Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 04 January 2022

::NATIONAL::

Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is working on 2 approaches to tackle the problem of Multi-drugresistant bacteria.

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Bacteriophages, or ‘phages’:It will be used to kill bacteria.It is a type of virus that infects bacteriaand it destroy bacteria’s host cells.
Block the transporters: Transporters help move nutrients from the environment into cells andremove toxic metabolites.
Multi-drug resistant pathogens have evolved transporters that are capable of moving out(or ‘effluxing’) antibacterial compounds from bacterial cells and membranes, therebyprotecting pathogens (bacteria).
Researchers are developing certain type of antibody that could inhibit the transporters inbacteria.

Hate speech and writings are against the country’s culture and constitutional ethos and secularism is in the blood of every countryman, said Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu in Kottayam.

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There is no specific legal definition of hate speech’.
As per Law Commission’s 267th Report Hate speech generally is an incitement to hatredprimarily against a group of persons defined in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation,religious belief and the like.
Sections 153A and 505 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) deal with inflammatory speeches andexpressions that seek to punish ‘hate speech’.
Law Commission has proposed that separate offences be added to IPC to criminalise hate speechHate Speech quite specifically.

India has voted in favour of a resolution to renew the mandate of the CTC Executive Directorate, as it asked nations to remain united against the “tendency of labelling terror acts based on its motivation” as such categorisation will lead the global community back to the pre-9/11 era of “my terrorist” versus “your terrorist”.

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India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador T S Tirumurti tweeted and informed that India voted in favour of UNSC resolution to renew the mandate of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate.
India will chair the Counter-Terrorism Committee of Security Council from 1 January 2022 for one year.
The UN Security Council extended the mandate of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) until December 31, 2025, using the written silence procedure. In December 2023, an interim review will be done.
India said in its explanation of the vote that it is committed to taking all necessary steps to achieve zero tolerance for terrorism in collaboration with other member states.
India has further urged the Member States to stay “united against the tendency of labelling acts of terrorism based on its motivation. Such categorisation will lead the global community back to the pre-9/11 era of “my terrorist” versus “your terrorist”.

QuantumScape says its solid-state lithium-metal battery replaces the polymer separator used in conventional lithium-ion batteries with a solid-state separator.
The replacement of the separator enables the use of a lithium-metal anode in place of the traditionalcarbon/graphite anode.

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The lithium metal anode is more energy-dense than conventional anodes, which allows the battery to store more energy in the same volume, according to the company.
The QuantumScape design is supposed to be ‘anode-free’ in that the battery is manufactured in a discharged state, and the negative electrode forms in situ on the first charge.

Key advantages:

The advantages of the solid-state battery technology include higher cell energy density (by eliminating the carbon anode),
To lower charge time (by eliminating the need to have lithium diffuse into the carbon particles in conventional lithium-ion cells).
Ability to undertake more charging cycles and thereby a longer life, and improved safety.

Government extended last date for submitting applications for various export promotionschemes, under the Foreign Trade Policy, including:

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Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS): Provides incentives to exporters in form ofduty credit scrips to refund losses on paid duties.
Scheme for Remission of Duties & Taxes on Export Product will replace MEIS as MEIS is notWTO compliant.
Service Exports from India Scheme (SEIS): Service providers of notified services are eligible forfreely transferable duty credit scrip @ 5% of net foreign exchange earned.
Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies (RoSCTL) Scheme: An export Incentive schemeintroduced for those who export Apparels and made-ups from India.
::SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY::

On December 21, NASA launched into space a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which carried the Dragon 2 spacecraft loaded with various equipment for astronauts on board the International Space Station (ISS).

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The launch marked the 24th cargo mission of billionaire Elon Musk’s rocket company to the ISS for the space agency.
Nestled among these devices were a pair of computers about the size of a set top box. They aren’t the usual laptops or desktops we use every day. The two single board computers (SBC) don’t have a monitor attached to them.
An SBC is built on a single circuit board, which houses a microprocessor, memory unit, input/output channels, and other features required for a functional computer.
The duo part of the Dragon 2 consignment, called Astro Pi, were built by the non-profit Raspberry Pi Foundation, in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA).
The mini-computers are equipped with an 8GB RAM, high-quality camera, Google Coral machine learning accelerator, colour and luminosity sensor, and passive infrared sensor.