Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 10 April 2021

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Niti Aayog will launch the first-of-its-kind online dispute resolution (ODR) handbook in India.
The handbook is an invitation to business leaders to adopt ODR in India. It highlights the need for such a mechanism, the models of ODR that businesses can adopt and an actionable pathway for them.
Supreme Court Judge Justice DY Chandrachud will deliver the opening address and launch the handbook.
A Niti Aayog release said that ODR is the resolution of disputes outside courts, particularly of small and medium-value cases, using digital technology and techniques of alternate dispute resolution (ADR), such as negotiation, mediation, and arbitration.
While courts are becoming digitized through the efforts of the judiciary, more effective, scalable, and collaborative mechanisms of containment and resolution are urgently needed. ODR can help resolve disputes efficiently and affordably.

Union Education Minister chaired a high level meeting on implementation of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
During the meet, the education minister released an indicative and suggestive implementation plan for school education called ‘Students’ and Teachers’ Holistic Advancement through Quality Education or SARTHAQ.
SARTHAQ was launched in pursuance of the goals of NEP2020 and to assist States/UTs in this task.
SARTHAQ will pave the way for children to meet the diverse national and global challenges of the present and the future.
It help them to imbibe 21st century skills along with India’s tradition, culture and value system as envisioned in National Education Policy 2020.
SARTHAQ would benefit all stakeholders including 25 crore students, 15 lakh schools, 94 lakh teachers.

India-Netherlands Virtual Summit held recently.
India and the Netherlands have a strong and steady relationship, nurtured by the shared values of democracy, rule of law and respect for human rights and the historic bonds of friendship between the two countries.
During the Summit, the two leaders had a detailed review of the entire spectrum of bilateral engagements and exchanged views on further expanding and diversifying the relationship in trade and economy, water management, agriculture sector, smart cities, science & technology, healthcare and space.
The two Prime Ministers also agreed on instituting a ‘Strategic Partnership on Water’ to further deepen the Indo-Dutch cooperation in the water related sector, and upgrading the Joint Working Group on water to Ministerial-level.
The leaders also exchanged views on regional and global challenges such as climate change, counter-terrorism and Covid-19 pandemic and agreed to leverage the emerging convergences in new areas like Indo-Pacific, Resilient Supply Chains and Global Digital Governance.
The two leaders reiterated their commitment to a rules-based multilateral order for ensuring international peace, stability and prosperity and looked forward to a successful India-EU Leaders’ Meeting in Porto, Portugal in May 2021.

India has protested the U.S. decision to conduct a patrol in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the western Indian Ocean, rejecting the U.S.’s claim that its domestic maritime law was in violation of international law.

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The U.S. Navy announced that its ship the USS John Paul Jones had carried out Freedom of Navigation Operation (FONOP) in the Indian EEZ, adding that its operations had “challenged” what the U.S. called India’s “excessive maritime claims.”
USS John Paul Jones asserted navigational rights and freedoms approximately 130 nautical miles west of the Lakshadweep Islands, inside India’s exclusive economic zone, without requesting India’s prior consent, consistent with international law.
India requires prior consent for military exercises or manoeuvres in its exclusive economic zone or continental shelf, a claim inconsistent with international law.
This FONOP upheld the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea recognised in international law by challenging India’s excessive maritime claims.
Government of India’s stated position on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is that the Convention does not authorise other States to carry out in the EEZ and on the continental shelf, military exercises or manoeuvres, in particular those involving the use of weapons or explosives, without the consent of the coastal state.

RBI governor enthused the markets with a new programme — Government Securities Acquisition Programme (G-SAP).

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It will purchase government securities worth Rs 1 lakh crore in the first quarter of FY22.
The RBI also announced that it will continue with a variable rate reverse repo to suck excess liquidity.
While the 10-year G-Sec bond yields dropped 0.6% to 6.08 on Wednesday, the benchmark Sensex gained 0.9% to close at 49,661.7.
RBI has to ensure goes through without causing disruption, G-SAP aims to provide more comfort to the bond market, market participants.
Market participants say they have always wanted to know the RBI’s Open Market Operations (OMO) purchase calendar, and the RBI has now provided that to the market through this announcement on GSAP.
A report by Edelweiss Mutual Fund states that it will provide certainty to the bond market participants with regard to RBI’s commitment of support to the bond market in FY22.

A group of international astronomers has discovered 12 rare quasars, each offering four distinct quadruple images, commonly called Einstein’s cross.
This discovery could help refine the existing understanding about our universe’s rate of expansion and unravel mysteries surrounding dark matter.
The first quadruple quasar image was captured in 1985 and since then, only 50 such quasars have been identified.
The latest finding has now increased the total confirmed Einstein’s crosses by 25 per cent.

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Quasars are extremely luminous cores of distant galaxies that are powered by supermassive black holes.
They can help determine the expansion rate of the universe and help address other mysteries, such as darkmatter.
Scientists have recently found quasars warped by a naturally occurring cosmic "lens" and split into four similar images.