Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 25 June 2022

::NATIONAL::

The government is considering transferring the administration of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (NDPS Act) and Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (PITNDPS) Act, 1988 from the finance ministry to Ministry of Home Affairs to bring all issues related to narcotics under one department.

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Currently, while the home ministry governs the Narcotics Control Bureau, the Department of Revenue (DoR) in the finance ministry administers the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance (NDPS) Act of 1985 and the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act of 1988.
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) is a central law enforcement and intelligence agency that has been tasked with combating drug trafficking and the use of illegal substances under the provisions of the NDPS Act.
The NDPS Act, prohibits a person from the production/manufacturing/cultivation, possession, sale, purchase transport, storage, and/or consumption of any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance.
The PITNDPS Act, 1988 provides for detention in certain cases for the purpose of preventing illicit traffic in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.

Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport has becomesthe first airport in the country to run completely on hydroand solar power.

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This is a part of the airport’s goal to achieve the “Net ZeroCarbon Emissions Airport” target by 2030.
Around 6% ofthe Delhi airport’s electricity requirement is met from theonsite solar power plants.
The airport has adopted renewable energy use from thehydropower plant for its demand of the remaining 94%,thus ending its dependency on non-renewable power.
This move will help the Delhi airport in the reduction ofindirect energy emissions of up to 200,000 tonnes of CO2every year.

The annual ranking of the world’s most liveable cities has just been released by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) 2022.

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The EIU, which is a sister organization to The Economist, ranked 173 cities around the world on a variety of factors, including health care, crime rates, political stability, infrastructure and access to green space.
The Index ranked 140 cities for their urban quality of life based on assessments of their stability,healthcare, culture, environment, education and infrastructure.
The Austrian capital Vienna ranked 1stin the Index, followed by the Copenhagen, and Switzerland’s Zurich.

Liveability versus cost of living

The global mobility company ECA International released its list of the world’s most expensive cities to live in, with a focus on expats.
Hong Kong had the dubious honor of coming in first place, with New York City, Geneva, London and Tokyo rounding out the top five.
The only city to appear on both the ECA and EIU indexes was Geneva.

In a major step towards re-establishing its presence in Afghanistan, India sent a “technical team” of officials to be based in Kabul and reopened its Embassy.

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India also sent its first consignment of earthquake relief assistance to Afghanistan, where more than 1,000 Afghans have been killed in an earthquake outside the city of Khost. Paktika province in the south-east has been the most affected.
The move to reopen the embassy, 10 months after the government shut it down, marks a reversal of the government’s policy on engaging the Taliban.
The Indian Embassy will become the 15th mission to be open in Kabul with staff deployed there under the Taliban regime, along with Russia, China, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, European Union and four Central Asian states.
The opening of the embassy is a step towards working more closely with the Taliban regime, particularly as India worries about the impact of terrorist groups, drug trade and migration on the region.

South Indian Bank has launched a new portal for itscorporate EXIM customers named ‘SIB TF Online’.

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This portal provides a platform for trade related paymentsto foreign entities remotely.
SIB TF Online has been hosted on the home page of Corporate Internet Banking (SIBerNet) and would allow corporates to transact 24x7, in a safe and paperless manner.
In this portal, the customer can initiate the paymentrequest over SIB TF Online after uploading the relevantsupporting documents for the transaction.
The bank plans to launch SIB TF Online in phases, with theinitial version allowing three types of import remittancessuch as advance remittance for Imports, remittance against import bill received from overseas bank forcollection and payment against Import documentsreceived by the importer directly from overseas suppliers.

Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) hassuccessfully launched India’s Communication satellite‘GSAT-24’ from Kourou in French Guiana.

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It is built by ISRO for NewSpace India Limited and it waslaunched by French company Arianespace.
GSAT-24 is a 24-Ku band communication satellite weighing4180 kg with pan-India coverage for meeting DTHapplication needs.
It was the first “demand driven” communication satellitemission undertaken by NSIL post space sector reforms.
NSIL, a Government of India company under the Department of Space, has leased the entire satellite capacity to Tata Play.

NewSpace India Limited: