Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 13 March 2021

::NATIONAL::

Recently, Rajya Sabha passed this bill, earlier it was passed by Lok sabha.
It seeks to amend Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 which contains provisions to deal with domestic and international arbitration and defines law for conducting conciliation proceedings.

Key amendments:

Stay on the arbitral award can be provided if court is satisfied that relevant arbitration agreement or contract,or making of award, was affected by fraud or corruption.
Qualifications, experience, and accreditation norms for arbitrators will be determined under regulations.

Cabinet approved a proposal to amend Insurance Act, 1938 paving the way for increasing FDI limit in sector from 49% to 74%.
Budget 2021-22 had proposed the increase to allow foreign ownership and control with safeguards.
Under the new structure, majority of directors on the board and key management persons would be residentIndians.Of these, at least 50 per cent of directors should be independent.

Significance:

Will improve capital availability and foster competition in the sector.
Increasing penetration by allowing insurance companies to introduce a broader range of products at affordable prices.

The first Meeting of the BRICS Contact Group on Economic and Trade Issues (CGETI) was held under India’s Chairship from 9th till 11th of this month.
The theme of BRICS this year is -”BRICS at 15: Intra BRICS Cooperation for Continuity, Consolidation, and Consensus”.
India presented the calendar of events for BRICS CGETI 2021, which included the priority areas for deliverables, schedule and scope of the MSME roundtable conference workshop on Services Statistics, and the BRICS Trade Fair.
Till September, inter sessional deliberations will be carried out to reach consensus amongst the BRICS countries.

The French Space Command (CDE), created in 2019, launched its first military space exercise, called AsterX.
It is first military exercise of France in space to evaluate its ability to defend its satellites and other defense equipment from an attack.
AsterX is a reference to the first French satellite that have been put into orbit in 1965.
The new US Space Force and German space agencies are also taking part in the French exercises.

Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution launched Mera Ration Mobile App.
It aims for the benefit of those ration card holders who move to new places in search of livelihood.
At present 32 States and Union Territories are covered under One Nation One Ration Card- ONORC and integration of remaining four States and UTs is expected to be completed in next few months.
The system covers nearly 69 Crore National Food Security Act- NFSA beneficiaries in the country.
The ONORC has proved to be a tremendous value-added service to each NFSA beneficiary during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly migrants, which allowed them to avail the benefit of subsidised foodgrains.

On March 21, the largest asteroid predicted to pass by Earth in 2021 will be at its closest.It is called 2001 FO32.

About:

2001 FO32 is a near-Earth asteroid classified as a potentially hazardous asteroid of the Apollo group.
With an estimated diameter of 440–680 m (1,400–2,200 ft), it was discovered by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research at Socorro, New Mexico on 23 March 2001.
The asteroid will safely pass by Earth on 21 March 2021.
For comparison, when it is at its closest, the distance of 2 million km is equal to 5¼ times the distance from Earth to the Moon. Still, that distance is close in astronomical terms, which is why 2001 FO32 has been designated a “potentially hazardous asteroid”.

Recently, Indian Navy’s third stealth Scorpene class Submarine INS Karanj was commissioned.
It is a diesel-electric attack submarine built under the Project-75 programme at Mazagon Docks Limited(Mumbai) with technology transfer from France.
Other vessels under this are INS Kalvari, INS Khanderi, INS Vagir, INS Vela and INS Vagsheer (under construction).
Scorpene submarines can undertake multifarious types of missions; they are designed to operate in all theatres.