JANUARY 2021 IAS redefining your google GOOGLE A Magazine by JANUARY 2021 CONTENTS Cover Story - Neurodiversity 'the new frontier of inclusion' 1. ECONOMY 1.1 India‟s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contracted 7.5% 1.2 Indian Economy Growth Story 1.3 Purchasing Managers‟ Index (PMI) 1.4 India‟s Q2 GDP data contratcts 1.5 International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) 1.6 Municipal Bond – Stock Exchange 1.7 Guidelines for dematerialisation of re-lodged physical shares 1.8 Dedicated Export Promotion Council for Technical Textiles 1.9 Smuggling in India Report 2019-20 1.10 United Nations Investment Promotion Award 1.11 Currency Manipulation 1.12 Positive Pay System 1.13 Instant loan apps case 1.14 Zero Coupon Bond 1.15 Maintaining Inflation target at 4% 1.16 India to become fifth-largest economy in 2025 1.17 Dedicated Freight Corridor 1.18 Post COVID push for Indian Economy 2. INDIA AND WORLD 2.1 India-Suriname Joint Commission Meeting 2.2 Intellectual Property Cooperation 2.3 SCO Young Scientist Conclave 2.4 Passage Exercise (PASSEX) 2.5 India-Uzbekistan Virtual Summit 2.6 Swadhinata Sarak 2.7 Vijay Diwas: 50 Years of Indo-Pak War IAS GOOGLE – MONTHLY CURRENT AFFAIRS BOOKLET 1 JANUARY 2021 2.8 Protection of India‟s poor and vulnerable from the impact of COVID-19 2.9 New Development Bank (NDB) supporting India‟s economic recovery from COVID-19 2.10 India-Bangladesh Virtual Summit 2.11 India-Vietnam Summit 2.12 Legion of Merit Award 2.13 Green National Highways Corridors Project 2.14 Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling against India 2.15 Mission Sagar 2.16 Challenges to India‟s Neighbourhood First Policy in 2020 2.17 India and Bhutan on Peaceful Use of Outer Space 3. INTERNATIONAL 3.1 Australian Defence Force (ADF) has sent notices 3.2 Zero-Carbon Act 3.3 Cannabis removed from „most dangerous drug‟ category 3.4 Havana Syndrome 3.5 Bangladesh signs first Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) 3.6 Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman 3.7 San Isidro Movement 3.8 Human Development Index 3.9 Human Freedom Index 3.10 UNESCO „Intangible Heritage‟ 3.11 Coronavirus in Antarctica 3.12 Shaheen Exercise 3.13 Link between Mediterranean diet and South Asia 4. NATIONAL 4.1 Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)-certified helmets 4.2 Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines 2020 4.3 Ramayana Cruise Service 4.4 NRIs to vote by post 4.5 Operation Trident 4.6 Himachal Pradesh wants GI status for five products 4.7 Operation Nigha 4.8 UNESCO World Heritage Cities IAS GOOGLE – MONTHLY CURRENT AFFAIRS BOOKLET 2 JANUARY 2021 4.9 INS Kalvari 4.10 Submarine Optical Fibre Cable Connectivity 4.11 Universal Service Obligation Fund Scheme 4.12 Indus Valley Civilisation diet had dominance of meat 4.13 Handicraft and GI Toys exempted from Quality Control Order 4.14 Prime Minister‟s Special Scholarship Scheme (PMSSS) 4.15 Golden Peacock Environment Management Award 4.16 National Hydrology Project 4.17 Mission Purvodaya 4.18 Yogasana as a Competitive Sport 4.19 National Rail Plan 4.20 India‟s First Hypersonic Wind Tunnel Test Facility 4.21 Sixth Schedule Areas 4.22 Year End Review 2020-Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution 4.23 Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules 2020 4.24 SEHAT-Health Insurance Scheme 4.25 Spectrum Auction 4.26 National Startup Award 4.27 Year End Review 2020: Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying 4.28 Parliamentary Standing Committee Review of COVID-19 Management 4.29 Kisan Diwas or National Farmers‟ Day 4.30 Aero India-21 4.31 Electronic-Human Resource Management System (e-HRMS) 4.32 E-Sampada Web Portal 4.33 Monpa Handmade Paper 4.34 Thoubal Multipurpose Project 4.35 National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) 4.36 Adopt a Heritage: Apni Dharohar, Apni Pehchaan Project 4.37 Digital Ocean Platform 5. POLITICAL ISSUES, HUMAN RIGHTS AND GOVERNANCE 5.1 J&K‟s Roshni Act 5.2 Imparting technical education in Mother Tongue 5.3 Scheme for Special Assistance to States for Capital Expenditure 5.4 Kisan Kalyan Mission IAS GOOGLE – MONTHLY CURRENT AFFAIRS BOOKLET 3 JANUARY 2021 5.5 Dak Adalat 5.6 Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA) Summit 5.7 Parliamentary Session 5.8 No-Confidence Motion 5.9 Varasat Campaign 5.10 Law to keep a check on Private Hospitals 5.11 Electoral Bond 5.12 President Assent to State Bills 5.13 Powers of Governor in calling an Assembly Session 5.14 Article 356 of the Indian Constitution 5.15 Ayushman Bharat SEHAT Scheme 5.16 Inner Line Permit (ILP) 6. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 6.1 Bioluminescence 6.2 Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) 6.3 Cancer Genome Atlas 6.4 Light Detection and Ranging Survey (LiDAR) Technique 6.5 Hayabusa2 Mission 6.6 India International Science Festival 6.7 Molnupiravir 6.8 Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) 6.9 Beresheet 2 6.10 Rise in Artificial Intelligence adoption in India 6.11 Satellite-based narrow band-Internet of Things network 6.12 Human-made materials now outweigh Earth‟s entire biomass 6.13 Northern Lights 6.14 Prithvi-2 Missile 6.15 Three New Systems for Indian Armed Forces 6.16 SolarWinds Hack 6.17 E20 Fuel 6.18 Shigella 6.19 Medium Range Surface to Air Missile (MRSAM) 6.20 Vigyanika-International Science Literature Festival 6.21 Ammonia Gas Leak IAS GOOGLE – MONTHLY CURRENT AFFAIRS BOOKLET 4 JANUARY 2021 6.22 BBX11 Gene-Greening of Plants 6.23 Pneumosil 6.24 Quantum Random Number Generator (QRNG) 6.25 India‟s Highest Meteorological Centre 6.26 Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) 6.27 Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Consortia (INSACOG) 6.28 Proxima Centauri 6.29 SAHAYAK-NG 7. SOCIAL ISSUES AND DEVELOPMENT 7.1 Brain Electrical Oscillation Signature Profiling 7.2 Gender equity in science 7.3 Representation of Women in Indian Judiciary 7.4 Advisory on advertisements on Online Gaming 7.5 Separate Category in Prisoner Data for Transgender 7.6 CO-WIN Platform 7.7 Atmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana (ABRY) 7.8 Scheme for Tharu Tribes 7.9 Software to track down child pornography 7.10 PM-WANI Scheme 7.11 Shakti Bill 7.12 National Family Health Survey-5 7.13 CoWIN Grand Challenge 7.14 Enforcement of Mandatory FASTag 7.15 Innovation Challenge for Developing Portable Devices for Water Testing 7.16 Kisan Fasal Rahat Yojana of Jharkhand 7.17 PM Street Vendor‟s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) Scheme 8. ENVIRONMENT 8.1 India Climate Change Knowledge Portal 8.2 Peacock Soft Shell Turtle 8.3 Relation between Tree Rings and Floods 8.4 Committee for implementation of Paris Agreement 8.5 South Asia Forum on SDGs 8.6 Declaration of Wildlife Sanctuary 8.7 Mount Everest is 3 feet higher 8.8 Eco-bridges in the forest 8.9 Emission Gap Report 2020 IAS GOOGLE – MONTHLY CURRENT AFFAIRS BOOKLET 5 JANUARY 2021 8.10 Climate Change Performance Index 8.11 Aerosols in Indo-Gangetic Plain 8.12 India Water Impact Summit (IWIS) 8.13 Ischaemum Janarthanamii 8.14 Red-headed Bunting 8.15 Climate Ambition Summit 2020 8.16 Innovations for a Cleaner Air 8.17 Himalayan Serow – It‟s a goat, it‟s a pig, it‟s a serow 8.18 Red Sea Bream Iridovirous (RSIV) 8.19 Temple Turtle 8.20 Monarch Butterflies 8.21 Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) 8.22 Disturbance from North Atlantic Ocean 8.23 Elephants and Tigers did not go extinct in India 8.24 Status of Leopard in India 2018 Report 8.25 Health and Economic impact of Air Pollution 8.26 Winter Solstice 8.27 Great Conjunction of Saturn & Jupiter 8.28 Tso Kar Wetland Complex 8.29 International Blue Flag Certification 8.30 2011-2020 Warmest Decade on Record 8.31 Eco-sensitive Zone in Narmada district IAS GOOGLE – MONTHLY CURRENT AFFAIRS BOOKLET 6 JANUARY 2021 Neurodiversity 'the new frontier of inclusion' Tahira, a single mother of a child with autism, shared with me that the society’s obsession with normality had convinced her that her four-year-old child was “damaged” and she, as a mother, was a “failure”. Her words made me reflect on our compulsive need to compare, categorise and label children. The further the child is from that benchmark of “normality”, the more they are ranked as deficient and measures taken to fix them. Neurodivergence: Each child is wired and inspired differently. Some might struggle with the acquisition of skills like reading, writing, sustaining effort, awareness and responding to their social environment. These might pose difficulties for some children as they don’t meet society’s expectations, leading to typical diagnoses psychiatrists or psychologists might assign to them: dyslexia, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, etc. It’s important to highlight that in spite of the struggles, neurodivergence is not a problem, as long as there is no accompanying stigma and underlined conclusion of the child being “disordered”, “deficient”, with restricted possibilities or hopes for the future. Neuronormativity: It perpetuates the problematic notion of a neurohomogenous world where all the neurodivergent children are seen as not “normal” and have to be “fixed” and treated to fit in, be compliant and obedient. Their parents, typically mothers, feel blamed and shamed for not doing enough or being at fault for having children who have flawed neural circuitry. Tahira said, “The pandemic has been a blessing, as I don’t have to take my child out and face society’s harsh judgements for having a damaged child.” Neurodumping: I have come up with this word in exasperation at the one- size-fits-all approach.