Home Daily Current Affairs Apr 16, 2021

Apr 16, 2021: Current affairs for UPSC/State PSC

This section contains daily current affairs taken from all major news papers and magazines like - The Hindu, Indian Express, PIB, Live Mint, RSTV etc.

These current affairs are written in a easy to remember format and are useful for competitive exams like - UPSC Civil Services, UPPSC, BPSC, MPPPSC, State PSCs and other competitive examinations.

State of World Population Report 2021 - UNFPA

United Nations Population Fund's (UNFPA) launched its flagship State of World Population Report 2021 with title My Body is My Own.

The report talks about bodily autonomy including, child marriage, female genital mutilation, contraceptive choices, unwanted sex etc.

The report shows that in countries where data is available, only 55 percent of women are fully empowered to make choices over healthcare, contraception and the ability to say yes or no to sex.

Read More: UNFPA

International Relations

Assamese Muslims - Goriya, Moriya and Deshi

The Janagosthiya Samannay Parishad, Assam (JSPA) launched a portal for conducting the first-ever census of Assamese Muslims for distinguishing them from their migrant, Bengal-origin or Bengali-speaking counterparts.

The JSPA represents three categories of Assamese Muslims - Goriya who converted from various indigenous groups and tribes, Moriya whose ancestors were brought by the Ahom kings to make weapons and utensils and Deshi who converted specifically from the Koch-Rajbongshi community.

Jolahas - converts from among tea plantation workers who were brought from central India by British planters have been kept out of the census.

Janagosthiya Samannay Parishad (JSPA) is an umbrella body of more than 30 "indigenous" organisations in Assam.

Social Issues

CNES to train Gaganyaan Crew

Space agencies of India and France signed an agreement for cooperation for the India's first human space mission Gaganyaan.

CNES (French government space agency) will train India's flight physicians and CAPCOM (Capsule Communication) mission control teams in France at the CADMOS centre for the development of microgravity applications and space operations at CNES in Toulouse and at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany.

Capsule Communication (CAPCOM), is the astronaut on Earth who communicates with the crew members in their spacecraft.

French equipment developed by CNES, tested and still operating aboard the International Space Station (ISS) will thus be made available to Indian crews.

CNES will also be supplying fireproof carry bags made in France to shield equipment from shocks and radiation.

Science & Tech

FASTag in India

The government told the Bombay High Court that making FASTag mandatory for all vehicles plying on the national highways does not breach a citizen's fundamental right to freedom of movement in any way.

FASTag is a sticker or a tag usually pasted on the windscreen of the car. The device uses Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology to communicate with scanner installed at toll plazas.

Read More: FASTag

Gov. Schemes

Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a China led mega trade bloc comprising 15 countries, it consists of the 10 ASEAN members and Australia, China, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.

The trade bloc came into existence in November 2020 without India on the sidelines of a virtual 37th ASEAN Summit hosted by Vietnam. It is the world's largest trading agreement expected to represent at least 30 per cent of the global GDP.

Read More:RCEP

Economy

Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)

The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), successor of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) which the U.S. withdrew from, includes Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam from ASEAN, along with Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Chile and Peru.

Economy

What is Monkeydactyl

The new pterosaur fossil was discovered in China, and is thought to be 160 million years old.

It has been named Kunpengopterus antipollicatus, also dubbed Monkeydactyl.

The pterosaur species were reptiles, close cousins of dinosaurs and the first animals after insects to evolve powered flight.

They evolved into various species; while some were as large as an F-16 fighter jet, others were as small as paper airplanes.

Environment

MANAS Mitra app

MANAS Mitra (Mental health And Normalcy Augmentation System), a health application is launched virtually. It is meant to be a guide, especially for mental health.

MANAS Mitra is developed by CDAC, Bengaluru and is a joint venture of Pune-based Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) and National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru.

Gov. Schemes

Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) galaxy

Astronomers have discovered a new active galaxy - Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) galaxy. It is identified as the farthest gamma-ray emitting galaxy.

In 1929, Edwin Hubble discovered that the Universe is expanding and most other galaxies are moving away from us. Light from these galaxies is shifted to longer (and this means redder) wavelengths - in other words, it is red-shifted.

Scientists from ARIES, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology (DST), GoI, in collaboration with researchers from other institutions, studied around 25,000 luminous Active galactic nuclei (AGN) for the last 20 years and found a unique object that emits high-energy gamma rays located at a high redshift (more than 1).

The scientists used one of the largest ground-based telescopes in the world, the 8.2 m Subaru Telescope located at Hawaii, USA.

Science & Tech