Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 15 January 2021

SSC CGL Current Affairs

::NATIONAL::

Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant Friday announced the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Goa campus proposed to be set up at Melaulim, around 50 km from the state capital Panaji, will be built elsewhere amid protests against the move. Villagers have been protesting against the move for six months. They refused to provide land for the campus and put up a blockade at the village entrance to prevent surveyors from demarcating the land for the campus.
“We wanted the IIT project... so that the region is developed. We tried to explain it to the people. [Minister and local lawmaker Vishwajit] Rane also tried to explain. We had also invited the villagers for discussion, but they would not relent,” Sawant said. “This government listens to the people... [We] had no personal interest in going ahead with the project. It was purely in the interest of the state.”
Over a dozen policemen and villagers were injured in violent clashes in early January amid attempts to clear the blockade.
A representation signed by around half-a-dozen district panchayat members said if the people do not want the IIT campus, the government should build it elsewhere.

The USD 854 billion Indian retail sector was one of the worst impacted due to the pandemic.
Ahead of the upcoming union Budget, retailers' body RAI on Friday urged the government for formulation and implementation of national retail policy and let retailers to register under MSMEs to get benefits, saying the industry needs support after almost being squashed during the coronavirus pandemic.
At this juncture, all efforts are required to boost the local economy and help revive retail, saving millions of jobs. Budget 2021-22 will play a key role in this, it said adding that consumption drives the economy, and retail is the gateway to consumption.
"The retail business is recovering at a quick pace and this momentum needs to be sustained. The next budget must prioritise growth-oriented policies and measures for the same," RAI said.

In the first phase of the drill Friday morning, the Guard’s aerospace division launched several surface-to-surface ballistic missiles against simulated enemy bases, state TV reported. It said the drill included Zolfaghar and Dezful solid-fuel ballistic missiles.
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard forces on Friday held a military exercise involving ballistic missiles and drones in the country's central desert, state TV reported, amid heightened tensions over Tehran’s nuclear program and a US pressure campaign against the Islamic Republic.
In the first phase of the drill Friday morning, the Guard’s aerospace division launched several surface-to-surface ballistic missiles against simulated enemy bases, state TV reported. It said the drill included Zolfaghar and Dezful solid-fuel ballistic missiles. Bomb-carrying drones were also deployed. The Dezful, a version of the Zolfaghar, has a 700-kilometer (430-mile) range and 450-kilogram (992-pound) warhead.
Iran has missile capability of up to 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles), far enough to reach archenemy Israel and US military bases in the region. Last January, after the US killed a top Iranian general in Baghdad, Tehran retaliated by firing a barrage of ballistic missiles at two Iraqi bases housing US troops, resulting in brain concussion injuries to dozens of them.

Inspired by the color-changing skin of cuttlefish, octopuses and squids, Rutgers engineers have created a 3D-printed smart gel that changes shape when exposed to light, becomes “artificial muscle” and may lead to new military camouflage, soft robotics, and flexible displays.
The engineers also developed a 3D-printed stretchy material that can reveal colors when light changes, according to their study in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.
Their invention is modeled after the amazing ability of cephalopods such as cuttlefish, octopuses, and squids to change the color and texture of their soft skin for camouflage and communication. This is achieved by the thousands of color-changing cells, called chromatophores, in their skin.
“Electronic displays are everywhere and despite remarkable advances, such as becoming thinner, larger and brighter, they’re based on rigid materials, limiting the shapes they can take and how they interface with 3D surfaces,” said senior author Howon Lee, an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in the School of Engineering at Rutgers University–New Brunswick. “Our research supports a new engineering approach featuring camouflage that can be added to soft materials and create flexible, colorful displays.”

The Sports Authority of India (SAI) on Friday said it has approved the appointment of Belarus' Nikolai Snesarev as the middle and long-distance coach of the Indian athletics team, little less than two years after he quit the post.
The 72-year-old has been appointed till the end of September, a period which will include the Tokyo Olympics scheduled to take place in July-August.
He will be coaching 3000m steeplechaser Avinash Sable, who has already qualified for the Olympics, and other middle and long-distance runners in their bid to qualify for the Tokyo Games.