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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 05 October 2021
Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 05 October 2021
::NATIONAL::
Plastic Waste Management 2nd Amendment Rules, 2021
- The Union government notified the Plastic Waste Management (Second Amendment) Rules, 2021 allowing recycled plastic in food packaging.
About:
- Amendment said that carry bags made of recycled plastic or products made of recycled plastic can be used in food packaging.
- Experts have voiced apprehension over the move as there is a possibility of presence of poisonous substance in recycled plastic bags.
- As Plastic is used in variety of sectors, it raises concern of the source of recycled plastic that will be used in food contact applications.
- Use of recycled plastic was prohibited for food contact applications in the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016.
DigiSaksham
- Ministry for Labour and Employment has launched DigiSaksham.
About:
- It is a digital skills programme to enhance the employability of youth by imparting digital skills that are required in an increasingly technology driven era.
- This is a joint initiative with Microsoft India.
- Free of cost training in digital skills including basic skills as well as advance computing will be provided to more than three lakh youths in the first year.
- Jobseekers can access the training through National Career Service (NCS) Portal.
- It gives priority to job-seekers of semi-urban areas belonging to disadvantaged communities.
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::INTERNATIONAL::
Community of Portuguese Language Countries
- India joined Community of Portuguese Language Countries as Associate Observer.
About:
- Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), also known as the Lusophone Commonwealth, is an association of Lusophone nations across four continents, where Portuguese is an official language.
Members:
- Brazil, Angola, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal,Sao Tome and Principe, and Timor-Leste.
- Main objectives of CPLP includes political and diplomatic coordination; cooperation in all areas;and promotion and diffusion of the Portuguese language.
Crypto assets pose financial stability challenges
- The International Monetary Fund said while the crypto ecosystem continues to grow, it poses serious challenges to a country’s financial stability.
About:
- It added that this could be particularly true for emerging markets and developing economies.
- India has seen a massive spurt in crypto users of late.
- The number of blockchain start-ups surpassed 300 in 2021, with the daily crypto trading volume peaking between $300 -$500 million.
- As per Global Consumer Survey in 2020, 99 per cent of its respondents responded that they did trade in cryptocurrencies.
- India ranks higher than China, United States, Germany and Japan in crypto adoption. Nigeria, Vietnam and Philippines topped the mentioned survey.
- Challenges posed by the crypto ecosystem include operational and financial integrity risks from crypto asset providers, investor protection risks for crypto-assets and Defi, and inadequate reserves and disclosure for some stablecoins.
Other information:
- IMF in its Global Financial Stability Report 2021 pointed out that for emerging market and developing economies, adoption of cryptocurrency might be luring but they also come with a set of potential macro-financial risks, especially with respect to asset and currency substitution.
- IMF referred to this phenomenon as ‘cryptoization’.
::ECONOMY::
Basel-III norms
- Basel III is an internationally agreed set of measures developed by the Basel Committee onBanking Supervision in response to the financial crisis of 2007-09.
- The measures aim to strengthen the regulation, supervision and risk management of banks.
It has 3 pillars:
- Enhanced minimum capital and liquidity requirements,
- Supervisory review process,
- Enhanced disclosure.
Other information:
- Members are committed to implementing and applying standards in their jurisdictions within the time frame established by the Committee.
- Reserve Bank of India had deferred implementation of provisions made under Basel III capital due to uncertainty related to Covid crisis.
::SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY::
Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine
- American scientists David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian have won the 2021 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch.
What did they find?
- In 1997, Dr. Julius and his team published a paper in Nature detailing how capsaicin, or the chemical compound in chilli peppers, causes the burning sensation.
- They created a library of DNA fragments to understand the corresponding genes and finally discovered a new capsaicin receptor and named it TRPV1.
- This discovery paved the way for the identification of many other temperature-sensing receptors.
- Ardem Patapoutian further studied if these receptors can be activated by mechanical stimuli. His team poked cells with a micropipette and identified a cell line that produced an electric signal in response.
- They identified a single gene, which when silenced made the cells insensitive to the poking. They named this new mechanosensitive ion channel Piezo1.
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