Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 06 July 2021

SSC CGL Current Affairs

::NATIONAL::

The unprecedented COVID-19 crisis caused education throughout the country to be imparted in virtual mode. Due to extreme exposure risk, the Central Board of Secondary Education had to cancel both its Class 10 and 12 Board examinations of the year 2021 and results are to be declared on the basis of "a credible, reliable, flexible and valid alternative assessment policy".
The academic session 2021-22 will be divided into 2 Terms with approximately 50 percent syllabus in each term.
This will be done following a systematic approach by looking into the interconnectivity of concepts and topics by the Subject Experts and the Board will conduct examinations at the end of each term on the basis of the bifurcated syllabus, CBSE informed.
CBSE further informed that results would be computed on the basis of the Internal Assessment, Practical, Project Work, and Theory marks of Term-I and II exams taken by the candidates from home in Class 10/12 that are subject to moderation or other measures to ensure validity and reliability of the assessment.

Malaysia's government pledged Monday to take steps to eliminate forced labor after the country was downgraded by the US to the worst level in an annual report on human trafficking.
Human Resources Minister M. Saravanan said the government is taking the downgrade seriously and has ramped up efforts to battle human trafficking, including increased prosecution for companies involved in forced labor.
The US State Department’s annual “Trafficking in Persons” report, released July 2, cited the coronavirus pandemic as contributing to a surge in human slavery between 2020 and 2021.
It said Malaysia, which had been on a watchlist for three years, was downgraded to Tier 3 for failing to meet minimal standards for the elimination of trafficking and was not making significant efforts to do. Malaysia joins more than a dozen other countries including China, Russia and North Korea.
The US report said Malaysia continued to conflate human trafficking and migrant smuggling, which impeded anti-trafficking law enforcement and victim identification efforts. It said Malaysia failed to adequately address or criminally pursue credible allegations of labor trafficking, including in the rubber manufacturing industry and palm oil sector.
The report also said Malaysia pursued cases of forced labor as disparate labor law violations instead of criminal cases of human trafficking or failed to investigate them at all.

The government has set up an advisory council to identify measures required to design and accelerate the adoption of open network for digital commerce in India.
The council will include RS Sharma, CEO of National Health Authority, NandanNilekani, Non-Executive Chairman of Infosys and Praveen Khandelwal, secretary-general of Confederation of All India Traders, among others.
Open network for digital commerce is expected to digitise the entire value chain, standardise operations, promote inclusion of suppliers, derive efficiencies in logistics and enhance value for consumers.
This happens at a time when the government has also been trying to amend Consumer Protection Rules for e-commerce sector in India.
The proposed rules have received criticisms with companies claiming it to be confusing and full of inconsistency.

Researchers have identified the brain circuit for spirituality in humans by using datasets from neurosurgical patients and those with brain lesions.
In a new study published in the journal Biological Psychiatry, researchers said that more than 80% of the global population consider themselves religious and spiritual, but research on the neuroscience of spirituality and religiosity has been sparse.
A team of investigators at Brigham and Women's Hospital used datasets from 88 neurosurgical patients who were undergoing surgery to remove a brain tumour. The patients completed a survey that included questions about spiritual acceptance before and after surgery. Out of 88 patients, 30 showed a decrease in self-reported spiritual belief after neurosurgical brain tumour resection, while 29 showed an increase, and the rest showed no change.
The researchers found that brain lesions associated with self-reported spirituality map to a brain circuit centred on the periaqueductal grey, a brainstem region previously implicated in fear conditioning, pain modulation, and altruistic behaviour.
They validated their results using a second dataset made up of more than 100 patients with lesions caused by penetrating head trauma from combat during the Vietnam War.

MC Mary Kom, the six-time world boxing champion, and Manpreet Singh, the men’s hockey team skipper, will be India’s flag-bearers at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics, announced Indian Olympic Association (IOA) on Monday.
BajrangPunia, a silver medallist at the 2018 World Wrestling Championships, will be the flag-bearer at the closing ceremony on August 8.
In a first, India is having two flag-bearers — one male and one female — at the upcoming Tokyo Games to ensure “gender parity”. The IOA has communicated the decision in this regard to the Organising Committee of the Games.