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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 21 January 2021

::NATIONAL::

National Startup Advisory Council

The government nominated 28 non-official members on the National Startup Advisory Council, including Byju’s Chief Executive Officer Byju Raveendran, Ola Cabs co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal, Kalaari Capital Managing Director Vani Kola and SoftBank India country head Manoj Kohli.
The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) had constituted the council on January 21, 2020, to advise the government on measures required to build a strong ecosystem for nurturing innovation and startups in the country.
The term of the non-official members of this council, chaired by Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, shall be for two years or until further orders, whichever is earlier.
Other members include ZestMoney CEO Lizzie Chapman, Urban Company co-founder Abhiraj Singh Bhal, Kris Gopalakrishnan of Axilor Ventures, Renuka Ramnath from the Indian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association, Uday Kotak of the CII and Uday Shankar of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

ParakramDiwas

The Union Ministry of Culture decided to celebrate Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose birthday on the 23rd January every year as ParakramDiwas.
He was one of the most prominent leaders of Indian freedom struggle.
Netaji was president of Indian National Congress (INC) at Haripura (1938) andTripuri (1939) sessions.
In 1939, Bose organized All India Forward Bloc, a faction within INC, aiming at consolidating the political left.
In 1943, he organised Azad Hind Fauj (Indian National Army) in Singapore.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

5th India – Singapore Defence Ministers’ Dialogue

The 5th Defence Ministers’ Dialogue (DMD) between India and Singapore was successfully held on 20 January 2021 through a video conference and continues the substantial increase in bilateral cooperation and defence partnership over the years.
Defence and security engagements between India and Singapore have broadened significantly in scale and scope across all three Services of the Armed Forces as well as in the areas of defence technology and industry.
Both countries have also found common ground on multilateral fora and engagements.
At this 5th DMD, both Ministers were pleased to witness the signing of the Implementing Agreement on Submarine Rescue Support and Cooperation between the two Navies.
The Ministers also conveyed their full support towards the early conclusion of agreements to facilitate conduct of live firings and to establish reciprocal arrangements for the cross-attendance of military courses.
Both Ministers noted the commitment of their senior officials in sustaining the momentum of annual dialogues during the ongoing pandemic through virtual meetings. This has kept bilateral defence cooperation on a positive trajectory and laid the foundations for further cooperation in 2021.
The Ministers were pleased that the Indian Navy and Republic of Singapore Navy successfully conducted the 27th edition of Singapore-India Maritime Bilateral Exercise (SIMBEX) and also participated in the second edition of the Singapore-India-Thailand Maritime Exercise (SITMEX); both held in November 2020.
These exercises enhance interoperability amongst the navies and underscore the shared responsibility of the countries to work together to keep sea lines of communications open.

Exercise Desert Knight-21

Indian Air Force and French Air and Space Force (Armée de l’Air et de l’Espace) will conduct a bilateral Air exercise, Ex Desert Knight-21 at Air Force Station Jodhpur from 20 to 24 Jan 21.
French side will participate with Rafale, Airbus A-330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT), A-400M Tactical Transport aircraft and approximately 175 personnel.
The Indian Air Force aircraft participating in the exercise will include Mirage 2000, Su-30 MKI, Rafale, IL-78 Flight Refuelling Aircraft, AWACS and AEW&C aircraft.
The exercise marks an important milestone in the series of engagements between the two Air forces.
As part of Indo-French defence cooperation, Indian Air Force and French Air and Space Force have held six editions of Air Exercises named ‘Garuda’, the latest being in 2019 at Air Force Base Mont-de-Marsan, France.
As measures to further the existing cooperation, the two forces have been gainfully utilising available opportunities to conduct ‘hop-exercises’.
The French Air and Space Force deployment while ferrying to Australia for Ex Pitchblack in 2018 was hosted by IAF at Air Force Stations Agra and Gwalior for exercise with fighters and MRTT aircraft.
Presently, the French detachment for Ex Desert Knight-21 is deployed in Asia as part of their ‘Skyros Deployment’ and will ferry in forces to Air Force Station Jodhpur.

Economy

Domestic Systemically Important Banks

Reserve Bank of India releases the list ofDomestic Systemically Important Banks.

About:

SBI, ICICI Bank, and HDFC Bank continue to be identified as Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs), under the same bucketing structure as in the 2018 list of D-SIBs.
The additional Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) requirement for D-SIBs was phased-in from April 1, 2016 and became fully effective from April 1, 2019. The additional CET1 requirement will be in addition to the capital conservation buffer.
The Reserve Bank had issued the Framework for dealing with Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs) on July 22, 2014. The D-SIB framework requires the Reserve Bank to disclose the names of banks designated as D-SIBs starting from 2015 and place these banks in appropriate buckets depending upon their Systemic Importance Scores (SISs).
Based on the bucket in which a D-SIB is placed, an additional common equity requirement has to be applied to it. In case a foreign bank having branch presence in India is a Global Systemically Important Bank (G-SIB), it has to maintain additional CET1 capital surcharge in India as applicable to it as a G-SIB, proportionate to its Risk Weighted Assets (RWAs) in India, i.e., additional CET1 buffer prescribed by the home regulator (amount) multiplied by India RWA as per consolidated global Group books divided by total consolidated global Group RWA.

POWERGRID signs agreement with State Government to improve telecom connectivity

Power Grid Corporation of India Limited has recently signed an agreement with Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Ltd. (HPSEBL) in Shimla (H.P.) for utilization of 500 Kms of OPGW Telecom network.
This is in addition to the existing 350 Kms of OPGW laid on HPSEBL Extra High Voltage (EHV) lines already being used in the state to boost its connectivity.
This total 850 Kms long telecom network will enable POWERGRID Telecom to reach remote areas of Kangra, Una, Mandi, Kullu, Bilaspur, Sirmour, Palampur, Sundernagar, Banikhet, Amb, Paonta Sahib, Nahan etc.

About POWERGRID:

POWERGRID, a ‘Maharatna’ CPSE under Ministry of Power, Government of India and Central Transmission Utility (CTU) of India.
It is India’s principal power transmission company and also one of the largest power transmission utilities in the world.
POWERGRID’s vast transmission network comprises of ~168,140 circuit kilometers of transmission lines, 252 EHVAC & HVDC substations with transformation capacity of about 420,630 MVA, spread across the country.
This network has been consistently maintained at an average availability of >99%.
The Company’s shares are listed on the BSE and the NSE and are a part of S&P BSE SENSEX and NIFTY.

Science and Technology

Ethacrynic Acid

A new study has identified a potent diuretic ethacrynic acid as an efficient inhibitor of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19 infection.
The study suggested that ethacrynic acid, a “water pill” (diuretic) that works in kidneys to increase the amount of urine and helps the body get rid of extra water, can be repurposed to treat Covid-19.
The researchers have conducted silico analysis, molecular docking experiments, and activity assays to identify potential inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2. They also intended to understand the molecular orientation and binding affinity between molecules.
The researchers have conducted a series of in vitro experiments to determine the effect of certain inhibitors.
These include Ciclesonide, Delafloxacin, Dutasteride, Netupitant, Tadalafil, Saquinavir, on the virus’s main protease.
According to the findings, none of these inhibitors have shown significant inhibitory activity against SARS-CoV-2 main protease.However, the analysis found a favourable interaction pattern between ethacrynic acid and main protease.
The scientists have observed that ethacrynic acid can inhibit the main protease at a very low concentration (in the 8 – 9.5 µM range). This makes ethacrynic acid the most potent protease inhibitor compared to other approved inhibitors, such as boceprevir and GC376.
The researchers, however, have cautioned that because ethacrynic acid is a strong diuretic, excessive use can impair the fluid balance of the body.

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