Daily CURRENT AFFAIRS

Location : Bengaluru

What is the news : The Kempegowda International Airport achieved net energy neutral status, saving nearly 22 lakh units of energy during the 2020-21 financial year

Significance : The energy saved is enough to power nearly 9,000 houses for a month

How was it achieved :

BIAL

• Saved nearly 5 lakh units (KWH) from lighting
• Has implemented chiller plant optimisation in Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC), which has resulted in saving of over 17 lakh units (KWH)
• Additional savings was done through onsite solar installations as well as Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) from solar and wind energy suppliers

Note:T he newly commissioned South Runway Airfield Ground Lighting is powered with LED lights, making it the first airfield in India to be fully powered with an LED lighting system

What is the news : Social Justice and Empowerment Minister launched Senior care Ageing Growth Engine or SAGE project

What is SAGE project:

• SAGE project will be launched to select, support and create “one-stop access” of elderly care products and services provided by credible start-ups.
• Project was formulated following the recommendations of empowered expert committee report on start-ups for elderly.
• Once the project is launched, start-ups can apply to be a part of it through dedicated portal. This dedicated portal will also be launched along with the scheme.

How start-ups will be selected?

Start-ups will be selected based on their innovative products and services, which they can provide across sectors like housing, health and care centres. They will also be selected based on technological access linked to finances, food & wealth management besides legal guidance.

Who will facilitate the scheme: Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment will be the facilitator to enable elderly to access products through these identified and verified start-ups.

What was the need of this scheme: This scheme was required in the light of increasing share of elders. As per a survey, share of elders with respect to total population in percentage term is expected to increase from 7.5 per cent in 2001 to about 12.5 per cent by 2026.

What is the news : Recently RBI monitored certain economic variables

Details :

• Benchmark Interest Rates Unchanged ie; Repo Rate - 4%
• Cut GDP forecast to 9.5%
• Increased CPI inflation to 5.1%

Who does the considerations: Monetary Policy committee

MONETARY POLICY COMMITTEE

Formed By	Reserve bank of India
Purpouse	Fixing the benchmark policy interest rate (repo rate) to restrain inflation within the particular target level
Statute	Section 45ZB,Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934
How was it formed	On recommendations of Urijit Patel Committee
Date of Formation	27th June 2016
Chairperson	RBI Governer
Structure	Six members Government will nominate three(No government official) The other three members would be from the RBI Deputy governor of RBI in charge of the monetary policy
Selection of members	The government nominees to the MPC will be selected by a Search-cum-Selection Committee under Cabinet Secretary with RBI Governor and Economic Affairs Secretary and three experts in the field of economics or banking or finance or monetary policy as its members.
Term of members	Four years and shall not be eligible for reappointment.
Decision Making	Decisions will be taken by majority vote with each member having a vote.
Role of RBI governor	The governor will not enjoy a veto power to overrule the other panel members, but will have a casting vote in case of a tie

BASICS

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. 
• The word ‘Repo’ technically stands for ‘Repurchasing Option’ or ‘Repurchase Agreement’.
• Any changes in the repo rates can directly impact the economy.
• 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.

When : June 5 Every year

Why : The UN General Assembly started the first World Environment Day (WED) celebrations in 1972. The day commemorated the inaugural function of the Stockholm Conference on the human environment’s theme. Much later in the year 1974, celebrations took centre stage with the theme titled “Only One Earth”.

2021 Celebrations:

• World Environment Day (WED) 2021 is being observed under the theme “Ecosystem Restoration”.
• It will be hosted by Pakistan.
• UN  kicked off “UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030)”, which is a global mission to revive billions of hectares of forests, farmlands,  mountains ecosystem and marine ecosystem.

Celebrations in India

• Film Division is organising an online festival on environment called “Oasis of hope”. Oasis of hope festival will be organised on 5th and 6th June 2021 to mark he importance of world environment day (WED). It will celebrate the spirit of key words of WED namely, “REIMAGINE, RECREATE, RESTORE”. This 2-day festival will showcase films giving strong message on reviving environment and reimagining nature’s co-existence. It will also suggest several ways to restore inseparable relationship of human being and nature. Streaming will be done on Films Division website and Youtube channel. Films under ‘green package’ include Jungle Man Loiyaa, Living the Natural Way,  My Son Neo, Plastic World
• HDFC Bank has planned to become carbon neutral by 2031-32. Bank is now looking for reducing its emissions, energy, and water consumption.

ENVIRONMENT  & INDIAN NAVY :

• With diminishing fossil energy resources there is an emerging need to ensure increased energy efficiency in every operation and process the Navy undertakes. Towards the same, the Navy has adopted a comprehensive ‘Indian Navy Environment Conservation Roadmap (INECR)’ for synergising the aim of ‘Blue Water Operations with a Green Footprint’.
• Indian Navy commissioned one of its largest solar plant with a capacity of 3MW at Indian Naval Academy (INA), Ezhimala in July 2020. The installation of SPVs are in line with Navy’s objective of fulfilling Govt of India’s ‘Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM)’ mission.
• 30,000 saplings have been planted towards continuous afforestation, over the course of the preceding year to mitigate an estimated 630 tonnes of CO2 / year. Further, viability of setting up urban forests concepts such as Miyawaki forests, coastal afforestation including restoration of mangroves is being emphasised
• A mangrove plantation drive was conducted by Southern Naval Command, Kochi in association with Kerala Forest Department along the Venduruthy channel on the occasion of ‘World River day’, in which approximately 200 saplings were planted. HQSNC with INS Venduruthy in the lead has always been engaged in the preservation of the environment and energy conservation which bestowed the station with the prestigious ‘Golden Peacock Environment Management Award (GPEMA) for the year 2020 in Government (Defence) sector.
• As a part of ‘Swachhta Sewa’ campaign, Naval stations carried out cleanship drives, clearing of storm/rainwater drains, pruning of hedges and maintenance of gardens. Also as a part of ‘International Coastal Clean-up Day’ celebrations various Naval units undertook Coastal Clean-up Drives strictly adhering to COVID-19 protocol.
• The progressive adoption of Battery Operated E-Vehicles for transportation of men and material has marked the reduction of dependence on fossils fuels thus reducing carbon emissions. Further, to reduce dependence on fossil-fuel based vehicles, units observe ‘No Vehicle Days’ regularly.

BACKGROUND

• In 2018, the Prime Minister’s Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC) in consultation with the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change and other Ministries approved an ambitious National Mission on Biodiversity and Human Well-Being (NMBHWB).
• A Bengaluru-based Biodiversity Collaborative is working with the National Biodiversity Authority to hold consultations and prepare road maps of the Mission that will be steered by a core of the country’s leading biodiversity science and conservation organisations, from public, academic, and civil society sectors.

WHY THE MISSION

• Strengthen the science of restoring, conserving, and sustainably utilising India’s natural heritage; embed biodiversity as a key consideration in all developmental programmes, particularly in agriculture, ecosystem services, health, bio-economy, and climate change mitigation; establish a citizen and policy-oriented biodiversity information system; and enhance capacity across all sectors for the realisation of India’s national biodiversity targets and United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).
• Restore, and even increase, our natural assets by millions of crores of rupees. Mitigation programmes will lessen the impacts of climate change and other natural disasters, such as pandemics and floods. Restoration activities across India’s degraded lands, which amount to almost a third of our land area, alone could generate several million jobs.
• “One Health” programme, integrating human health with animal, plant, soil and environmental health, has both the preventive potential to curtail future pandemics along with the interventional capability for unexpected public health challenges. Additional programmes, directed at food and nutritional security, will in turn also influence public health outcomes.
• Recognises that we need a strong and extensive cadre of human resources required to meet the enormous and complex environmental challenges of the 21st century. This will require training professionals of the highest calibre in sustainability and biodiversity science, along with an investment in civil society outreach. The gains of environmental change will be upheld and carried forward by the cultural change from environmental education for millions of students, from kindergarten to postgraduate levels.

INDIAN RAILWAYS TO GO GREEN

Details

• Indian Railways (IR) is working in mission mode to become the largest Green Railways in the world and is moving towards becoming a “net zero carbon emitter” before 2030.
• Railways is guided by a holistic vision of being an environment friendly, efficient, cost effective, punctual and a modern carrier of passengers as well as freight in order to serve the growing needs of New India.
• Railway Electrification which is environment friendly and reduces pollution, has increased nearly ten times since 2014.
• Capturing the economic benefits of electric traction in an accelerated manner, Railways has planned to electrify balance Broad Gauge (BG) routes by December, 2023 to achieve 100% electrification of BG routes.
• Head-On-Generation systems, Bio-Toilets and LED lights recreate the train itself into a travel mode that’s kinder to the environment while maintaining comparable passenger comfort.
• IR’s Dedicated Freight Corridors are being developed as a low carbon green transportation network with a long-term low carbon roadmap, which will enable it to adopt more energy efficient and carbon-friendly technologies, processes and practices. IR is implementing two Dedicated Freight Corridor projects viz. Eastern Corridor (EDFC) from Ludhiana to Dankuni (1,875 km) and Western Corridor (WDFC) from Dadri to Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (1,506 km). Sonnagar-Dankuni (538 km) portion of EDFC has been planned for execution on Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode.
• IR’s network and reach enabled movement of Freight, like Food Grains & Oxygen in pandemic, even while being more environment friendly as compared to Road transport.

What : An anti-hail gun is a machine which generates shock waves to disrupt the growth of hailstones in clouds, according to its makers.

How does it work :

• It comprises a tall, fixed structure somewhat resembling an inverted tower, several metres high, with a long and narrow cone opening towards the sky.
• The gun is “fired” by feeding an explosive mixture of acetylene gas and air into its lower chamber, which releases a shock wave (waves which travel faster than the speed of sound, such as those produced by supersonic aircraft). These shock waves supposedly stop water droplets in clouds from turning into hailstones, so that they fall simply as raindrops.
• It is the hail formation process that the shock waves from anti-hail guns try to disrupt in a radius of 500 metres, so that the water droplets fall down before they can be lifted by the updrafts. The machine is repeatedly fired every few seconds during an approaching thunderstorm.
• However, the effectiveness of anti-hail guns has remained a contentious issue.

What is in news : To help out horticulturists who face crop damage due to hailstorms, the Himachal Pradesh government will be testing the use of indigenously developed ‘anti-hail guns’. State Horticulture Minister Mahender Singh Thakur had said on Tuesday that ‘anti-hail guns’ developed in India will be installed in some areas on a trial basis.

HAIL

According to the United Kingdom Meteorological Office, hail is produced by cumulonimbus clouds, which are generally large and dark and may cause thunder and lightning. In such clouds, winds can blow up the water droplets to heights where they freeze into ice. The frozen droplets begin to fall but are soon pushed back up by the winds and more droplets freeze onto them, resulting in multiple layers of ice on the hailstones. This fall and rise is repeated several times, till the hailstones become too heavy and fall down.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

What is a wave in an epidemic:

• The term is used generically to describe the rising and declining trends of infections over a prolonged period of time.
• The growth curve resembles the shape of a wave. Historically, the term wave used to refer to the seasonality of the disease.
• Several viral infections are seasonal in nature, and they recur after fixed time intervals. Infections rise and then come down, only to rise again after some time.

What could be the reason behind the second wave:

• According to a study by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, about 20% of people who were seropositive (those who had Covid antibodies) lost their antibodies in the six months after the first survey.
• Researchers behind the study say that this could in part explain why India saw the second wave six months after the first.
• Serological surveys examine the number of people who have antibodies that work against a disease.
• About 75% of those who were seropositive did not report any symptoms.
• Why and how people lose virus-neutralising antibodies is an observed biological phenomenon but remains unexplained.

What causes a dip and rise in Covid-19 waves:

• In the study, researchers argue that based on falling test positivity rates, the transmission of Covid-19 decreased in regions that displayed high seropositivity.
• Emphasis on Covid-appropriate behaviour such as social-distancing and masking, too, spurred a drop in cases along with a high prevalence of antibodies in the population.
• About 10.14% of people in the study were seropositive, which suggests that there was a large number of those who recovered from Covid-19 by September 2020, especially among those who work in high-contact occupations, leading to a drop in new infections.
• Data collected by the council shows that 20% of seropositive individuals lacked meaningful neutralisation activity from the antibodies after five to six months. These 20% of people are fresh candidates for reinfection after this period, while the rest may have antibodies that are stable for longer. This drop in antibody prevalence over time is supported by studies conducted in other parts of the world, bringing about a strong correlation between a drop in Covid cases and antibody prevalence over time.

What: India’s First Indigenous Tumour Antigen

By: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF IMMUNOLOGY

Details :

• ASPAGNIITM is being used in dendritic cell (DC) based immunotherapy in cervical, ovarian cancer and will also be used in breast cancer.
• Cancer kills8.51 lakh people in India every year (International Agency for Research on Cancer, 2020,Globocan). As per World Health Organization (WHO), one in 10 Indians will develop cancer during their lifetime, and one in 15 will die of cancer.
• Other organizations involved - Cancer Institute, Adyar

How does it work : In this personalised intervention,those patients expressing SPAG9 protein can be treated with DC-based vaccine approach. In DC-based vaccine, patient’s cells called monocytes from their blood are collected and modified into what are called dendritic cells. These dendritic cells are primed with ASPAGNIITM and are injected back to the patient to help the ‘fighter’ cells, or T-cells, in the body to kill the cancer cells. DC-based immunotherapy is safe, affordable and can promote antitumor immune responses and prolonged survival of cancer patients.

What is the news:  India launched a global Initiative ‘Mission Innovation CleanTech Exchange’ with the aim of creating a network of incubators in member countries to boost clean energy innovation.

Aim of the Mission : Mission was launched with the aim of making clean energy affordable, attractive and accessible for decades and to escalate action towards Paris Agreement & net-zero emissions.

Highlights

• Mission was launched virtually at “Innovating to Net Zero Summit, 2021″ organised by Chile.
• It will provide access to expertise and market insights that are required to support new technologies in order to access new markets across the world.
• A total of 23 governments participated, out of which India launched new plans to prompt action and spearheaded decade of innovation so that it could navigate worldwide investment in clean energy research, development and demonstration.

How technologies are significant in achieving the goal: Half of global emissions reductions are required to achieve national and global climate targets by 2050, depending on technologies available today. But available technologies are not sufficient, effective and affordable for utilise at large scales such as clean hydrogen, advanced battery storage and zero-emission fuels. Thus, Mission innovation 2.0 will catalyse public-private action & investment through sector-specific missions. It will boost development of clean energy innovation.

What is the news: INS Sandhayak, the Indian Navy's oldest Hydrographic Survey Vessel was decommissioned at Naval Dockyard in Visakhapatnam after serving the nation for 40 glorious years on Friday, 04 Jun 21.

What is Hydrographic Survey : Hydrographic survey is the science of measurement and description of features which affect maritime navigation, marine construction, dredging, offshore oil exploration/offshore oil drilling and related activities

Achievements of this Glorious Vessel :

INS Sandhayak undertook over 200 major hydrographic surveys in Western and Eastern coasts of the Indian peninsula, the Andaman Sea, and surveys in neighbouring countries including Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Bangladesh. 

The ship also took part in important operations like  Op Pawan in Sri Lanka, 1987, Op Rainbow for Humanitarian Assistance in the aftermath of the Tsunami in 2004 and the maiden Indo-US HADR Exercise Tiger-Triumph in 2019.

PROJECT 75

What is in news : The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), headed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, on Friday approved the issuance of a Request For Proposal (RFP) for the construction of six conventional submarines under Project-75I 

What is project 75-I :

• Project 75 India or P75I will be the first under the strategic partnership model, promulgated in 2017 to boost indigenous defence manufacturing. The first submarine built under the project is likely to be delivered by 2030.
• Under it, six new-generation conventional diesel-electric submarines will be constructed.
• They will have advanced Air-independent propulsion (AIP) systems to enable them to stay submerged for longer duration and substantially increase their operational range.
• They will have a vertical launch system (VLS) to enable them to carry multiple Brahmos supersonic cruise missiles, making them capable of anti-surface and anti-ship warfare missions.
• They will feature advanced stealth capabilities such as a greater ability to suppress noise and acoustic signatures.
• Two Indian companies shortlisted as strategic partners, Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) and Larsen & Toubro, will have to respond, in partnership with one of the five OEMs, to the Request for Proposal (RFP).
• The five OEMs are Rosoboronexport (ROE) of Russia, ThyssenKrupp of Germany, Naval Group of France, Navantia of Spain and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering of South Korea. These companies were shortlisted by an empowered committee last year.
• The project had been approved in 2007, but remained on the backburner until 2019 when, in February that year, the government approved the Acceptance of Necessity.

About Defence acquisition council: DAC is highest decision-making body in Defence Ministry that decides on new policies and capital acquisitions for Army, Navy and Air Force as well as Indian Coast Guard. Defence Minister is the Chairman of Council. DAC was formed in 2001 following the recommendations of Group of Ministers on “Reforming National Security System” after Kargil War of 1999. It is the highest decision-making body on procurement in defence ministry.

Who : Guru Arjun Dev, the fifth Guru of the Sikhs was a contemporary of emperor Akbar and Jahangir.

What is the news : Pakistan government, citing the second wave of Covid-19, has denied permission to a group of Sikh pilgrims from India who wanted to visit the historic Gurdwara Dera Sahib in Lahore to mark the martyrdom day Guru Arjan Dev, the fifth Sikh Guru.

About Guru :

Chief events of the life of Guru Arjun Dev:

1. Establishment of the Hari Mandir/Holy Mandir/Golden Temple: The temple is considered to be one of the most important pilgrimage centres of the Sikhs.

2. Completion of the construction of the city of Amritsar: On account of the efforts of the Guru, the construction of city was completed.

3. Compilation of the Adi Granth: The Adi Granth considered to be the perpetual Guru of the Sikhs, (Guru Gobind Singh, the 10th and the last Guru declared that after him there would be no human being as Guru of the Sikhs) was compiled in 1604 with the help of Bhai Mohan and Bhai Guru Das.

4. Construction of several cities and ponds: Under the inspiration of Guru Arjun Dev, many cities like Taran Taran, Kartarpur and Gobindpur were built. Later on all the cities and ponds built during the period became sacred places of pilgrimage of the Sikh faith.

5. Encouragement of the ‘Mansad’ system: Under this system, started by the 4th Guru, Ram Das, devoted workers went to various places for the collection of money to be spent for the development of the Sikh faith. Guru Arjun Dev made it compulsory for every Sikh to devote 1/10 of his income as a sort of subscription for the promotion of the religion.

6. Stress on a disciplined way of life: He instructed all his followers to follow the teachings of the Guru very strictly.

Martyrdom of Guru Arjun Dev

Relations of the Guru Arjun Dev remained very cordial with emperor Akbar but during Jahangir’s time, the relations turned an ugly and sad turn. Historians have greatly differed on the reasons of the conflict.

(i) Religious bigotry of Jahangir.

(ii) Help or blessings given by the Guru to prince Khusru who rose in revolt against Jahangir.

(iii) Compilation of ‘Adi Granth’ and Jahangir’s charge that it contained many things against Islam and his insistence upon including the message of Prophet Muhammad in it.

(iv) Conspiracies of nobles and others.

The imprisonment, torture and execution of Guru Arjan Dev by emperor Jahangir led to a great bitterness between the Sikhs and the Mughal rulers.

SNIPPETS

• In a recent move, it was decided by local administration to promote 'Billi Bende' and 'Karla Kaje' of karkala region for achieving the GI Tag status
• Veteran writer Vasanth Kushtagi Passed away.With over more than 60 books to his credit, he had a deep knowledge of Dasa literature.He was the recipient of the Karnataka Rajyotsava Award and was once the president of Kalaburagi District Kannada Sahitya Sammela.
• Government of India has constituted an expert committee under Ajit Mishra (Director of Institute of Economic Growth) to provide technical inputs and recommendations on fixation of minimum wages and national floor for minimum wages. This is the second expert committee. Last panel was headed by Anoop Satpathy and was set up by ministry on January 17, 2018.
• China successfully launched its first satellite of a new generation meteorological satellite into planned orbit. This satellite, named as Fengyun-4B (FY-48), will be used for fields of weather analysis, environmental and disaster monitoring. Observation range of the satellite include Asia, central Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean regions.
• Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad has developed nano-fibre based oral tablets of Amphotericin B, called as AmB, that can be used to treat fungal infections which is currently spreading in India post COVID treatment.
• Union government has extended validity period of Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) qualifying certificate from 7 years to lifetime with retrospective effect from 2011. TET is an essential qualification for person who seeks appointment as a teacher in schools. There is no restriction on number of attempts a person can take this exam to acquire a certificate. TET is conducted by each state separately while, Central TET or CTET is conducted by Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).
• World Bicycle Day (WBD) is observed on June 3 every year with the objective of promoting health benefits of cycling among all age groups.
• UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and Food & Agriculture Organisation of UN (FAO) launched ‘UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration’ report for 2021-2030 and called on nations to meet commitments of restoring 1 billion hectares of land.
• US House of Representatives has reintroduced bipartisan legislation to eliminate per country cap on employment-based green card. This legislation is called as “EAGLE Act” and was introduced to benefit Indian IT professionals who are waiting over decades for green card.

• Amphotericin B: It is an antifungal medication used in serious fungal infections and leishmaniasis. It is used to treat mucormycosis, aspergillosis, candidiasis, blastomycosis, cryptococcosis etc.  It is typically given through injection into vein. Common side effects of medication include fever, chills, and headaches besides kidney problems. It is safe in pregnancy as well.
• Immunotherapy : is a new approach that exploits the body’s inner capability to put up a fight against cancer. With this approach, either the immune system is given a boost, or the T cells are “trained’’ to identify recalcitrant cancer cells and kill them.