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

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Written by NDI EDITOR

Dec 13 2021

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13 DECEMBER 2021 DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS | UPSC CDS CAPF AFCAT NDA SSB
1. NEW CALEDONIA
Voters in the French island territory of New Caledonia chose overwhelmingly to remain part of France, in a referendum boycotted by pro-independence forces and closely watched around the South Pacific.

About:

  • New Caledonia is a sui generis collectivity of overseas France in the southwest Pacific Ocean, south of Vanuatu, about 1,210 km east of Australia, and 17,000 km from Metropolitan France.

  • The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Chesterfield Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of Pines, and a few remote islets.

  • The Chesterfield Islands are in the Coral Sea.

  • French President Emmanuel Macron hailed the result as a resounding confirmation of France’s role in the Indo-Pacific, and announced negotiations on the territory’s future status. Separatist activists expressed disappointment.

  • They had urged a delay in the vote because of the pandemic, and were angry over what they said were French government efforts to sway the campaign. So they called on their supporters to stay away from voting stations.
Source: The Hindu

2. NATIONAL HIGHWAY 334B
Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has said the project, NH-334B is nearing completion with ~93% progress and is targeted for an early completion by 3 months in January 2022.

About:

  • The NH-334B which starts at UP/Haryana border (Baghpat) and ends at Rohna will provide seamless connectivity from UP to Rajasthan border via Haryana ensuring users can bypass Delhi traffic.

  • The NH-334B also crosses NH-44 providing direct access to commuters to Chandigarh and Delhi.
Source: PIB

3. CELEBRATING INNOVATION ECOSYSTEM
As a part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, a week-long event, "Celebrating Innovation Ecosystem", to be hosted by Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), is proposed to be held in January 2022.

About:

  • The event will mark the 6th anniversary of the launch of the Startup India initiative.

  • The key objectives of the Innovation Week will be to bring together the country’s key Startups, entrepreneurs, investors, policy makers and other national/ international stakeholders for a specially curated event on innovation and entrepreneurship.

  • The event will feature a dedicated exhibition area for select Startups (including DPIIT-recognised Startups, National Startup Awards Finalists, Startups supported by Fund of Funds for Startups, beneficiary Startups of Government of India Ministries/ States).

  • Mentoring and incubation support at the event will also be provided in collaboration with partnering agencies such as AIM NITI Aayog, DST, DBT, MeitY, DPIIT, Invest India and more.
Source: PIB

4. GOVERNOR’S ROLE IN UNIVERSITIES
A controversy has erupted in Kerala over the reappointment of Gopinath Ravindran as the Vice Chancellor of Kannur University, with Governor Arif Mohammed Khan saying he approved the decision against his “better judgement” as Chancellor.

Role of Governors in state universities

  • In most cases, the Governor of the state is the ex-officio chancellor of the universities in that state.

  • While the Governor’s powers and functions as the Chancellor are laid out in the statutes that govern the universities under a particular state government, their role in appointing the Vice Chancellors has often triggered disputes with the political executive.

Central Universities

  • Under the Central Universities Act, 2009, and other statutes, the President of India shall be the Visitor of a central university.

  • With their role limited to presiding over convocations, Chancellors in central universities are titular heads, who are appointed by the President in his capacity as Visitor.

  • The VCs too are appointed by the Visitor from panels of names picked by search and selection committees formed by the Union government.

  • The Act adds that the President, as Visitor, shall have the right to authorise inspections of academic and non-academic aspects of the universities and also to institute inquiries.
Source: Indian Express

5. WEBB VS HUBBLE TELESCOPES
The James Webb Space Telescope, NASA’s most powerful telescope, is scheduled to be rocketed into orbit no earlier than December 22. Though Webb is often called the replacement for the Hubble Space Telescope, NASA said it prefers to call it a successor.

Differences between Webb and the Hubble Telescope

  • Wavelength: The James Webb Space Telescope will observe primarily in the infrared range and provide coverage from 0.6 to 28 microns. The instruments on Hubble see mainly in the ultraviolet and visible part of the spectrum. It could observe only a small range in the infrared from 0.8 to 2.5 microns.

  • Size: Webb’s primary mirror has a diameter of 6.5 metres. Hubble’s mirror was much smaller – 2.4 metres in diameter. So, Webb will have a larger field of view compared to the camera on Hubble.

  • Orbit: Hubble orbits around the Earth at an altitude of ~570 km. Webb will not orbit the Earth. It will orbit the sun at about 1.5 million kilometres away from Earth.
Source: Indian Express

6. BUXA TIGER RESERVE (BTR)
An increase in the forest density and the big cat prey base, especially deer, had attracted a Royal Bengal tiger, a first such sighting in 23 years, to the Buxa Tiger reserve.

About:

  • They believed that a favourable habitat at the tiger reserve would invite more tigers, which had migrated to neighbouring Bhutan. The state shares a contiguous range of the protected area with Bhutan.

  • The forest department shared a camera trap picture of the tiger spotted at the East Damanpur range of the tiger reserve.

Important Info :

Geography

  • Buxa Tiger Reserve lies in Alipurduar district of West Bengal.
  • Its northern boundary runs along the international border with Bhutan. The Phibsoo Wildlife Sanctuary of Bhutan is contiguous to the north of BTR.
  • The Sinchula hill range lies all along the northern side of BTR and the eastern boundary touches that of the Assam state.
  • Manas National Park lies on east of BTR. BTR, thus, serves as international corridor for Asian elephant migration between India and Bhutan.
  • National Highway No.31 C roughly runs along its southern boundary.
  • It is the easternmost extension of extreme bio-diverse North-East India and represents highly endemic Indo-Malayan region. The fragile "Terai Eco-System" constitutes a part of this reserve.
Source: Indian Express

7. BANKING REFORMS
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das indicated that the banking regulator will ring in sweeping regulatory changes to reform urban cooperative banks that have been plagued by a spate of failures, and warned people against parking their savings in banks offering high returns.

About:

  • While describing the Government’s decision to raise the insured limit for bank deposits to ₹5 lakh from ₹1 lakh with a 90-day time limit to pay out such deposits as ‘landmark’ developments, Mr. Das stressed that the payment of deposit insurance should be seen as a “measure of last resort”.

  • There are institutions that are offering higher interest rates which are viable, but depositors should always be very careful,” he reiterated at an event to mark the payment of nearly ₹1,300 crore to over 1 lakh depositors whose funds were stuck in distressed banks for years.

  • Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi addressed a function on “Depositors First: Guaranteed Time-bound Deposit Insurance Payment up to Rs. 5 Lakh” in New Delhi.
Source: The Hindu

8. ISRAEL-UAE RELATIONS
Israel’s Naftali Bennett arrived in the United Arab Emirates for the first official visit by a Prime Minister of the Jewish state, after they established diplomatic ties last year.

About:

  • The trip announced by Mr. Bennett’s office comes amid Israel’s renewed diplomatic push against resumed international talks with its arch foe Iran over the Islamic republic’s nuclear programme.

  • Iran and world powers have resumed negotiations on the frayed 2015 nuclear deal that offered Iran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme, which Tehran says is civilian in nature.

  • Bennett will meet Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan to discuss “deepening the ties between Israel and the UAE, especially economic and regional issues.”

Important Info :

Background

  • The UAE last year became the third Arab nation to establish full diplomatic relations with Israel after Egypt and Jordan.
  • Bahrain and Morocco then followed as part of a series of deals brokered by former U.S. President Donald Trump.
  • Sudan also agreed to normalise ties with Israel under the so-called Abraham Accords, but full relations have not yet materialised.
Source : The Hindu
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Written by NDI EDITOR

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