Daily Current Affairs for UPSC IAS: 13th September 2021

Serious And Major Concerns About Cryptocurrencies:

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das recently said the central bank continues to have “serious and major” concerns about cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and has conveyed them to the government.

• Private cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, which are unregulated, mined through a complex process and have highly volatile prices, are under the regulatory gaze in India despite their proliferation as an asset class.
• An inter-ministerial panel on cryptocurrency has recommended that all private cryptocurrencies, except any virtual currencies issued by state, will be prohibited in India.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has also raised concerns on the cryptocurrencies traded in the market and conveyed them to the Centre.
• Back in March 2020, the Supreme Court had allowed banks and financial institutions to reinstate services related to cryptocurrencies by setting aside the RBI’s 2018 circular that had prohibited them (Based on the ground of “proportionality”).

Cryptocurrencies:

• Cryptocurrencies are digital currencies in which encryption techniques are used to regulate the generation of units of currency and verify the transfer of funds, operating independently of a central bank.

Chandrayaan-2.: Findings

The Orbiter and other instruments of Chandrayaan-2 mission have, in two years, gathered a wealth of new information that has added to our knowledge about the Moon and its environment.

• Chandrayaan-2, India’s second mission to the Moon, had failed to make a soft-landing on the lunar surface.
• The lander and rover malfunctioned in the final moments and crash-landed, getting destroyed in the process.
• Despite the failure, the mission’s orbiter and other parts have been functioning normally, gathering information. Recently, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) released the information gathered by the scientific payloads till now, some of which were still to be analysed and assessed.

Information gathered:

• Presence of water molecules on moon: The mission has given the most precise information about the presence of H2O molecules on the Moon till date.
• Presence of Minor elements: Chromium, manganese and Sodium have been detected for the first time through remote sensing. The finding can lay the path for understanding magmatic evolution on the Moon and deeper insights into the nebular conditions as well as planetary differentiation.
• Information about solar flares: A large number of microflares outside the active region have been observed for the first time, and according to ISRO, this “has great implications on the understanding of the mechanism behind heating of the solar corona”, which has been an open problem for many decades.
• Exploration of the permanently shadowed regions as well as craters and boulders underneath the regolith, the loose deposit comprising the top surface extending up to 3-4m in depth.
• This is expected to help scientists to zero in on future landing and drilling sites, including for human missions.

Footprints of 3 Dinosaur Species: Rajasthan

In a major discovery, footprints of three species of dinosaurs have been found in the Thar desert in Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer district.

• It proves the presence of the giant reptiles in the western part of the State
• The footprints belong to three species of dinosaurs – Eubrontes cf. giganteus, Eubrontes glenrosensis and Grallator tenuis.
• The footprints were 200 million years old.
• The dinosaur species are considered to be of the theropod type, with the distinguishing features of hollow bones and feet with three digits (like fingers).
• Theropod is any member of the dinosaur subgroup Theropoda, which includes all the flesh-eating dinosaurs.
• All the three species, belonging to the early Jurassic period, were carnivorous.
• The ‘Age of Dinosaurs’ (the Mesozoic Era – 252-66 Million Years Ago – MYA) included three consecutive geologic time periods (the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous Periods).
• Different dinosaur species lived during each of these three periods.

ATL Space Challenge 2021:

Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog in collaboration with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) successfully launched the ATL Space Challenge 2021 for all school students across the country.

• The challenge has been designed for all the school students, mentors and teachers across the country who not only are associated with schools having ATL labs but for all the non ATL schools as well.
• This is to ensure that students of classes 6 to 12 are given an open platform where they can innovate and enable themselves to solve digital age space technology problems.
• The ATL Space Challenge 2021 aligns with the World Space Week 2021 which is being observed from 4 to 10 October each year at the global level in order to celebrate the contributions of space science and technology.
• Students can create a solution that can be implemented and adopted leveraging technologies such as:
  • Explore Space
  • Reach Space
  • Inhabit Space
  • Leverage Space

Transport And Marketing Assistance” (TMA) Scheme For Specified Agriculture Products’:

Centre has revised “Transport and Marketing Assistance” (TMA) scheme for Specified Agriculture Products’

• In February 2019, the Department of Commerce had introduced ‘Transport and Marketing Assistance (TMA) for Specified Agriculture Products Scheme’ to provide assistance for the international component of freight, to mitigate disadvantage of higher freight costs faced by the Indian exporters of agriculture products.
• The scheme was initially applicable for exports effected during the period from 01.03.2019 to 31.03.2020 and was later extended for exports effected up to 31.03.2021.
• Now the Department has notified ‘Revised Transport and Marketing Assistance (TMA) for Specified Agriculture Products Scheme’ for exports effected on or after 01.04.2021 up to 31.03.2022.
• The existing scheme will remain in operation for exports effected up to 31.03.2021.
• Enhanced assistance under the revised scheme is expected to help Indian exporters of agricultural products to meet rising freight and logistics costs.

Following major changes have been made in the revised scheme:

• Dairy products, which were not covered under the earlier scheme, will be eligible for assistance under the revised scheme.
• Rates of assistance have been increased, by 50% for exports by sea and by 100% for exports by air.

The Champaran Satyagrah Express:

Frequency of Champaran Satyagraha Express has been increased to bi-weekly by Ministry of Railways.

• The Champaran Satyagrah Express is an Express train belonging to Northern Railway zone that runs between Bapudham Motihari and Anand Vihar Terminal in India.
• Bapudham Motihari Railway Station is a major railway station in Motihari, East Champaran district of Bihar.
• Anand Vihar Terminal is a railway station in the Anand Vihar locality of Delhi.
• The Champaran Satyagraha of 1917 was the Satyagraha movement led by Mahatma Gandhi in India and is considered a historically important rebellion in the Indian freedom struggle.
• The farmers were protesting against having to grow indigo with barely any payment for it.

National Commission For Minorities:

Sardar Iqbal Singh Lalpura took charge as the Chairman, National Commission for Minorities in the presence of Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi in New Delhi.

• In 1978, Government of India, vide an executive order, set up a “Minorities Commission” to safeguard the interests of minorities.
• With the enactment of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992, the Minorities Commission became a statutory body and was renamed as the “National Commission for Minorities”.
• Functions::
  • To evaluate the progress of the developmental programs and legal & constitutional safeguards for the welfare of minorities.
  • To Look into specific complaints regarding deprivation of the rights of minorities.
  • To undertake studies/research on the issues relating to socio economic development of minorities.
• Composition: It consists of a Chairperson, a Vice Chairperson and five Members to be nominated by the Central Government from amongst persons of eminence, ability and integrity.

FOSS4Gov Innovation Challenge:

The government has extended the last date of participation and submission in FOSS4Gov Innovation Challenge till 15th of September.

• Ministry of Electronics and IT has appealed to the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) innovators to participate in large numbers to drive the FOSS revolution to its maximum potential.
• In July this year, on the occasion of 7-year anniversary of MyGov, the Ministry had launched #FOSS4Gov Innovation Challenge to accelerate adoption of Free and Open Source Software in Government and build Indian FOSS Ecosystem.
• Through this challenge, various innovators, start-ups, working professionals, academics and students in India are invited to showcase their existing FOSS based innovations or build new, implementable, open-source product innovations in Customer Relationship Management and Enterprise Resource Planning.
• The winners of the Challenge will receive cash rewards and incubation support to scale their products for listing on Government e Market.

World Suicide Prevention Day:

World Suicide Prevention Day is observed on September 10th every year to highlight various ways by which suicide can be prevented.

• This day was marked on September 10, 2003, for the first time as an initiative by the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) and the World Health Organization (WHO) who teamed up to create a day dedicated to a very important message: suicides are preventable.
• The first year of the day was a success, so in 2004, the WHO formally agreed to co-sponsor the event again, making it an annually recognized day.
• Suicide is an act of intentionally taking one’s life and it is a major public health issue, especially during the testing times of pandemic and periods of lockdowns.
• Suicide is a global phenomenon and according to the World Health Organization, it was the 17th leading cause of death in 2019.
• Every 40 seconds someone in the world take their life, with 75% cases from the low and middle-income countries. Approximately 1.3% of deaths in 2019 were due to suicide.