Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 16 April 2021

::NATIONAL::

The Centre said that FASTag does not breach a citizen’s fundamental right to freedom of movement in any way.
FASTag is an electronic toll collection system in India, operated by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI). It was introduced to reduce the waiting period of vehicles at toll plazas.
It employs Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for making toll payments.
It is affixed on the windscreen of the vehicle.
It is valid for five years, and can be recharged as and when required.

The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) has launched an online complaints portal.
Complaints of atrocities against SCs can now be registered with the NCSC through its online portal.
The NCSC is a constitutional body under Article 338.

The duty of the Commission include:

Investigating and monitoring all matters relating to the safeguards provided for the SC in the Constitution or under any other law.
Participating and advising on the planning process of socio-economic development of the SCs.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has restored electronic visa (e-visa) facility for foreigners from 156 countries.
It’s meant for who intend to visit India for the purposes of business, conferences, and for medical reasons, including in the case of medical attendants. E-visa for tourists is yet to be restored.
e-Visa under the following categories viz. e-business visa, e-medical visa, e-medical attendant visa and e-conference visa has been restored with immediate effect.
An e-visa is provided in five categories — tourist, business, conference, medical, and medical attendant.

The US Treasury Secretary has urged G20 countries to move towards a global minimum corporate tax. The IMF supported it.
It establishes a system under which a company from a specific country will pay at least a certain percentage of its profits in taxes, regardless of where in the world those profits are being earned.
GMT would discourage multinational companies from shifting profits - and tax revenues - to low-tax countries.
The US has proposed a 21% Global minimum corporate tax rate.

Finance Ministry has rejected the recommendations of Directorate General of Trade Remedies under the Commerce Ministry to impose a 10% safeguard duty on importing single-mode optical fibre.
Safeguard duty is a temporary relief provided when imports of a product increase unexpectedly to a point where they threaten domestic manufacturing of the same product.
Provisions for Safeguard Duties have been prescribed under Customs Tariff Act, 1975.

Azhdarchid pterosaurs, the giant reptiles that flew in the skies nearly 65 million years ago, had necks longer than that of a giraffe (on average a giraffe’s neck is about 6 feet long).

Key findings:

Now, researchers have reported a new finding about their long necks — that the thin neck vertebrae were supported by an intricate internal structure that is unlike anything seen before.
Pterosaurs are reptiles that are close cousins of dinosaurs, the first animals after insects to evolve powered flight.
Some pterosaurs were as large as an F-16 fighter jet, while others were as small as a paper airplane.
Pterosaurs went extinct about 65-66 million years ago (end of the Cretaceous period).
Azhdarchid pterosaurs are one type of pterosaur and one of the distinguishing characteristics about them is how big they were, especially their long necks.