The Supreme Court approved an ex-gratia payment of Rs. 50,000 to families of those who died from COVID-19 or suicide due to COVID-19. The amount must be disbursed within 30 days from application through state disaster response funds. The court also directed the government to simplify death certification processes during the pandemic. David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian were awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in Medicine for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch. Their work has allowed for a better understanding of how heat, cold, and touch initiate nerve impulses and is being used to develop treatments for chronic pain conditions. The Pandora Papers exposed leaked files from offshore corporate services firms setting up over

1. CURRENT AFFAIRS
4 OCTOBER 2021
Dr.A.PRABAHARAN
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2. Supreme Court approves ex-gratia policy of Rs
50,000 to people who died of COVID-19
• The Supreme Court on October 4, 2021, approved the ex-gratia policy
of Rs 50,000 to families of people who died due to COVID-19 or
committed suicide due to COVID-19.
• The approved amount will be disbursed through the disaster response
funds in each state within 30 days of application, ruled the Supreme
Court.
• The Apex court also applauded the schemes by the Centre for helping
and offering compensation to the families of those who lost their
members due to COVID-19.
• After hearing two petitions by Advocates Reepak Kansal and Gaurav
Kumar Bansal, the Supreme Court directed the National Disaster
Management Authority (NDMA) to look into the question of providing
ex-gratia to the next of kin of the deceased.
• The Supreme Court also asked the government to form guidelines for
granting ex-gratia to the families of people who died due to COVID-
19.
• The Court has also asked to simplify the process of obtaining death
certificates for those who passed away during the pandemic.
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3. Nobel Prize in Medicine 2021 jointly awarded to
David Julius, Ardem Patapoutian
• The Nobel Prize in Medicine 2021 has been awarded to David
Julius, Ardem Patapoutian on October 4, 2021, for the discoveries
on receptors for temperature and touch.
• Both the scientists are from the United States.
• The Nobel jury while announcing the winners said, “The
groundbreaking discoveries…by this year’s Nobel Prize laureates
have allowed us to understand how heat, cold and mechanical
force can initiate the nerve impulses that allow us to perceive and
adapt to the world.”
• The Nobel prize panel noted that the intensive ongoing research
originating from this year’s Nobel Prize awarded discoveries focuses
on elucidating their functions in a variety of physiological
processes.
• This knowledge is being used to develop treatments for a range of
disease conditions, including chronic pain.
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4. What is the Pandora Papers exposé which names
380 Indians with hidden wealth?
• The Pandora Papers are the 11.9 million leaked files from 14
global corporate services firms that have set up approximately
29,000 secret offshore companies and private trusts to hide their
wealth.
• These leaked Pandora Papers reveal hidden wealth tax, money
laundering, and tax avoidance by some of the world’s rich and
powerful.
• The Pandora Papers include about 380 persons of Indian
nationality. The Pandora Papers is an ongoing investigation.
However, if the concept of trusts is legal in India, then what is
the investigation about Pandora Papers.
• The Pandora Papers includes files from global corporate services
firms who have set up secret offshore companies and private
trusts in jurisdictions that are loosely regulated by tax laws but
have highly tight secrecy laws and countries including the US,
New Zealand, Singapore, Belize, Samoa, the British Virgin
Islands, Panama.
• The Pandora Papers include assets in secrete offshore companies
such as real estate properties, shareholding, and cash.
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5. When and How can one renounce Indian Citizenship?
Home Ministry notifies simplified rules
• In a bid to simplify the renunciation of Indian
citizenship, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on
September 16, 2021, issued new guidelines for
applicants to upload documents online with an upper
limit of 60 days for the completion of the
renunciation process.
• Between 2015 to 2019, more than 6.7 lakh Indians
renounced their Indian citizenship, the Lok Sabha was
informed in February 2021.
• The year-wise break-up of the number of Indians
renounced their citizenship is 1,41,656 (2015),
1,44,942 (2016), 1,27,905 (2017), 1,25,130 (2018),
and 1,36,441 (2019).
• The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has issued new
guidelines to renounce Indian citizenship to ‘reduce
the compliance burden’, simplify the process of
renunciation of Indian citizenship, and check
fraudulent documents.
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6. Mitra Shakti: India, Sri Lanka begin 12-day military exercise, to
focus on counter-terror cooperation
• India and Sri Lanka on October 4, 2021, began a 12-
day mega military exercise at the Combat Training
School in the Eastern district of Ampara, Sri Lanka.
• The focus of the exercise between the two nations
will be to enhance counter-terror cooperation.
• The Sri Lanka Army said that the 8th edition of
the Mitra Shakti exercise between India and Sri Lanka
from October 4 to October 15 got underway with the
participation of an all arms contingent of 120 Indian
Army personnel, headed by Colonel Prakash Kumar.
• As per the tweet, the Indian Army contingent reached
Sri Lanka on October 3, 2021, to participate in the
Mira Shakti exercise. The Indian Army contingent
received a traditional welcome from the Sri Lankan
Army.
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