Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 20 January 2021

::NATIONAL::

Floating solar power plant

Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) commissioned one of the biggest floating solar power (FSP) plants in the State with a capacity of 452 KWh. The project is part of the company’s efforts to sustain the power-positive airport by using green energy.
The total installed capacity of the airport has gone up to 40 MWp, helping it generate around 1.60 lakh units of power a day. The daily consumption stands around at 1.30 lakh units.
CIAL’s tryst with experiments in generating green energy achieved yet another milestone with the installation, as the company has introduced cost-effective high-density polyethylene floats using French technology.
A total of 1,300 photovoltaic panels were mounted and laid over two artificial lakes located in the 130-acre CIAL golf course.
The plants covering a total area of one acre are connected to the KSEB grid which is to be banked on when needed.
The world’s largest FSP (600 MW solar energy) will be constructed at Omkareshwar dam on Narmada river inKhandwa, Madhya Pradesh.
It will begin power generation by 2022-23.FSP doesn’t take up valuable space on land, however it is 25-30% costlier.
FSP in India include a 10 kW plant in Kolkata, a 100 kW by NTPC in Kerala and a 2 MW project by GreaterVisakhapatnam Smart City Corporation Limited (GVSCCL) in Visakhapatnam.

New AnubhavaMantapa

Karnataka Chief Minister laid the foundation stone for the ‘New AnubhavaMantapa’ in Basavakalyan, the place where 12th century poet-philosopher Basaveshwara lived for most of his life.
He promised completion of the ₹500-crore project within two years on a 7.5-acre area and said it would be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The project to highlight the teachings of Basaveshwara (an icon of Veerashaiva-Lingayat community) was first proposed back in 2016 when Siddaramaiah was the Chief Minister and a committee led by Go. Ru. Channabasappa was set up to draw a plan.

Political significance

Basavakalyan, an important pilgrim centre for Lingayats.
The New AnubhavaMantapa project is also expected to bolster Mr. Yediyurappa’s image as an undisputed Lingayat strongman, especially when leadership issue has emerged prominently within the BJP and there is one-upmanship to claim the community’s support.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

Government of India strengthens cargo handling capacity of Chabahar Port, Iran

India has supplied a consignment of two Mobile Harbour Cranes (MHC) to Iran’s Chabahar port, with a total contract value of over USD 25 Million under a contract agreement for supply of 6 MHC.

Key highlights:

With 140 metric tons lifting capacity, multipurpose equipment and accessories like Mobile Harbour Cranes (MHC) will enable India Ports Global Limited (IPGL) to provide seamless services for Container, Bulk and General Cargo at Shahid Beheshti Port of Chabahar.
This is a step towards India’s commitment towards infrastructure development of ‎Shahid Beheshti Port of Chabahar.
The delivery of consignment of heavy equipment, including cranes shows India’s commitment to the strategic connectivity of Chabahar port project that will provide access to markets in Central Asia.
Development of Chabahar port is the anchor for the expansion of economic and mutual relations between India and Iran and it will give a further boost to the maritime trade between both the countries.

About:

Government of India is strengthening cargo handling capacity ofChabahar Port.
Chabahar Port is jointly being developed by India, Iran andAfghanistan for multi-modal transport of goods and passengers.
It is located in the Gulf of Oman.
It gives India a sea-land access route into Afghanistan and CentralAsia through Iran's eastern borders.
It is seen as a counter to Pakistan's Gwadar Port, which is beingdeveloped with Chinese investment and is located at a distance of around 80-km from Chabahar.

World food price index rises for seventh straight month in Dec.

World food prices rose for a seventh consecutive month in December, with all the major categories, barring sugar, posting gains last month, the United Nations food agency said.
The Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) food price index, which measures monthly changes for a basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy products, meat and sugar, averaged 107.5 points last month versus 105.2 in November.
For the whole of 2020, the benchmark index averaged 97.9 points, a three-year high and a 3.1% increase from 2019.
It was still down more than 25% from its historical peak in 2011.
Vegetable oil prices continued recent strong gains, jumping 4.7% month-on-month in December after surging more than 14% in November. For the whole of 2020, the index was up 19.1% on 2019.
The cereal price index posted a more modest 1.1% rise in December from the month before. For all of 2020, the index averaged 6.6% above 2019 levels.
The dairy index climbed 3.2% on the month, however, over the whole of 2020, it averaged some 1% less than in 2019. Bucking the rises in other indices, average sugar prices dipped by 0.6% in December.
The FAO revised down its harvest forecast for the 2020 cereal season for a third month running, cutting it to 2.74 billion tonnes from a previous 2.75 billion tonnes.

Economy

Govt to overhaul fiscal roadmap, may aim budget deficit at 4% of GDP by FY26

Fiscal deficit of 7-8 per cent of gross domestic product in 2020-21, the Centre may follow a glide path which will bring down the budget deficit to 4 per cent of GDP by 2025-26.
This means that the long-standing medium-term fiscal deficit target of 3 per cent of GDP, as mandated by the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, no longer holds. The above-mentioned changes will require amendments to the FRBM Act through the Finance Bill, 2021.
Though the FRBM Act came into being in 2003, the medium target has never been met.

About:

Fiscal deficit or budget deficit is the difference between a government’s expenditure and revenues.
When revenue is higher, the budget is seen as fiscal surplus. Fiscal deficit is measured as a percentage of real GDP and is the most important measure of the health of a government’s balance sheet.
It is tracked keenly by investment banks, economists markets, rating agencies and sovereign bond investors.
It is understood that a relaxed fiscal roadmap for the Centre in light of the pandemic has been suggested by the Fifteenth Finance Commission.
The Commission, whose report for 2021-22 to 2025-26 will be tabled in Parliament along with the budget, is learnt to have given the Centre breathing space till 2025-26, and may have recommended a fiscal deficit target range for each year of its award period, till 2025-26, instead of a single number.
The markets have factored in a fiscal slippage this year and next financial year, with an expectation that the finance minister, in her budget, will spell out a new fiscal roadmap for the medium term.

Science and Technology

Alternative anti-cancer therapy using transgenic zebrafish

Angiogenesis is critical in the growth of cancer because tumors need blood supply to grow.
Tumors trigger the growth of blood cells by giving off chemical signals that stimulate angiogenesis. Deregulation of angiogenesis is the main reason for tumor growth and progression.
Inhibition of tumor angiogenesis has become a popular anti-cancer strategy after chemotherapy.
However, the clinically approved anti-angiogenic drugs are ineffective due to parallel activation of various compensatory mechanisms involving a cascade of molecules, which aids tumor angiogenesis and investigation of these mechanisms are essential for developing anti-angiogenic therapies.
The research team is further working to develop transgenic zebrafish (which have exogenous genes added to their genome) model by use of the CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing tool to further study the compensatory angiogenesis mechanism in tumor microenvironment.
Differential expression of biomolecules between two types of angiogenesis (sprouting angiogenesis and intussusceptive angiogenesis) and their molecular mechanism will be analysed using transgenic zebrafish models in tumor microenvironment.
The transgenic or CRISPR/Cas9 edited Zebrafish platform (TZP) can be used for studying the efficacy of a drug as anti or pro-angiogenesis in the next phase of the project.
The transgenic zebrafish model has been selected for the intussusceptive angiogenesis study because of its rapid development, optically transparent, high yield in offspring, and easy techniques for forward and reverse gene manipulation.
The CRISPR/Cas9 edited zebrafish platform will also be used for studying the efficacy of a drug as anti or pro-angiogenesis in the next phase of the project.

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