Important Current Affairs 11th March 2021

INTERNATIONAL

Switzerland votes to ban full face coverings in public places

•Switzerland has voted in favour of a proposal banning full facial coverings including the burqa and niqab in almost all public places. In the public referendum, around 51.21 per cent of voters voted in support of the controversial proposal. The vote means that full facial covering will be banned in all publicly accessible places in Switzerland including on the streets, public transport, in public offices such as restaurants, shops and in the countryside.

•The full-face covering will be allowed in places of worship and other sacred sites. It will also be allowed for health and safety reasons and in situations where it is a local custom such as carnivals.

•According to the proposal by the Swiss Federal Government, there will be no additional exceptions such as for tourists.

•France was the first European nation to ban burqas and niqabs in public places in 2011. The European Court of Human Rights had upheld the ban in 2014.

Economic Freedom Index 2021 announced

•The Heritage Foundation, a US Conservative think-tank, recently launched the “Economic Freedom Index”. The index was prepared by covering 184 countries this time for the period of July 2019 to June 2020. This is the first time the index has been published since the COVID-19 pandemic overturned lives as well as global economies and the scoring reflects a small extent how governments have responded to the health crisis.

•In the index, Singapore has topped the global ranking for the second consecutive year. In the 2021 Index, India came in around the middle of the pack among Asia-Pacific countries ranking 26th out of 40 countries, scoring 56.5 points. Globally, the Foundation rates India’s economy as the 121st freest. Although its overall score is unchanged, improvements were made in business freedom. This was offset by declines in judicial effectiveness and other scores.

Index

• Rank 1: Singapore

• Rank 2: New Zealand

• Rank 3: Australia

• Rank 4: Switzerland

• Rank 5: Ireland

•The biggest news generated from the “2021 Index of Economic Freedom” was however not the rankings or how COVID-19 impacted the scores but that The Heritage Foundation decided to exclude Hong Kong from its rankings for the first time ever.

•The Heritage Foundation said that the reason for leaving Hong Kong out is that the Special Administrative Region and its economic policies have now come under the direct control of Beijing.

NATIONAL

PM Narendra Modi inaugurates ‘Maitri Setu’ between India and Bangladesh

•Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has inaugurated the ‘Maitri Setu’ bridge between India and Bangladesh through a video conference, to strengthen the connectivity between both countries and especially with the north-eastern region of India. Maitri bridge will also make Tripura the ‘Gateway of North East’ with access to Chittagong Port of Bangladesh, which is just 80 km from the Sabroom.

•The Maitri Setu bridge has been built on the Feni river, which lies between the Indian boundary in Tripura and Bangladesh.

•The 1.9 Kilometres long bridge will connect Sabroom in India with Ramgarh in Bangladesh.

•The bridge has been constructed by the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited at a project cost of around Rs. 133 Crore.

Jammu and Kashmir launches Super-75 Scholarship Scheme

•The Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has launched “Super-75” scholarship schemes for meritorious girls, on the occasion of International Women’s Day 2021. The basic aim of this scholarship scheme is to facilitate the education and entrepreneurship of women.

•The super-75 scholarship scheme will support the education of meritorious girls from poor families, so that they can excel in streams like medicine, engineering, ITI (Industrial training institutes) and humanity and contribute to nation-building.

•Apart from this, Lt Governor Sinha also announced a new scheme named ‘Tejaswini’. This scheme has been launched under ‘Mission Youth-J&K’.

•Under Tejaswini, financial assistance of Rs 5 lakhs will be provided to the girls between the age group of 18 to 35 years to start their business.

SPORTS

Koneru Humpy is BBC’s Indian sportswoman of the year

•World rapid chess champion Koneru Humpy has won the BBC Indian Sportswoman-of-the-Year award. BBC director-general Tim Davie, hosting the virtual awards ceremony. The Lifetime Achievement award went to veteran athlete Anju Bobby George.

•English cricket star Ben Stokes announced the 19-year-old Indian Shooter, Manu Bhaker as the winner of the Emerging Player-of-the-Year award category. Bhaker, won two golds at the ISSF World Cup in 2018, followed by gold at the Youth Olympics and a Commonwealth Games gold with a record to boot.

Ashwin, Beaumont Win ICC Player of Month Awards for February

•India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was awarded the ICC Player of the Month award for February, the International Cricket Council (ICC). Ashwin beat England captain Joe Root and West Indies’ Kyle Mayers to the award. Ashwin played a crucial role with bat and ball as India raced to a 2-1 lead over England in their four-match Test series in February before eventually winning the series 3-1 in March. He was the highest wicket-taker in the series with 32 scalps and scored a century in the second Test in Chennai.

•Meanwhile, England opener Tammy Beaumont won the ICC Women’s Player of the Month for February. Beaumont was the overwhelming winner after she played three ODIs in February against New Zealand where she passed fifty in each of these, totalling 231 runs. She beat her teammate Natalie Sciver and New Zealand’s Brooke Halliday to the award.

India-New Zealand World Test Championship final in Southampton

•India will play their inaugural World Test Championship final against New Zealand at Southampton's Ageas Bowl Stadium, England from June 18-22.

•Initially, the final was supposed to be held at the Lord's but Southampton, with a five-star facility inside the stadium, will make it easier for both the ICC and the England and Wales Cricket Board to create a bio-bubble for the two teams.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Indian Navy’s ‘silent killer’ INS Karanj commissioned

•The Indian Navy got its third Scorpene submarine, commissioned as INS Karanj, of Project P-75 in Mumbai. With the delivery of Karanj, India further cemented its position as a submarine-building nation. Mazagon Dock Ltd (MDL), one of India’s leading shipyards with the capacity and the capability to meet the requirements and aspirations of the Indian Navy.  Before Karanj, INS Kalvari and INS Khanderi have been commissioned in the Indian Navy in 2017 and 2019, respectively.

•Karanj is seen as a small submarine having a length of 60 metres.

•It’s equipped with the best sensors in the world.

•Weapon package includes sufficient wire-guided torpedoes and sub-surface to surface missiles to neutralise a large enemy fleet. For self-defence, it has a state-of-the-art torpedo-decoy system.

•It is fitted with an integrated platform management system to provide centralised propulsion and machinery control. The powerful diesel engines can quickly charge batteries for a stealthy mission profile.

•It is fitted with a permanent magnet synchronous motor, making it one of the quietest submarines in the world.

•Its modular construction enables up-gradation to air-independent propulsion in future.

APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATIONS

Tirath Singh Rawat becomes new Chief Minister of U’khand

•The Bharatiya Janata Party’s member of Parliament from Pauri Garhwal, Tirath Singh Rawat, will be the next chief minister of Uttarakhand. This was announced by outgoing chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, who resigned. Tirath Singh Rawat will be sworn in as the new chief minister of Uttrakhand.

•Tirath Singh Rawat was the chief of the party in Uttarakhand in 2013-15 and also an MLA from the state in the past. His name was picked over prominent candidates including Union Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Uttarakhand Minister Dhan Singh Rawat.

BANKING AND ECONOMY

Delhi govt presents Rs 69000 Cr ‘Deshbhakti’ Budget

•The Delhi government presented a Rs 69,000-crore budget themed on ‘patriotism’ or ‘Deshbhakti’ for the financial year 2021-22. The budget was presented by the Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia. While presenting the budget, he announced that the government has decided to celebrate the 75th Independence Day of India. The Delhi government will hold programmes from March 12, 2021, which will last for 75 weeks.

•The government has proposed to allocate Rupees 45 crores in order to install high masts so as to hoist the national flag at 500 places in Delhi.

•An outlay of Rs 50 crores made under ‘Aam Aadmi Nishulk COVID Vaccine Yojana. It announced free Covid-19 vaccination to all in its hospitals in the coming phases of the ongoing inoculation drive.

•The budget highlights that the government seeks to increase the per capita income of Delhi in order to reach the level of Singapore by the year 2047.

•The government will also allocate rupees 10 crores for the programmes on Bhagat Singh’s life during the Deshbhakti celebrations.

•This year’s budget accounts for the budget outlay of more than 6.1 per cent than the budget presented for financial 2020-21.