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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 14 December 2020

::NATIONAL::

Dr. Carolina Araujo,Mathematician from Brazil, received the 2020 award for her work in algebraic geometry.
Prize is given annually since 2005 to a researcher from a developing country who is less than 45 years of age.
Srinivasa Ramanujan was Indian mathematician who made spectacular contributions to elliptic functions, continued fractions, infinite series, and analytical theory of numbers.
Award has been instituted by Department of Science and Technology (DST) in memory of SrinivasaRamanujan.

India has recorded one of the lowest daily cases and daily deaths due to Coronavirus disease (Covid-19) per million population in the past seven days, shows government data.
Union health ministry noted, “India reported one of the lowest cases per million population in the world (158) in the last 7 days; much lower than many other countries of the Western Hemisphere”.
New cases reported per million population in the world in the past seven days were 553. France reported 1,252 cases, Russia had 1,330, Brazil reported 1,387, United Kingdom with 1,753, Italy had 1,934, and USA reported 4,310 Covid-19 cases per million population during the same period.
When compared globally, India recorded one of the lowest new case fatalities per million population in the past seven days (2), according to the government data.
The world reported ten new deaths due to Covid-19 per million population during the past seven days. With 75 deaths, Italy has reported maximum Covid-19 deaths, followed by USA (49 deaths), France and UK with 43 deaths each, 26 deaths in Russia, and 23 deaths reported from Brazil.
India’s active caseload currently has fallen to 3.62% of the total cases.

Recently, experts are increasingly warning of a possible Chinese attack to capture the Pratas Islands.
Pratas Islands also known as Dongsha Islands have emerged as anew flashpoint in South China Sea (SCS).
Islands are located in the northern part of SCS underjurisdiction of Taiwan.
If China controlled the Pratas Islands, the islands could functionas a gatekeeper to monitor U.S. and other countries‘ships andaircraft entering the South China Sea from the Pacific Ocean.

India and Uzbekistan signed nine agreements to further broadbase cooperation in an array of areas even as they vowed to combat the threat of terrorism by “destroying” terrorist safe-havens, networks and funding channels.
At a virtual summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uzbek President ShavkatMirziyoyev extensively deliberated on expanding overall bilateral ties, and agreed to step up efforts for an early conclusion of a bilateral investment treaty.
In another news, many doctors at several hospitals in the national capital, including AIIMS, sported black ribbons in support of the protest call of the IMA against the Centre’s move allowing post graduate practitioners of Ayurveda to be trained in performing surgical procedures.

All the states except Tamil Nadu have availed benefits of the newly announced scheme for “Special Assistance to States for Capital Expenditure”.
The scheme was announced by the Finance Minister on 12th October as a part of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat package.

About:

The Scheme is aimed at boosting capital expenditure by the State Governments who are facing a difficult financial environment this year due to the shortfall in tax revenue arising from the COVID 19 pandemic.
Capital Expenditure has a higher multiplier effect, enhancing the future productive capacity of the economy, and results in a higher rate of economic growth.
Therefore, despite the adverse financial position of the Central Government, it was decided to extend a special assistance to the State Governments in respect of capital expenditure in 2020-21.
The Scheme has got a very positive response from the State Governments. So far, capital expenditure proposals of over 9,879 crore rupees of 27 States have been approved by the Finance Ministry.

Recently the astronomers have shown their interest on a strange exoplanet, orbiting a double-star 336 light years away.
HD106906 bhints about our own mysterious Planet Nine that because of oddball behaviour of the planet, — if it exists.

What is this exoplanet, and what is Planet Nine?

This exoplanet is not a new discovery: It appears in archival images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2004.
In our solar system Planet Nine is an elusive, distant planet. Although it has not been found yet, it has been predicted by a series of studies over the last few years, and has been described by astronomers as “hiding in plain sight”. If it exists, Planet Nine is 10 times as massive as Earth.

Why is Planet Nine believed to exist?

These predictions arise from the peculiar behaviour and alignment of various objects in the Solar System.
Astronomers believe all this is happening under the influence of Planet Nine. Some of the objects in this region have been found to be very peculiarly aligned, and Planet Nine is likely responsible for this, according to a paper published in 2016 by Konstantin Batygin and Michael Brown of the California University of Technology.
Then in 2018, astronomers reported the peculiar behaviour of another object in the Solar System, called 2015 BP519.
The object orbits our Sun — but at an extreme tilt (54°) when compared to the orbits of Earth and the other seven planets. Simulations showed that the influence of Planet Nine (if it exists) would explain this tilt. Without Planet Nine, the tilt would be unexplained.

Why is the new exoplanet being compared with Planet Nine?

Both planets (assuming Planet Nine is real) reside far out in their respective stellar systems. Both orbit their respective stars at an extreme tilt. And both are massive enough to influence the behaviour of other objects in their respective regions.
All that said, HD106906 b presents a more extreme case in these respects. While Planet Nine is assumed to be 10 times as massive as Earth, HD106906 b is 11 times the mass of Jupiter.
HD106906 b is unusually far away from its pair of host stars — over 730 times the distance that earth is from the sun. That makes its orbit extremely long — 15,000 years.
Its binary star is relatively young at 15 million years, compared to our Sun which is 4.6 billion years old.

A U.S. investment group has bought a 15% stake in McLaren Racing in a move the team hopes will strengthen its efforts to compete at the top in Formula One and IndyCar racing.
MSP Sports Capital will initially pay 185 million pounds ($245 million) to acquire the stake, which will rise to 33% by the end of 2022.
MSP is based in New York and has a background as investors in Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association, as well as sports management.
McLaren entered its first F1 race in 1966 and won 20 F1 titles and more than 180 Formula 1 races but has not won one since 2012. However, the team’s form has picked up in the past couple of seasons after a miserable spell when the switch back to Honda engines failed.