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? In this Post, Daily Current Affairs 16 June 2021, 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 16 June 2021
Telangana started Medicine from the sky project
The State government of Telangana recently launched ‘Medicine from the Sky’ initiative in partnership with World Economic Forum, Niti Aayog, and HealthNet Global.
Under this project, Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone flights will be used for delivery of vaccines and drugs using the identified airspace of the Vikarabad district.
The objective of Medicine from the Sky is to generate insights that can drive future adoption strategies and policy interventions for inclusion of drones in healthcare supply chain.
The goal is to integrate drone deliveries with existing systems and enable urban grade infrastructure even for remote and rural areas.
The project will kick off on a trial mode at the Vikarabad Area Hospital. The program will last for 24 days where four batches would carry out sorties for six days each.
The drones would be carrying vaccine cold storage boxes equipped with temperature sensors and data loggers to record the performance.
ESA to developed World’s First Wooden Satellite called WISA Woodsat
A Finnish company called Arctic Astronautics is working on sending the world’s first wooden satellite to space by the end of this year from New Zealand. It has sensors that have been developed by the European Space Agency (ESA).
The satellite will be launched to test the applicability of wooden materials such as plywood in spacecraft structures. Mission will expose wooden materials to extreme space conditions like heat, cold, vacuum and radiation.
Wooden satellite will be launched to space by end of 2021 with a Rocket Lab Electron rocket. It will be launched from Mahia Peninsula launch complex in New Zealand. Satellite has been designed and built in Finland.
Satellite will orbit at around 500-600 km altitude in polar Sun-synchronous orbit. It is a10x10x10 cm nano satellite which was built up using standardised boxes and surface panels of plywood, which is usually found in hardware store and are used to make furniture.
Ajai Puri re-elected as COAI chairman for 2021-22
Ajai Puri has been re-elected as Chairman of the industry association for 2021-22. Pramod Kumar Mittal, President of Reliance Jio Infocomm, will continue as Vice Chairman of the association.
COAI – whose members include telcos like Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea – noted that the past year has been one of the most eventful and challenging for the Indian telecom industry.
The association “is optimistic about the future of the industry and the opportunities ahead, as 5G and allied technologies get closer to commercial deployment”.
The adjusted gross revenue (AGR) ruling of the Supreme Court added to the challenges posed by the pandemic, the nationwide lockdowns, and the multiple cyclones that battered India.
Project O2 for India to increase supply of medical oxygen
The Centre has launched ‘Project O2 for India’ to step up production of medical oxygen to meet the potential increase in demand due to further waves of the pandemic.
‘Project O2 for India’, an initiative of the Office of Principal Scientific Adviser, Government of India (GoI).
It aims to help stakeholders working to augment the country’s ability to meet the rise in demand for medical oxygen.
Under the project, a ‘National Consortium of Oxygen’ is enabling supply of critical raw materials such as zeolites, setting up of small oxygen plants, manufacturing compressors, final products such as oxygen plants, concentrators, and ventilators.
Besides, the consortium is also working to strengthen the manufacturing ecosystem for long-term preparedness.
15-metre tree discovered in Andaman & Nicobar Islands
A 15-meter-tall tree that belongs to the genus of the coffee family has recently been discovered from the Andaman Islands by a team of researchers from India and the Philippines.
The new species, Pyrostria laljii, is also the first record of the genus Pyrostria in India. Plants belonging to genus Pyrostria are usually found in Madagascar but the recently discovered species is new to science.
The tree is distinguished by a long stem with a whitish coating on the trunk, and oblong-obovate leaves with a cuneate base, and was first reported from South Andaman’s Wandoor forest.
The other places in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands where the tree could be located are the Tirur forest near the Jarawa Rerserve Forest and the Chidia Tapu (Munda Pahar) forest.
Pyrostria laljii has been assessed as ‘Critically Endangered’ based on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List criteria.
India’s agriculture exports registers increase of 17.34% in 2020-21
According to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, exports of agriculture and allied products jumped to 41.25 billion US dollars and registered an increase of 17.34 per cent during the fiscal year 2020-21.
Exports of agriculture and allied products including marine and plantation products jumped to 41.25 billion US dollars and registered an increase of 17.34 per cent during the fiscal year 2020-21.
Huge growth has been witnessed in export of cereals like non-basmati rice, wheat, millets, maize and other agricultural products.
The products were exported to 58 destinations around the world. Largest markets for country’s agricultural products are the USA, China, Bangladesh, UAE, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Nepal, Iran and Malaysia. Highest growth in export has been recorded for Indonesia, Bangladesh and Nepal.
Volleyball player Nirmal Milkha Singh passed away
Former India women’s volleyball captain, Nirmal Milkha Singh, passed away in Chandigarh at the age of 85.
Nirmal was born as in Sheikhupura, Pakistan, on October 8, 1938. She was captain of the Punjab volleyball team on three separate occasions.
In 1955, she also went on tour to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) as part of India volleyball team, it is where she met Milkha Singh. Both were deputed as sports administrators in Chandigarh in 1960 and 1961.
While Milkha joined Punjab administration in Chandigarh as deputy director of sports, Nirmal was director sports for women. Milkha married Nirmal back in 1962.
She is survived by her husband Milkha Singh, three daughters Dr Mona Singh, Aleeza Grover, Sonia Sanwalka, and son Jeev Milkha is an ace golfer.
Suresh Raina’s autobiography “Believe – What Life and Cricket Taught Me”
Suresh Raina, one of India’s most successful international cricketers, has published his own memoir ‘Believe: What Life and Cricket Taught Me’ along with cricket writer Bharat Sundaresan.
‘Believe’, the word Sachin Tendulkar told him-and he took it to heart, getting the word etched on his arm as a tattoo.
In this book, Raina takes you through the challenges he faced as a young cricketer. He was bullied in school and at cricket camps, but he always punched above his weight, overcoming every adversity life threw at him and never giving up.
It takes us through the highs and lows of the cricketing career of a man who saw his world fall apart and yet became one of the most influential white-ball cricketers India has ever seen.
IITs Ropar developed the first electrical free CPAP device Jeevan Vayu
IIT Ropar recently developed a device ‘Jivan Vayu’ which can be used as a substitute for a CPAP machine. Dr Khushboo Rakha, Assistant Professor, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering developed the device at the Advanced Materials and Design Lab of IIT Ropar.
The device is the nation’s first such device that functions even without electricity and is adapted to both kinds of oxygen generation units like O2 cylinders and oxygen pipelines in hospitals.
‘Jivan Vayu’ can deliver high flow oxygen (20–60 LPM) while maintaining a continuous positive pressure of up to 20 cm H2O.
The device is designed to maintain an FiO2 of above 40% with a PEEP (positive end-expiratory pressure) of 5-20 cm H2O.
Operation Olivia to protect Olive Ridley turtles
The Indian Coast Guard’s “Operation Olivia”, conducts in every year, initiated in the early 1980s, helps protect Olive Ridley turtles as they congregate along the Odisha coast for breeding and nesting from November to December.
The Olive Ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) is listed as vulnerable under the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red list.
All five species of sea turtles found in India are included in Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and in the Appendix I of the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which prohibits trade in turtle products by signatory countries.
Odisha has also formulated laws for protecting Olive Ridley turtles, and the Orissa Marine Fisheries Act empowers the Coast Guard as one of its enforcement agencies.
GI certified Zardalu mangoes exported to the United Kingdom
Giving a possible boost to the potential of farm exports from the eastern region, India exported the first commercial consignment of Geographical Indications (GI) certified ‘Jardalu’ mangoes from Bhagalpur, Bihar, to the United Kingdom.
The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority, APEDA, in collaboration with Bihar government, Indian High Commission and Invest India, exported juicy and aromatic mangoes which were packed and treated at APEDA packhouse in Lucknow.
APEDA has been initiating measures to boost mango exports from the non- traditional regions.
APEDA has been conducting virtual buyer-seller meets and festivals to promote mango exports. APEDA recently organised a mango festival in Berlin, Germany as well as in Japan in collaboration with Indian embassies.
Ladakh declared “Open Defecation Free” in India
The Union Territory of Ladakh has been declared Open Defecation Free UT in India under the First Phase of Swachh Bharat Mission.
This was stated by Director of Rural Development Department Tahir Hussain Zubdavi.
RDD Ladakh is taking scientific segregation of Waste and Garbage upon to Village Level and will be establishing Garbage Segregation Centre at Block Level and an awareness programme has also been started in Kargil Ladakh to make people aware about Reduce, Recycle and Reuse.
Mr Zubdavi also flagged off six Garbage Collection Vans for each Zones of Kargil to give for this purpose.
Venu Makand become the 7th Indian player to be inducted into ICC Hall of Fame
The International Cricket Council (ICC) recently inducted 10 players into its Hall of Fame, including the great Indian all-rounder Vinu Mankad.
Mankad became the seventh Indian cricketer to be inducted into the Hall of Fame after Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar, Rahul Dravid, Kapil Dev, Anil Kumble and Bishan Singh Bedi.
Mankad, who died in 1978, played 44 Test matches for India from 1946 to 1959. He scored 2,109 runs at an average of 31.47 with five centuries and six fifties.
He also picked up 162 wickets with his left-arm spin at an average of 32.32, with 8 five-wicket innings hauls and two ten-wicket match hauls.
Raja Parba festival is celebrated in Odisha
Odisha celebrated a 3-day festival Raja Parba. During this period, it is believed that Mother Earth menstruates and prepares herself for future agricultural activities with the arrival of monsoon.
Raja Parba or Mithuna Sankranti is a three-day-long festival and the second day signifies beginning of the solar month of Mithuna from, which the season of rains starts.
It welcomes the agricultural year in Odisha, which marks, through biological symbolism, the moistening of the sun dried soil with the first showers of the monsoon in mid-June thus making it ready for productivity.
It is believed that the mother Goddess Earth or the divine wife of Lord Vishnu undergoes menstruation during the first three days.
The fourth day is called as Vasumati gadhua or ceremonial bath of Bhudevi.
The term Raja has come from Rajaswala (meaning a menstruating woman) and during medieval period the festival became more popular as an agricultural holiday remarking the worship of Bhudevi, who is the wife of lord Jagannath.
31st formal meeting of heads of government of NATO
The 31st formal meeting of the heads of state and heads of government of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was held in Brussels, Belgium, on 14 June 2021.
NATO Leaders discussed key issues, took decisions about future of NATO and agreed on concrete measures to adapt NATO in accordance with NATO 2030 agenda.
Topics of discussion include NATO’s role in changing geostrategic environment, emerging technologies, collective defence, climate change and security.
NATO, also called as North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance of 30 European and North American countries. NATO implements North Atlantic Treaty which was signed in 1949.
It comprises of a system of collective defence where independent member states agree for mutual defence in case of any attack by external party. Headquarter of NATO is located at Haren in Brussels, Belgium.
Combined military spending of NATO members was over 57% of global nominal total in 2020. Members have aim of reaching or maintaining the target defence spending of at least 2% of their GDP by 2024.
