Daily Current Affairs

2021-Daily CA APP-January 25

International

UK variant of coronavirus may be more deadly: British PM Johnson

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that early evidence suggests the variant of coronavirus that emerged in the UK may be more deadly. The data comes from mathematicians comparing death rates in people infected with either the new or the old versions of the virus. The new more infectious variant has already spread widely across the UK. A Government data said ,a total of 4,076 Covid patients were on hospital ventilators as of Friday, which is higher than during the first wave, when the peak was 3,301 on 12 April.

China empowers its coastguards to fire on foreign ships to prevent threats

China passed its coastguard legislation that for the first time explicitly allows it to fire on foreign vessels, a move that could stoke tensions with its neighbours in contested waters. China’s top legislative body, the National People’s Congress (NPC) standing committee, passed the Coast Guard Law. It comes two years after China’s military assumed control of the previously civilian maritime body in 2018. China has maritime sovereignty disputes with Japan in the East China Sea and with several Southeast Asian countries in the South China Sea.

Daily Current Affairs

Nepal PM KP Sharma Oli expelled from ruling Communist Party over dissolution of Parliament

Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has been expelled from the ruling Communist Party over his decision to dissolve the Parliament. The move comes amid repeated threats by the rival faction leaders who had said that they would revoke Oli's membership over his decision to dissolve the Nepal Parliament. The party leaders are planning further action against Oli after his ouster from the party. Nepal plunged into a political crisis on December 20 last year after the Prime Minister Oli, in a surprise move, recommended dissolution of Parliament amidst a tussle for power with former PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda. Nepal President Bidhya Devi Bhandari accepted the recommendations and Parliamentary elections are scheduled for April 30 and May 10. India- Bangladesh hold Joint Steering Committee meeting on power sector

Nineteenth meeting of the Joint Steering Committee on India Bangladesh cooperation in the energy sector was held in Dhaka. The steering committee took stock of the progress of implementation of the decisions taken during the last meeting of the Joint Working Group (JWG) and Joint Steering Committee (JSC). The meeting also discussed the status of 1320 MW Maitree Super Thermal Power Project at Rampal. Detailed discussions were held on power trade between India and Bangladesh through various interconnections. The meeting discussed ways for further enhancing the cooperation in the energy sector.

Daily Current Affairs

Dhaka International Film Festival concludes

The 19th Dhaka International Film Festival (DIFF) concluded on Sunday. During the 9-day long festival which started on 16 January, 226 films from 73 countries were shown. Kyrgyz film ‘The Road to Eden’ jointly directed by Bakyt Mukul and Dastan Zhapar won the best film award at the festival. In the Asian competition section, the Best Director award was given to Ksenia Langutina for the film Farida. The film is jointly produced by Azerbaijan and Russia. The DIFF 2021 was dedicated to the centenary year of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

UN rights body calls for release of Bhima Koregaon activists

The UN Human Rights office has expressed serious concern about the detention of human rights defenders in India, including those arrested in the controversial Bhima Koregaon case, and has urged the Indian authorities to release the detainees “at the very least on bail while they await trial”. The UN body also noted that some of these detainees were “elderly and in poor health”. Varvara Rao, an 80-year-old poet and activist, and 83-year old tribal rights activist Father Stan Swamy, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, are among many jailed in the case. Other human rights defenders arrested under the controversial Bhima Koregaon case include lawyers, writers and academics such as Shoma Sen, Sudha Bhardwaj, Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Mahesh Raut, Vernon Gonzalves, Arun Ferreira, Anand Teltumbde, and Gautam Navlakha, among others. They are currently detained in the Taloja prison in Mumbai, one of the most crowded prisons in India. Daily Current Affairs

National

India, China hold military talks

The ninth round of Corps Commander-level talks between India and China were under way on Sunday at the Moldo border personnel meeting point on the Chinese side opposite Chushul in Eastern Ladakh as both sides attempt to work out a phased disengagement and de-escalation plan to end the nine-month stand-off.

Officials said a broad disengagement plan had been worked out but it was held up over some issues. This was the reason for the delay in scheduling the ninth round of talks. The eighth round was held in November last year.

122 Bangladesh Armed Forces personnel to participate in India’s Republic Day parade

For the first time ever, a 122 member strong contingent of the Bangladesh Armed Forces will participate in the Republic Day parade. The contingent comprises of soldiers of the Bangladesh Army, sailors of the Bangladesh Navy and air warriors of the Bangladesh Air Force. This year India and Bangladesh celebrate 50 years of the establishment of diplomatic ties and Bangladesh celebrates 50 years of its independence. Both sides have agreed to hold commemorative events in several other countries and also jointly organize events throughout the year.

Daily Current Affairs

Sunderbans is home to 428 species of birds, says ZSI

The Indian Sunderbans, which is part of the largest mangrove forest in the world, is home to 428 species of birds, a recent publication of the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) states. The scientists said that of the 428 birds listed, some, like the Masked Finfoot and Buffy fish owl, are recorded only from the Sunderbans. The area is home to nine out of 12 species of kingfishers found in the country as well rare species such as the Goliath heron and Spoon-billed Sandpiper. Kaliash Chandra, Director ZSI said that India has over 1,300 species of birds of which 428 species of birds are from Sunderbans.

The Indian Sunderbans, which covers 4,200 sq km, comprises of the Sunderban Tiger Reserve of 2,585 sq km — home to about 96 Royal Bengal Tigers (as per last census in 2020 ) — is also a world heritage site and a Ramsar Site.

Business and Economy

Production Linked Incentive for textiles may be capped to ensure better distribution

The Textile Ministry is likely to impose caps on the incentive that can be claimed by a company under the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for man-made fibre and technical textiles to ensure that big players do not corner a large part of the funds. The PLI scheme was launched for 10 sectors in November 2011 to promote domestic manufacturing by providing financial incentives on incremental turnover for five years. Daily Current Affairs

The textile sector has been allocated ₹10,683 crore under the scheme which, the Ministry has decided, will be offered for incremental production in 40 identified man-made fibre items and 10 technical textiles products.

NIIF makes equity investment of less than Rs 5,000 crore in 5 years

The National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) in its five years of existence has made an equity investment of less than Rs 5,000 crore in infrastructure projects. NIIF has made an equity investment of Rs 4,689 crore, while the co-investment by its partners stood at about Rs 7,053 crore at the end of September 2020. The quasi-sovereign wealth fund’s total equity investment along with partners stood at Rs 11,742 crore as of September 2020. At the same time, the long-term debt investment was at Rs 7,935 crore, taking aggregate investment to the tune of Rs 19,677 crore.

The Rs 40,000-crore NIIF was set up in December 2015 as an institution for enhancing infrastructure financing by investing in greenfield (new), brownfield (existing) and stalled projects.

DCB Bank Q3 profit flat at ₹96.21 crore

DCB Bank has registered a flat growth in net profit at Rs 96.21 crore during the quarter ended December largely on account of higher provisioning. During the quarter under review, provisions more than doubled to Rs 148 crore, from Rs 59 crore in the year-ago period. Revenues, however, rose marginally by 3.3 per cent at Rs 1,023.86 crore.

Daily Current Affairs

Sports

Thailand Open Super 1000: Carolina Marin and claim second consecutive singles titles

Spain’s Carolina Marin and Viktor Axelsen from Denmark have claimed their second Thailand Open singles titles. Axelsen was a commanding force against his compatriot Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus in the men's final in Bangkok. Marin, the reigning Olympic champion, smashed top seed Tai Tzu-ying for the second time in a fortnight.

Harikrishna holds Carlsen

P. Harikrishna drew with World champion and top seed Magnus Carlsen in the seventh round of the Tata Steel Masters chess tournament at Wijk aan Zee, in the Netherlands. Harikrishna and Carlsen agreed to draw after just 30 moves, when each player had a rook and four pawns each. The result saw them slip to joint-fifth spot at four points.

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