Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 03 January 2021

SSC CGL Current Affairs

::NATIONAL::

The Indian Army has appointed a major general-rank officer to head its newly created human rights cell.
Major General Gautam Chauhan has taken charge as the first additional director-general, human rights, and will work under the army’s Vice-Chief Lieutenant General S.K. Saini.
The cell will look into human rights issues and ensure that the army complies with human rights conventions. It will be the nodal point to examine reports on human rights violations by the army.
“The human rights cell will put in place a more stringent mechanism to look into human rights violations,” said an army officer.
The IPS officer in the cell will assist in investigations and legalities and will also facilitate coordination with other organisations and the Union home ministry, if required.

After five years of working in a makeshift campus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) at Sambalpur in Odisha, one of the seven third-generation IIMs his government promised in 2015.
“The permanent campus of IIM Sambalpur will give a new identity to Odisha in the field of management,” the Prime Minister said in a virtual address, adding that the IIMs will pave the way for an “Atma Nirbhar Bharat”.
The foundation stone-laying ceremony comes close on the heels of the controversy surrounding the autonomy of IIMs. The ministry of education is understood to have initiated a discussion to dilute the autonomy of the institutions.
Apart from IIM Sambalpur, the third generation of IIMs that have come up in 2015 and 2016 also include an institute each in Nagpur, Jammu, Amritsar, Bodh Gaya, Sirmaur and Visakhapatnam.

Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) has signed a contract with Indian Navy for initially supply 20 Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation Dazlers (Laser Dazzlers) in New Delhi today. The BEL had earlier this month won the contract beating global Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) in buy global category. These would be manufactured by BEL, Pune plant.
The Laser Dazzler is used as a non-lethal method for warning and stopping suspicious vehicles/boats/aircrafts/UAVs/pirates etc. from approaching secured areas during both day and night. It is capable of dazzle and thereby suppress the person’s/optical sensor’s action with disability glare in case of non-compliance to orders. It disorient/ confuse/blind a person temporarily. It also dazzles and distract aircraft/UAVs. It is a portable, shoulder operated and ruggedized for military use in adverse environmental conditions. Laser dazzler technology was developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
This unique product is indigenously designed and developed for first time for the Armed Forces. It will support the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative of Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi.

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has signed a decree abolishing the death penalty in Kazakhstan, according to a statement released by his office on Saturday.
The new law makes permanent the existing moratorium on state executions in place since 2003, introduced by then-President Nursultan Nazarbayev.
In September 2020, Tokayev spoke before the UN General Assembly saying that the decision was driven "to fulfill a fundamental right to life and human dignity." Last year, the oil-rich country joined the UN's International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, a multilateral treaty included in the International Bill of Human Rights.
The presidential statement, released online, said that Tokayev signed off on parliamentary ratification of the Second Optional Protocol. This document commits signatories of the UN treaty to the abolition of capital punishment.
The UN convention stipulates that capital punishment may only be used in exceptional circumstances, such as war crimes or terrorist acts.

The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) formally announced the final approval for Oxford-AstraZeneca and Bharat Biotech vaccines against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) for emergency use.
“CDSCO (Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation) accepts the subject expert committee reform rations on Serum and Bharat Biotech Covid vaccines,” DCGI VG Somani said in a press conference.
The subject expert committee (SEC) under CDSCO had recommended Oxford-AstraZeneca’s vaccine, which is being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) as Covishield, for emergency use and Covaxin for restricted use.
Covaxin is the indigenous vaccine being developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

Leon Mendonca who has achieved the coveted title on 30th December 2020 to become India's 67th GM. Leon's story is one of grit, determination and persistence.
Being locked out in Europe and away from his family for 9 months, Leon made the best possible use of the situation, playing 16 tournaments, pumping up his Elo by 140 points and achieving all three GM norms in under three months.