{"id":14886,"date":"2021-04-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-21T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/current_affairs\/uncategorized\/21-04-2021\/facts-in-news-131\/"},"modified":"2021-04-21T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-04-21T00:00:00","slug":"facts-in-news-131","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/21-04-2021\/facts-in-news-131","title":{"rendered":"Facts in News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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Facts in News<\/span><\/u><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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Vande Bharat Mission (VBM)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n<\/td>\n

\n
    \n
  • It was started by the Indian government on 6th<\/sup> May 2020<\/strong> in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic <\/strong>and resultant lockdowns<\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
  • Under it, Air India and private Indian carriers<\/strong> have been operating unscheduled repatriation flights for Indians stuck abroad<\/strong> during the pandemic.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
  • It has turned out to be one of the largest evacuations of civilians<\/strong> by a country.<\/span><\/span>\n
      \n
    • Into the middle of Phase 10, it surpassed <\/strong>the large-scale airlift of 1,10,000 people in 1990 at the onset of the Gulf War<\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
    • The Gulf War (August 1990-February 1991) was an international conflict<\/strong> that erupted after Iraq invaded neighbouring Kuwait<\/strong> and the US and its allies had to force Iraq out<\/strong> of Kuwait.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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RESPOND Programme<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n<\/td>\n

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    \n
  • The Indian Space Research Organisation<\/strong> (ISRO) started the RESPOND (Sponsored Research) programme<\/strong> in the 1970s<\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
  • Objective<\/strong><\/span><\/span>\n
      \n
    • To establish strong links with premiere academic institutions in the country.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
    • To encourage academia to participate, contribute and carry out R&D projects relevant to Space.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
    • To enhance academic base, generate quality human resources and infrastructure.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
    • It provides necessary financial and technical support <\/strong>for activities related to Space Science, Space Technology and Space Applications.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
    • A detailed list of R&D areas\/sub areas\/topics<\/strong> have been evolved <\/strong>as per major programmes of ISRO, by the various centres of ISRO which are published annually<\/strong>. <\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
    • It is mutually beneficial to ISRO and Academia<\/strong>, wherein the rich talent of Academia\/faculty is being harnessed to support the nation\u2019s Space programmes.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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US Defense Production Act<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n<\/td>\n

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    \n
  • It is an emergency law<\/strong> that requires domestic manufacturers to prioritize federal <\/strong>(central) government purchase orders<\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
  • It is the primary source of presidential authorities<\/strong> to expedite and expand the supply of materials and services from the US industrial base needed to promote the national defense.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
  • It has been used by the US to expand domestic vaccine manufacturing and prioritize the supplies<\/strong>, in the wake of the Covid-19.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
  • This act has been evoked by both Joe Biden<\/strong>, putting an embargo on raw materials<\/strong> to assist the production of Covid-19 vaccines.<\/span><\/span>\n
      \n
    • The Serum Institute of India\u2019s<\/strong> (SII) Covishield <\/strong>uses bioreactor bags from US<\/strong> firms to grow cells for their vaccines.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
    • It also uses filters<\/strong>, microcarrier beads<\/strong> and cell culture media<\/strong>, all of which are in short supply.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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Boao Forum for Asia (BFA)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/h3>\n<\/td>\n

\n
    \n
  • It is an international organization jointly initiated by 29 member states. <\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
  • It holds its annual conference in Boao, Hainan on a regular basis. <\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
  • It is Headquartered in China.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
  • The first conference of BFA was held in, 2001in Boao, Hainan Province, China<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
  • Objectives –<\/strong><\/span><\/span>\n
      \n
    • To promote economic integration in Asia.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
    • To pool positive energy for the development of Asia and the world.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
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Bru community <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/h3>\n<\/td>\n

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    \n
  • The Brus or Reangs is a community indigenous to the Northeast, living mostly in Tripura, Mizoram, and Assam<\/strong>.<\/span><\/span>\n
      \n
    • \u00a0In Tripura, they are recognised as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group.<\/span><\/span>\n
        \n
      • It is a classification by the Government for more vulnerable tribes<\/strong> among the tribal groups.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
      • The tribe has a declining or stagnant population, low level of literacy, pre-agricultural level of technology and are economically backward.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
      • They generally inhabit remote localities having poor infrastructure and administrative support.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
      • In Mizoram, they were targeted by ethnic organisations who demanded that the Brus be excluded from electoral rolls.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
      • A four-party agreement was signed in 2020, between the Centre, the Mizoram government, the Tripura government<\/strong>, and an apex body of the internally displaced Brus<\/strong> in the presence of the Home Minister to arrive at a solution for the Bru repatriation issue.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
      • \u00a0This agreement will allow the displaced refugees to permanently settle in Tripura.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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Britcoin<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/h3>\n<\/td>\n

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    \n
  • The term Britcoin refers to a cryptocurrency.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
  • \u00a0It is a Bank of England (BoE) or central bank-backed digital currency.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
  • It is aimed at tackling some of the challenges posed by cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin<\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
  • The new currency, if it comes to pass, would be a new form of digital money for use by households and businesses and would exist alongside cash and bank deposits, rather than replacing them.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Cryptocurrency<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    • It is a digital or virtual<\/strong> currency that is secured by cryptography, which makes it nearly impossible to counterfeit or double-spend. <\/strong>. <\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
    • It is supported by a decentralized peer-to-peer network called the blockchain. Blockchain technology ensures that all transactions in cryptocurrencies are recorded in a public financial transaction database. <\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      \u00a0 Facts in News Vande Bharat Mission (VBM) It was started by the Indian government on 6th May 2020 in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and resultant lockdowns. Under it, Air India and private Indian carriers have been operating unscheduled repatriation flights for Indians stuck abroad during the pandemic. It has turned out to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[30,26,25,42,29],"class_list":["post-14886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs","tag-gs-2","tag-gs-3","tag-gs1","tag-literature","tag-thehindu"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2023\/07\/52920current-affairs.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}