CURRENT AFFIARS 15th JUNE 2021 Admin CURRENT AFFIARS JUNE 2021 Thu, Jun 17, 2021, at ,12:57 PM => G7 accommodates Indian stand on Internet curbs Open Societies Statement reworked to priorities national security over freedoms. Internet freedoms are subject to national security, said government sources, claiming that India’s tough negotiations on the joint communiqué issued by G7 and Guest Countries at the session on Open Scriticizingad ensured that the original language criticizing “Internet shutdowns” had been amended to include New Delhi’s concerns. The assertion in the statement appears upon several issues that are sensitive in nature as they are often subjected to public debate in India. Sources indicate that the mention of the topics in the statement took place in the backdrop of sustained exchange of opinion between G7 and Indian teams. Government sources said that “politically motivated Internet shutdowns” clarified that national security and public order concerns are an exception to the need for Internet freedoms. => Government report flags ‘lapses’ in Nagaland bat study More than a year after a probe into a filovirus study of bats in Nagaland by the Bangalore-based National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), the government has concluded that there had been “concerning lapses” in the conduct and protocols followed for the study, even as an inter-department row continues over where the bat samples should be stored. Role of foreign researchers questioned amid row over storage of samples at NCBS, Bengaluru. => For Onam, marigolds from a floating raft A small fraction of the millions of marigold flowers used during the annual Onam season to make floral carpets and decorate homes will come from a floating raft farming experiment undertaken by an enterprising young farmer in the Vembanad backwaters in Alappuzha’s Thanneermukkom panchayat. Floating raft agriculture, with water hyacinth forming the bed, has been experimented with extensively. It was found, over the last five years, that amaranthus flourishes on the floating raft beds, said K.G. Padmakumar, veteran agricultural scientist and director, International Research and Training Centre for Below Sea Level Farming, Kuttanad. => May 28 order has no relation whatsoever with CAA: Ministry of Home Affairs to Supreme Court The Ministry of Home Affairs maintained in the Supreme Court on Monday that its May 28 order delegating power to District Collectors in 13 districts across five States to grant citizenship to non-Muslims from neighbouring Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh has “no relation whatsoever” with the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act of 2019. The 2019 Act, better known by its abbreviation ‘CAA’, is under challenge before the Supreme Court. The law is accused of “fast-tracking” citizenship for non-Muslim persecuted minorities — Hindu,forikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi, and C-based on India’s three neighbors. The CAA is blamed for illegally granting citizenship based on religion. The government reasoned that the notification did not “provide for any relaxations to the foreigners and applies only to foreigners who have entered the country legally”. The applicants should possess valid documents like passports and an Indian visa. “Any foreigner of any faith can apply for citizenship of India at any time,” the MHA affidavit said. => China, India, Pakistan expanding nuclear arsenal China is in the middle of a significant modernization and expansion of its nuclear weapon inventory, and India and Pakistan also appear to be expanding their nuclear arsenals, according to Swedish think tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) Year Book 2021 released on Monday. ‘The overall number of warheads in global military stockpiles now appears to be increasing, a worrisome sign that the declining trend that has characterized global nuclear arsenals since the end of the cold war has stalled,” said Hans M. Kristensen, Associate Senior Fellow with SIPRI’s Nuclear Disarmament, Arms Control and Non-proliferation Programmed. The nine nuclear armed states - the U.S., Russia, the U.K., France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea - together possessed an estimated 13,080 nuclear weapons at the start of 2021. Russia and the U.S. together possessed over 90% of global nuclear weapons and have extensive and expensive modernization programmes under way. => NON PROLIFERATION TREATY: The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonly known as the Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT, is an international treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, and to further the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament. Between 1965 and 1968, the treaty was negotiated by the Eighteen Nation Committee on Disarmament, a United Nations-sponsored organization based in Geneva, Switzerland. => MFI framework plan: RBI for a limit on repayment terms, no rate cap The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has proposed a new regulatory framework for microfinance institutions (MFIs) that includes capping the outflow on account of repayment of loan obligations of a household to a maximum of 50 percent of the household income and no pre-payment penalty or requirement of collateral, along with greater flexibility of repayment frequency for all microfinance loans. It has proposed withdrawal of some of the guidelines presently applicable to only NBFC-MFIs, including stipulations related to sub-limits on the loan amount (Rs 75,000 in the first cycle, exclusion of loans towards education and medical expenses from overall limit), tenure (minimum tenure of 24 months for loans above Rs 30,000) and purpose (minimum 50 percent of loans for income generation activities). It has also mooted the withdrawal of the two-lender norm for lending by NBFC-MFIs and all pricing related instructions. => The Road From Galwan ,a year Later : It's been a year since the Galwan clash, when 20 Indian soldiers and an undisclosed number of Chinese troops lost their lives in the worst border clash between the two neighbors in 40 years. The incident along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) has had far-reaching repercussions. It eroded the fragile trust that had kept the LAC largely peaceful till then. We look back at some of the events in the days preceding the clash, and how it has in effect reset India-China ties, in more ways than one. The Army worked on a war-footing to erect heated shelters, bunkers and arctic tents. It acquired specialized winter clothing, gear and other essential supplies for its over 50,000 troops deployed at the “friction points” with China. The Chinese side also moved in more troops and heavy artillery, leading to a tinderbox-like situation at the border. => Naftali Bennett Takes Charge as Israel’s new Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, the former Defence Minister of Israel, and leader of the Yamina party took oath as the Prime Minister of the country. The 49-year-old former tech entrepreneur replaces Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been forced out of office after 12 years (2009 to 2021). (Netanyahu is the longest-serving PM of Israel). Bennett will lead a new coalition government, formed with Yair Lapid, head of the centrist Yesh Atid party. The new Coalition government will run on a rotation basis, which means that Bennett would serve as Israel’s prime minister until September 2023, following which Lapid would take charge of the office, for the next two years, until 2025. => Assam to institute own versions of Bharat Ratna and Padma awards The Assam government will present its own versions of the Bharat Ratna and the Padma awards from next year. The cabinet also instituted other civilian honors such as the Asom Bibhushan Award to be presented to three persons, the Assam Bhushan to five, and the Asom Shree to 10 people every year. These 4 awards will carry cash prizes of Rs 5 lakh, Rs 3 lakh, Rs 2 lakh & Rs 1 lakh respectively. => Justice AK Sikri to chair IAMAI’s Grievance Redressal Board The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) has roped in former Supreme Court Justice (Retd.) Arjan Kumar Sikri to chair the Grievance Redressal Board (GRB), formed as a part of the Digital Publisher Content Grievances Council (DPCGC). The GRB will address content grievances pertaining to any of the DPCGC member’s video streaming services. The Grievance Redressal Board will aim to provide independent adjudication on content grievances escalated to it. The members of the GRB include prominent personalities from the media and entertainment industry, online curated content providers, experts from various fields — including child rights, women rights, and media laws => India’s retail inflation touches 6.3% in May India’s retail inflation shot up to a six-month high of 6.3 per cent in May, after easing to a three-month low of 4.23 per cent in April. Inflation, based on Consumer Price Index (CPI), has breached the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) target range for the first time after five months. The RBI is mandated to maintain the crucial number at 4 per cent in the medium term, with a 2 percentage point margin on either side as part of its inflation target. National Statistical Office data for retail inflation showed food inflation shot up to 5% in May from 2% in April as prices of protein items such as meat, fish, eggs, oils and fats accelerated. The fuel bill also went up 11.6% as the government increased retail prices of petrol and diesel after state election results on 2 May. Services inflation jumped as costs of health, transport and personal care rose during the second wave of the pandemic. => 47th G7 summit held in UK’s Cornwall The 47th G7 Leaders’ Summit 2021 (Outreach Session of the G7 meeting) took place in a Hybrid format from June 11-13, 2021 at Cornwall, United Kingdom (UK). It was hosted by the United Kingdom (UK) as it holds the Presidency of G7 for 2021. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually participated in the meeting and called G7 summit members for the ‘One Earth One Health’ approach to effectively deal with the coronavirus pandemic globally, and sought the support of the G7 grouping to lift patent protections for COVID-19 vaccines. The theme for the Summit – ‘Building Back Better’. The UK invited Australia, India, South Korea, and South Africa (jointly called ‘Democracy 11’) as Guest Countries to the 2021 summit. The 47th G7 Leaders’ Summit has been called the 1st ever net-zero G7 as all have committed to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050 (or at the latest with ambitious reductions targets in the 2020 decade). PM Narendra Modi participated in the 1st Outreach Session of the G7 Summit, he was the lead speaker for the session titled ‘Building Back Stronger – Health’, which focused on global recovery from the corona virus pandemic and on strengthening resilience against future pandemics.