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 25 July 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.
Home Minister Amit Shah inaugurates ISBT in Shillong
Union Home minister Amit Shah inaugurated the Inter State Bus Terminus at Mawiong located in the outskirts of Shillong city.
The Union Home Minister stated that the Central Government will connect all the capitals of the north eastern states with railway and air connectivity by 2023- 2024.
The ISBT will be centre for economy, adding the Government has worked hard for development of the State since 2014.
The ISBT was constructed with an estimated cost of about 48 crore rupees funded by the North Eastern Council under the DoNER Ministry at 90/10 pattern with the State Government.
NBCC provides CSR funding to set up lab space at IIT Madras’ Thaiyur campus
NBCC has provided CSR funding to set up a lab space at the Thaiyur campus (called the Discovery campus) of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras).
NBCC (India) Limited is a Government of India Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE) in the category Navaratna.
The new lab space, funded by NBCC (India) Limited, will enable the setting up of 12 additional labs of 10×5 sq. metres.
The partnership was facilitated by the Strategic Alliances division of the Office of Principal Scientific Adviser, Government of India.
NITI Aayog and IEA launched ‘Renewables Integration in India 2021’
Recently, NITI Aayog and IEA have jointly launched a report on “Renewables Integration in India 2021”.
The report is based on the outcome of three states workshops held with the Governments of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Gujarat to understand the specific energy transition challenges faced by these renewable-rich states.
The report highlights that India’s power system can efficiently integrate renewables (175 GW by 2022 and 450 GW by 2030), but it would require identification of resources and proper planning, regulatory, policy and institutional support, energy storage and advance technology initiatives.
Indian states need to employ a wide range of flexibility options – such as demand response, more flexible operation of coal based power plants, storage, and grid improvements – to transition to cleaner electricity systems.
Larger shares of renewables can be better managed by shifting time of use in agriculture. Time of Use (ToU) tariffs will be an effective tool to incentivise demand side management and encourage flexible consumption.
Amitabh Kant released book on Indian start-up ecosystem
NITI Aayog Chief Executive Officer Amitabh Kant at the book launch ceremony has said that iVEAIN is a consortium of some of India’s finest institutes.
This book, which is a comprehensive guide for start-ups, is authored by some of the most prominent voices in the Indian start-up ecosystem.
The book titled, ‘Shifting Orbits: Decoding the Trajectory of the Indian Start-up Ecosystem’, co-edited by Professor Rohan Chinchwadkar, a finance professor at the Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management at IIT Bombay, was launched by Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog recently.
The book launch was organized, in the virtual mode, by the Innovation Venturing and Entrepreneurship in India Network (iVEIN).
The Directors of IIT Bombay, IIT Madras, IIM Bangalore and IIM Kozhikode also attended the event in Mumbai.
PM Modi paid tributes on demise of Bhageerathi Amma
The Prime Minister of India Modi has paid tributes and expressed grief over the demise of respected Bhageerathi Amma.
Bhageerathi Amma was an Indian woman living in the Kollam district of Kerala. She came to national attention when she returned to education at the age of 105. She was honoured with the Nari Shakti Puraskar and Narendra Modi singled her out for praise.
At the age of 105, Amma decided to continue her education and took examinations in Mathematics, the Malayalam language and Environmental Science. She scored 205 out of 275 points and was acknowledged as the oldest person to take the equivalency exams.
Amma was announced as a winner of the 2019 Nari Shakti Puraskar. Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded her in a Mann Ki Baat episode saying: “She is a big source of inspiration and I pay respects to her.”
Dhamma Chakra Day 2021
Ashadha Purnima-Dhamma Chakra Day is observed on July 24 each year.
Observed on full moon day in Asadha month of the Hindu calender, the Dhamma Chakra day is celebrated all over the world to commemorate the first sermon that Gautama Buddha gave to his five ascetic disciples.
This day is also aptly observed as Guru Purnima by both Buddhists and Hindus as a day to mark reverence to their gurus.
India betters UN trade facilitation survey score
India scored 90.32% in UN’s Economic and Social Commission for Asia Pacific’s (UNESCAP) latest Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation. The Survey hails this as a remarkable jump from 78.49% in 2019.
India has achieved a 100% score for the Transparency index and 66% in the “Women in trade” component.
India is the best performing country when compared to South and South West Asia region (63.12%) and Asia Pacific region (65.85%).
After evaluation of 143 economies, the 2021 Survey has highlighted India’s significant improvement in the scores on all 5 key indicators, as follows:
- Transparency:100% in 2021 (from 93.33% in 2019)
- Formalities: 95.83% in 2021 (from 87.5% in 2019)
- Institutional Arrangement and Cooperation: 88.89% in 2021 (from 66.67% in 2019)
- Paperless Trade: 96.3% in 2021 (from 81.48% in 2019)
- Cross-Border Paperless Trade: 66.67% in 2021 (from 55.56% in 2019)
The overall score of India has also been found to be greater than many OECD countries including France, UK, Canada, Norway, Finland etc. and the overall score is greater than the average score of EU.
CBIC, has been at forefront of path breaking reforms under the umbrella of ‘Turant’ Customs to usher in a Faceless, Paperless and Contactless Customs by way of a series of reforms. This has had a direct impact in terms of the improvement in the UNESCAP rankings.
Defence Minister flags-in Indian Army Skiing Expedition, ARMEX-21
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh flagged-in the Indian Army Skiing Expedition, ARMEX-21, in New Delhi on July 23, 2021.
The ARMEX-21 was conducted in the mountain ranges of the Himalayan region to promote the adventure activity in the country and the Indian Army.
The expedition was flagged off at Karakoram Pass in Ladakh on 10th March and culminated at Malari in Uttarakhand on 6th of July.
During the expedition, the team travelled through several passes of 5,000-6,500m, glaciers, valleys and rivers.
The team also interacted with the local population of the far-flung areas. It was able to gather detailed information about several hitherto unchartered areas along the international boundary and the hinterland.
Chief Hydrographer receives Alexander Dalrymple Award
Vinay Badhwar, AVSM, NM, Chief Hydrographer recently received the Alexander Dalrymple award from the British High Commissioner, Mr Alex Ellis at a presentation ceremony.
Vice Admiral Vinay Badhwar was conferred with the prestigious award in 2019 but the award ceremony was delayed due to the ongoing pandemic.
The Alexander Dalrymple award has been named after the first hydrographer of the Admiralty and was instituted in 2006.
Alexander Dalrymple was a Scottish geographer and the first Hydrographer of the British Admiralty.
He was the main proponent of the theory that there existed a vast undiscovered continent in the South Pacific, Terra Australis Incognita.
Bill to prohibit strikes by those engaged in essential defence services
The government of India introduced a bill in Lok Sabha which seeks to prohibit any agitation and strike by anyone engaged in the essential defence services.
Essentially, the Essential Defence Services Bill is aimed at preventing the staff of the government-owned ordnance factories from going on a strike. Around 70,000 people work with the 41 ordnance factories around the country.
The Bill mentioned that that it is meant to “provide for the maintenance of essential defence services so as to secure the security of nation and the life and property of public at large and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto”.
But in its objectives, the government has stated: “Indian Ordnance Factories is the oldest and largest industrial setup which functions under the Department of Defence Production of the Ministry of Defence.
The ordnance factories form an integrated base for indigenous production of defence hardware and equipment, with the primary objective of self reliance in equipping the armed forces with state of the art battlefield equipment.”
Akamai outage takes down large chunk of internet now fixed
Global internet infrastructure company Akamai suffered an outage that lasted over an hour, taking down several online applications across India and overseas.
Akamai is a global content delivery network (CDN) and cloud services platform that is rented by online content and commerce services apps.
Akamai faced a disruption on its Edge DNS service that took down platforms such as Zomato, Paytm, parts of Amazon, Airbnb, PlayStation Network, Steam, Disney+Hotstar, etc for a short while.
Edge DNS as a technology provides a shorter route for DNS, or domain name services, between a company’s servers and its users, thereby drastically decreasing resolution times and providing low latencies.
The ‘Right to be Forgotten’ in India
Ashutosh Kaushik has approached the Delhi High Court with a plea saying that his videos, photographs and articles etc. be removed from the internet citing his “Right to be Forgotten”.
In the plea, Kaushik maintains that the “Right to be Forgotten” goes in sync with the “Right to Privacy”, which is an integral part of Article 21 of the Constitution, which concerns the right to life.
The Right to be Forgotten falls under the purview of an individual’s right to privacy, which is governed by the Personal Data Protection Bill that is yet to be passed by Parliament.
In 2017, the Right to Privacy was declared a fundamental right by the Supreme Court in its landmark verdict.
The Personal Data Protection Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha on December 11, 2019 and it aims to set out provisions meant for the protection of the personal data of individuals.
Clause 20 under Chapter V of this draft bill titled “Rights of Data Principal” mentions the “Right to be Forgotten.” It states that the “data principal (the person to whom the data is related) shall have the right to restrict or prevent the continuing disclosure of his personal data by a data fiduciary”.
A data fiduciary means any person, including the State, a company, any juristic entity or any individual who alone or in conjunction with others determines the purpose and means of processing of personal data.
National Parent’s Day 2021
National Parents’ Day is observed on the fourth Sunday of July every year.
It all started in the United States in 1994 when former President Bill Clinton signed a Congressional resolution and established National Parents’ Day into law.
The first Parents’ Day was celebrated the next year, on July 28, 1995. According to the National Archives website, this day was also marked by the first National Parents of the Year Award, which was handed over by Mr Clinton himself.
The reason behind commemorating this day lies in paying tribute to the functions and nuances of parenting.
This day showcases society’s reverence for parents’ contribution to their children’s lives and appreciating the hard work that goes into raising a child.
