Daily UPSC Current Affairs 30 Jun 2021

By Sudheer Kumar K|Updated : June 30th, 2021

The Daily Current Affairs Series covers events of national and international importance sourced from various national newspapers - The Hindu, PIB, The Indian Express, Down to Earth, Livemint, etc.

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Table of Content

Daily Current Affairs: 30 Jun 2021

EU’s new ‘vaccine passport’ programme

(Topic- GS Paper II –IR, Source- The Hindu)

Why in the news?

  • Recently, Covishield, manufactured by Serum Institute of India, is not among the vaccines which have been approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for its “vaccine passport” programme or Green Pass' scheme that allows free movement of people in and out of Europe.

Concern with Covishield

  • The Covishield vaccine is yet to be cleared by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) although World Health Organisation (WHO) authorized the like vaccine like Covishield for obtaining the bloc’s digital COVID certificate or ‘Green Pass’.
  • There have been apprehensions in India that people who took Covishield jabs are unlikely to be eligible to travel to the European Union member states under its ‘Green Pass’ scheme.

More on the news

  • The EU Digital Covid Certificate, or the “green pass” as it is popularly known, has been created to restore freedom of travel for the public and remove the barriers on entry placed due to the pandemic.
  • The new vaccine passport system coming into effect across EU from July 1.

About Green Pass scheme

  • It is also called EU Digital COVID certificate.
  • The EU Digital COVID certificate or ‘Green Pass’ will be mandatory to travel to European countries and the document will serve as proof that a person is vaccinated against COVID-19.

Aim

  • The aim of the EU Digital COVID Certificate is to facilitate free movement inside the EU.
  • It is not a pre-condition to travel.
  • The EU Digital Covid Certificate is meant to facilitate safe free movement during the COVID-19 pandemic within the EU member countries and it will serve as proof that a person was vaccinated against COVID-19, received a negative test result or recovered from the infection.
  • For the purpose of the Digital COVID Certificate, individual member states will have the option to accept also vaccinations that have been authorised by the World Health Organization, such as Covishield.
  • The document is valid across all EU countries.

Information included in Certificate

  • The certificate includes information such as name, date of birth, date of issuance, the name of the vaccine or the details of the negative test result or recovery from Covid-19.
  • The certificate contains a digital signature which is verified when the QR code is scanned.
  • Each issuing body has its own digital signature key, all of which are stored in a secure database in each country.
  • The European Commission has designed a gateway through which all the signatures can be verified across the EU.

Vaccine approved by EMA for the purpose

  • The EMA list currently includes four vaccines—Vaxzevria (Oxford-AstraZeneca), Comirnaty (Pfizer-BioNTech), Spikevax (Moderna) and Janssen (Johnson & Johnson).
  • None of the three vaccines which have been approved for use in India till date —Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik V — feature on the list.

India’s stand on ‘vaccine passports’

  • Though EU has made it clear that the “green pass” will not be compulsory, the issue has once again raked up the larger debate on concerns around privacy and ethics.
  • The ‘vaccine passport’ has been largely touted to be a ticket back to normalcy, but it has given rise to larger concerns over intrusion, privacy and a curb on the right to free movement.
  • At the recent meeting of G7 countries, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said that India was “strongly opposed to a ‘vaccine passport’ at this juncture”.

Dept of Justice launches Enforcing Contracts Portal

(Topic- GS Paper II –Governance, Source- The Hindu)

Why in the news?

  • The Department of Justice has recently launched Enforcing Contracts Portal.

About the Enforcing Contracts Portal

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Aim

  • The portal aims to promote ease of doing business and improve the ‘Contract Enforcement Regime’ in the country.
  • The portal will provide easy access to latest information on commercial cases in Dedicated Commercial Courts of Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata.
  • The portal will also provide access to a repository of commercial laws.
  • The portal is envisioned to be a comprehensive source of information pertaining to the legislative and policy reforms being undertaken on the Enforcing Contracts parameters.

Significance

  • The Department of Justice under the Ministry of Law and Justice has been monitoring legislative and policy reforms to strengthen the Enforcing Contracts regime for Ease of Doing Business in India.
  • The Enforcing Contracts is an essential area that measures time and cost to resolve a standardized commercial dispute as well as a series of good practices in the judiciary.
  • It will help in Ease of Doing Business.

Lanka ‘banking on’ $1 bn India swap deal

(Topic- GS Paper II –IR, Source- The Hindu)

Why in the news?

  • Recently, Sri Lanka is “banking on” a $1 billion currency swap from India to meet its debt repayment obligations this year and tide over the current economic crisis.

More on the news

  • The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) settled a $400 million currency swap facility from the Reserve Bank (RBI) of India in February 2021.
  • This swap facility was drawn by CBSL on July 31, 2020 for an initial period of three months.
  • A three-month rollover was provided at CBSL's request till February 1, 2021.

Related Information

About Currency swap agreements

  • It involves trade in local currencies, where countries pay for imports and exports at pre-determined rates of exchange without the involvement of a third country currency like the US dollar.
  • It reduces the risk of volatility against the third currency, and does away with the charges involved in multiple currency exchanges.

Currency swap agreements between SAARC countries

  • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has revised the framework on currency swap arrangement for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries for 2019-2022.
  • The SAARC currency swap framework came into operation on November 15, 2012.
  • It help to provide a backstop line of funding for short term foreign exchange liquidity requirements or short-term balance of payments stress till longer term arrangements are made.
  • The facility is available to all SAARC member countries, subject to their signing the bilateral swap agreements.

About South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation

  • It was established with the signing of the SAARC Charter in Dhaka (Bangladesh) on 8th December 1985.

Members

  • It has eight members’ countries Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
  • It secretariat is at Kathmandu (Nepal).

Objective

  • It objective is to promote the welfare of the people of South Asia and to improve their quality of life, and to accelerate economic growth, among other things.

Chamoli disaster due to avalanche

(Topic- GS Paper III –Disaster Management, Source- The Hindu)

Why in the news?

  • According to the Geological Survey of India, the flash flood on February 7 in Chamoli district, Uttarakhand, was due to a large mass of snow, ice and rock avalanche along with a hanging mass of rock crashing into the Raunthi Garh valley floor.
  • This impact pulverised the combination of rock, snow and ice causing a rapid flow downstream of Raunthi Garh and into the Rishi Ganga valley leading to the deluge
  • There was no evidence of a Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) having caused the event as thought earlier.

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Impact

  • The deluge had destroyed two hydel power projects — the Rishiganga small hydro project and National Thermal Power Corporation’s (NTPC) Tapovan project on the banks of the Dhauliganga River in north Uttarakhand were extensively damaged with scores of labourers trapped in tunnels as the water came rushing in.

About Avalanche

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  • An avalanche (also called a snowslide) is a rapid flow of snow down a slope, such as a hill or mountain.
  • Avalanches can be set off spontaneously, by such factors as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, animals, and earthquakes.
  • Primarily composed of flowing snow and air, large avalanches have the capability to capture and move ice, rocks, and trees.

They occur in two general forms, or some combination:

  1. Slab avalanches made of tightly packed snow, triggered by a collapse of an underlying weak snow layer, and
  2. Loose snow avalanches made of looser snow.
  • Avalanches can happen in any mountain range that has an enduring snowpack.
  • They are most frequent in winter or spring, but may occur at any time of year. In mountainous areas, avalanches are among the most serious natural hazards to life and property, and so great efforts are made in avalanche control.

About Glacial lake outburst flood

  • A glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) is a type of outburst flood that occurs when the dam containing a glacial lake fails.
  • An event similar to a GLOF, where a body of water contained by a glacier melts or overflows the glacier, is called a jökulhlaup.
  • The dam can consist of glacier ice or a terminal moraine.
  • Failure can happen due to erosion, a buildup of water pressure, an avalanche of rock or heavy snow, an earthquake or cryoseism, volcanic eruptions under the ice, or massive displacement of water in a glacial lake when a large portion of an adjacent glacier collapses into it.

Related Information

Tapovan Vishnugad Hydropower Plant

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  • The Tapovan Vishnugad Hydropower Plant is a 520 MW run-of-river hydroelectric project being constructed on Dhauliganga River in Chamoli District of Uttarakhand, India.
  • The plant is expected to generate over 2.5k GWh of electricity annually.
  • The power plant is located downstream on the Alaknanda River.
  • The barrage is being constructed across the Dhauliganga River and has a catchment area of 3,100 km.

Atlas of glacial lakes in Ganga basin

(Topic- GS Paper III –Disaster Management, Source- PIB)

Why in the news?

  • Recently, Ministry of Jal Shakti has released an updated atlas of glacial lakes that are part of the Ganga river basin.

About Atlas of glacial lakes in Ganga basin

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  • It has been prepared under the National Hydrology Project (NHP).
  • The NHP project has been sponsored by Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation (DoWR, RD&GR), Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India (GOI) with financial aid from the World Bank.

Objective

  • The objective of the project is to improve the extent and accessibility of water resources information and strengthen institutional capacity to enable improved water resources planning and management across India.

Mission

  • The mission is to establish an effective and sound hydrologic database and Hydrological Information System (HIS), together with the development of consistent and scientifically based tools and design aids, to assist in the effective water resources planning and management of the implementing agencies.

Key highlights

  • The glacial lakes with water spread area greater than 0.25 ha were mapped using Resourcesat-2 (RS-2) Linear Imaging Self Scanning Sensor-IV (LISS-IV) satellite data.
  • The atlas provides the details of all the glacial lakes in entire catchment of Ganga River basin, both within Indian and transboundary region.
  • The atlas contain details of area range-wise glacial lakes along with 9 categories of types.
  • Further, the atlas present the distribution of glacial lakes in terms of area vs. type, elevation, area vs. elevation and type vs. elevation, at basin, subbasin, administrative and transboundary regions
  • The atlas also provides comprehensive list of all glacial lakes with unique ID considering hydrological, geometrical, geographical, topographical attribute information

The expected utility of the atlas

  • The atlas provides a comprehensive & systematic glacial lake database for Ganga River basin.
  • In the context of climate change impact analysis, the atlas can be used as reference data for carrying out change analysis, both with respect to historical and future time periods.
  • The atlas also provides authentic database for regular or periodic monitoring changes in spatial extent (expansion/shrinkage), and formation of new lakes.
  • The atlas can also be used in conjunction with glacier information for their retreat and climate impact studies.
  • The information on glacial lakes like their type, hydrological, topographical, and associated glaciers are useful in identifying the potential critical glacial lakes and consequent GLOF risk.
  • Central and State Disaster Management Authorities can make use of the atlas for disaster mitigation planning and related programs
  • It can also be used in Detailed Project Report (DPR) preparation for new hydropower/multi purpose project.

Related Information

About Glacial Lakes

  • Glacial lakes are typically formed at the foot of a glacier.
  • As glaciers move and flow, they erode the soil and sediment around them, leaving depressions and grooves on the land.
  • Melt water from the glacier fills up the hole, making a lake.

Types of Glacial lakes

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For Further Reading:

http://nhp.mowr.gov.in/HomeNew/Glacial_Lake_Atlas_Ganga_Basin_NRSC.pdf

Barnadi sanctuary

(Topic- GS Paper III –Environment, Source- AIR)

Why in the news?

  • Recently, the World Wide Fund for Nature-India (WWF) and officials of the Assam Forest Department had found that few tigers inhabiting the Barnadi Wildlife Sanctuary in Assam.

About the Barnadi Wildlife Sanctuary

  • It is located in northern Assam’s Baksa and Udalguri districts bordering Bhutan.
  • The Sanctuary is bordered by the Barnadi River and Nalapara River to the west and east respectively.

Not a Permanent habitat of Tiger

  • Barnadi may not be a permanent habitat of the tiger, which could have come from Bhutan.

Related Information

  • Recently, Dihing Patkai has become Assam’s seventh National Park.

About Dihing Patkai National Park

  • Dehing Patkai National Park is located in the Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts of Assam.
  • It was declared a wildlife sanctuary on 13 June 2004.
  • The Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary was also declared as Dehing-Patkai Elephant Reserve under Project Elephant.
  • Raimona reserve forest in lower Assam became the state’s sixth national park.

Other five National Parks in Assam

  • Kaziranga National Park, Manas National Park, Nameri National Park, Dibru-Saikhowa National Park and Orang National Park are the five other existing national parks in the state.

Odisha to set up investment promotion agency in every district

(Topic- GS Paper III –Economics, Source-The Hindu Business line)

Why in the news?

  • The Odisha government has decided to set up district-level industry and investment promotion agencies to create more economic opportunities in the State.
  • It is a pilot project started by August at the Ganjam, Sundargarh and Jagatsinghpur of Odisha.

Managed by

  • The agencies would be managed by three professionals under the direct supervision of the respective collectors.

Significance for MSME sector

  • These agencies would be dedicated towards facilitation and handholding of the micro, small and medium enterprises.
  • They would operate as a single-point contact for all entrepreneurs and investors.
  • The agencies would facilitate MSME entrepreneur’s right from the time of project formulation and capacity building to financing, starting of production, and market linkages.
  • It would also facilitate them for availing different assistance from the government as per prevailing provisions. 

UPSC Current Affairs PDF 30 Jun 2021 (English)

UPSC Current Affairs PDF 30 Jun 2021 (Hindi)

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