June current affairs 2021 pdf UPSC IES IRMS

1. RDSO- India’s First Standard Developing Organization

• Research Design & Standards Organization (RDSO) wing of Indian railways has become India’s first institution to be declared as Standard Developing Organization (SDO).

• According to Railway Ministry, it is a unique initiative by two organizations under which the Government of India will set a template for the rest of India’s leading research & standard development organizations to adopt such standards.

• BIS launched the ‘National Standards Body’ scheme to attain the government’s vision of “One Nation One Standard”.

What does SDO recognition mean?

• With SDO recognition, standard formulation procedures of RDSO will become more focused on consensus-based decision making.
• It will extensively engage all stakeholders such as Industry, Academia, Test Houses, Users, Recognized Labs etc, in standard making process from initial stages.
• With this tag, competition among industries will increase resulting into reduction in cost & improvement in quality.
• It will also reduce import dependency and boost Make in India initiative.

• Research Designs & Standards Organization: It is the sole R&D Wing of the Ministry of Railways, is one of India’s leading Standard formulating bodies undertaking standardization work for the railway sector situated in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.

2. Eighth Global Nitrogen Conference

• The United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the main focus of the eighth triennial (every three years) conference of the International Nitrogen Initiative (INI) being held virtually from May 31-June 3, 2021.

• The conference was postponed from May last year due to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Over 800 scientists and other stakeholders from over 60 countries are attending the conference.

About the International Nitrogen Initiative Conference:

• Set up in 2003 under sponsorship of the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) and from the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP).
• It is a triennial event that brings together scientists from around the world dealing with reactive nitrogen compounds in agriculture, industry, traffic, soil, water and air.

Nitrogen pollution has a significant impact on the environment:

• It creates harmful algal blooms and dead zones in our waterways and oceans.
• Contamination of drinking water
• Excessive nitrogen fertiliser application contributes to soil nutrient depletion.
• The release of Nitrous Oxide is essentially a greenhouse gas which is harmful to the environment.

3. New Zealand became the eleventh signatory to the Artemis Accords

• New Zealand joins the growing list of nations who have signed the Artemis Accords namely the US, Ukraine, the UAE, the UK, the Republic of Korea, Luxembourg, Japan, Italy, Canada, and Australia.

About Artemis Accords:

• This accord ensures that space exploration is conducted in a safe, sustainable and transparent manner and in full compliance with international law.
• As more countries establish a presence in outer space, via research stations, satellites, or even rocket launches, these accords provide a set of principles to create a safe and transparent environment that inspires exploration, science, and commercial activities.

4. World Employment and Social Outlook Trends 2021 Report: ILO

• International Labour Organisation (ILO) has released the World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends (WESO) report 2021.

• It has pushed over 100 million more workers into poverty worldwide. The world would be 75 million jobs short at the end of this year compared to if the pandemic had not occurred.

• Relative to 2019, an estimated additional 108 million workers are now extremely or moderately poor.

• Meaning that they and their family members are having to live on less than USD 3.20 per day (It is the World Bank poverty line for lower-middle-income countries) in purchasing power parity terms. Five years of progress towards the eradication of working poverty have been undone, as working poverty rates have now reverted to those of 2015.

International Labour Organisation:

• India is a founding member of the ILO with a total 187 member States. In 2020 India assumed the Chairmanship of the Governing Body of ILO.
• Headquarter: Geneva in Switzerland.

5. Model Tenancy Act 2021

• The Union Cabinet has approved the Model Tenancy Act to be sent to the States and Union Territories to enact legislation or amend laws on rental properties.

• It will enable the creation of adequate rental housing stock for all the income groups thereby addressing the issue of homelessness.

• It is expected to give a fillip to private participation in rental housing as a business model for addressing the huge housing shortage.

6. DRDO successfully test-fires enhanced Pinaka Rockets

• Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully test-fired an extended range version of the “Pinaka” rocket. The test fire was carried at Integrated Test Range (ITR) in Chandipur, Odisha.

About Pinaka:

• It is an indigenous multi-barrel rocket launch system. It was developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for Indian Army.
• Navigation system of this missile is aided by Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS). Initial version of weapon system was called Mark I, which had the range of 40 km. This range was increased up to 70 to 80 kms in upgraded missile called Pinaka Mark II.

7. 47th G7 Summit

• Recently, the Indian Prime Minister addressed the 47th G7 Summit 2021 through video conferencing.

• Apart from India, Australia and South Korea were also invited to participate in the proceedings of the summit as “guest countries”.

• This year’s summit was hosted by the UK at Cornwall. The last G-7 summit was in France in 2019, with last year’s event in the US cancelled due to the pandemic.

8. NATO Summit 2021

• The 31st formal meeting of heads of government of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) was held on June 14, 2021 in Brussels, Belgium. NATO summit 2021 is also being dubbed as Brussels summit of NATO.

About North Atlantic Treaty Organization:

• NATO, also called as North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance of 30 European and North American countries.

9. Agni P Ballistic Missile successfully tested

• Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully flight tested a New Generation Nuclear Capable Ballistic Missile ‘Agni P’ from Dr APJ Abdul Kalam island off the coast of Odisha.

What is Agni P Ballistic Missile?

• Agni P is a new generation advanced variant of Agni class of missiles.
• It is a canisterised missile.
• It is transported by a truck and launched via a canister.
• Its range capability lies between 1,000 and 2,000 kms.
• With two stage solid fuel system, Agni P is a new generation nuclear capable ballistic missile.
• It is developed under the project Agni I Prime.

Canisterisation of missiles reduces the time required to launch the missile while improving its storage and mobility.

Range of other Agni Missiles:

• Agni I: Range of 700-800 km.
• Agni II: Range more than 2000 km. Agni III: Range of more than 2,500 Km
• Agni IV: Range is more than 3,500 km and can fire from a road mobile launcher.
• Agni-V: The longest of the Agni series, an Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) with a range of over 5,000 km.

IGMDP (Integrated Guided Missile Development Program):

• It was conceived by Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam to enable India attain self-sufficiency in the field of missile technology. It was approved by the Government of India in 1983 and completed in March 2012.
• The 5 missiles (P-A-T-N-A) developed under this program are: Prithvi: Short range surface to surface ballistic missile.
• Agni: Ballistic missiles with different ranges, i.e. Agni (1,2,3,4,5). Trishul: Short range low level surface to air missile.
• Nag: 3rd generation anti-tank missile.
• Akash: Medium range surface to air missile.

Agristack 

• Recently, the Ministry of Agriculture has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Microsoft to run a pilot programme for 100 villages in 6 states. The MoU requires Microsoft to create a ‘Unified Farmer Service Interface’ through its cloud computing services.

Key Points:

• It is a collection of technologies and digital databases that focuses on farmers and the agricultural sector
• AgriStack will create a unified platform for farmers to provide them end to end services across the agriculture food value chain.
• The government is also implementing the National Land Records Modernisation Programme (NRLMP).

• Under the programme, each farmer will have unique digital identification (farmers’ ID) that contains personal details, information about the land they farm, as well as production and financial details. Each ID will be linked to the individual’s digital national ID Aadhaar.