(FREE) UPSC Current Affairs 2024 PDF

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 23 October 2021

::NATIONAL::

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Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR)s are huge stockpiles of crude oil to reduce the impact of disruptions in supplies of petroleum products.
India’s SPRs are being developed in 2 phases.
Phase 1-Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), Mangaluru (Karnataka), and Padur (Karnataka).
These have been filled to full capacity and are estimated to provide for about 9.5 days of crude oil requirement.
Phase 2-Chandikhol (Odisha) and Padur
SPRs are managed by the Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited (ISPRL), a special purpose vehicle.

India is ranked at the top in emissions related to crop burning, accounting for 13 percent of total global emissions for the 2015-2020 period.

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The report is released by climate tech startup Blue Sky Analytics, which is also part of global coalition “Climate TRACE”.
Climate TRACE accelerates climate action by providing independent high-resolution and near-real-time (GHG) emissions data.

Key findings:

Increase in emissions by 12.8% in 2019-20, increasing India’s global contribution to 12.2%.
Downward trend in crop fires being observed between 2016 and 2019, citing a reduction in the GHG emissions due to cropland fires by 11.39%.

Recently, Russia hosted the third round of the Moscow Format Consultations on Afghanistan.

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Representatives of several countries,including India, were present at the meeting along with the members of the Taliban.
Participants will underline the need for an inclusive government in Afghanistan and seek consolidated international efforts to fend off a humanitarian crisis in the country.
Also, India is likely to back a proposal by Russia at the talks for a UN conference to providehumanitarian aid to Afghanistan.
The participating countries were pleased to note the reaffirmation by the interim Afghan government of its previous commitments to prevent use of the Afghan territory against its neighbours, other states in the region and the rest of the world.

According to a Lancet report, India, along with Brazil, recorded the biggest absolute increase in heat-related mortality between 2018 and 2019.

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India is one of the five countries with the highest heat wave exposure of vulnerable populations over the past five years.
The newest report marked code red for a healthy future outlining the growing risks to health and climate.
These risks exacerbate the health hazards already faced by many, particularly in communities exposed to food and water insecurity, heatwaves and infectious diseases.
Heat-related mortality for people older than 65 years increased throughout the study, reaching a record high of almost 3,45,000 deaths in 2019 -- 80.6 per cent higher than in the 2000-05 average.
Between 2018 and 2019, India and Brazil had the biggest absolute increase in heat-related mortality.
In 2020, adults over 65 were affected by 3.1 billion more days of heatwave exposure than in the 1986-2005 baseline average.

Monthly outward remittances under LRS hit an all-time high of $1.96 billion in August.
LRS of RBI allows resident individuals (including minors) to remit a certain amount of money during financial year to another country for investment and expenditure.
According to the prevailing regulations, resident individuals may remit up to $250,000 per financial year.
This money can be used to pay expenses related to travelling, medical treatment, studying,gifts and donations etc.
LRS restricts buying and selling of foreign exchange abroad, or purchase of lottery tickets, orany items that are restricted under Schedule II of Foreign Exchange Management Rules, 2000.

India Internet Governance Forum(IIGF) has been constituted in conformance to IGF-Paragraph 72 of the Tunis Agenda of the UN-based Internet Governance forum (IGF).

About IIGF:

The India Internet Government Forum is an initiative associated with the UN Internet Governance Forum (UN-IGF).
The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) is a multi-stakeholder platform bringing representatives together from various groups to discuss public policy issues related to the Internet.
The objective of the curtain raiser event was to discuss and deliberate on the roadmap to Digitisation and reaffirm India as an essential participant on the global stage by highlighting its role and importance in the International Policy development on Internet Governance.