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.
India-Thailand coordinated patrol (CORPAT)
The 36th edition of CORPAT between India and Indonesia is being conducted as a "non-contact, at sea only" exercise in view of COVID-19 pandemic.
India and Indonesia have been carrying out Coordinated Patrols along the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) twice a year since 2002, with an aim of keeping this vital part of the Indian Ocean Region safe and secure.
CORPATs help build understanding and interoperability between navies, and facilitate institution of measures to prevent and suppress Illegal Unreported Unregulated (IUU) fishing, drug trafficking, maritime terrorism, armed robbery and piracy.
In sync with the government's vision of SAGAR (Security And Growth for All in the Region), the Indian Navy has been proactively engaging with the countries in the Indian Ocean Region.
In November 2020, India held the Malabar exercise and invited Australia for the exercise effectively making it a drill by all the Quad member nations.
Defence
Coconut Development Board
The Rajya Sabha passed the Coconut Development Board (Amendment) Bill, 2021, making the post of the Chairman non-executive.
The amendment also seeks to raise the number of members of the Board to six from the current four. Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat will also be able to nominate their representatives to the Board.
Coconut Development Board (CDB) is a statutory body established under the Ministry of Agriculture for the integrated development of coconut and coconut-related products.
The Board which came into existence on 12 January 1981, functions under the administrative control of the Ministry of Agriculture, GoI, with its headquarters at Kochi in Kerala.
The Board has 9 Demonstration cum Seed Production (DSP) Farms in different locations of the country and now 7 farms are maintained.
A Market Development cum Information Centre has established in Delhi.
The Board has set up a Technology Development Centre at Vazhakulam near Aluva in Kerala.
Gov. Schemes
BRICS Counter Terrorism Action Plan
The discussion in this regard was held at the sixth meeting of the BRICS Counter Terrorism Working Group held in July 2021.
The meeting of the Working Group, held virtually, saw participation from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - the member countries of the grouping.
The Action Plan is one of the key deliverables during India's Chairship of BRICS and is expected to come up for adoption during the meeting of BRICS National Security Advisors scheduled in August, 2021.
India assumed the rotational Chair of BRICS on 1 January 2021, for the calendar year 2021, as per convention.
Defence
Exercise Indra Navy
The navies of India and Russia concluded the 12th edition of the biennial Exercise Indra Navy in Baltic Sea. The Army version of the exercise is scheduled to be held from August 1 to 13 in Volgograd.
For the Army version of Exercise Indra, 250 soldiers from each side will be taking part, and the aim is counter-terror operations under a United Nations mandate.
India Navy was represented by stealth frigate INS Tabar, It is on a long deployment and and has been making a series of port visits in Africa and Europe.
Defence
Seetha River : Karnataka
NGT has slapped a fine of over Rs 2 crore on the Public Works Department; the Ports and Fisheries Department, Udupi; and the Minor Irrigation Department, Udupi, as "environment compensation for damages caused to the the riverine ecology of the Sita river" in Udupi district.
Seetha river is a west flowing river located in Karnataka , India, which flows mainly in Udupi district.
The river originates near Narasimha Parvatha and joins Suvarna river, before joining Arabian sea.
The river and its smaller tributaries have made several water falls like Kudlu falls, Barkana falls, Jomlu Thirtha falls.
Environment
ISRO-NASA joint satellite project NISER
The ISRO-NASA joint mission NISER (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellite, aimed at making global measurement of land surface changes using advanced radar imaging, is proposed to be launched in early 2023.
NISAR is a joint Earth-Observation mission between ISRO and U.S. space agency NASA for global observations over all land masses including the Polar cryosphere and the Indian Ocean region.
It is a dual-band (L-band and S-band) radar imaging mission with the capability of full polarimetric and interferometric modes of operation to observe minor changes in land, vegetation and cryosphere.
NASA is developing L-band SAR and associated systems while ISRO is developing S-band SAR, spacecraft bus, the launch vehicle and associated launch services.
Science & Tech
Arctic Science Ministerial
The theme for this year is Knowledge for a Sustainable Arctic.
The first two meetings: ASM1 and ASM2 were held in the USA in 2016 and Germany in 2018, respectively.
India's engagement with the Arctic dates back to 1920 with the signing of the Svalbard Treaty in Paris.
Since July 2008, India has had a permanent research station in the Arctic called Himadri at NyAlesund, Svalbard Area in Norway.
It has also deployed a multi-sensor moored observatory called IndARC in the Kongsfjorden fjord since July 2014.
Environment
Divya Nayan : personal reading machine
DivyaNayan is a personal reading machine for visually impaired developed by CSIR-Central Scientific Instruments Organisation (CSIO), Chandigarh where any printed or digital document can be accessed in the form of speech output.
It can analyse a multi column document and provide seamless reading. User can place the device over the document to be read and manually scan it.
The reading device uses language dependent optical character recognition to convert the image into text and a text to speech converter, further converts the text into audio.
The device is handheld, standalone, portable, completely wireless and IoT enabled.
It is currently available in Hindi, English, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Punjabi but is further compatible for other Indian and foreign languages.
It has interfaces such as USB, Bluetooth, Wifi, LAN, Headphone etc.
Science & Tech
Child-saint Sambandar
The National Gallery of Australia(NGA) announced it would return 14 works of art from its Asian art collection to India.
It alos includes the Child-saint Sambandar of 12th century belonging to Chola dynasty.
Sambandar was one of the nayanmars, a group of sixty-three saints active in South India from the sixth to the ninth century who were instrumental in popularizing the worship of Shiva through devotional poetry and song.
Art & Culture
The Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952
Under The Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952, a Commission set up by the government shall have the powers of a civil court, while trying a suit under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.
This means that the Commission has powers to summon and enforce the attendance of any person from any part of India and examine her on oath, and receive evidence, and it can order requisition of any public record or copy from any court or office.
Both central and state governments can set up such Commissions of Inquiry, states are restricted by subject matters that they are empowered to legislate upon.
If the central government set up the commission first, then states cannot set up a parallel commission on the same subject matter without the approval of the Centre. But if a state has appointed a Commission, then the Centre can appoint another on the same subject.
Commissions set up by the central government can make an inquiry into any matter relatable to any of the entries in List I (Union List) or List II (State List) or List III (Concurrent List) in the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution, while Commissions set up by state governments can look into entries in List II or List III.
The West Bengal government has cited public order and police entries. While these subjects are in the State List, an argument could also be made that the subject matter of the inquiry essentially falls under the Central List.
Entry 31 of the Union List or List I deals with posts and telegraphs, telephones, wireless, broadcasting and other like forms of communication.
Polity