Daily Current Affairs for State Exams: 29 December 2021

Daily Current Affairs 29/12/2021

Important News: India

India to chair Counter-Terrorism Committee of UNSC in January 2022

Why in News

India will chair the Counter-Terrorism Committee of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in January 2022 after 10 years.
India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN) Ambassador TS Tirumurti had announced in January, 2021 that, India will chair 3 important communities (Taliban Sanctions Committee, Libya Sanctions Committee and Counter-Terrorism Committee) at the UNSC in 2021-22.

Key Points

The Counter-Terrorism Committee was established by Security Council resolution 1373 adopted unanimously on 28 September 2001 in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks in the US.
The Committee was tasked with monitoring implementation of resolution 1373 which requested countries to implement a number of measures aimed at enhancing their legal and institutional ability to counter terrorist activities at home and around the world.

Facts about United Nations:

Formation: 24 October 1945
Headquarter: New York, USA
Membership: 193 member states

The United Nations has six principal organs:

The General Assembly
The Security Council
The Economic and Social Council
The International Court of Justice
The UN Secretariat
The Trusteeship Council

Facts about UNSC (United Nations Security Council):

Formation: 24 October 1945
Membership: 15 countries
‍Permanent members: 5 (China, France, Russia, United Kingdom and United States)
‍Non-permanent members: 10 including India

Source: newsonair

State of India’s Livelihood (SOIL) Report 2021: Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs)

Why in News

The State of India’s Livelihood (SOIL) Report 2021 has stated that just 1-5 % of Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) have received funding under central government schemes in the last 7 years.

Key Points

Access Development Services, a national livelihoods support organisation has prepared the SOIL report.
It has analysed only Farmer Producer Companies (FPC — FPOs registered under The Companies Act, 2013) since they make up a large majority of the organisations started in recent years.
The number of FPOs registered as cooperatives or societies is very small.

About Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs):

The concept of 'Farmer Producer Organisations (FPO)' consists of collectivization of producers especially small and marginal farmers so as to form an effective alliance to collectively address many challenges of agriculture such as improved access to investment, technology, inputs, and markets.
FPO is one type of Producer Organisation (PO) where the members are farmers.

Support for FPOs:

FPOs are generally mobilized by promoting institutions/ Resource Agencies (RAs).
Small Farmers’ Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) is providing support for the promotion of FPOs.
The resource agencies leverage the support available from governments and agencies like National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) to promote and nurture FPOs.

Note: The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has launched the Central Sector Scheme titled 'Formation & Promotion of 10,000 Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs)’.

Source: DTE

India clears 2 new vaccines and Merck's COVID Pill

Why in News

India cleared two more vaccines and one anti-viral drug to boost the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
The two latest vaccines cleared by India are Corbevax and Covovax. The anti-viral drug Molnupiravir can be used during emergency.

Key Points

Corbevax is India's first homegrown "RBD protein sub-unit vaccine". It is made by the Hyderabad-based firm Biological-E.
It's now the third vaccine developed in India.
The other two vaccines developed in India are Bharat Biotech's Covaxin and the Serum Institute of India's (SII) Covishield.
The nanoparticle vaccine, Covovax, will be manufactured by the Pune-based SII.
The anti-viral drug Molnupiravir will be manufactured in India by 13 companies for restricted use under emergency situations to treat adult patients with COVID-19.

Number of approved COVID vaccines:

With the latest approvals, a total of eight COVID-19 vaccines have got emergency use authorisation from India's drug regulator - Covishield, Covaxin, ZyCoV-D, Sputnik V, Moderna, Johnson and Johnson, Corbevax and Covovax.

Source: ndtv

Important News: State

PM Modi inaugurates Kanpur Metro Rail Project

Why in News

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Kanpur Metro Rail Project.
He inaugurated the Bina-Panki Multiproduct Pipeline Project.
He attended the 54^thConvocation Ceremony of IIT Kanpur and issued digital degrees through in-house blockchain-driven technology.

Key Points

About Kanpur Metro Rail Project:

The entire length of the Kanpur Metro Rail Project is 32 km and is being built at a cost of over Rs 11,000 crore.
Kanpur Metro is going to be the fastest built metro project in the country.

About Bina-Panki Multiproduct Pipeline Project:

The Multiproduct pipeline from Bina Refinery (Madhya Pradesh) to POL Terminal at Panki, Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh) was dedicated to the nation.
356 Km long project has a capacity of around 3.45 million metric tonne per annum.
Project will cover 5 districts of UP: Lalitpur, Jhansi, Jalaun, Kanpur Dehat and Kanpur Nagar, and 2 of MP: Sagar and Tikamgarh.

Source: TOI

Centre sets up panel to look into withdrawal of AFSPA in Nagaland

Why in News

The Union government instituted a high-level committee chaired by a Secretary-level officer to examine the possibility of withdrawing the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) in Nagaland.
Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India Vivek Joshi will head the five-member committee.

Key Points

The committee will submit its report within 45 days and withdrawal of Disturbed Area and AFSPA from Nagaland will be based on the recommendations of the committee.
Recently, the demands for repeal of AFSPA – an Act that gives sweeping powers to the armed forces to arrest without warrants and even shoot to kill in certain situations in ‘disturbed areas’ – from Nagaland and other north-eastern states have been growing louder.

Note:

In March 2018, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs ordered removal of AFSPA completely from Meghalaya.
In Arunachal Pradesh too, AFSPA was removed from several police stations during 2018 and 2019; at present in the state, only three districts and four police stations that border Assam are under AFSPA.

Source: Indian Express

Important News: Economy

India to become 3rd largest economy in 2031: CEBR

Why in News

The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) from the UK has predicted that the Indian economy will become the world’s third largest by the year 2031.
In the year 2022, India is set to regain its sixth position in World Economic League Table (WELT) from France, as per CEBR.

Key Points

China will overtake the US in 2030.
In the year 2020, India’s GDP had witnessed a contraction of 7.3% due to COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown leading to constraints on economic activity.
Economic activity has rebounded in 2021, due to a drop in daily new cases of infections.
The economy is estimated to grow 8.5% in 2021, due to economic recovery after a contraction of 7.3% in 2020.

Source: TOI

Important News: Science

DRDO hands over technology of extreme cold weather clothing system (ECWCS) to five Indian companies

Why in News

Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and Chairman Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) Dr G Satheesh Reddy handed over technology for indigenous extreme cold weather clothing system (ECWCS) to 5 Indian companies.

Key Points

The DRDO designed ECWCS is ergonomically designed modular technical clothing with improved thermal insulation and physiological comfort based on the insulation required at various ambient climatic conditions in Himalayan regions during different levels of physical activity.
The three layered ECWCS is designed to suitably provide thermal insulation over a temperature range of +15 to -50° Celsius with different combinations of the layers and intensity of physical work.

Source: PIB

Important News: Sports

Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021: Himachal Pradesh beat Tamil Nadu to win maiden title

Himachal Pradesh beat Tamil Nadu by 11 runs in the final to win their maiden Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021 title, at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur.
For the first time ever, Himachal Pradesh has won a domestic cricket title in Indian cricket.

Source: TOI

Important News: Award and Honour

Viral Sudhirbhai Desai wins “Global Environment and Climate Action Citizen Award 2021”

Why in News

Viral Sudhirbhai Desai, an industrialist from Surat, who is popularly known as the Greenman or green man of Gujarat has been honoured with the Global Environment and Climate Action Citizen Award 2021.

Key Points

Among the 28 personalities from 11 countries (which include the UK, the US, New Zealand, France, and Malaysia,) who were honoured with this award, Viral Desai was the only Indian to win the honour for climate change.