Daily news will speed up the preparation for the Civil Services Examination and it also plays a crucial role to grasp the current affairs topic comprehensively. Here we have covered most of the topics related to various categories including National, International, Sports, Science and Technology, and so on.
1. LAUNCH OF VIRTUAL HEARING IN QUASI-JUDICIAL CASES
The Government of India has launched the virtual hearing in quasi-judicial cases under EPF & MP Act, 1952. This is part of a series of initiatives taken by EPFO to enhance the ease of doing business.
The virtual court is a concept that geared towards the eliminating need for the physical presence of litigant and lawyers by facilitating adjudication of the case through online mode.
To facilitate this, virtual hearing utilities are integrated with EPFO’s e-Court process on Compliance e-Proceedings Portal. This will facilitate issue of e-notices, real-time recording of proceedings and communication of orders. Case status including the daily and final orders will now be accessible to all parties on the portal.
2. THE PESTICIDES MANAGEMENT BILL, 2020
The Government has introduced the Pesticides Management Bill, 2020 which was approved by the Union Cabinet in February 2020 and will replace the Insecticides Act, 1968. The Bill faces criticism from many experts. They have warned that few provisions in this bill will affect the farmers’ livelihood. Therefore, they have called for wider consultations on the bill and asked it to put it before a select committee.
The provisions in this Bill that will affect the farmers’ livelihood are;
– It would not allow the manufacture and export of pesticides not registered for use in India even if these are approved in other countries.
– The bill will increase the import of formulations and will damage the export of agro-chemicals.
– The bill gives powers to Registration Committee (RC) to subjectively review registration of a pesticide and then suspend, cancel or even ban its usage. This would be done without any scientific evaluation.
– It also provides for re-registration of pesticides already registered under the erstwhile 1968 Act. This will bring instability in the pesticides industry.
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3. METHANE DEPOSIT IN KRISHNA-GODAVARI (KG) BASIN
The Agharkar Research Institute (ARI) has found that the methane hydrate deposits are located in the Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin. It is of biogenic origin. The found estimated that it Basin is twice that of all fossil fuel reserves available worldwide.
Researchers have also predicted the rate of biogenic methane generation in KG Basin hydrates to be 0.031 millimoles methane/gTOC/Day, resulting in total deposits of methane around 0.56 to 7.68trillion cubic feet (TCF).
4. THE AERO INDIA-21
The 13th edition of Aero India-21 will be held at Air Force Station, Yelahanka in Bengaluru from 3-7 February 2021. On this announcement Defence Minister, Shri Rajnath Singh has launched the Aero India 2021 website with an aim to go ahead for space-booking.
Aero India 2021 website will be a contactless online interface for Asia’s largest Aeroshow and host all online services associated with the event for both the exhibitors and visitors besides hosting informative content about Ministry of Defence’s recent policies, initiatives as also product profile of indigenous aircraft and helicopters.
5. G-20 AGRICULTURE AND WATER MINISTERS MEETING
A virtual meeting of G-20 Agriculture and Water Ministers has been held and attended by G-20 Member countries and special invitees. This time the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was the current Presidency of G-20.
The Meetings was held on sustainable and resilient water management, thereby optimizing the impacts of water-related activities in the G-20 forum through collaboration, knowledge sharing on different aspects of water.
6. LIVING PLANET REPORT 2020
The living planet report is released by the international non-profit World Wide Fund for Nature. It is published every 2 years. The living planet report is a comprehensive study of trends in global biodiversity and the health of the planet. The report presents a comprehensive overview of the state of the natural world through the Living Planet Index (LPI).
It is a measure of the state of the world’s biological diversity based on population trends of vertebrate species in terrestrial, freshwater and marine habitats.
Living Planet Report 2020 is the 13th edition of the biennial publication tracking wildlife populations around the world. This year the report is a collaboration between WWF International and the Zoological Society of London.
