Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 04 February 2021

::NATIONAL::

Ministry of Home affairs informed that against an original target of 14306, the Crime and Criminal Tracking Networks and Systems (CCTNS) has been deployed at15773 police stations.
It aims at creating a comprehensive and integrated system for enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of policing through adopting of principle of e-Governance and creation of a nationwide networking infrastructure.

Key objectives:

By making a sizeable budgetary allocation for MetroNeo in the Union Budget, the central government has paved the way for the innovative system of mass transport, which could soon be replicated across the country.
To be adopted for the first time in the country in Maharashtra’s Nashik, MetroNeo is a comfortable, rapid, energy-efficient and less noisy transport medium.
The central government recently urged all state governments to consider using MetroNeo technology in their tier-2 and tier-3 cities.

About:

The MetroNeo service consists of electric bus coaches – their lengths varying from 18 to 25 metres – with a carrying capacity of 200 to 300 passengers at a time.
The buses will have rubber tyres and draw power from an overhead electric wire with 600-750 V DC supply, similar to railways or trams.
The buses will be air-conditioned, with automatic door closing system, level boarding, comfortable seats, passenger announcement system, and an information system with electronic display.
Feeder Bus Service
A Feeder Bus of 12-metre length will be battery-powered and run on the existing road on the two feeder routes. The feeder bus batteries will get charged while operating on the main corridors that will enable seamless travel with a wider coverage. No separate charging facility will be required.
Frequency of Service
The capacity of main corridors will be 15,000 PHPDT (peak hour peak direction traffic). The system has been designed in such a way that there will be a train service after every two minutes.

The United States has extended the New START nuclear disarmament treaty with Russia for five years.
US President pledged to keep the American people safe from nuclear threats by restoring U.S. leadership on arms control and non-proliferation.
The United States took the first step toward making good on that pledge when it extended the New START Treaty with the Russian Federation for five years.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed off legislation extending the accord.
The New START treaty is the last remaining arms reduction pact between the former Cold War rivals.

About:

New START nuclear arms treaty is a nuclear arms reduction treaty between the United States and the Russian Federation.
It is signed in 2010.
New START caps to 1,550 the number of nuclear warheads that can be deployed by Moscow and Washington, which control the world's largest nuclear arsenals.

The International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) has joined more than 450 companies and organisations around the world by signing the Neptune Declaration on Seafarer Wellbeing and Crew Change in a worldwide call to action to end the unprecedented crew change crisis caused by COVID-19.
It is launched to coincide with the World Economic Forum in Davos.
The signatories to the Declaration are seeking to draw the world’s attention to the humanitarian issues and challenges seafarers are facing because of the restrictions implemented by Governments to control the COVID-19 pandemic.

Neptune Declaration on Seafarers Wellbeing & Crew Change:

It is a declaration released by the global maritime industry.
It primarily focuses on recognising seafarers as keyworkers by all governments worldwide.

Gig workers, who don’t have any protective cover, have got a shot in the arm as the government has decided to extend social security benefits to them.
A special portal is being set up where in gig workers can register and get to know about relevant schemes.
For the first time globally, social security benefits will extend to gig and platform workers.
The benefits proposed in the Budget would include minimum wages and health cover under the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC).
The Budget also proposed to allow women to work in all categories and also in the night-shifts with adequate protection.
To get an idea on the number of gig workers and others that fall in the informal category of labour and nature of jobs, the government proposes to set up a portal to collect ‘relevant’ information.
The portal will help formulate health, housing, skill, insurance, credit, and food schemes for migrant workers.

According to a study, Genome-edited crops can aid Kerala’s efforts to increase crop yield in addition to reducing dependence on chemical fertilizers and pesticides and cutting down on post-harvest losses.

About:

Gene editing involves the controlled ‘tweaking’ of genes present in an organism. Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) is one of the tools used in gene editing.
Genomic editing is more accurate, faster, and less expensive compared to genetic modification.
Researchers underscored the need for new breeding technologies if global crop production is to double by 2050 to meet the rising food demand.
Yield increases of 2.4% per year are required to meet the demand without putting more land under cultivation.
The annual production of cereals would need to go up by 50% to about three billion tonnes to provide for the 2050 population demand.
CRISPR-Cas9 technology was set to revolutionise medicine — in treatment of diseases such as sickle cell anaemia, for instance — and agriculture.
Genome-edited crops had the potential to lower chemical fertilizer and pesticide use, reduce post-harvest losses while at the same time producing climate-resilient, nutrient-dense, and higher-yield crops.