Comprehensive Current affairs 4 March 2021

Sahitya Akademi Fellowship.

Recently, Sahitya Akademi Fellowship was awarded to a distinguished scholar, writer, translator and critic,Professor Velcheru Narayana Rao.

Sahitya Akademi Fellowship is the highest literary honour in the country awarded by Sahitya Akademi.

Sahitya Akademiis an autonomous organization under Ministry of Culture working to promote literature in the languages of India including English.

This honour is reserved for 'the immortals of literature' and limited to 21 only at any given time.

Sahitya Akademi has also instituted a Premchand Fellowship named after Premchand during his 125thBirth Anniversary in 2005.

Custodian of Enemy Properties for India.

The Centre has identified over 3,000 new enemy properties left behind by the Chinese and Pakistani nationals after the India-China war in 1962 and Indo-Pak wars in 1965 and 1971.

According to government officials, the number of enemy properties vested with the Custodian of Enemy Properties for India (CEPI) has risen to 12,426 from 9,406.

Enemy property/alien properties refers to property or assets held or managed on behalf of an enemy subject or an enemy company.

It also refers to assets left behind by individuals who migrated to Pakistan or China and are no longer citizens of India.

Enemy Property Act 1968 was enacted to deal with such properties.

Administration of enemy properties is done by Custodian of Enemy Property for India (CEPI), underMinistry of Home Affairs.

Caracal.

The National Board for Wildlife and Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change last month included the caracal in the list of critically endangered species.

It is medium-sized wildcat found in parts of Rajasthan and Gujarat.

Its earliest evidence in subcontinent comes from a fossil dating back to Indus Valley civilisation.

It is also found in Africa, Middle East, Central and South Asia. While it flourishes in parts of Africa, its numbers in Asia are declining.

It finds mention in Abul Fazl’s Akbarnama, as a hunting animal in the time of Akbar.

IUCN lists Caracals under Least concern due to large numbers in Africa.

Saras Aajeevika Mela 2021.

Inaugurated by Union Agriculture Minister the Saras Aajeevika Mela 2021 is underway at Noida Haat.It will continue till 14th March.

The fair remains open from 11 AM to 8 PM daily. More than 300 rural self-help groups and craftsman from 27 states are participating in the Mela which is being by the Ministry of Rural Development.

The Ministry of Rural Development is working to include more women in Self Help Groups (SHGs). He said these SHGs played a vital role in increasing family income and improving quality of life.

India-Russia explore partnership with Asean as part of Indo-Pacific construct.

 India and Russia have decided to explore a partnership in the Indo-Pacific region with special focus on the Asean region and SE Asia.

It is happening the following the recent senior-level consultations led by the foreign secretary in Moscow.

New Delhi and Moscow are in talks to join hands with Asean-related bodies as part of their emerging Indo-Pacific partnership besides widening their connectivity and business links in East Asia and North-East Asia.

It is understood that the Russian side is receptive to India’s suggestions and is expected to explore bilateral partnership in the Asean with focus on post-pandemic economic re-building.

India has been emphasising on a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region and as part of its inclusivity concept views Russia as a Pacific power and a key player in the Indo-Pacific region.

Global Association for Physicians of Indian Origin.

Union Minister for Health communicated the Global Indian Physicians Congress, organised by the Global Association for Physicians of Indian Origin (GAPIO), through virtual conference.

GAPIO is a non-profit organization established in 2011.

It is founded by Padma Vibhushan, Dr.Prathap C Reddy, Chairman of Apollo Hospitals Group and Founder President of GAPIO along with Dr.Sanku Rao – Past President of AAPI, USA and Dr. Ramesh Mehta – President of BAPIO, UK.

The aim of GAPIO is to bring together 1.4 million physicians of Indian origin in the world on one professional platform.

GAPIO currently has presence in 53 countries. Dr. Anupam Sibal is the current President of GAPIO.

India, China foreign ministers to set up hotline.

The foreign ministers of India and China have agreed to establish a new hotline to ensure “timely communication” in the wake of last year's border crisis, but differed sharply on the way forward to restore relations.

Border crisis impact

Underlining how both sides have viewed differently the impact of the border crisis on the broader relationship, Mr. Wang said “there has been some wavering and back-pedalling in India's China policy”, because of which “practical cooperation between the two countries has been affected.”

India’s stand.

India made it clear to China that it is not realistic to insulate the relationship from the boundary crisis, and emphasised that in its view, peace on the border is a prerequisite for the rest of the relationship to develop.

China, however, has hit out at India’s economic measures, such as banning Chinese apps and stricter curbs on investment following last year’s tensions, viewing India’s “whole of government” approach as going against a past consensus of containing differences while cooperating elsewhere.

Ketoprofen.

Recently, Bangladesh banned painkiller ketoprofen.

It became the first country to ban any of the drugs now known to be toxic to vultures since the previous veterinary diclofenac ban more than 10 years ago.

Ketoprofen is painkiller which is used widely to treat the cattle.

Diclofenac and ketoprofen are Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) which are the primary threats to the vultures of South Asia and responsible for the catastrophic 99.9% declines of white-rumped vultures in the region.

In India, diclofenac drug was banned by the Drug Controller General of India in 2006.

Mobile Train Radio Communication .

Mobile Train Radio Communication (MTRC) System commissioned first time in Western Railway Trainsin Mumbai.

The Mobile Train Radio Communication system is an effective and a technologically advanced communication system which can play an intrinsic role in preventing train accidents and reducing delays through effective communication.

It facilitates an instant and constant interaction of train crew with the Control Centre and the Station Master.

MRTC acts in a similar way to that of Air traffic control (ARC) for aircrafts.

The system will monitor, track and aid in communication between the trains and the control room thereby ensuring smooth movement of rakes as well as help in preventing adverse events

Bond yield.

Rising yields on government securities or bonds in the United States and India have triggered concern over the negative impact on other asset classes, especially stock markets, and even gold.

The yield on 10-year bonds in India moved up from the recent low of 5.76% to 6.20% in line with the rise in US yields, sending jitters through the stock market, where the benchmark Sensex fell 2,300 points last week.

Why do bond yields rise?

Bond yield is the return an investor gets on that bond or on a particular government security.

The major factors affecting the yield is the monetary policy of the Reserve Bank of India, especially the course of interest rates, the fiscal position of the government and its borrowing programme, global markets, economy, and inflation.

A fall in interest rates makes bond prices rise, and bond yields fall — and rising interest rates cause bond prices to fall, and bond yields to rise.

In short, a rise in bond yields means interest rates in the monetary system have fallen, and the returns for investors (those who invested in bonds and govt securities) have declined.

Bond yields play a big role in foreign portfolio investment (FPI) flow. Traditionally, when bond yields rise in the US, FPIs move out of Indian equities.

Also, it has been seen that when the bond yield in India goes up, it results in capital outflows from equities and into debt.

Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code Rules 2021.

Government notifies Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021.

The rules have been framed in exercise of powers under section 87 (2) of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and in supersession of the earlier Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines) Rules 2011.

Part- II of these Rules shall be administered by Ministry of Electronics and IT, while Part-III relating to Code of Ethics and procedure and safeguards in relation to digital media shall be administered by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

Salient features:

Due Diligence to Be Followed by Intermediaries: The Rules prescribe due diligence that must be followed by intermediaries, including social media intermediaries. In case, due diligence is not followed by the intermediary, safe harbour provisions will not apply to them.

Grievance Redressal Mechanism: The Rules seek to empower the users by mandating the intermediaries, including social media intermediaries, to establish a grievance redressal mechanism for receiving resolving complaints from the users or victims.

Ensuring Online Safety and Dignity of Users, Especially Women Users: Intermediaries shall remove or disable access withing 24 hours of receipt of complaints of contents that exposes the

private areas of individuals, show such individuals in full or partial nudity or in sexual act or is in the nature of impersonation including morphed images etc.

Two Categories of Social Media Intermediaries: To encourage innovations and enable growth of new social media intermediaries without subjecting smaller platforms to significant compliance requirement, the Rules make a distinction between social media intermediaries and significant social media intermediaries.

The Rules will come in effect from the date of their publication in the gazette, except for the additional due diligence for significant social media intermediaries, which shall come in effect 3 months after publication of these Rules.

TLR7/8 .

The Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT)played a role in the development of Covexin, the indigenous vaccine developed by city-based Bharat Biotech International Limited.

The vaccine is a highly purified, whole virion, inactivated SARS-CoV2.

The vaccine has been formulated with ‘Algel-IMDG’, which contains chemically absorbed TLR7/8 as an agonist or an adjuvant onto aluminium hydroxide gel to generate the requisite type of immune responses without damaging the body.

The firm had approached the IICT to develop the synthetic route for the adjuvant molecule TLR 7/8 with indigenous chemicals at an affordable price and with highest purity.

This indigenously developed molecule aided Bharat Biotech to scale up the production of the adjuvant.