Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 09 May 2021

SSC CGL Current Affairs

Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 09 May 2021

::NATIONAL::

Telangana government bans glyphosate

The Telangana Government declared a complete ban on the controversial herbicide, Glyphosate, which is used rampantly by farmers to kill weeds in HTBt cotton crop. The reason for the ban is that the excess use of this herbicide by farmers is causing harm to soil and human health.
As per a notice issued by the state government, anybody violating the ban will be punished under the Insecticide Act 1968. So, manufacturers, dealers, and retailers need to be more cautious.
The principal Secretary of Agriculture, Government of Telangana, B Janardhan Reddy said, " We have decided to ban it completely in the state. Earlier, there used to be some exclusions but we found that exclusion was used as an excuse for its spread. So, we have decided to ban it completely."
"It is being used illegally in cotton crop. We have decided to put an end to this practice," he added.
Yet, farmers are rampantly growing this cotton all over. And they use glyphosate herbicide generously. They believe that the crop is resistant to herbicide, so nothing will happen to it. But, they do not realize that liberal doses of herbicide gets soaked in the soil and it can harm soil health. Besides, it gets transferred to human body and can harm in the long run.

::INTERNATIONAL::

What is Global Task Force on Pandemic?

The Global Task Force on Pandemic Response provides a unified platform for businesses to mobilize and deliver resources to assist COVID-19 efforts in areas of the highest need around the world. With leadership from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and support from Business Roundtable, it was launched in May 2021 to support COVID-19 response amid rising case counts in India and around the globe. See the list of participating companies.
The Global Task Force works in close collaboration with U.S. and Indian government officials to share information and coordinate efforts.
This includes regular business briefings with the Modi and Biden Administrations, U.S. Congress, U.S. State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
While the Global Task Force is focusing initial efforts on the pressing need in India, additional working groups will be formed to address COVID-19 surges in other countries as needed.
To support additional country-specific efforts, the Global Task Force will partner with additional business groups. Through its Steering Committee, the Global Task Force will work to concentrate efforts where corporate support will be most beneficial – and will launch specific working groups as the dynamics of the virus evolve around the world.

::ECONOMY::

RBI to conduct first SLTRO for small finance banks

The Reserve Bank of (RBI) will be conducting one special long term repo operation (SLTRO) for small finance banks (SFB) for each month, totallingRs 10,000 crore.
The first auction of Rs 10,000 crore will take place on May 17, and the unutilised portion will be auctioned on June 15. Like this, the SLTROs will continue till October 14, or till the unutilised amount is fully utilised.
The SLTRO will be valid for three years. All SFBs will be eligible to participate in the scheme, which was announced by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on May 5 to mitigate Covid related dislocations.
However, the SFBs will have to ensure that the amount borrowed from the RBI should at all times be let to the specified segments, namely small business units and other unorganised sectors impacted by the pandemic.

::SCIENCE AND TECH::

NASA rover records Ingenuity helicopter flight to Mars

The Mars Helicopter, Ingenuity, is a technology demonstration to test powered, controlled flight on another world for the first time. It hitched a ride to Mars on the Perseverance rover. Once the rover reached a suitable "airfield" location, it released Ingenuity to the surface so it could perform a series of test flights over a 30-Martian-day experimental window.
For the first time, a spacecraft on another planet has recorded the sounds of a separate spacecraft. NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover used one of its two microphones to listen as the Ingenuity helicopter flew for the fourth time on April 30, 2021. A new video combines footage of the solar-powered helicopter taken by Perseverance’s Mastcam-Z imager with audio from a microphone belonging to the rover’s SuperCam laser instrument.
The laser zaps rocks from a distance, studying their vapor with a spectrometer to reveal their chemical composition. The instrument’s microphone records the sounds of those laser strikes, which provide information on the physical properties of the targets, such as their relative hardness. The microphone can also record ambient noise, like the Martian wind.
With Perseverance parked 262 feet (80 meters) from the helicopter’s takeoff and landing spot, the rover mission wasn’t sure if the microphone would pick up any sound of the flight. Even during flight, when the helicopter’s blades spin at 2,537 rpm, the sound is greatly muffled by the thin Martian atmosphere. It is further obscured by Martian wind gusts during the initial moments of the flight. Listen closely, though, and the helicopter’s hum can be heard faintly above the sound of those winds.
The helicopter completed its technology demonstration after three successful flights. For the first flight on April 19, 2021, Ingenuity took off, climbed to about 10 feet (3 meters) above the ground, hovered in the air briefly, completed a turn, and then landed. It was a major milestone: the very first powered, controlled flight in the extremely thin atmosphere of Mars, and, in fact, the first such flight in any world beyond Earth. After that, the helicopter successfully performed additional experimental flights of incrementally farther distance and greater altitude.
With its tech demo complete, Ingenuity transitions to a new operations demonstration phase to explore how future rovers and aerial explorers can work together.