Daily CURRENT AFFAIRS

Daily Current Affair - UPSC/KAS Exams - 27th July 2021

What is in news : Unrelenting monsoon and fear of the pandemic have forced the BWSSB to push its deadline to complete the rejuvenation of the Thippagondanahalli (TG Halli) reservoir to March-April 2022.

Details :

• Original deadline - December 2021
• Second Covid has significantly slowed down the project work cited BWSSB(Labour scarcity)

ABOUT TG-HALLI RESERVOIR

• Located at the confluence of the Arkavathy and Kumudavathi rivers
• Also called as Charmrajsagar
• Man-made reservoir, created by the building of a dam which was inaugurated in 1933 Visvesvaraya supervised the construction work
• Used by the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) as a major source of drinking water for western Bangalore
• Significance about rejenuvation : The project’s completion will allow BWSSB to pump 110 MLD water to western Bengaluru, but the reservoir will be fully operational only with the commissioning of the ambitious Yettinahole project by the Irrigation Department.

What is in news : Veteran actor Jayanti, 76, who passed away recently , was one of the most popular and critically acclaimed female actors of her time.

About :

• Born as Kamala Kumari in Ballari
• Veteran actor Manorama who was her batchmate
• Jenu Goodu in 1963 was her first film.
• Has acted in more than 500 films in five languages — Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Hindi
• Her roles in Miss Leelavathi, Chandavalliya Thota won her National award
• Edakallu Gudadda mele was her movie which got her state award
• She was called ‘Abhinaya Sharade’ by Kannada film connoisseurs

What is Mygov : Citizen engagment platform

Launched : 26th July 2014

Why :

• Promote the active participation of Indian citizens in their country's governance and development
• Aimed at creating a common platform for Indian citizens to "crowdsource governance ideas from citizens"

Managed by:  National Informatics Centre (NIC)

Additional info:

BENEFITS OF TECHNOLOGY TO COMMON MAN

• Efficient use of technology and platforms has enabled the poor and the marginalised to fully benefit from various government schemes
• Mobile phones, biometric ID Aadhaar, focus on domestic manufacturing, rapid internet penetration, digital payments, e-marketplace, and many other schemes and programs have brought unprecedented changes in the lives of people, and paved the way for inclusive development

What is in news : Around 24 lakh teachers have completed NISHTHA online training at elementary level by June, 2021.

About NISHTHA

• Full form : National Initiative for School Heads and Teachers Holistic Advancement
• Initially, the NISHTHA programme was launched in 2019 through face-to-face mode to improve learning outcomes at the elementary level in the country.
• Covid-19 pandemic situation and lockdown has affected the conduct of this programme in face-to-face mode. Therefore, NISHTHA has been customized for online mode to be conducted through Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing (DIKSHA) and NISHTHA portals.
• Aim:
  • National Initiative for School Heads’ and Teachers’ Holistic Advancement (NISHTHA) is a capacity building programme for improving the quality of school education through integrated teacher training.
  • It aims to build competencies among all the teachers and school principals at the elementary stage.

About DIKSHA

• DIKSHA Portal was launched by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD in 2017.
• It provides a digital platform for teachers giving them an opportunity to learn and train themselves and connect with the teacher community.

What is in news : Finance Minister in Parliament said the RBI has announced Special three-year Long-Term Repo Operations (SLTRO) of Rs 10,000 crore at repo rate for the Small Finance Banks (SFBs), to be deployed for fresh lending of up to Rs 10 lakh per borrower to provide further support to small business units, micro and small industries, and other unorganised sector entities adversely affected during the current wave of the pandemic.

What is SLTRO : Tool under which RBI provides money to the banks at repo rate. It accepts the government securities as collateral. It is usually provided for a period of one year to three years.

Significance of SLTRO:  Beneficial for the banks as they get long term funds at lower rates. This will make the banks to reduce the interest banks for borrowers. Thus, banks reduce their lending rates without reducing the policy rates.

REPO RATE

• Repo rate can be defined as an amount of interest that is charged by the Reserve Bank of India while lending funds to the commercial banks
• ‘Repo’ technically stands for ‘Repurchasing Option’ or ‘Repurchase Agreement’
• Repo rate in India is controlled by the Reserve Bank of India
• A decrease in the repo rates helps in improving the growth and economic development of the country.
• A decline in the repo rate can lead to the banks bringing down their lending rate which is beneficial for retail loan borrowers.

Location : Gujarath

What is in news : KASEZ is the First Green SEZ to achieve the IGBC Green Cities Platinum Rating for Existing Cities.

What is IGBC Green Rating:

• IGBC Platinum rating has been awarded for ‘Green master planning, policy initiatives and implementation of green infrastructure’ by CII’s Indian Green Building Council (IGBC).
• The recognition is set to pave way for all the other SEZs in the country to emulate the green initiative and efforts of Kandla SEZ.

Why did Kandla SEZ win :

• Accomplished in Bhuj region where water conservation and afforestation are critical interventions.
• Commitment of the Government to the Green SEZs Mission as part of celebrations marking India@75 - Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav.

What is SEZ : An SEZ is a territory within a country that is typically duty-free (Fiscal Concession) and has different business and commercial laws chiefly to encourage investment and create employment.

What is in news : Nauka meaning "science" in Russian is biggest space lab launched by Russia

Details :

• Nauka will replace Pirs, a Russian module on the International Space Station (ISS) used as a docking port for spacecraft and as a door for cosmonauts to go out on spacewalks
• Collaborative effort between five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe) and CSA (Canada)
• Launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on July 21 using a Proton rocket
• Scheduled to be integrated with the ISS soon
• On the ISS, Nauka will be attached to the critical Zvezda module, which provides all of the space station's life support systems and serves as the structural and functional centre of the Russian Orbital Segment

FACTS

What kind of research goes on at the International Space Station: A space station is essentially a large spacecraft that remains in low-earth orbit for extended periods of time. It is like a large laboratory in space, and allows astronauts to come aboard and stay for weeks or months to carry out experiments in microgravity.

• The University of Mysore has launched Google Cloud Centre of Excellence to prepare students for cloud careers.Google Cloud Centre of Excellence is an initiative to transform the career support services provided to students, alumni of the varsity and its 220 affiliate colleges.
• Timegrapher, a community of horology enthusiasts in Kerala, has come out with ‘Nazhika’, the first-ever watch featuring a Malayalam numerical script.
• Khadi Prakratik Paint has been developed from cow dung by Kumarappa National Handmade Paper Institute (KNHPI), Jaipur, a unit of Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC).  The Study conducted by KNHPI emphasize that Khadi Prakratik paint is eco-friendly and cost effective.
• The Lok Sabha today passed the National Institutes of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship and Management Bill, 2021, to declare certain institutes of food technology, entrepreneurship, and management as institutions of national importance. These institutes are: the National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management, Kundli & the Indian Institute of Food Processing Technology, Thanjavur.