WHY IN NEWS?

• Bangladeshi Nobel Peace Prize winner, Muhammad Yunus will receive the Olympic Laurel at the Tokyo Games, the second time the trophy will be awarded.
• Yunus, whose pioneering micro-lender has been hailed for cutting poverty across the globe, will be honoured for “his extensive work in sport for development. The 81-year-old economist-turned-globe-trotting celebrity speaker won the Nobel in 2006.
• He will be given the award at the Tokyo 2020 opening ceremony on July 23. The Olympic Laurel was created five years ago to recognise endeavours in culture, education, peace and development through sport.
• It was given for the first time at the 2016 Rio Games to Kenyan former Olympian Kip Keino, who opened a children’s home, a school and an athletes’ training centre in his home country.

WHY IN NEWS?

• Indian Institute of Technology Madras Researchers has developed an Artificial Intelligence-based Mathematical Model called ‘NBDriver’ to identify cancer-causing alterations in cells.
• The algorithm uses a relatively unexplored technique of leveraging DNA composition to pinpoint genetic alterations responsible for cancer progression, which is difficult using present methodologies.
• Understanding the underlying mechanism of these alterations will help identify the most appropriate treatment strategy for a patient in an approach known as ‘precision oncology’.

WHY IN NEWS?

• Science Exploration Day (also called Moon Day) is marked every year on 20 July. It was on this day in 1969 that Neil Armstrong and Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin became the first humans to land on the Moon’s surface.
• The origins of Space Exploration Day date back to man first walking on the moon, with the day itself first observed to commemorate this historic event during events held in the early 1970s.
• Neil Armstrong was the first man to set foot on the moon’s surface. The Armstrong- Aldrin duo spent 21.5 hours on the surface of the moon out of which they spent 2.5 hours outside of their capsules.
• To commemorate their achievement, the day was declared a holiday in 1984 by the then President of the United States, Ronald Reagan.

WHY IN NEWS?

• Viswanathan Anand defeated Vladimir Kramnik to win the Sparkassen Trophy at Dortmund. Anand needed only a draw in the final game of the No-Castling Chess event, and he got it in 40 moves.
• Kramnik, who conceived this variant of chess with the intention of making the game less predictable and more dynamic, however, was forced to draw the game by giving perpetual checks. Anand was just one move away from putting a second queen on the board.

WHY IN NEWS?

• The Kunariya village of Kutch district in Gujarat has come out with a unique idea of holding Balika Panchayat.
• The first-ever elections of this Balika Panchayat were successfully. Inspired by the TV series, Balika Vadhu, the Kunariya village in Kutch district today held elections for the unique Balika Panchayat, which aims to develop leadership qualities in the girls for Future Panchayat polls.
• Young females aged between 10 to 21 years contested elections for this unique Panchayat which will take up issues pertaining to adolescent girls and women in the village.
• This Panchayat will be run by the girls and for the girls.
• The separate sitting arrangements will be given to these girls and they will be given to use the budget of gender sensitivity.
• This unique step by a small village like Kunariya aligns with PM’s vision of enhancing young women’s participation in the political process.

WHY IN NEWS?

• According to the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah, Saudi Arabia, women can now register for the annual Hajj pilgrimage without a male guardian (marham).
• In registration guidelines of Hajj for domestic pilgrims, the ministry highlights, women do not need to require a male guardian to register and could do registration along with other women.
• Women wishing to perform Hajj will have to register individually. India had announced the same rule in 2017 when the Modi government declared that women could go on Hajj without a male companion. Muslim women were exempted from mahram and also from the lottery system.
• It is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, which is considered as holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for Muslims which is must to carry at least once in their lifetime by all adult Muslims.

WHY IN NEWS?

India has surpassed Japan, China, Russia and Switzerland to become the world’s fifth-largest foreign exchange reserve holder with $608.99 billion. This was mentioned in the Lok Sabha on 20^th July, 2021 by Pankaj Choudhary, MoS Finance.

About:

• The Reserve Bank of India and the Government of India are actively monitoring the country’s external position and accordingly fine-tuning the various policies and regulations so as to ensure strong macroeconomic growth of India.
• India’s balance of payments has surplused in both the capital and current accounts in the year 2020-21 which largely contributed to the gains in the foreign exchange reserves of the country.
• India’s present foreign exchange reserves are sufficient enough to provide a buffer against unforeseen external shocks and also to cover imports for more than 18 months.
• The RBI regularly undertakes various measures to diversify the currency reserves of the country by increasing operations in the Forex swap and repo markets, exploring new markets or products and purchasing of gold. All this is done while adhering to liquidity and safety criteria.
• The RBI’s intervention in the foreign exchange market to smooth out valuation changes due to movement of the US dollar against other international currencies in the reserve basket, exchange rate volatility, movement in gold prices, inflow of aid receipts and interest earnings from the deployment of foreign currency assets are the main causes for the variation in the country’s Forex reserves.
• A rising foreign exchange reserves which is accompanied by current account deficit shows a balance of payments surplus.

WHY IN NEWS?

From 12 to 14 July, 2021 the BRICS meeting on Contact Group on Economic and Trade Issues (CGETI) was held.

About:

• During the three day CGETI meeting, the BRICS members deliberated on the proposals which were circulated by India. These proposals were mainly for increasing and strengthening the intra-BRICS trade and cooperation was said by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Proposals made by India

The proposals put forward by India are

• Cooperation of BRICS regarding Multilateral Trading System.
• A framework to ensure Consumer Protection in E-Commerce.
• For SPS/TBT measures, Non-Tariff Measures resolution mechanism.
• Working Mechanism on Phytosanitary and Sanitary.
• A Framework of BRICS regarding Cooperation in the Professional Services.

WHY IN NEWS?

IOC, India’s largest oil firm will build the country’s first ‘green hydrogen’ plant at its refinery in Mathura. This decision has been undertaken with the view of preparing for a future to cater to the growing demands cleaner forms of energy.

About:

• This project will be the India’s first ever green hydrogen unit.
• Earlier, ‘grey hydrogen’ production projects have been announced making use of fossil fuels such as natural gas.
• Several hydrogen production units are being planned to be set up by IOC.
• With Hydrogen fuel cell powered buses are plying on the road it will be essential to set up hydrogen power plants.

WHY IN NEWS?

Russia announced that it had successfully test-fired S-500 its new air defence missile systems at a southern training range of the country and had successfully hit a high-speed ballistic target.

S-500 air defence missile systems

Russia announced that the S-500 is the most advanced anti-missile system in the world and is expected to have a range of 600km. This missile system is also capable of countering attacks from the space. This missile system was test fired in the Kapustin Yar training ground and live fire exercises were conducted. The missiles successfully hit a high-speed ballistic target. After tests are successfully completed the first S-500 systems which are also named the Triumfator-M and Prometheus will be placed at an air defence unit outside the city of Moscow.

Development of the S-500 air defence missile system

The development of this missile system is years behind schedule. The military had earlier announced that the army would begin receiving the first S-500 systems in the year 2020. Almaz-Anty, the maker of the systems announced in April that it was nearing completion