Current Affairs January 2021 pdf UPSC IES IRMS

1.Vaccine Maitri:

• India will officially start its vaccine diplomacy with the name “Vaccine Maitri” under its Neighborhood First policy India will supply Made-in-India Covid-19 vaccines to its neighboring and key partner countries Under its Neighborhood First policy.

• Bhutan and Maldives will be the first to get the vaccines followed by Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, and Seychelles.

• Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and Mauritius will also get doses once they give the necessary regulatory approvals.

• Vaccine Diplomacy: It is the use of vaccines to increase a country’s diplomatic relations with other countries.

• India has already delivered over 5 million doses to seven countries in the neighborhood under the initiative before Sri Lanka and Bahrain.

• The 7 countries are- the Maldives (100,000 vaccines), Bhutan (150,000 vaccines), Nepal (1 million vaccines), Bangladesh (2 million vaccines), Myanmar (1.5 million vaccines), Mauritius (100,000 vaccines), and Seychelles (50,000 vaccines).

COVID-19 Vaccination in India:

• The COVID-19 vaccination program started in India on January 16, 2021, with the two approved vaccines (Emergency-use) – Covishield and Covaxin.
• In phase 1, health workers are being vaccinated followed by people above the age of 50 years.

2. NASA Says 2020 Tied for Hottest Year on Record:

• The results are finally in: 2020 was one of the hottest years in recorded history, according to data released today by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

• it tied with 2016 for the hottest year in the books, while NOAA placed it in the number-two spot. 2020 now ranks as the second-hottest year, with average temperatures hitting 58.77 degrees Fahrenheit — a mere 0.04 degrees cooler than 2016, which holds the record.

• 2020 set to be one of hottest years on record despite La Nina’s cooling effect

• La Nina -The climate phenomenon, which developed in August and strengthened in October, is normally associated with below-normal sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean caused by changes in winds, air pressure, and rainfall. La Nina is limited to the Pacific, its effects act to cool the entire planet’s temperatures, like natural air conditioning for Earth.
• El Niño event, which is the opposite of La Niña and causes above-average sea surface temperatures and thus warmer global temperatures.

State of the Climate Report 2020: IMD

• According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD)’s State of the Climate Report, the year 2020 was the eighth warmest since India started keeping records in 1901. During the year, the annual average temperature in the country was 0.29 degree Celsius (°C) above normal (29-year average from 1981-2010).

3. Donald Trump has become the first President of the USA in history to be impeached twice

• Donald Trump has become the first President of the USA in history to be impeached twice by the House of Representatives. He was charged with inciting an insurrection.

• The US Constitution states that the President can be removed for conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes.

• In India, the President can be removed only for ‘violation of the Constitution and the Constitution does not define the meaning of the phrase violation of the Constitution. No president has faced impeachment proceedings so the above provisions have never been used. Art.61 deals with the Presidential impeachment in India.

• Two Houses: The legislature of the United States of America i.e. Congress of the United States consists of two houses:

1. The Senate, in which each state, regardless of its size, is represented by two senators.
2. House of Representatives, to which members are elected on the basis of population.

• Earlier Impeachments: Three USA Presidents Trump in 2019 Bill Clinton in 1998 Andrew Johnson in 1868 previously was impeached by the House but acquitted by the Senate. Thus, no USA President ever has been removed from office through impeachment.

4. Extension RoDTEP Scheme

• The government has decided to extend the benefit of the Scheme for Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) to all export goods.

what is the Remission of Duties or Taxes on Export Product (RoDTEP) scheme:

• The scheme was announced in 2020 as a replacement for the Merchandise Export from India Scheme (MEIS), which was not compliant with the rules of the World Trade Organisation.
• Indian exporters will be able to meet the international standards for exports as affordable testing and certification will be made available to exporters within the country instead of relying on international organizations.
• Also under it, tax assessment is set to become fully automatic for exporters. Businesses will get access to their refunds for GST via an automatic refund route.

Extension of Benefits:

• The government has decided to extend the benefits of the RoDTEP to all export goods starting 1st January 2021.
• Initially, the scheme was expected to be limited to around three sectors to start with due to limited resources.
• The rates under this scheme, which are expected to be notified soon, will be applicable from 1st January 2021 to all eligible exports of goods

Reason for Extension: It will boost the export sector of the country.

5. FSSAI slashes limit for trans fat levels in foods to 3% from 5%

• The trans fat content in fats and oils has already been limited to 5%, and the notification to further reduce it to 3% by 2021, and to 2% by 2022 is under process.

• An estimated 540,000 people die each year globally of cardiovascular diseases, and consumption of food laced with industrial trans fats is a contributing factor.

• In India, the number of deaths is around 60,000, according to government data.

• Industrial trans fats are toxic compounds that can lead to several non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases.

• These are formed during the hydrogenation of vegetable oils (adding hydrogen to liquid vegetable oils to make them more solid) to increase the shelf life of foods, and other processes such as heating of oil at high temperature.

6. Bird Flu Threat :Hundreds of crows have died in Rajasthan

• Bird flu, also known as Avian influenza (AI), is a highly contagious viral disease affecting several species of food-producing birds as well as pet birds and wild birds.

• Occasionally mammals, including humans, may contract avian influenza.

• Influenza viruses are grouped into three types; A, B, and C. Influenza viruses are classified into subtypes based on two surface proteins, Hemagglutinin (HA) and Neuraminidase (NA) Only type A is known to infect animals and is zoonotic, meaning it can infect animals and also humans. Type B and C mostly infect humans and typically cause mild disease. Avian influenza virus subtypes include A(H5N1), A(H7N9), and A(H9N2).

7. India Begins Its Two-Year Tenure As Non-Permanent Member Of UN Security Council

• India will sit in the 15-nation United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for the 2021-22 term as a non-permanent member – the eighth time that the country has had a seat on the powerful horseshoe table.

• 5 permanent members – China, France, Russian Federation, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

• 10 non-permanent members who are elected by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

These 10 seats are distributed among the regions of the world:

• 5 seats for African and Asian countries;
• 1 for Eastern European countries;
• 2 for Latin American and Caribbean countries; and
• 2 for Western European and Other Countries.

8. Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 3.0

• The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) has launched Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) 3.0, in a bid to empower India’s youth with employable skills by making over 300 skill courses available to them.

• Skill India Mission was launched by the government in 2015 under which the flagship scheme Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) is run.

PMKVY 1.0:

• Launch: India’s largest Skill Certification Scheme – Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) – was launched on 15th July, 2015 (World Youth Skills Day).

PMKVY 2.0:

• Coverage: PMKVY 2016-20 (PMKVY 2.0) was launched by scaling up both in terms of Sector and Geography and by greater alignment with other missions of the Government of India like Make in India, Digital India, Swachh Bharat, etc.

PMKVY 3.0:

• Coverage: Launched in 717 districts, 28 States/eight UTs, PMKVY 3.0 is a step towards ‘Atmnanirbhar Bharat‘.

9. The Indian government has approved the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS)

• The Indian government has approved the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS), which will provide early-stage funding to tech startups via a corpus of INR 945 Cr, to be disbursed through select startup incubators between 2021-25.

• The Startup India Seed Fund was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this month to mark the fifth anniversary of the Startup India initiative.

• The funding will be provided for proof of concept, prototype development, product trials, market entry and commercialisation.

10. 5th Joint Meeting of the India-Japan Act East Forum

• The 5th joint meeting of the India-Japan Act East Forum (AEF) was held in New Delhi.

• The meeting was co-chaired by Foreign Secretary Shri Harsh Vardhan Shringla, and Suzuki Satoshi, Ambassador of Japan to India.

• During the 5th meeting, the AEF reviewed the progress of ongoing projects in the North Eastern Region of India in various areas including connectivity, hydropower, sustainable development, harnessing of water resources, and skill development.

History of India-Japan Act East Forum:

• The AEF was established in 2017 to provide a platform for India-Japan collaboration in the North Eastern Region under India’s “Act East Policy” and Japan’s vision for a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific”.

11.DRDO conducts successful maiden launch of Akash-NG Missile

• DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) conducted the successful maiden launch of Akash-NG (New Generation) Missile from Integrated Test Range off the coast of Odisha.

• Akash-NG is a new generation Surface-to-Air Missile meant for use by the Indian Air Force with an aim of intercepting high maneuvering aerial threats.