Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 21 December 2021

SSC CGL Current Affairs

Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 21 December 2021

::NATIONAL::

RajyaSabha gives nod to NDPS (Amendment) Bill

The RajyaSabha on Monday gave its nod to a bill to rectify errors in the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.
The Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Amendment) Bill 2021 was moved by finance minister NirmalaSitharaman and passed by voice vote even as Opposition leaders staged a walkout over the LakhimpurKheri violence in October and suspension of 12 MPs from the House over their unruly behaviour in the last session.
The bill was passed by LokSabha on December 13.
“There was an order of the High Court of Tripura, which very quickly wanted us to take it up and therefore we had to bring the Ordinance.
I wish the opposition participated in this debate and then passed this legislation...,” Sitharaman said.
The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Amendment) Ordinance was promulgated on September 30.
The anomaly crept in when the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act was amended in 2014 to allow better medical access to narcotic drugs, and removing state barriers in transporting and licensing of essential narcotic drugs.
Taking part in the discussion, Congress MP Digvijaya Singh said that to correct what was described as “clerical error” it has taken six years for the Narcotics Bureau and the government to identify the mistake.

::INTERNATIONAL::

'Highly effective': Moderna on its booster Covid jab's response to Omicron

ModernaInc said on Monday that a booster dose of its COVID-19 vaccine appeared to be protective against the fast-spreading Omicron variant in laboratory testing and that the current version of the vaccine would continue to be Moderna’s "first line of defense against Omicron."
The vaccine maker said the decision to focus on the current vaccine, mRNA-1273, was driven in part by how quickly the recently discovered variant is spreading. The company still plans to develop a vaccine specifically to protect against Omicron, which it hopes to advance into clinical trials early next year.
"What we have available right now is 1273," Dr. Paul Burton, Moderna's Chief Medical Officer, said in an interview. "It's highly effective, and it's extremely safe. I think it will protect people through the coming holiday period and through these winter months, when we're going to see the most severe pressure of Omicron."
The company said a two-dose course of its vaccine generated low neutralizing antibodies against the Omicron variant, but a 50 microgram booster dose increased neutralizing antibodies against the variant 37 fold. A higher, 100 microgram booster dose of the same vaccine drove antibody levels even higher - more than 80 times pre-boost levels.
Burton said it would be up to governments and regulators to gauge whether they want the enhanced level of protection that a 100 microgram dose might confer.
The company said that the 100 microgram dose was generally safe and well tolerated, although there was a trend toward slightly more frequent adverse reactions.
Moderna also tested the vaccine's effectiveness compared to its prototype boosters that target multiple previous variants of concern, and said the results were similar.
US regulators authorized the 50 microgram booster of Moderna's vaccine in October. The first two shots of Moderna's vaccine are both 100 micrograms.

::ECONOMY::

Coal demand to peak in India by 2030, will back up renewables: NITI report

Coal will remain India’s mainstay energy source and the country will shape global demand this decade, two reports have said a month after the government declared ambitious targets for being a Net Zero economy in 50 years and 500 Gw of renewable energy capacity addition.
NITI Aayog, the central government’s think tank, said in a report coal demand will be in the range of 1192-1325 million tonne by 2030, led by usage from the electricity sector. The International Energy Agency (IEA), in its annual coal report said, stronger economic growth and increasing electrification will drive demand growth of 4 per cent per year.
Coal-based utility electricity generation capacity in India is likely “to peak at about 250 GW” by the end of this decade or immediately thereafter, said the NITI report. It added that coal-based utility electricity generation in India will slow down, and is likely to peak a few years later, i.e. later 2040.
IEA said iron and steel production use coal and there are not many technologies to replace the fuel immediately. “India’s growing appetite for coal is set to add 130 million tonnes (Mt) to coal demand between 2021 and 2024. Continued expansion of India’s economy is expected during 2022-2024, with annual average GDP growth of 7.4 per cent, fuelled at least partially by coal. We forecast coal consumption to increase at an average annual rate of 3.9 per cent, to reach 1185 Mt in 2024,” IEA’s Coal 2021 report said.
It said India’s push to domestic coal mining through both Coal India and auction of coal blocks to private companies, coal usage in India will increase as it plateaus in other parts of the world, including China. It also said India is set to overtake China as the world’s largest metallurgical coal importer.
The NITI report said while coal-based thermal power generation will grow in absolute terms for the next decade, its share in the total power generation mix of the country will decline to a 50-55 per cent (from current 72 per cent) in the next 10 years. This, it said would be due to the changing capacity mix with increasing share of renewable energy.

::SCIENCE AND TECH::

SpaceX launches 52 Starlink satellites from base in California (US)

A SpaceX rocket carried 52 Starlink internet satellites into orbit from California early.
The U.S. military has become increasingly interested in using satellite imagery to extend its situational awareness and beyond line-of-sight targeting, partly because of the emergence of low-latency networks, like Starlink, which would make it possible to get data from anywhere in the world to a soldier or weapon system faster than ever.
The American firm also was scheduled to launch a Turkish communications satellite from Florida at 10:58 p.m. EST on 19-12-2021.
The two-stage Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from coastal Vandenberg Space Force Base at 4:41 a.m. and arced over the Pacific Ocean.
The Falcon’s first stage returned and landed on a SpaceXdroneship in the ocean. It was the 11th launch and recovery of the stage.
The second stage continued into orbit and deployment of the satellites was confirmed, said launch commentator Youmei Zhou at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California.
Starlink is a satellite-based global internet system that SpaceX has been building for years to bring internet access to underserved areas of the world.
Saturday’s mission was the 34th launch for Starlink, a constellation of nearly 2,000 satellites in low Earth orbit.

::SPORTS::

Sindhu, Srikanth and Lakshya to headline India Open 2022

Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, reigning world championships runner-up KidambiSrikanth and bronze winner LakshyaSen will be the top draw at the 2022 India Open, scheduled from January 11-16 in the national capital.
The USD 400,000 prize money tournament, which will be held without spectators owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, is part of the HSBC BWF World Tour Super 500.
Also headlining the tournament will be newly-crowned world champion Loh Kean Yew along.
Singapore's Yew, who created history in Huelva, Spain recently by becoming the first-ever unseeded player in the open era to win the world championships, will lead the international line-up at the 2022 BWF season opener.
Former world No. 1 Srikanth has been named the top seed in the men's singles category followed by the 2019 world championships bronze medallist B SaiPraneeth.
Sen, the youngest Indian male shuttler to clinch a world championships medal, HS Pronnoy, ParupalliKashyap and Sameer Verma are among the other Indian participants alongside experienced Tommy Sugiarto from Indonesia.