Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 02 January 2021

SSC CGL Current Affairs

Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 02 January 2021

::NATIONAL::

Draft of 5th National Science, Technology and Innovation Policy released

As India and the world reorient in the present context of the COVID-19 crisis, a new Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy (STIP) was initiated at this crucial juncture during mid-2020. For India to march ahead on a sustainable development pathway to include economic development, social inclusion and environmental sustainability for achieving an Atmanirbhar Bharat'', a greater emphasis may be needed on promoting traditional knowledge systems, developing indigenous technologies and encouraging grassroots innovations. The emergence of disruptive and impactful technologies poses new challenges and simultaneously greater opportunities. The COVID-19 pandemic provided a compelling opportunity for R&D institutions, academia and industry to work in unison for sharing of purpose, synergy, collaboration and cooperation.
The new Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy aims to bring about profound changes through short-term, medium-term, and long-term mission mode projects by building a nurtured ecosystem that promotes research and innovation on the part of both individuals and organizations. It aims to foster, develop, and nurture a robust system for evidence and stakeholder-driven STI planning, information, evaluation, and policy research in India. The objective of the policy is to identify and address strengths and weaknesses of the Indian STI ecosystem to catalyse socio-economic development of the country and also make the Indian STI ecosystem globally competitive.
The new policy, STIP, revolves around the core principles of being decentralized, evidence-informed, bottom-up, experts-driven, and inclusive. Also, it aims to bring in the concept of dynamic policy with a robust policy governance mechanism incorporating features such as implementation strategy, periodic review, policy evaluation, feedback, and adaptation, and most importantly, a timely exit strategy for various policy instruments.

::ECONOMY::

Asian Development Bank and India Sign 10 Million Lending Agreement

The government has signed a $500-million loan agreement with the Asian Development Bank for funding the 82-kilometre Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridor, the mutlilateral funding agency said on Tuesday. "The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India today signed a $500 million loan, the first tranche of a total $1 billion facility, to build a modern, high-speed 82-kilometre Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridor that will improve regional connectivity and mobility in India's national capital region (NCR)," ADB said in release.
The signatories to the loan agreement for the Delhi-Meerut RRTS Investment Project were Sameer Kumar Khare, additional secretary (Fund Bank and ADB) of Department of Economic Affairs, and Kenichi Yokoyama, country director of ADB's India Resident Mission. The first tranche loan will support construction of the first of three priority rail corridors planned under the NCR Regional Plan 2021 to connect Delhi to other cities in adjoining states.
The project is expected to have a transformational impact on the development trajectory of the national capital region by introducing high-level technologies for RRTS, signalling, and station designs," Yokoyama said. "Besides, the project will also support transit-oriented development (TOD) with systematic urban and land use planning around the RRTS corridor while promoting value capture financing (VCF) to generate additional municipal revenues.

::INTERNATIONAL::

Iran nuclear crisis: Tehran to enrich uranium to 20%

Iran intends to start enriching uranium to 20% purity, the UN's atomic watchdog says - its most significant breach of an international nuclear deal so far.
This remains short of the 90% required to make a nuclear bomb. But under the 2015 agreement Iran was supposed to keep enrichment below 4%.
Iran began breaching the deal after President Trump took the US out of it and re-imposed crippling sanctions.
However the UK, France, Germany, Russia and China all hope it can be revived.
The bill required the Iranian government to resume enriching uranium to 20% if sanctions on the country's oil and financial sectors were not eased in two months.
It also mandated the blocking of UN inspectors from Iran's nuclear facilities at Natanz and Fordow.

Science and Tech

Why 2021 could be turning point for tackling climate change?

Countries only have only a limited time in which to act if the world is to stave off the worst effects of climate change. Here are five reasons why 2021 could be a crucial year in the fight against global warming.
Covid-19 was the big issue of 2020, there is no question about that.
But I'm hoping that, by the end of 2021, the vaccines will have kicked in and we'll be talking more about climate than the corona virus.
2021 will certainly be a crunch year for tackling climate change.
Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary General, told me he thinks it is a "make or break" moment for the issue.
So, in the spirit of New Year's optimism, here's why I believe 2021 could confound the doomsters and see a breakthrough in global ambition on climate.
The crucial climate conference
Countries are already signing up to deep carbon cuts.
Renewable are now the cheapest energy ever.
Covid changes everything.
Business is going green too.

Sports

T Natarajan to replace Umesh Yadav in India’s Test squad

Umesh Yadav sustained a strain in his left calf muscle on Day 3 of the second Border-Gavaskar Test in Melbourne.
He underwent scans later in the day. The fast bowler will not recover completely ahead of the remaining two Test matches and has been ruled out of the series.
The All-India Senior Selection Committee has named T Natarajan as Yadav’s replacement. Ahead of the Boxing Day Test, Shardul Thakur was added to the Test squad as Mohd. Shami’s replacement after the senior fast bowler suffered a hairline fracture in his right forearm. Both Shami and Umesh Yadav will head to the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru for further rehabilitation of their injuries.