(FREE) UPSC Current Affairs 2024 PDF

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 13 August 2021

::NATIONAL::

Indore, the country’s cleanest city, has now been declared as the first ‘water plus’ city of Indiaunder the Swachh Survekshan 2021.

About:

A Water Plus city certificate is provided to a city for maintaining cleanliness in rivers and drains under its administration.
According to protocol and the toolkit provided by the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs, a city can be declared as Water Plus only after all wastewater released from households, commercial establishments, and the like is treated to a satisfactory level before releasing the treated wastewater to the environment.
Swachh Survekshan is an annual survey of cleanliness, hygiene and sanitation in cities and towns across India launched as part of the Swachh Bharat Mission.

Criteria:

Firstly, it must be ensured that the dirty water from the city does not go into any river or drain.
Secondly, all public toilets in the city must be connected to sewer lines and must be cleaned. And finally, 30 per cent of the city’s sewer water has to be recycled and reused.

Kerala has launched the “bio-bubble model” to create protective layers of mostly-vaccinated service providers to receive and host tourists, having opened up key spots to soften the blow to millions dependent on tourism for a living.

About:

Bio-bubbles are typically sanitised and safe environments, where people, who will likely come into contact with tourists, are inoculated.
So, tourists landing in any airport in Kerala get to meet only vaccinated ground staff. From the airport, they can travel in cabs with vaccinated drivers.
Similarly, staff of hotels, resorts or homestays, where the tourists will put up, are fully inoculated as well, according to a statement by the state’s tourism department.
As for tourists, only those who have had at least the first dose of the Covid-19 jab, or possessing a negative RTPCR test certificate taken before 72 hours of reaching the state, are now being allowed.

Lionel Messi’s signing on fee at Paris St Germain includes some of the French club’s cryptocurrency “fan tokens”, in the latest big name endorsement of new digital assets.

What are fan tokens?

Fan Tokens are a type of NFT (non-fungible token) which is a digital-only asset. Like Bitcoin and similar digital currencies, fan tokens are volatile assets and their value can drastically change overnight.
Fans can purchase said crypto tokens with real-world money to gain access to exclusive content and augmented-reality games.
Among other rewards and perks, the fan token holders also get to vote on mostly minor decisions related to their clubs.
These fan tokens are created by a crypto platform called Socios.

What decisions can fans vote on?

Examples include kit designs, goal music, the team’s destination for a pre-season tour.
The more tokens a fan has, the more votes they get in the polls. Ultimately though, the polls are decided upon by the clubs.

India is ranked 122nd on a new Global Youth Development Index measuring the condition of young people across 181 countries.

About:

The index is released by the Commonwealth Secretariat in London.
The triennial rankings of youth development found India among the top five risers on the index between 2010 and 2018, alongside Afghanistan and Russia, advancing their score on average by 15.74 per cent across areas such as education and employment.
The top five risers from 2010 to 2018 were Afghanistan, India, Russia, Ethiopia and Burkina Faso.
Singapore ranked topmost followed by Slovenia, Norway, Malta and Denmark. Chad, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Afghanistan and Niger came last respectively.

The total installed renewable energy capacity in India, excluding large hydro, has crossed the mile-stone of 100 GW.

About:

India stands at 4th position in the world in terms of installed RE capacity, 5th in solar and 4th in wind in terms of installed capacity.
India has set ambitious targets for itself in the area of Renewable Energy, which the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is committed to achieve.
While 100 GW has been installed, 50 GW is under installation and 27 GW is under tendering. India has also enhanced its ambition to install 450 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030.If large hydro is included the installed RE capacity increases to 146 GW.
The achievement of installed RE capacity of 100 GW is an important milestone in India’s journey towards its target of 450 GW by 2030.

Tata Group, has already forayed into manufacturing of hi-tech electronics, is now planning to get into semiconductor manufacturing.

Why is the timing significant?

Currently, the world is experiencing a shortage of chips and semiconductors that have become essential not only for new-age technological products like smartphones and computers, but also for traditional sectors like automobiles.
Several carmakers in the world have delayed deliveries of their vehicles and even pushed the launch of new vehicles because of the chip shortage. Tata Motors’ UK-based unit Jaguar-Land Rover has also done so.
For the Tata Group, while a foray into chip making would mean entering a lucrative business that can find customers not only in India but across the world, it would also be significant for captive use with Tata Motors, Tata Power, etc.

What is behind the global chip shortage?

The chips, or semiconductors, which are the brain-centre of any electronic technology has found itself to become a rare commodity in the post-Covid era, with several large factories in places like South Korea and Taiwan being shut down. This has created pent-up demand that these foundries were unable to satisfy after opening up.
On the one hand, the pandemic caused a surge in demand for electronic devices such as smartphones, laptop and computers, etc.