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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 26 March 2022

::NATIONAL::

INS Valsura

President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday presented the President’s colour to INS Valsura, the Navy’s premier technological training establishment.
The President’s Colour is bestowed on a military unit in recognition of the exceptional service rendered to the nation, both in peace and in war.

About:

INS Valsura, is a premier technological training institution, of the Indian Navy based in Jamnagar, Gujarat.
The Navy was the first Indian armed force to be awarded the President’s Colour by Dr Rajendra Prasad on May 27, 1951.
INS Valsura, started on 30 acres of land as a torpedo school in 1942 under the British, has today grown into one of the foremost technological training institutions of the country spread over 600 acres.
In line with the Navy’s futuristic road map to power its warships, including the proposed Indigenous Aircraft Carrier-II with electric propulsion, in 2018 a medium voltage laboratory was set up by Siemens, Germany, at INS Valsura to familiarise and train naval engineers in the nuances of medium voltage power generation, protection and distribution.
The Navy stated that INS Valsura imparted quality training on contemporary and niche technologies through progressive augmentation of training infrastructure.
Overall, the establishment conducts more than 262 courses a year and has an annual training throughput of more than 750 officers and 4,200 sailors. In addition, 1,800 trainees from 15 Friendly Foreign Navies have been trained till date.

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National Dolphin Day

Environment Minister informed that October 5th has been designated as National Dolphin Day to be celebrated every year to create awareness for conservation of Dolphins.

About:

He chaired the 67th meeting of the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wild Life in New Delhi. Considering that generating awareness amongst the people on the benefits of conservation of Dolphins is important, the Standing Committee recommended that every year 5th of October should be celebrated as National Dolphin Day.
Healthy aquatic ecosystems help in maintaining the overall health of the planet.
Dolphins act as ideal ecological indicators of a healthy aquatic ecosystem and conservation of the Dolphins will benefit the survival of the species and people dependent on the aquatic system for their livelihood.
Environment Ministry has been taking up several activities for the protection and conservation of dolphins and its habitats.

Gangetic Dolphin:

The Gangetic dolphin is categorised as endangered on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Red List.
A WWF-India and the Uttar Pradesh forest department assessment in 2012 and 2015 recorded 1,272 dolphins in the Ganga, Yamuna, Chambal, Ken, Betwa, Son, Sharda, Geruwa, Gahagra, Gandak and Rapti.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

Solomon Islands

The Solomon Islands on March 25 defended plans to sign a security deal with Beijing that could allow China to boost its military presence in the South Pacific island nation.

About Solomon Islands:

It is an archipelagic state in Melanesia, located in southwestPacific Ocean. It is geographically positioned in the Southernand Eastern hemispheres of the Earth.
It is located to the southeast of Papua New Guineaand to the northwest of Vanuatu.
Geographical Features: A wide-spread archipelago ofmountainous, heavily forested volcanic islands (some active) anda few low-lying coral atolls.
The highest point in the Solomon Islands is Mount Popomanaseuand lowest point is the PacificOcean.

Concern:

Australia and New Zealand have for decades seen the Pacific islands as their "backyard" and any security pact with Beijing is a threat to their position in the region.
Washington and Canberra have long been concerned about the potential for China to build a naval base in the South Pacific, allowing its navy to project power far beyond East Asia.

Indian position on Ukraine conflict based on 6 principles

The government said India’s approach to the situation arising out of the Russian invasion of Ukraine was guided by its own interest and was based on six principles which espoused peaceful resolution through dialogue and diplomacy.

Key highlights:

Union External Affairs Minister underlined that India has called for humanitarian access and was providing material assistance to those in the war zone.
India’s position was based on six principles.

1.   India calls for an immediate cessation of violence and hostilities. India stands for peace.
2.   India believes that there is no other way than the return through the path of dialogue and diplomacy.
3.   India recognised that global order is anchored on law, UN Charter and respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty of all states.
4.   India calls for humanitarian access to a conflict situation.
5.   India gives humanitarian assistance.
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:ECONOMY::

Geo-tagging of payment system touchpoints

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released a framework for geo-tagging of payment system touch points, issuing instructions to bank and non-bank payment system operators to maintain and submit to it the geographical locations of their touch points on a regular basis.

What is Geo-tagging?

Geo-tagging refers to capturing the geographical coordinates (latitude and longitude) of payment touchpoints deployed by merchants to receive payments from their customers.
Geo-tagging has various benefits, such as, provide insights on regional penetration of digital payments; monitor infrastructure density across different locations; identify scope for deploying additional payment touch points; facilitate focused digital literacy programmes.
Policy interventions for realising the above benefits will be facilitated by the information thus collected.
Digital payment transactions carried out by customers using payment touch points use two broad categories of physical infrastructure. They are:

1. Banking infrastructure comprising bank branches, offices, extension counters, Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), Cash Deposit Machines (CDMs), Cash Recycler Machines (CRMs), micro-ATMs used by Business Correspondents (BCs), etc.
2. Payment acceptance infrastructure comprising Points of Sale (PoS) terminals, Quick Response (QR) codes deployed by banks / non-bank Payment System Operators (PSOs), etc.

::SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY::

Polar Science and Cryosphere Research (PACER) scheme

Polar Science and Cryosphere Research (PACER) scheme has been approved for continuation during 2021-2026.

About:

The scheme comprises the Antarctic program, Indian Arctic program. Southern Ocean program andCryosphere and Climate program.
It has been implemented through National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), an autonomousinstitute under the Ministry of Earth Sciences.

Achievements:

Scheme aims to executed 39th& 40th Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica (41st ongoing).
Automatic Weather Station (AWS) systems installed at Baralacha La, in the Spiti region.
IndARC mooring system was deployed in Kongsfjorden, Svalbard.

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