Current Affairs is the most important area in all competitive exams. But the difficulty level is very high. That’s why; many aspirants get confused, how to select Current Affairs for Preparation of Competitive Examination? Here we have tried to cover each and every point and also included all important facts from National/ International news that are useful for upcoming competitive examinations such as UPSC, SSC, Railway, State Govt. etc.
Daily Current Affairs 1 June 2021
China Announced 3-Child Policy
According to the Chinese government, Married Chinese couples may have up to three children, in a major shift from the existing limit of two after recent data showed a dramatic decline in births in the world’s most populous country.
The policy change will come with supportive measures, which will be conducive to improving our country’s population structure, fulfilling the country’s strategy of actively coping with an ageing population.
China had a fertility rate of just 1.3 children per woman in 2020, recent data showed, on par with ageing societies like Japan and Italy and far short of the roughly 2.1 needed for replacement level.
Beijing scrapped its decades-old one-child policy in 2016, replacing it with a two-child limit to try and stave off risks to its economy from a rapidly aging population.
But that failed to result in a sustained surge in births given the high cost of raising children in Chinese cities, a challenge that persiststo this day.
Declining forest bird species in Western Himalaya
The study identified the declining forest bird species in Western Himalayas and found that while the forest interior harbors a large number of endemic bird species, all landscapes showed a drastic loss of bird species diversity. With the loss of natural habitats in the region, dispersal corridors between those habitats need to be restored to ensure their survival.
Six major land-use types which included natural oak forest, degraded oak forest (lightly used), lopped oak forest (intensively used), pine forest, agricultural cultivation area and sites with buildings were studied.
The results showed that there was a low diversity of species in monoculture areas and urban sites.
It also noticed strong decline in some of the habitat guilds in the areas that experienced land-use change. Habitat guilds are groups of bird species that have common habitat preferences.
Suryakiran aerobatic display team completes 25 years
The Suryakiran aerobatic display team of the Indian Air Force (IAF), which has enthralled crowds across the country with their hair-raising manoeuvres with their aircraft in red and white, has just completed 25 years.
One of the few nine aircraft display teams in the world and the only one in Asia, the team has carried out over 600 displays across the country and south east Asia.
“Suryakiran”, which means ‘rays of the sun’ in Sanskrit, was raised in May 27, 1996, at the IAF air base in Bidar, Karnataka, with six Kiran MkII trainer aircraft.
It carried out its first display on September 15, 1996 for the golden jubilee celebrations of the Air Force Administrative College in Coimbatore.
However, the team was disbanded in 2011 after the Aero India show due to shortage of training aircraft in the IAF and was resurrected in 2015 on advanced jet trainer Hawk Mk-132 aircraft.
This team, which has been the brand ambassador of the IAF, is also the 52 squadron of the IAF and is the youngest fighter squadron with the motto “Always the Best”.
Germany recognising the colonial-era genocide in Namibia
Germany has recognised that it committed genocide against the Herero and Nama people in present-day Namibia during its colonial rule over a century ago.
Between 1904 and 1908, German colonial settlers killed tens of thousands of men, women and children from the Herero and Nama tribes after they rebelled against colonial rule in what was then called German South West Africa.
Between 1884 and 1890, Germany formally colonised parts of present-day Namibia — a territory which was roughly twice as large as the European nation, but not as densely populated. By 1903, around 3,000 German settlers had occupied the central high ground of the region.
Tensions quickly rose as local tribes saw the German settlers as a threat to their land and resources. The conflict reached a boiling point in 1904, when the Herero nation — a primarily pastoral community — rebelled against the Germans, and were closely followed by the Nama tribe.
During the Battle of Waterberg, around 80,000 Herero, including women and children, were chased across the desert by German troops. A mere 15,000 survived.
The Germans continued to rule the region till 1915, following which it fell under South Africa’s control for 75 years. Namibia finally gained independence in 1990.
The atrocities committed in what was then known as German South West Africa have been described by some historians as the first genocide of the 20th century.
Mandaviya Inaugurates Floating Jetty at Old Goa
On the occasion of Goa statehood, Union Minister of State (I/C) for Ports, Shipping & Waterways Mansukh Mandaviya in the presence of Chief Minister of Goa Pramod Sawant inaugurated the second floating jetty at Old Goa.
The jetty will offer safe, hassle free transportation to the tourists. The Minister lauded the work done by Government of Goa in making tourism sector a growth engine of the state.
The Government of India has approved setting up of two Concrete floating jetties on River Mondovi (NW-68) to connect Old Goa and Panjim.
This is the second floating jetty constructed on River Mondovi (NW-68). Earlier, the first jetty located at Captain of Ports, Panjim Goa was inaugurated in February 2020 at Panjim.
Concrete floating jetties have many advantages over the fixed jetties. – Their price is approximately 1/5th of the price of fixed jetty.
Similarly, they are quicker to build and install, easier to use. The designed life of floating jetty is up to 50 years. Also, being floating structures, they don’t need CRZ clearances.
They can be increased in size or reduced as per changes in users’ requirement or the changes in jetty site’s hydrographic profile.
NASA to send 128 glow-in-the-dark baby squids to ISS
NASA announced to launch a Falcon 9 rocket under the SpaceX’s 22nd cargo resupply mission to send the micro-animals which includes 5,000 tardigrades dubbed as ‘water bears’, 28 glow-in-the-dark baby squids,Tardigrades, Butterfly IQ Ultrasound and new solar panels into the space.
The water animals, which will be launched aboard SpaceX’s 22nd cargo resupply mission to the ISS, are part of experiments that could help scientists design improved protective measures for astronauts going on long-duration space travel.
One of these studies involves looking at how the water bears– tiny animals (around 1mm long) that can adapt to extreme conditions on Earth, including high pressure, temperature and radiation– would behave in a spaceflight environment.
Scientists also want to look at how microgravity conditions affect the relationship between the bobtail squid –which are also tiny (3 mm long)– and beneficial microbes, as part of a study called UMAMI, short for Understanding of Microgravity on Animal-Microbe Interactions.
The International Space Station (ISS) has been in space since 1998, and has been known for the exemplary cooperation between the five participating space agencies that run it: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada).
Bengal chief Secretary retired, to act as chief advisor to CM
Chief Minister of West Bengal appointed West Bengal’s Chief Secretary (CS) Alapan Bandyopadhyay as Chief Advisor for three years, after allowing the bureaucrat who was ordered by the central government to report to Delhi, to retire.
In normal practice, the Centre asks every year for an “offer list” of officers of the All India Services (IAS, IPS and Indian Forest Service) willing to go on central deputation, after which it selects officers from that list.
Rule 6(1) of the IAS Cadre Rules says an officer may, “with the concurrence of the State Governments concerned and the Central Government, be deputed for service under the Central Government or another State Government…”
It says “in case of any disagreement, the matter shall be decided by the Central Government and the State Government or State Governments concerned shall give effect to the decision of the Central Government.”
Rule 16(1) of DCRB (Death-cum-Retirement Benefit) Rules says that “a member of the Service dealing with budget work or working as a full-time member of a Committee may be given extension of service for three months, with the prior approval of the Central Government”.
Edible oil prices surge to highest level in over a decade
Prices of edible oils such as mustard, vanaspati, soya, palm, sunflower, and groundnut are more than their highest in a decade.
Prices have risen as much as 62 percent from last year, Food Secretary Sudhanshu Pandey said at a recent meeting on the issue.
India imports about 65 percent of its annual requirement of 14.5 million tonnes of cooking oils. International prices are rising because of lower output in major producers Indonesia, Malaysia, Argentina, Ukraine and Russia, mostly because of bad weather.
The prices of six edible oils — groundnut oil, mustard oil, vanaspati, soya oil, sunflower oil and palm oil — have risen between 20% and 56% at all-India levels in the last one year, data on the Department of Consumer Affairs website show.
With rising incomes and changing food habits, consumption of edible oils has been rising over the years. While mustard oil is consumed mostly in rural areas, the share of refined oils —sunflower oil and soyabean oil — is higher in urban areas.
Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme Expanded
On account of the disruptions caused by the second wave of COVID 19 pandemic to businesses across various sectors of the economy, Government has further enlarged the scope of Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS).
Under ECLGS 4.0, a100% guarantee cover is being offered to loans up to Rs.2 crore to hospitals/nursing homes/clinics/medical colleges for setting up on-site oxygen generation plants, interest rate is capped at 7.5%.
Additional ECLGS assistance of upto 10% of the outstanding as on February 29, 2020 to borrowers covered under ECLGS 1.0, in tandem with restructuring as per RBI guidelines of May 05, 2021;
Current ceiling of Rs. 500 Cr. of loan outstanding for eligibility under ECLGS 3.0 to be removed, subject to maximum additional ECLGS assistance to each borrower being limited to 40% or Rs.200 crore, whichever is lower;
Civil Aviation sector to be eligible under ECLGS 3.0. Validity of ECLGS extended to 30.09.2021 or till guarantees for an amount of Rs.3 lakh crore are issued. Disbursement under the scheme permitted up to31.12.2021.
Detailed operational guidelines in this regard are being separately issued by the National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company (NCGTC).
China’s space station plans gather pace with cargo docking
China took another step towards completing the construction of its first space station by the end of next year following the launch and docking of a cargo spacecraft.
The Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft, described by as “the delivery guy for China’s space station”, was launched on a Long March-7 rocket from the island of Hainan, and docked eight hours later with the space station’s first core module called Tianhe, or “heavenly harmony”.
The Tianzhou-2 spacecraft carried a range of supplies, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said, and will be followed by the launch of another cargo spacecraft, Tianzhou-3, and two manned missions, Shenzhou-12 and Shenzhou-13, this year, each carrying three astronauts who will spend several months in orbit. The Shenzhou-12 launch is slated for mid-June.
More than 160 large and small packages, including supplies for astronauts and space science equipment, and two tonnes of propellant have been loaded into the cargo freighter, according to the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST).
Monsoon likely to be delayed by 2 days
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD) the southwest monsoon is expected to be delayed by two days and the rains are now likely to hit the Kerala coast on June 3 instead of June 1. In complete divergence, private weather forecasting agency, Skymet said that the southwest monsoon has in fact already arrived over Kerala.
Skymet, a private weather forecast agency, however, said the monsoon had arrived. This was because two of the three criteria — as defined by the IMD — had been met.
The criteria are- rain-bearing westerlies being at a minimum depth and speed; at least 60% of the available 14 stations in Kerala and coastal Karnataka reporting rainfall of 2.5 mm or more for two consecutive days after May 10; and a certain degree of clouding, indicated by a parameter called ‘outgoing longwave radiation’ (OLR), being below 200 W/square metre.
IMD’s own data indicated that except for the OLR, the other criteria were met. The IMD and Skymet have forecast normal monsoon from June-September this year.
To herald the onset, initial rains first occur over south Andaman Sea and the monsoon winds then advance across the Bay of Bengal. Since 2005, the monsoon has arrived within the error margin of the IMD’s weather models, except in 2015.
Pooja Rani clinches second gold in a row in Asian Boxing Championships
India boxer Pooja Rani (75kg) successfully defended her title as she outpunched in-form Mavluda Movlonova to hand the country its first gold at the 2021 ASBC Asian Boxing Championships in Dubai.
Earlier Mary Kom and Lalbuatsaihi finished their campaigns with silver medals after going down fighting in their respective semi-finals.
The 19-member Indian contingent claimed their best-ever show by securing record 15 medals while surpassing their previous highest of 13 medals (2 gold, 4 silver and 7 bronze) from the 2019 edition in Bangkok.
Eight Indian pugilists Simranjit Kaur (60kg), Vikas Krishan (69kg), Lovlina Borgohain (69kg), Jaismine (57kg), Sakshi Chaudhary (54kg), Monika (48kg), Saweety (81kg) and Varinder Singh (60kg) secured bronze medals with their semi-final finish at the event which witnessed the presence of 150 boxers from 17 countries including strong boxing nations such as India, Uzbekistan, Philippines and Kazakhstan.
