Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 21 June 2021

::NATIONAL::

Government released the latest version of “Desertification and Land Degradation Atlas of India.

It is published by Space Application Centre, ISRO, Ahmedabad.
The Atlas provides state wise area of degraded lands for the time frame 2018-19.
It also provides the change analysis for the duration of 15 years, from 2003-05 to 2018-19.

It can provide a ready reference data.
It also became helpful in strengthening the envisaged National Action Plan for achieving land restoration targets by providing important baseline and temporal data and technical inputs.

The Supreme Court approved the CBSE and CISCE assessment schemes formula for evaluation of marks for students based on results of classes 10, 11 and 12, respectively.

The formula provides for a scheme for marking students of standard 12th in context of board exams (CBSE and CISCE) being cancelled in the wake of covid pandemic.
Formula -30% weightage for academic performance in Class 10 and 11, and 40% for Class 12.
To ensure standardisation among different schools, each school will have to internally moderate the marks to account for school level variations.
There is a provision for students to take board exams when situation normalises and scores would be final for those who choose to do so.

A special report on Drought 2021 estimated the “impact of severe droughts on India’s GDP to be about 2-5% per annum.

The report is released by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR).
The study Global Assessment Report (GAR) on Drought 2021 has looked into rising water stress across the globe and resulting migration and desertification.

The Deccan region sees the highest frequency (of more than 6%) of severe droughts in all of India. Its cascading impact continues over the next several years.
In recent major droughts in Tamil Nadu, a 20% reduction in the primary sector caused an overall 5% drop in industry and a 3% reduction in the service sector.
The study found “significant drought conditions” once in every three years in the Deccan Plateau leading to large scale migration and desertification.
The GAR report has cited major droughts in India in the last 150 years: in 1876-1878, 1899-1900, 1918-1919, 1965-1967, 2000-2003 and 2015-2018. Severe droughts are occurring with increasing frequency in the Deccan, it found.

Indian Naval Ship Trikand, participating in the maiden IN – EUNAVFOR Joint Naval Exercise in the Gulf of Aden.
The mission deployed for Anti-Piracy Operations.

The two-day exercise will see high tempo-naval operations at sea, including advanced air defence and anti-submarine exercises, cross deck helicopter operations, tactical manoeuvres, boarding operations, underway replenishment, Search & Rescue, Man Overboard drills, and other maritime security operations.
Ships of the four navies will endeavour to enhance and hone their war-fighting skills and their ability as an integrated force to promote, peace, security and stability in the maritime domain.

NTPC has been recognised as a 'Great Place to Work' for the 15th year in a row by the Great Place to Work Institute.

NTPC is the only PSU to consistently feature in India's Top 50 Best Workplaces.
This year NTPC ranked 38th, up from 47th position last year.
It also won its first-ever recognition of India's Best Employers among Nation-Builders 2021.
The Great Place to Work (GPTW) Institute commended NTPC's employees for being the torchbearers of a high trust culture.
The GPTW Institute highlighted NTPC's successful business and a great relationship with its employees and said that both consistency and compassion have led NTPC to feature in India's Top 50 Best Workplaces for the 15th year in a row.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to grant “in-principle” approval to Centrum Financial Services Limited (the applicant) to set up a small finance bank under general “Guidelines for ‘on tap’ Licensing of Small Finance Banks in the Private Sector” dated December 5, 2019,” RBI said in a press release on dated June 18, 2021.
The RBI would consider granting a licence for commencement of banking business under Section 22 (1) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, on being satisfied that the applicant has complied with the requisite conditions laid down by RBI as part of “in principle” approval.
Centrum Capital, the holding entity for CFSL, and its partner BharatPe, a payments system company, will infuse Rs 1,800 crore into the small finance bank and will get 120 days to commence operations.
The consortium of Centrum and BharatPe had expressed an interest in taking over PMC Bank. According to reports, both Centrum and BharatPe will hold 50 per cent in the small finance bank and the assets and liabilities of the multistate cooperative bank will be transferred to it.

It aims for implementation of rules and regulations related to road-based violations by trucks.
The app would help in decreasing the number of physical checks of commercial vehicles by enforcement officers;
reduction in the number of cash challan by issuing e-challan; and
higher revenue collection due to reduced human intervention.
The commerce ministry said that on an average, a truck in India covers 50,000-60,000 km a year, compared to over 300,000 km in advanced nations such as the US.

Milkha Singh (1929 – 2021) was an Indian track and field sprinter who was introduced to the sport while serving in the Indian Army.
He and his daughter, Sonia Sanwalka, co-wrote his autobiography, titled The Race of My Lifewas published in 2013.
He is the only athlete to win gold at 400 metres at the Asian Games as well as the Commonwealth Games.
He then won a gold medal in the 400m (440 yards at this time) competition at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games with a time of 46.6 seconds. This latter achievement made him the first gold medalist at the Commonwealth Games from independent India.
He represented India in the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome and the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
He was also known as The Flying Sikh.