Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 21 March 2021

::NATIONAL::

Prime Minister launched the ‘Jal Shakti Abhiyan:Catch the Rain’ campaign on World Water Day.

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The Campaign will be undertaken across the country, in both rural and urban areas, with the theme “catch the rain, where it falls, when it falls”.
It will be implemented from 22nd March 2021 to 30th November, 2021 - the pre-monsoon and monsoon period in the country. It will be launched as a Jan Andolan to take water conservation at grass-root level through people’s participation.
It is intended to nudge all stakeholders to create rainwater harvesting structures suitable to the climatic conditions and subsoil strata, to ensure proper storage of rainwater.

The Lok Sabha passed a Bill to amend the Mines and Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act (MMDR Act).
The Bill removes the distinction between captive and non-captive mines and seeks to introduce an index-based mechanism by developing a National Mineral Index (NMI) for statutory payments.
The National Mineral Exploration Trust (NMET), to see the functioning of the sector, will be made an autonomous body.
The Act empowers the central government to reserve any mine (other than coal, lignite, and atomic minerals) to be leased through an auction for a particular end-use (such as iron ore mine for a steel plant). Such mines are known as captive mines. The Bill provides that no mine will be reserved for particular end-use.
The Bill provides that captive mines (other than atomic minerals) may sell up to 50% of their annual mineral production in the open market after meeting their own needs. The central government may increase this threshold through a notification. The lessee will have to pay additional charges for mineral sold in the open market.

Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has supplied 100 custom-designed “Mujib Jackets” that will be the attire of dignitaries during the visit of the Prime Minister.
“Mujib Jacket” is famed as the signature garment worn by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who is called Bangladesh’s Father of the Nation.
The specially designed Mujib Jackets have been made of high quality handcrafted Poly Khadi fabric.
The black Mujib Jackets have been designed with 6 buttons, two pockets on the lower half and a front pocket on the left, as worn by Rahman. In keeping with the eco-friendly nature of the Khadi fabric, the covers for these jackets too have been made of black Khadi cotton fabric with Khadi India’s logo embroidered over it.
These jackets will be carried in specially designed plastic-mixed handmade paper carry bags made at KVIC’s Kumarappa National Handmade Paper Institute (KNHPI) in Jaipur.

World Water Day is observed annually across the globe on March 22.
The theme of World Water Day 2021 is “Valuing Water” and has been chosen to highlight the value of water in our daily lives.
It aims to highlighting the importance of water and raising awareness about the water crisis that the world faces.
According to the United Nations (UN) website, the main focus of the day is to “support the achievement of sustainable development goal (SDG) 6: water and sanitation for all by 2030.”

Union minister of state for power and new and renewable energy inaugurated ‘Gram Ujala’ scheme at Veer Kunwar Singh stadium at Ramna Maidan here through videoconferencing.
Under the United Nations’ Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), the scheme will claim carbon credits. Also, under the new scheme, the rural consumer’s incandescent and CFL (compact fluorescent lamp) bulbs will be taken back.
Under the first phase of the scheme, the Convergence Energy Services Limited (CESL) will distribute 1.50 crore LED bulbs at an affordable price of Rs10 per piece in exchange of old incandescent bulbs in the villages.
Under the programme, 7 watt and 12-watt LED bulbs with three years’ warranty will be given to rural consumers against submission of working incandescent bulbs.

The Maharashtra (ATS) relied on a forensic test known as diatom tests for leads in the alleged murder case of Mansukh Hiran.
What is a diatom test?
Diagnosis of death by drowning is deemed as a difficult task in forensic pathology.
A number of tests have been developed to confirm the cause of such deaths with the diatom test emerging as one of the most important tests.
The test entails findings if there are diatoms in the body being tested.