Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 16 May 2022

::NATIONAL::

Minister of Communications, Electronics, and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw launched Gatishakti Sanchar Portal.

About:

This integrated and centralized portal will facilitate smooth deployment of digital communications infrastructure across the country.
To streamline the process and for faster clearance of Right of Way (RoW) with transparency, accountability, and effective monitoring of various digital-based projects, this portal was envisaged.
This portal aims to help in the rollout of 5G network across the country. Integration of various infrastructures on this portal will help get clearance of right-to-way applications within a span of 20 to 22 days.
The portal has been developed by MP State Electronics Development Corporation on behalf of Department of Telecommunication and is expected to give a fillip to the nation’s Aatmanirbhar movement, contributing actively to transforming the country into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.

A division bench of the Bombay High Court has recently referred to its full bench the issue of whether the HC or sessions courts can grant transit anticipatory bail to accused in cases registered or likely to be registered in another state, outside their jurisdiction.
A division bench of Justice S S Shinde and Justice S V Kotwal on May 5 passed a judgment in a 2018 reference made by a single-judge bench of Justice Revati Mohite-Dere, seeking ruling as to whether an application for transit anticipatory bail for a short duration is maintainable.

About:

Transit Anticipatory bail(TAB)is sought when a case against a person has been or is likely to be filed in a state differentfrom one in which he or she is likely to be arrested.
Section 438 of CrPC talks about grant of bail to a person anticipating arrest.

Counterterrorism teams from Russia, China, Pakistan and Central Asian countries will gather in Delhi on the weekend ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s Regional Anti-Terror Structure (SCO-RATS) meeting hosted by India from May 16 to 19.

About:

The Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is the permanent body of the SCO RATS based in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan.
While both India and Pakistan have no bilateral engagement at present and have not attended other regional meets such as the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) meet, they both attended the Russia and China-led SCO meet.
Last year, an Indian team also travelled to Pakistan to attend the SCO-RATS exercises in Pabbi.
India is expected to host the SCO summit in 2023, which would see leaders of the eight-member grouping (China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) travelling to New Delhi.
In October , joint anti-terrorist exercises titled “Manesar-Antiterror-2022” will be held at the NSG training campus in Manesar on the outskirts of Delhi, and will be followed by another joint border operation of the SCO member states called “Friendship Border-2022” in Kazakhstan later this year.

The 2022 Global Food Policy Report recently released by International Food Policy Research Institute.
The theme of this report is, Explore thematic chapters to learn about innovations and policy responses to climate change that can support food and nutrition security, livelihoods, and sustainable food systems.

About:

International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), aCGIAR research center established in 1975, providesresearch-based policy solutions to sustainably reducepoverty and end hunger and malnutrition.
CGIAR (Consultative Group on International AgriculturalResearch) is a global partnership established in 1971 as aunified international organization engaged in researchfor a food-secured future.

Key findings of the report:

By 2030, India’s food production could drop 16% and the number of those at risk for hunger could increase 30%.
Global food production will grow by about 60% over 2010 levels by 2050 in context of climatechange.
Globally, about 70 million more people will be at risk from hunger, including more than 28 millionin East and Southern Africa.

The sharp crash in Luna, the sister cryptocurrency of algorithmic stablecoin Terra, which has rendered it almost worthless, has sent shockwaves throughout the cryptocurrency market, with experts likening the crash in the crypto market to be as severe as the big financial crisis of 2008.

Key findings:

The near-collapse of these stablecoins, considered to be comparatively safer investment bets within the crypto universe, has also prompted regulators and authorities to call for stricter laws governing these financial assets.
Stablecoins are tokens pegged to the value of a government-backed currency such as the US dollar or commodities like gold or silver. Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC) are the two leading stablecoins.
The value proposition of these tokens is that they largely trade around $1 per token, which gives investors some security in highly volatile market situations.
TerraUSD, or UST, is different from Tether in that it is not backed by a fiat currency or other commodities, but instead relies on a complex mix of code and a sister token called luna to stabilise its price.

Scientists have discovered the fossil of a Madtsoiidae snake in the Himalayan mountains in Ladakh, which sheds fresh light on the prevalence and existence of this rare serpent species in the Indian subcontinent.

About:

Madtsoiidae is an extinct group of medium-sized to gigantic snakes, firstly appeared during the later part of the Cretaceous period, that began 145 million years ago and ended 66 million years ago. They are thought to grow up to 30 feet in length.
From fossil records, the whole group disappeared in the mid-Paleogene period, ranging between 66 million to 23 million years ago, across most Gondwanan continents except for Australia where it survived with its last known classification of Wonambi till the late Pleistocene period from 2.6 million to 11,700 years ago.
Scientists have reported for the first time a Madtsoiidae snake from the late Oligocene ( part of the Tertiary Period in the Cenozoic Era, and lasted from about 33.7 to 23.8 million years ago) of India or the molasse deposits of Ladakh Himalaya.

India’s men’s badminton team has won the maiden Thomas Cup title after beating title holders Indonesia 3-0 in the 2022 edition.

About:

The Thomas Cup, sometimes called the World Men’s Team Championships, is an international badminton competition among teams representing member nations of the Badminton World Federation (BWF), the sport’s global governing body.
The Thomas Cup competition was the idea of Sir George Alan Thomas, a highly successful English badminton player of the early 1900s.
The championships have been conducted every two years.