Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 07 August 2021

::NATIONAL::

The farming of Japanese quails have helped Odisha’s Koraput district to offset the effect of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on livelihoods.
Quail is a small bird that belongs to pheasant family. They were first domesticated in Japan in1595.
There are two species of quail in India: Black-breasted quail found in the wild and Brown-coloured Japanese quail which is bred for meat.
Quail Farming is more profitable than farming poultry, along with low farming costs and less risk of diseases.
Also, quail eggs are more nutritious than other poultry eggs.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has published draft rules vide GSR 528(E) dated 02 Aug 2021 to amend CMVR 1989 to mandate mobile number in the Certificate of Insurance.

About:

The rules provide for Scheme for Compensation of Hit & Run Accident Victims which seeks to enhance compensation from Rs.12,500 to Rs.50,000 for grievous hurt and from Rs. 25,000 to Rs. 2,00,000 for death.
Government will set up a Motor Vehicles Accident Fund, which will be used for providing compensation and treatment for accident victims.
Ministry has also proposed procedure for detailed investigations of road accidents. Detailed Accident Report (DAR) and its reporting along with timelines for different stakeholders for quick settlements of claims.

In aim of dam safety in India, a $250 million project has been inked by the Union government, Central Water Commission, the World Bank and 10 participating states for 120 dams.
This assumes significance given India’s efforts to strengthen its dams following incidents of glacier bursts and flash floods.
The country has around 5000 large dams that play an important role in India’s water security and mitigating floods.
The Government of India, the Central Water Commission, government representatives from 10 participating states and the World Bank have signed a $250 million project, to support the Government of India’s long-term dam safety program and improve the safety and performance of existing dams across various states of India.
The $250 million loan has a maturity of 13 years. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs recently approved the second and third phases of Rs10,211 crore Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP) to improve the safety and operational performance of 736 dams across the country.
World Bank support to dam safety in India includes the recently closed DRIP-1 ($279 million + $62 million Additional Financing) that improved the safety and sustainable performance of 223 dams in six states of India and one central agency.

About DRIP:

It is world’s largest dam management program.
It envisages rehabilitation and improvement of 223 dam projects which was later extended in 2018 for 2 years.
Its objective was to improve safety and operational performance of selected dams, along with institutional strengthening with system wide management approach.
It was started with World Bank assistance of US$M 437.5 for a period of 6 years.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has decided to conduct a second round of lottery for issuing H-1B visas for the year.
This is being done because the number of H-1B visas issued after the first round was below the Congressional mandated annual cap of 85,000 visas.
The USCIS has not indicated how many registrations it has selected in the second round. However, it said it had received more than 303,000 registrations in March.

The Reserve Bank of India is giving a repurchase option for investors in SGB for Investors who have completed five years.
They have the option to opt for repurchase, sell it on the stock exchange or continue to hold it till its maturity which happens after eight years after purchase of the bond.
SGBs are government securities denominated in grams of gold.
Investors have to pay the issue price in cash and the bonds will be redeemed in cash on maturity.
The Bond is issued by Reserve Bank on behalf of Government of India.

Cap-subject petition

The USCIS added that an H-1B cap-subject petition must be properly filed at the correct service centre and within the filing period indicated on the relevant registration selection notice.
The petitions will be filed on paper and should include a printed copy of the applicable registration selection notice with the FY2022 H-1B cap-subject petition.

India’s nuclear power capacity is expected to reach 22,480 MegaWatts by 2031 from the current 6,780 MegaWatts.
The share of nuclear power in the total electricity generation in the country is about 3.1 per cent in 2020-21.
There are presently 22 reactors with a total capacity of six thousand 780 MW in operation.
Ten nuclear power reactors with eight thousand MW capacity are under construction.
The Government has accorded approval for ten indigenous Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors of 700 MW each to be set up.

India’s highest sporting honour Khel Ratna Award, which was named after former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, was rechristened in the honour of hockey wizard Dhyan Chand following the admirable performance of both men’s and women’s hockey teams in the Tokyo Olympics.
Making the announcement, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he had been getting many requests from citizens across India to name the Khel Ratna Award after Major Dhyan Chand.
The prestigious award carries a prize money of ₹ 25 lakh.

Neeraj Chopra became only the second Indian to win an individual gold in the Olympics, out-performing the field by quite a distance to notch up the first track-and-field Games medal for the country.
The 23-year-old farmer’s son from Khandra village near Panipat in Haryana produced the second throw of 87.58m in the finals to stun the athletics world and end India’s 100-year wait for a track and field medal in the Olympics.
Chopra won the country’s seventh medal and first gold in this Olympics and joined shooter Abhinav Bindra (2008 Beijing Games) as India’s individual gold winners in the showpiece.
With this, the country surpassed the previous best haul of six medals achieved in the 2012 London Games.
Neeraj Chopra will be taking the flag for India at the Tokyo Olympics closing ceremony.