Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 18 April 2021

SSC CGL Current Affairs

::NATIONAL::

In 2021, UN Secretary-General AntónioGuterres will convene a Food Systems Summit as part of the Decade of Action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
The Summit will launch bold new actions to deliver progress on all 17 SDGs, each of which relies to some degree on healthier, more sustainable and equitable food systems.
The Summit will awaken the world to the fact that we all must work together to transform the way the world produces, consumes and thinks about food.
It is a summit for everyone everywhere – a people summit. It is also a solutions summit that will require everyone to take action to transform the world’s food systems.

The United States on Friday placed 11 countries, including India, China, Japan, South Korea, Germany and Italy in the currency practices monitoring list.
Other countries named by the Department of Treasury in its quarterly report to Congress, the first under the Biden administration, are Ireland, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Mexico.
All except Ireland and Mexico were covered in the December 2020 report, which was under the previous Trump administration.
As directed by Congress, Treasury has established a monitoring list of major trading partners that merit close attention to their currency practices and macroeconomic policies.
An economy meeting two of the three criteria in the 2015 Act is placed on the Monitoring List.
These are a persistent, one-sided intervention in the foreign exchange market that occur when net purchases of foreign currency are conducted repeatedly, in at least six out of 12 months, and these net purchases total at least two per cent of an economy's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) over a 12-month period.

Haffkine Institute, one of India's oldest biomedical research institutes, today received central government nod to produce Bharat Biotech's Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin on a technology transfer basis.
Department of biotechnology's secretary RenuSwarup conveyed the approval to Maharashtra chief secretary SitaramKunte on recommendation of an expert committee.
The approval comes in the backdrop of rising Covid-19 cases and government's effort to increase pace of vaccination through production ramp ups and quicker approvals.
Last month, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had sought central nod to manufacture Bharat Biotech's Covaxin at Haffkine Institute. After a visit to the institute, Thackeray had said a manufacturing plant would be set up in partnership with Bharat Biotech to manufacture vaccines.

In view of the standoff between the Indian and Chinese armies, along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), India had requested Russia to expedite the delivery of S-400 air defence system. Technically it was not possible.
Russia is going to deliver the first regimental set of S-400 Triumf ‘SA-21 Growler’ air defence systems. Sources have confirmed to Financial Express Online, “Though specific month or date has been confirmed yet, the Russian side is going to deliver the first set later this year.”
Financial Express Online had reported earlier quoting Russian officials about the delivery of the first set, in later 2021. In view of the standoff between the Indian and Chinese armies, along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), India had requested Russia to expedite the delivery of S-400 air defence system. Technically it was not possible.