Important Current Affairs 29th July 2021

INTERNATIONAL

Brazil’s site received UNESCO World Heritage status

•The Sitio Burle Marx site, a landscape garden in Brazilian city Rio de Janeiro has been added to UNESCO’s list of World Heritage sites. The garden features more than 3,500 species of plants native to Rio and is considered a laboratory for botanical and landscape experimentation.

•The site has been named after Burle Marx, a Brazilian landscape architect whose designs of parks and gardens made him world-famous. The Sitio Burle Marx site was his home until 1985.

NATIONAL

Government will set up center for animation, visual effects, gaming

•The Union Government has decided to set up a National Centre of Excellence for Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics for creating a world-class talent pool in India to cater to the Indian as well as a global industry. It will be set up in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. Minister of Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur said this in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.

•In order to support skilled manpower in the animation and VFX sector, Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute and Film and Television Institute of India run courses on Animation and VFX. The Minister also informed that India has also audio-visual co-production treaties with 15 countries.

Madhya Pradesh government made ‘Devaranya’ scheme

•In order to promote AYUSH in Madhya Pradesh and to link it with employment, the government has made the ‘Devaranya’ scheme. The scheme has been made to provide employment to the people living in the tribal areas of the state. A complete value chain for the production of AYUSH medicines will be developed in the state through Devarnya Yojana. Self-help groups will also play an important role in this work.

•In this, Agriculture Producer Organization, AYUSH Department, Forest Department, Rural Development Department, Horticulture Department, Tourism Department, Agriculture Department, Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Department, Industrial Policy and Investment Promotion Department and Tribal Affairs Department will work together in mission mode. For this, medicinal plants should be cultivated in the beautiful plains of the villages.  AYUSH and tourism will be brought together.

Puri becomes India’s first city to provide quality drinking tap water on 24 hour basis

•Puri has become the first city in India where people can avail high-quality drinking water directly from the tap on a 24-hour basis. It has enabled the people of Puri to collect quality drinking water directly from the tap. Henceforth, people need not have to store or filter drinking water.

•The project would benefit 2.5 lakh citizens of Puri and 2 crore tourists who visit the tourist place every year. They need not have to move around with water bottles. Puri would no more be burdened with 400 metric tonnes of plastic waste. Water fountains have been developed at 400 locations in Puri.

Indore selected for International Clean Air Catalyst Programme

•The Indore city of Madhya Pradesh, or the cleanest city of India, has become the only city from the country to be selected for International Clean Air Catalyst Programme. The project will be operated for a period of five years to purify the air in the city with the cooperation of Indore Municipal Corporation and Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board. Under the project, USAID and partners will work with local communities to better understand local pollution sources and identify, test, accelerate, and scale solutions for cleaner, healthier air.

•Clean Air Catalyst is a new flagship programme launched by The US Agency for International Development (USAID) and a global consortium of organisations, led by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) to combat air pollution in low and middle-income countries by accelerating clean air solutions.

SPORTS

Momiji Nishiya youngest gold medal winners in Olympic

•Japan’s Momiji Nishiya became one of the youngest individual Olympic champions in history when she won the inaugural women’s skateboarding gold at the age of 13 years and 330 days. Rayssa Leal (13 years and 203 days) of Brazil won silver and Funa Nakayama (16 years) of Japan clinched the bronze.

•The youngest gold medalist was Team USA’s Marjorie Gestring at the 1936 games in Berlin. Gestring, only 13 years and 268 days old at the time, won gold in the women’s diving competition.

APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATIONS

(BSF)’s (DG) Rakesh Asthana appointed as Delhi Police Commissioner

•Border Security Force (BSF) Director General (DG), Rakesh Asthana has been appointed as the Delhi Police Commissioner, with immediate effect. His appointment comes just three days before his superannuation on July 31, 2021. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has extended Asthana’s service initially for a period of one year beyond the date of his superannuation or until further order, whichever is earlier.

•Asthana, a 1984-batch IPS officer, had earlier served as the Special Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation. He was the Narcotics Control Bureau chief when actor Rhea Chakraborty was arrested in a drugs case in Mumbai. During his stint in the CBI in 2018,  Ashtana was engaged in an unsavoury spat with the then CBI Director Alok Verma. Both the officers were removed from the central probe agency and Asthana was subsequently cleared of the charges.

IMPORTANT DAYS

International Tiger Day 2021: 29th  July

•Global Tiger Day or International Tiger Day is observed on 29th July every year to raise awareness about the declining population of wild cats and making efforts to conserve them. The goal of the day is to promote a global system for protecting the natural habitats of tigers and to raise public awareness and support for tiger conservation issues. This year marks the 11th International Tiger Day.

•The theme/Slogan for the 2021 International Tiger Day celebration is “Their Survival is in our hands”.

•The Global Tiger Day came into being during the signing of the Saint Petersburg declaration by 13 tiger range countries in 2010 in Russia. The governments of these tiger range countries had resolved to encourage the conservation, protecting natural habitats and double the number of tigers by 2022. Poaching and the illegal trade of tiger body parts like bone, the skin has posed the biggest threat to wild tigers. The demand for tiger body parts has increased the poaching and trafficking of wild cats.

BANKING AND ECONOMY

Reserve Bank of India is working plans digital currency pilots soon

•The Reserve Bank of India is currently working on a phased implementation strategy for its own digital currency, Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), and will launch it in the wholesale and retail segments soon. India is already a leader in digital payments, but cash remains dominant for small-value transactions. RBI is currently examining the scope of CBDCs, the underlying technology, the validation mechanism, distribution architecture and degree of anonymity etc.

•The primary idea for the RBI is to protect consumers from the appalling level of volatility seen in some or many of the virtual currencies that have no sovereign backing. Though the phased rollout of digital currency augurs well for India, it will come with its own challenges.

•Digital currencies are gaining more and more traction by the day, and there are countries that have launched or are going to be launching digital currencies, including Ecuador, Tunisia, Senegal, Sweden, Estonia, China, Russia, Japan, Venezuela, and Israel.