Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 19 March 2021

SSC CGL Current Affairs

Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 19 March 2021

::NATIONAL::

India finally gets a vehicle scrappage policy

The arrival of the scrappage policy was confirmed during Budget 2021, soon followed by an assurance that the details would be shared by 15 February, 2021.
People who scrap their old vehicles will receive an amount equivalent to four to six per cent of the ex-showroom price of new vehicle along with a scrapping certificate. Automakers have been advised to offer customers a discount of around five per cent against the scrapping certificate in order to boost sales of new vehicles. Interestingly, the discounts against scrapping certificates are merely an advisory and not a mandate, i.e. it will be up to automakers' to offer discounts at all.
The policy also advises, NOT mandates, state governments to offer rebates and incentives to people who scrap their old vehicles in the form of lowered road tax and waived registration fee against the scrapping certificate.
Personal vehicles will be mandatorily required to undergo fitness tests after 20 years from the date of registration. For commercial vehicles, that age limit is reduced to 15 years. The vehicle fitness tests will be conducted by automatic fitness centres and vehicles failing the test will be qualified as 'end of life vehicles'. This causes a bit of confusion over the lifecycle of vehicles in India -- it was previously 15 years and now seems to have been increased to 20 years -- at least according to Gadkari's outline of the scrappage policy.
The government has also decided to substantially increase the cost of RC renewal in India with the aim to discourage re-registeration of old vehicles.
Mandatory testing of personal vehicles will start from June 2024 in all probability, albeit in a phased manner. Whereas testing for commercial vehicles are expected to begin from April 2023.

::INTERNATIONAL::

Italy joins International Solar Alliance

Italy has signed the International Solar Alliance under the amended ISA Framework Agreement. The amendments to the Framework Agreement of the ISA entered into force, opening its Membership to all Member States of the UN.
The External Affairs Ministry said the Framework Agreement was signed by Italy's Ambassador, Vincenzo De Luca. The signed copies of the Agreement were received by Additional Secretary (ER), as the representative of External Affairs Ministry, which is the depositary of ISA Framework Agreement.
Foreign Secretary Harsh VardhanShringla met Italian Ambassador to India Vincenzo De Luca and welcomed Italy's accession to International Solar Alliance.
They also discussed Italy's G20 presidency and Vaccine Maitri. The International Solar Alliance was launched jointly by the Indian Prime Minister and the French President during the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP21, in Paris.
It aims to contribute to the implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement through rapid and massive deployment of solar energy.

::ECONOMY::

4th Review meeting held under Indo-Japan Memorandum of Cooperation on Industrial Property

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Japan Patent Office (JPO), Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Ministries’) held the 4th Review meeting under Memorandum of Cooperation on Industrial Property through a virtual platform on 12th March 2021.
The first phase of the meeting was co-chaired by Dr. GuruprasadMohapatra, Secretary, DPIIT & Mr. ToshihideKasutani, Commissioner, JPO wherein first year of the pilot Patent Prosecution Highway(PPH) program was reviewed and both sides agreed to recognize each other’s Offices to act mutually as competent ISA/IPEA. The second phase of the meeting was co-chaired by ShriRavinder, Joint Secretary, DPIIT and Mr. ToshihideKasutani.
The Ministries reviewed the progress under the Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) on industrial property between India and Japan and the Action Plan between the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks (CGPDTM) of India and the JPO (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Offices’) based on the MoC, and confirmed the views to further deepen the cooperative relationship between both the Offices for the future cooperation.
At the meeting, the Ministries reconfirmed, amidst the challenging times of the Covid19 pandemic, the importance of innovations that support our society and the essence of a robust Industrial Property system for promoting investment and innovation.

::SCIENCE AND TECH::

US India Artificial Intelligence (USIAI) Initiative launched

Secretary, Department of Science & Technology, Prof Ashutosh Sharma, emphasised the necessity to scale up the S&T relationship between India and the United States to solve problems of both countries and overcome barriers for growth at the launch of the Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum’s U.S. India Artificial Intelligence (USIAI) Initiative.
“Indo-US relationship in the field of S&T is very old collaborations have resulted in great benefits for both the countries. We need to further scale it up in various fields, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) can play a major role in the future. We have identified the barriers for growth in India that could be useful for the United States too,” Professor Sharma pointed out at the curtain raiser of the launch ceremony organized by Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF) on March 17, 2021.
Speaking online at the launch of the initiative of IUSSTF, a bilateral organization funded by the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Governments of India, and the U.S. Department of States, he also said that research, technology in artificial intelligence is being promoted and implemented in the country through a network of 25 technology hubs working as a triple helix set up under the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS). He also pointed out the recent policies to liberalise India’s geospatial policies.

::SPORTS::

PV Sindhu sails into All England Open quarter-finals

In All England Open Badminton Championships, Indian Shuttler PV Sindhu entered the women's singles quarter final beating L Christophersen of Denmark 21-8 and 21-8.
In men's singles, LakshyaSen has entered the quarterfinal beating Thomas Rouxel of France, 21-18, 21-17. However, HS Prannoy and SaiPraneeth lost their men's singles pre quarterfinal matches on Thursday. Prannoy lost to top seed KentoMomota of Japan, 21-15, 21-14, while Praneeth went down 21-15, 12-21, 12-21 to World No. 2 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark.