13 JULY CURRENT AFFAIRS

1. ASHADHI BIJ
The Prime Minister Narendra Modi has greeted the people on the auspicious occasion of Ashadhi Bij, the Kutchi New Year.

About:

Date: Ashadi Beej or Ashadhi Bij is observed on the second day of the Shukla Paksha or waxing phase of moon in Ashada month.
Region: It is the Kutchi New Year. This Hindu New Year is observed in the Kutch region in Gujarat.
Celebrations: Ashadi Beej is mostly a traditional affair and is a celebration of rains. During Ashadhi-beej, farmers check the moisture in the atmosphere to help predict which crop would do best in coming monsoon.

Source : All India Radio

2. NATIONAL BANK FOR AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT (NABARD)

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar addresses a webinar on 40th foundation day of National Bank For Agriculture And Rural Development (NABARD).

About:

Established in: 1982.
History: It was established in 1982 on the recommendations of B.Sivaraman Committee to implement the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Act 1981.
Headquarters:
Objective: Promoting agriculture and rural development through participative financial and non-financial interventions, innovations, technology and institutional development for securing prosperity.

Important Info :

Functions and activities:

NABARD provides refinancing facilities to Commercial banks, State co-operative banks, Central Co-operative banks, Regional rural banks and Land Development banks.
NABARD provides refinance assistance for agriculture, promoting rural development activities. It also provides all necessary finance and assistance to small scale industries.
Government of India created the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) in NABARD in 1995-96, with an initial corpus of Rs.2,000 crore.
It supervises State Cooperative Banks (SCBs), District Cooperative Central Banks (DCCBs), and Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) and conducts statutory inspections of these banks.
NABARD is also known for its 'SHG Bank Linkage Programme' which encourages India's banks to lend to self-help groups (SHGs).

Source : PIB

3. NATIONAL FORENSIC SCIENCE UNIVERSITY

The Union Home Minister inaugurated the newly built Center of Excellence for Research & Analysis of Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances of the National Forensic Science University in Ahmedabad.

About:

When the government was formed for the second time under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, it was decided to establish this Center
7 States of the country have expressed their desire to open Colleges and Centers of Excellence affiliated to the National Forensic Science University, Gujarat.
The Cyber Defence Center and Ballistic Research Center set up in this Center are unique in the whole of Asia and the nation is on course to be self-reliant in this field.

Source : PIB

4. LOWER ARUN HYDRO ELECTRIC PROJECT

A MoU has been signed for execution of 679 MW Lower Arun Hydro Electric Project in Nepal between Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) Central Public Sector Enterprise under Ministry of Power, Government of India & Investment Board of Nepal (IBN) in Kathmandu Nepal.

About:

The Lower Arun HEP (679 MW) is a downstream development of Arun-3 HEP.
The Lower Arun Hydro Electric Project is located in Sankhuwasabha and Bhojpur Districts of Nepal.
The project will not have any reservoir or dam and will be a tail race development of 900 MW Arun3 HEP.
The project will have four francis type turbines.
On completion the Project will generate 2970 million units of electricity per annum.
It is scheduled to be completed in four years after commencement of construction activities and has been allocated to SJVN for 25 years on Build Own Operate Transfer basis.

Important Info :

Arun 3 Hydro Electric Project

This is the second project awarded to SJVN in Nepal, the first one being the 900 MW Arun 3 Hydro Electric Project in Sankhuwasabha District.
Arun-3 Project is being implemented through wholly owned subsidiary company of SJVN i.e. SJVN Arun-3 Power Development Company Limited (SAPDC) incorporated in Nepal.

Source : PIB

5. MANEESHA S INAMDAR

An Indian stem cell & developmental biologist is part of the WHO advisory committee on human genome editing.

About:

Indian stem cell and developmental biologist Prof. Maneesha S Inamdar has been part of the WHO Expert Advisory Committee on Developing Global Standards for Governance and Oversight of Human Genome Editing.
This committee has released two new companion reports providing the first global recommendations to help ensure that human genome editing is used for public health, with an emphasis on safety, effectiveness, and ethics.
The reports, released on July 12, 2021, contained a forward-looking Governance Framework for oversight mechanisms for research into and potential application of human genome editing technology at institutional, national, regional and international levels.
Professor Maneesha S Inamdar is conducting research at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru, an autonomous Institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) that uses gene-editing tools to manipulate stem cells in vitro.

Source : PIB

6. INTERNATIONAL TRADE FINANCE SERVICES PLATFORM (‘ITFS’)

IFSCA has issued a framework for Setting up and operating International Trade Finance Services Platform (‘ITFS’).

About:

The International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) has been set up vide IFSCA Act, 2019 to develop and regulate the financial products, financial services and financial institutions in the International Financial Services Centres (IFSCs).
Towards this end, IFSCA has issued a framework for Setting up and operating International Trade Finance Services Platform (‘ITFS’) for providing Trade Finance Services at International Financial Services Centres (‘IFSCs’).
The framework will enable Exporters and Importers to avail various types of trade finance facilities at competitive terms, for their international trade transactions through a dedicated electronic platform viz, ITFS.
This will help in their ability to convert their trade receivables into liquid funds and to obtain short term funding.

Source : PIB

7. KONGU NADU

A list of new Union Cabinet ministers issued by the BJP has triggered a debate in political circles in Tamil Nadu, as well as on social media, by referring to ‘Kongu Nadu’, the informal name for a region in the western part of the state.

About:

The list mentions new minister L Murugan as hailing from ‘Kongu Nadu’.
This has led to allegations that the BJP of trying to bifurcate the state, with the ruling DMK-Congress alliance saying the “agenda” will not succeed.
It has also been considered an AIADMK stronghold in the recent past, and is also where the BJP’s limited influence in the state is concentrated.

Important Info :

But where is Kongu Nadu?

‘Kongu Nadu’ is neither a place with a PIN code nor a name given formally to any region. It is a commonly used name for part of western Tamil Nadu.
In Tamil literature, it was referred to as one of the five regions of ancient Tamil Nadu. There were mentions of ‘Kongu Nadu’ in Sangam literature as a separate territory.
In the present state of Tamil Nadu, the term is informally used to refer to a region that includes the districts of Nilgiris, Coimbatore, Tirupur, Erode, Karur, Namakkal and Salem, as well as Oddanchatram and Vedasandur in Dindgul district, and Pappireddipatti in Dharmapuri district.
The name derives from Kongu Vellala Gounder, an OBC community with a significant presence in these districts.
The region includes prominent businesses and industrial hubs at Namakkal, Salem, Tirupur and Coimbatore.

Source : Indian Express

8. RIGHT TO REPAIR MOVEMENT

In recent years, countries around the world have been attempting to pass effective ‘right to repair’ laws.

About:

US President Joe Biden signed an executive order calling on the Federal Trade Commission to curb restrictions imposed by manufacturers that limit consumers’ ability to repair their gadgets on their own terms.
The UK, too, introduced right-to-repair rules that should make it much easier to buy and repair daily-use gadgets such as TVs and washing machines.

What is the right to repair movement?

Activists and organisations around the world have been advocating for the right of consumers to be able to repair their own electronics and other products as part of the ‘right to repair’ movement.
The movement traces its roots back to the very dawn of the computer era in the 1950s.
The goal of the movement is to get companies to make spare parts, tools and information on how to repair devices available to customers and repair shops to increase the lifespan of products and to keep them from ending up in landfills.
They argue that these electronic manufacturers are encouraging a culture of ‘planned obsolescence’ — which means that devices are designed specifically to last a limited amount of time and to be replaced. This, they claim, leads to immense pressure on the environment and wasted natural resources.

Important Info :

But why do electronic manufacturers oppose this movement?

Large tech companies, including Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Tesla, have been lobbying against the right to repair.
Their argument is that opening up their intellectual property to third party repair services or amateur repairers could lead to exploitation and impact the safety and security of their devices.

Source : Indian Express

9. NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF INDIA

Culture Minister G. Kishan Reddy said the National Archives’ records related to freedom fighters would be digitised within a year as a part of the commemoration of 75 years of Independence next year.

About:

The National Archives of India is an Attached Office under the Ministry of Culture.
It was established in 1891 at Kolkata(Calcutta) as the Imperial Record Department.
Following the transfer of the capital from Calcutta to Delhi in 1911, the present building of the National Archives of India was constructed in 1926 in Delhi.
There are over 50 lakhs files/documents presently in the holdings in the National Archives of India.

Source : The Hindu

10. LIGHTNING

At least 30 people were killed in separate incidents of lightning in various parts of the country in the past 24 hours.

How common are deaths by lightning?

As a whole, India sees 2,000-2,500 lightning deaths every year on average. Lightning is the biggest contributor to accidental deaths due to natural causes.
And yet, lightning remains among the least studied atmospheric phenomena in the country.
Just one group of scientists, at the Indian Institute of Tropical Management (IITM) in Pune, works full-time on thunderstorms and lightning.

Ground currents

Lightning rarely hits people directly — but such strikes are almost always fatal.
People are most commonly struck by what are called “ground currents”. The electrical energy, after hitting a large object (such as a tree) on Earth, spreads laterally on the ground for some distance, and people in this area receive electrical shocks.
It becomes more dangerous if the ground is wet (which it frequently is because of the accompanying rain), or if there is metal or other conducting material on it.

Source : Indian Express

13 JULY 2021 CURRENT AFFAIRS | UPSC CDS CAPF NDA SSB

13 JULY CURRENT AFFAIRS

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