Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 03 December 2022

::NATIONAL::

Central Adoption Resource Authority 

• Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) organises 200 special Social media campaigns, 10 State Orientation Programmes, and Interactive meets with more than 700 Prospective Adoptive Parents and Adoptive Parents. 

About:

• Adoption Awareness Month was celebrated in the States of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Daman & Diu, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
• Adoption Awareness Month is about spreading adoption awareness amongst the stakeholders and the waiting families desiring to adopt.  Through the adoption process, CARA is dedicated to ensuring the long-term rehabilitation of children.
• CARA is reviewing all adoption cases, long pending in the courts and ensuring that they are quickly transferred to the office of the District Magistrate and concluded by issuance of Adoption Order by the District Magistrate within two months. 
• New Regulations also stipulate children to be placed in their own socio-cultural environment so that both the child and the family quickly adjust with each other. 
• Children with mental and physical disabilities are now being identified and cared for by the CMO in every district. 

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Delimitation Commission Empowered to Redraw Jammu and Kashmir Constituencies

• The Centre told the Supreme Court that a delimitation commission formed to redraw the Legislative Assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir was empowered to do so.

About:

• The Supreme Court reserved its judgment on the plea challenging thedelimitation exercise undertaken in the Union Territory of Jammu andKashmir.
• Plea challenged that delimitation exercise violates Article 170 which provides thatthe next delimitation in the country will be taken up after 2026.
• In response, centre stated that Delimitation exercise for J&K could not waittill 2026 since idea was to give immediate democracy to newest UnionTerritory (UT).
• The Election Commission of India further submitted that there is a bar on judicialinterference, under Article 329(a) of the Constitution of India, regarding thevalidity of any law relating to the delimitation of constituencies.
• Supreme Court in Meghraj Kothari vs Delimitation Commission had heldthat once order is published in the Gazette of India, such an order cannot bereagitated before a Court of Law.

Delimitation Commission:

• Delimitation is the act of redrawingboundaries of Lok Sabha and Assemblyseats to represent changes in population.
• It provides equal representation for equalpopulation segments, and fair division of geographical areas, so that no political partyhas an advantage.
• It is done by DC and their orders cannot bequestioned before any court.
• Earlier, DC were set up in 1952, 1963, 1973,and 2002.It is done on basis of preceding Census.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

Wassenaar Arrangement

• India will assume the chairmanship of the Wassenaar Arrangement (WA), a multilateral technology control agreement, on 1 January 2023, for a period of one year.

About:

• Wassenaar Arrangement is a multilateral export control regime (MECR) that works to promote transparency and responsibility intransfers of conventional arms and dual-use goods and technologies through regular exchanges of information among itsmembers.
• The Wassenaar Arrangement came into being in 1996 and has 42 members. The WA operates on a voluntary basis and decisions are made by consensus.
• The WA maintains lists of technologies which are of interest. Tier 1 denotes a list of basic items while Tier 2 denotes Sensitive or Very Sensitive Technologies.
• The US, the UK, Japan, South Korea, France, Germany and Australia are some key members of the WA. Prominent non-members include China and Israel. India will take over from Ireland.
• India joined the Wassenaar Arrangement (WA) in 2017 and became its 42nd member.
• MECR are voluntary and non-binding agreements. It prevents proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) whichincludes nuclear, radiological, chemical, biological or other weapon.

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B-21 Raider

• RecentlyNorthrop Grumman Corp rolled out its new B-21 "Raider" jet, the first of a new fleet of long-range stealth nuclear bombers for the United States Air Force.

About:

• B-21 Raider will employ cutting-edge stealth technologies to carry out nuclear missions and long-range bombing.
• Each aircraft costing about $2 billion or Rs 1624 Crore to be built.The B-21 Raider will be a subsonic aircraft.
• The aircraft average speed of 563 miles per hour.
• The B-21 Raider, which takes its name from the 1942 Doolittle Raid over Tokyo, will be slightly smaller than the B-2 to increase its range.
• Other changes likely include advanced materials used in coatings to make the bomber harder to detect, new ways to control electronic emissions.
• So, the bomber could spoof adversary radars and disguise itself as another object, and use of new propulsion technologies.

Modernisation:

• The bomber is part of the Pentagon's efforts to modernise all three legs of its nuclear triad, which includes silo-launched nuclear ballistic missiles and submarine-launched warheads, as it shifts from the counterterrorism campaigns of recent decades to meet China's rapid military modernisation.
• The U.S Air Force plans to build 100 that can deploy either nuclear weapons or conventional bombs and can be used with or without a human crew.

::Economy::

RBI to Launch First Pilot of Retail Digital Rupee 

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will be launching the first pilot of its retail digital rupee recently. 

Key highlights:

• As per an official statement, the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC-R) introduced on December 1, 2022, on a pilot basis for the Indian market. 
• nitially, four banks will be involved in controlled launch of digital currency namely, SBI, ICICI Bank, Yes Bank, and IDFC First Bank inMumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru and Bhubaneswar cities.
• These banks will issue digital tokens in the same denominations as papercurrency, which can be used to make and receive payments.This is an Indirect model of CBDC.
• Retail e-rupee will be an electronic version of cash and primarily meant for retail transactions.
• It will be potentially available for use by all i.e., private sector, non-financialconsumers and businesses.
• It will provide access to safe money for payment and settlement, as it will be adirect liability of the central bank.
• CBDC or Digital rupee is a legal tender issued by RBI in digital form.

::SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY::

Natovenator Polydontus

• Natovenator polydontus’swell-preserved remains – a skeleton about 70% complete – were unearthed in the Gobi Desert, which over the decades has been a treasure trove for dinosaur fossils.

About:

• Natovenator is part of the dinosaur group called theropods – sharing traits including bipedalism – best known for large meat-eaters including Tyrannosaurus, Tarbosaurus and Giganotosaurus. 
• But the theropods, many of which were feathered, branched out in unusual directions with examples such as long-clawed ground sloth-like Therizinosaurus, ostrich-like Struthiomimus, termite-eating Mononykus and the entire bird lineage.
• Natovenator measured about 18 inches (45 cm) long, with a skull about 3 inches (7 cm) long. Its front limbs appeared somewhat flattened, perhaps as an adaptation for paddling and swimming. 
• The streamlining of its body is shown by ribs that point toward the tail, as in diving birds, an arrangement that reduces drag in the water and allows efficient swimming.

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