Why does the government want to reduce the size of the reserve? The area proposed under the reserve is part of the Hasdeo Aranya forests, a very diverse biozone that is also rich in coal deposits.

Source : Indian Express

2. FLEXIBLE FUEL VEHICLES (FFVs)

India has decided to allow ethanol-based 'flex engines', which power vehicles using local farm produce and not fossil fuels, and will be rolling out a scheme on the same in the next three months, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said.

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Gadkari said other countries of the world like Brazil, the US and Canada have flex engines which are powered by farm produce and exhorted automakers like BMW, Mercedes and Toyota to develop vehicles running on the alternative fuel.
A switch to locally-produced ethanol will be helpful for a country like India which relies majorly on crude oil imports for powering the transport sector. It will also be less polluting and cost-saving.

Important Info :

Do you know?

Flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs) have an internal combustion engine and are capable of operating on gasoline and any blend of gasoline and ethanol up to 83%.
FFVs have one fuel system, and most components are the same as those found in a conventional gasoline-only car.
Some special ethanol-compatible components are required to compensate for the different chemical properties and energy content in ethanol, such as modifications to the fuel pump and fuel injection system.
The engine control module (ECM) is also calibrated to accommodate the higher oxygen content of ethanol.

Source : PIB

3. LNG-Liquefied Natural Gas

Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari inaugurated the country’s first Private LNG Facility plant at Nagpur.

About:

Liquefied natural gas, or LNG, is natural gas in its liquid form. When natural gas is cooled to minus 259 degrees Fahrenheit (-161 degrees Celsius), it becomes a clear, colorless, odorless liquid.
During the process known as liquefaction, natural gas is cooled below its boiling point, removing most of these compounds. The remaining natural gas is primarily methane with only small amounts of other hydrocarbons.
Properties: LNG is neither corrosive nor toxic. Natural gas is primarily methane, with low concentrations of other hydrocarbons, water, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, oxygen and some sulfur compounds. LNG weighs less than half the weight of water so it will float if spilled on water.
Benefits: Liquification is done for easy storage and transportation. LNG achieves a higher reduction in volume than CNG.
A majority of the world's LNG supply comes from countries with large natural gas reserves.

Source : PIB

4. SUBORBITAL

Virgin Group founder Richard Branson and five others undertook a brief trip to the “edge of space”, taking off on the VSS Unity spaceship from New Mexico and reaching an altitude of 85 km from Earth before returning. Such a trip is called a “suborbital flight”.

What’s suborbital?

When an object travels at a horizontal speed of about 28,000 km/hr or more, it goes into orbit once it is above the atmosphere.
Satellites need to reach that threshold speed in order to do orbit Earth. Such a satellite would accelerating toward the Earth due to gravity. However, it moves fast enough that the Earth curves out from under it as fast as it falls, giving it a circular path.
Any object travelling slower than 28,000 km/hr must eventually return to Earth. However, Branson’s spacecraft travelled fast enough to reach a point far enough to be considered outer space.
These are suborbital flights, because they will not be travelling fast enough to orbit Earth once they reach the “edge of space”.
Such a trip allows space travellers to experience a few minutes of “weightlessness”.
If an object travels at 40,000 km/hr, it will achieve what is known as “escape velocity”, and never return to Earth.

Source : Indian Express

5. SOBERANA 2

Cuba has said its homegrown Covid-19 vaccine Soberana 2 (Sovereign 2), when delivered with a booster shot of Soberana Plus, is about 91 percent effective against symptomatic Covid-19 cases as demonstrated in its late stage clinical trials.

About:

If approved, Cuba will become the first Latin American country to manufacture and produce a vaccine against Covid-19.
The Soberana 2 is delivered through a three dose regimen. Two shots of Soberana 2 and one of Soberana Plus, when taken in a 0-28-56 day regimen, have an efficacy of 91.2 percent, the Cuban government’s Covid-19 task force announced.
It is a protein vaccine, which is to say that these vaccines are made up of a protein derived from the virus, which then binds to human cells to trigger an immune response.

Source : Indian Express

6. SPEAKER

The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly has been without a Speaker for most of this year. Last week, it concluded its two-day Monsoon Session without electing a Speaker.

About:

Article 93 for Lok Sabha and Article 178 for state Assemblies state that these Houses “shall, as soon as may be”, choose two of its members to be Speaker and Deputy Speaker.
The Constitution neither sets a time limit nor specifies the process for these elections. It leaves it to the legislatures to decide how to hold these elections.
In Lok Sabha and state legislatures, the President/Governor sets a date for the election of the Speaker, and it is the Speaker who decides the date for the election of the Deputy Speaker.
The legislators of the respective Houses vote to elect one among themselves to these offices.
Haryana and Uttar Pradesh specify a time-frame for holding the election to the Speaker and Deputy Speaker’s offices.
The Constitution provides that the office of the Speaker should never be empty. So, he continues in office until the beginning of the next House, except in the event of death or resignation.

Important Info :

Their roles

The Speaker presides over the House proceedings and joint sittings of the two Houses of Parliament. It is the Speaker’s decision that determines whether a Bill is a Money Bill and therefore outside of the purview of the other House.
The Deputy Speaker is independent of the Speaker, not subordinate to him, as both are elected from among the members of the House.
Since Independence, the Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker’s position has grown in importance. In addition to presiding over the House in the absence of the Speaker, the Deputy Speaker chaired committees both inside and outside of Parliament.

Source : Indian Express

7. BRYUM BHARATIENSIS

A group of polar biologists from India stumbled upon a plant species, during an expedition to Antarctica, in 2017. However, it was only recently, that the scientists could confirm that the plant species had been discovered for the first time.

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The scientists from the Central University of Punjab discovered a rare, dark green plant species.
The plant species was found at the Larsemann Hills, overlooking the Southern Ocean, near one of the world’s remotest research stations, Bharati.
The plant species was later recognized as mosses.
The novel plant species, discovered by Indian scientists in Antarctica is hailed Bryum Bharatiensis, by the scientists. The newly found moss species is named after the Hindu goddess, Bharati, who also lends her name to India’s research station in Antarctica.
It is the first time, since the launch of the first research station in Antarctica, four decades ago, that India discovered a new plant species.

Source : All India Radio

8. FINANCIAL ACTION TASK FORCE’S (FATF)

The Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) plenary session ended its five-day deliberation and put out the list of countries that it has identified to have “strategic deficiencies”.

About:

The Paris based UN watchdog that looks after issues like terrorism financing, money laundering and the flow of black money at the global level has retained Pakistan in the list of countries with “strategic deficiencies”. The list is generally referred to as the “grey list”.
The grey listing by FATF shows that the issue of money laundering and consequent funding of illicit activities is fast spreading to other countries as well. The latest grey list includes countries like the Philippines, Malta, South Sudan and Haiti.
The 39 member grouping works in close coordination with the UN Security Council which evaluates countries for commitment to anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT).

Important Info :

Pakistan

The FATF has noted that Pakistan has made progress in addressing several of the issues that the watchdog has been raising in its plenary sessions. However, Pakistan failed to implement the most crucial of the 27 action items: to act against terror masterminds facing UN sanctions.
The latest move from FATF is expected to keep Pakistan under pressure to come clean on its links with the UN-designated terror masterminds Hafiz Saeed, the chief of Lashkar-e-Taiba and Masood Azhar, chief of Jaish-e-Mohammad. Both LeT and JeM are a threat to India as well as to Afghanistan.

Source : All India Radio

9. ZIKA VIRUS

Three more Zika positive cases have been confirmed in Kerala.

About:

Zika virus is a mosquito-borne flavivirus.
Transmission: Zika virus is primarily transmitted to people through the bite of an infected mosquito from the Aedesgenus, mainly Aedes aegypti in tropical regions. Sexual transmission of Zika virus is also possible.
Symptom: The symptoms are similar to dengue and include fever, skin rashes, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain, malaise, and headache. These symptoms are usually mild and last for 2-7 days.

Complications of Zika virus disease:

There is scientific consensus that Zika virus is a cause of microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome. Links to other neurological complications are also being investigated.
Microcephaly is a condition where a baby is born with a small head or the head stops growing after birth.
In Guillain-Barre syndrome, the body's immune system attacks part of the peripheral nervous system. This can result in muscle weakness and loss of sensation in the legs and/or arms.

Source : All India Radio

10. UTTAR PRADESH POPULATION POLICY FOR 2021-2030

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath launched the State’s population policy for 2021-2030.

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The new policy aims at

decreasing the total fertility rate from 2.7 to 2.1 by 2026 and 1.7 by 2030,
increase modern contraceptive prevalence rate from 31.7% to 45% by 2026 and 52% by 2030,
increase male methods of contraception use from 10.8% to 15.1% by 2026 and 16.4% by 2030,
decrease maternal mortality rate from 197 to 150 to 98, and infant mortality rate from 43 to 32 to 22, and under 5 infant mortality rate from 47 to 35 to 25.
Targeting stabilisation, the draft of the policy also said the State would attempt to maintain a balance of population among the various communities.

Source : The Hindu

12 JULY 2021 CURRENT AFFAIRS | UPSC CDS CAPF NDA SSB

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