Daily Current Affairs and GK | 10 August 2021
Main Headlines:
- 1. PM Narendra Modi chaired the UNSC debate on maritime security, cooperation.
- 2. Parliament passed Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2021.
- 3. Government extends Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba's term by one year.
- 4. World Biofuel Day is celebrated annually on 10 August.
- 5. World Lion Day is celebrated every year on 10 August.
- 6. eNagar mobile application and portal launched by Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani.
- 7. Central Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2021 passed by Parliament.
- 8. Government to host first Internet Governance Forum in India.
- 9. PM Modi to address annual meeting of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
- 10. 101 member contingent of the Indian Army to take part in International Army Games – 2021 in Russia.
- 11. ITBP inducted women officers for the first time in combat.
- 12. India will launch advanced geo-imaging satellite GISAT-1 on August 12.
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Topic: Summits/ Conferences/ Meetings
1. PM Narendra Modi chaired the UNSC debate on maritime security, cooperation.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a High-level Open Debate on ‘Enhancing Maritime Security – A Case for International Cooperation’.
- On 9th August, the meeting was attended by Heads of State & the Government of member states of the United Nations Security Council.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the first Indian Prime Minister to preside over a UN Security Council Open Debate.
- In this open debate, ways to effectively counter maritime crime and insecurity, and strengthen coordination in the maritime domain issues have been discussed.
- It was for the first time that maritime security was discussed in a holistic manner. A comprehensive approach to maritime security will be able to protect and support legitimate maritime activities.
(Source: News on AIR)
Topic: Government Schemes and Initiatives
2. Parliament passed Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2021.
- The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2021 has been passed by the Parliament.
- The bill modified Part-XVIII of the Schedule to the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950 which is related to the state of Arunachal Pradesh.
- It will remove the Abor tribe from the list of identified STs and replace certain STs with other tribes.
- The Bill includes Idu (Mishmi), Mishmi-Kaman (Miju Mishmi), Memba, Sartang and Sajolang (Miji), Taraon (Digaru Mishmi), and Monpa in the constitution list.
- The bill also restores the power of states to identify backward classes.
Topic: Appointments
3. Government extends Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba's term by one year.
- Government has extended Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba's term by one year.
- He was appointed as Cabinet Secretary in 2019 for a period of two years.
- He is a 1982-batch IAS officer of the Jharkhand cadre. He has earlier served as Union Home Secretary.
- He has represented India on the board of the International Monetary Fund for four years also.
- Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the extension of his term as cabinet secretary for one year beyond August 30. He will continue as cabinet secretary till August 30, 2022.
Cabinet Secretary:
Cabinet Secretary is Government of India’s top-most executive official and senior-most civil servant.
Cabinet Secretary is the ex-officio head of the Civil Services Board, Indian Administrative Service (IAS), and all civil services under the rules of business of the government.
Topic: Important Days
4. World Biofuel Day is celebrated annually on 10 August.
- World Biofuel Day is celebrated annually on 10 August to raise awareness about the importance of non-fossil fuels.
- The day is also celebrated to highlight the various efforts made by the government in the biofuel sector.
- World Biofuel Day also honors the research experiments done by Sir Rudolf Diesel (inventor of the diesel engine). He ran an engine with peanut oil in the year 1893.
- Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas is observing World Biofuel Day since 2015.
- Last year, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has organized a webinar with the theme “Biofuels towards Atmanirbhar Bharat” on the occasion of World Biofuel Day.
- A biofuel is any fuel that is produced from biological material like agricultural wastes, crops, trees or grass.
Topic: Important Days
5. World Lion Day is celebrated every year on 10 August.
- World Lion Day is celebrated every year on 10 August to create awareness about the need for the conservation of lions.
- World Lion Day is celebrated to achieve three major objectives:
- To create awareness of lion’s situation and other issues they face in wild.
- To identify ways to protect its natural habitat and to set up more such habitats as national parks.
- To educate people who live near wild cats about the dangers and how to protect themselves.
- World Lion Day is celebrated worldwide since 2013. It was co-founded by Dereck and Beverly Joubert of the Big Cat Initiative and National Geographic in a partnership.
- Ecological role of Lions: They are an apex predator of their habitat. Thus, they help in maintaining ecological balance by checking the population of grazers. Lions indirectly helping in disease control in the prey population.
Facts about Lion:
- Its scientific name is Panthera Leo. Its weight ranges from 300 to 550 pounds. The color ranges from light buff to deep reddish-brown (rarest ones found in white color).
- Earliest known references of the lion are found in the pillars of the Mauryan Empire.
- 95% of lion population has been lost in a period of five decades. It is listed as vulnerable as per IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
- It is facing threats such as trophy hunting and loss of natural habitat. Hunting wild animals for human recreation is called Trophy hunting.
Topic: State News/Gujarat
6. eNagar mobile application and portal launched by Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani.
- eNagar mobile application and portal have been launched by Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani.
- 10 modules and 52 services are covered under eNagar.
- Some of the services covered under eNagar are property tax, professional tax, water & drainage, Complaints and grievance redressal, building permission, fire and emergency services.
- Gujarat Urban Development Mission is the nodal agency for eNagar project.
- It covers total of 170 locations including 162 municipalities and 8 Municipal Corporations.
Gujarat:
It is a coastal state of India.
Capital: Gandhinagar
Governor: Acharya Dev Vrat, Chief Minister: Vijay Rupani
Gir National Park is located in Gujarat.
Topic: Indian Polity
7. Central Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2021 passed by Parliament.
- Central Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2021 has been passed by Parliament.
- Rajya Sabha approved the bill on 09 August 2021. Lok Sabha has already cleared it last week.
- The bill aims to set up a new Central University in Ladakh to improve accessibility and quality of higher education and research for people of the Union Territory of Ladakh.
- The name of the new university will be Sindhu Central University.
Ladakh:
It became a Union Territory on 31st October 2019. It comprises of two districts, namely Leh and Kargil.
Lamayuru monastery, Pangong Lake, Nubra valley, Suru valley and Drass are tourist places of interest located in Ladakh.
Topic: Summits/ Conferences/ Meetings
8. Government to host first Internet Governance Forum in India.
- Government will host the first Internet Governance Forum in India for three days, starting from 20th October 2021.
- The launch of India Internet Governance Forum (IIGF) -2021 was announced by Anil Kumar Jain, CEO of National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) and chairman of the coordination committee, IIGF.
- IIGF- 2021 will be planned for three days, starting from 20th October 2021. The theme of IIGF- 2021 is Inclusive Internet for Digital India.
- With the announcement, the Indian chapter of UN based forum namely the Internet Governance Forum has started.
- It's an Internet Governance policy discussion platform to bring representatives from various groups together.
- This is called multi-stakeholder model of Internet Governance, which is well adopted by IGF (Internet Governance Forum) under UN and by Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
- Coordination committee for IIGF-2021 includes Shri Anil Kumar Jain as Chairman, Shri TV Ramchandran as Vice-Chairman, Shri Jaijeet Bhattacharya as Vice Chairman, Dr Rajat Moona as Vice-Chairman.
- It also includes approximately 12 members representing Government, Civil Society, Industries, Trust, and Associations, etc.
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is an internationally organized, non-profit corporation that has the following responsibilities.
- Internet Protocol (IP) address space allocation
- Protocol identifier assignment
- Generic (gTLD) and country code (ccTLD) Top-Level Domain name system management
ICANN is headquartered in California, USA.
(Source: PIB)
Topic: Summits/ Conferences/ Meetings
9. PM Modi to address annual meeting of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
- PM Modi will address the annual meeting of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on 11 August via video conferencing.
- The theme of CII Annual Meeting 2021 is ‘India@75: Government and Business working together for Aatmanirbhar Bharat’. The meeting will be held for two days.
- Mr. Heng Swee Keat, Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for Economic Policies, Singapore will address the meeting as Special International Guest Speaker.
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII):
It is a non-government and not-for-profit organization.
It is headquartered in New Delhi.
President: T. V. Narendran
Topic: Sports
10. 101 member contingent of the Indian Army to take part in International Army Games – 2021 in Russia.
- 101 member contingent of the Indian Army will take part in International Army Games – 2021 from 22 August to 04 September 2021 in Russia.
- It is the 7th edition of the games this year. Russian Defence Minister said that more than 280 teams from 42 countries would participate and the competition was being held in 11 countries.
- Indian Army contingent will take part in Army Scout Masters Competition (ASMC), Elbrus Ring, Polar Star, Sniper Frontier and Safe Route games.
- India earlier stood first amongst the eight countries that had taken part in Army Scouts Master Competition 2019 in Jaisalmer.
International Army Games:
It is an annual Russian military sports event. It is organized by Russia’s Ministry of Defence.
The games are also referred to as the War Olympics. They were first held in August 2015.
Topic: Defence
11. ITBP inducted women officers for the first time in combat.
- Indo-Tibetan Border Police has inducted two women officers in combat for the first time.
- Prakriti and Diksha after completing their training joined the ITBP as women combat officers.
- A total of 53 officers were inducted after completing their training at the academy in Mussoorie.
- Out of the total 53 officers, 42 officers are recruited in the general duty combat cadre and 11 were inducted in the engineering cadre.
- ‘History of ITBP’ book was also released during the passing-out parade ceremony.
- The ITBP had started recruiting women combat officers in 2016.
Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP):
It is one of the seven Central Armed Police Forces of India.
It was created on 24 October 1962 under the CRPF Act after the 1962 Sino-Indian War.
Its headquarters is located in New Delhi.
The Director-General of ITBP is Surjeet Singh Deswal.
Topic: Space and IT
12. India will launch advanced geo-imaging satellite GISAT-1 on August 12.
- On 12th August, India will launch advanced geo-imaging satellite GISAT-1 from Sriharikota spaceport.
- It will help in monitoring India’s border through imaging the sub-continent regularly.
- ISRO's GSLV-F10 rocket will carry the 2,268-kg GISAT-1 satellite into Earth's geo-orbit. It will provide real-time information about a large area.
- It will also help in monitoring natural disasters, floods, episodic and short-term events.
- The code name of GISAT-1 is EO-3, which is capable of imaging the whole country 4-5 times per day.
The geosynchronous satellite takes 24 hours to complete one rotation around the earth. It is placed in the geosynchronous orbit with an orbital period matching the Earth's rotation period.
9 August 2021 Current Affairs 
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