23 august 2021 current affairs

1. CURRENT AFFAIRS
23 AUGUST 2021
Dr.A.PRABAHARAN

2. For first time, Indian Army promotes five women
officers to Colonel Time Scale rank
 The Indian Army’s Selection Board for the first time promoted five
women officers to Colonel rank, post their completion of 26 years
of service.
 The women officers promoted to Colonel Time Scale rank are Lt
Col Navneet Duggal and Lt Col Sonia Anand from the Corps of
Electronics and Mechanical Engineers (EME), Lt Col Sangeeta
Sardana from Corps of Signals, and Lt Col Ritcha Sagar and Lt Col
Reenu Khanna from the Corps of Engineers.
 Earlier, only women officers serving in the Army Education Corps
(AEC), Judge Advocate General (JAG), and the Army Medical
Corps (AMC) were applicable for promotion to the Colonel Time
Scale rank.
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3. What is National Monetization Pipeline
2021?
 The National Monetisation Pipeline comprises a four-year pipeline
of the Central Government's brownfield infrastructure assets. It will
serve as a medium-term roadmap for the Asset Monetisation
initiative of Centre, besides providing visibility to the investors.
 The Finance Ministry stated, "The National Monetisation Pipeline
(NMP) estimates aggregate monetization potential of Rs 6 lakh
crores through core assets of the Central Govt, over a 4-year
period, from FY 2022 to FY 2025."
 The Ministry added,"Ministries of Roads, Transport & Highways,
Railways, Power, Pipeline & Natural Gas, Civil Aviation, Shipping
Ports & Waterways, Telecommunications, Food & Public
Distribution, Mining, Coal & Housing & Urban Affairs are included
in National Monetisation Pipeline."
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4. Researchers identify Covid antibody that protects against wide
range of variants
 Researchers have identified a COVID antibody that provides
protection against a wide range of COVID-19 variants.
 The Covid antibody works by attaching to a part of the virus
that differs a little across the variants. As per researchers, this
means that it is unlikely for resistance to arise at this spot.
 The identified antibody is highly protective at low doses
against a wide range of variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that
causes Covid-19. The findings were posted in the journal
Immunity.
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5. India’s first smog tower inaugurated in
Delhi
 The Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal on August 23, 2021,
inaugurated India’s first smog tower at Connaught Place in
Delhi.
 While speaking at the inaugural event, the Chief Minister
informed that to fight pollution, the government has installed
India’s first smog tower in the National Capital. The technology
has been imported from the United States and will clean the air
of the one-kilometer range.
 Chief Minister of Delhi further said that the tower has been set
up as a pilot project and that the initial trends will be available
within a month. If the project will be successful, more smog
towers will be installed in the city.
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6. ARMY-2021: DRDO to showcase India’s
Defence technology in Moscow
 The Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) is
participating in the International Military-Technical Forum ‘ARMY-
2021’ at Kubinka, Moscow, from August 22 to 28, 2021.
 At the forum ARMY-2021, DRDO will showcase its indigenously built
fighter aircraft LCA Tejas, Arjun Main Battle Tank (MK1A), Anti-Tank
Guided Missiles among other products at the India Pavillion during
the event.
 Dr NK Arya, Director, Directorate of Public Interface (DPI), DRDO
said, “India has a huge potential in terms of export of Defence
systems.”
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7. India, Russia sign deal to procure 70,000
AK-203 Assault Rifles
 India and Russia on August 19, 2021 signed a deal for the immediate
procurement of 70,000 AK-200 series assault rifles.
 The agreement was signed at a time when both countries are working
on a bigger project to jointly manufacture 6 lakh AK-203 rifles in India.
The deal for the same has been pending since 2018.
 India's initial plan was to directly import 20,000 of the 7.62×39mm AK-
203 rifle and jointly manufacture around 6.5 lakh such rifles in India.
 Due to delay in delay in joint production, there is an immediate need
to procure the rifles off the shelf. The off-the-shelf equipment could
include multiple variants of the AK-200 series, as the basic difference is
the accessories that are fitted to the rifle.
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8. ZyCoV-D: Zydus Cadila to begin vaccine trials for
children aged 3-12 years
 Zydus Cadila’s Managing Director Dr Sharvil Patel on August 21, 2021,
announced that the company will now apply for COVID-19 vaccine trials in
children aged 3 years to 12 years old in the next 7 to 10 days.
 On availability of the three-dose ZyCoV-D vaccine, Patel informed that the
vaccine roll-out could begin by mid or end of October 2021. He also
mentioned Zydus Cadila’s two-shot vaccine and said that the company is in
talks with SECC and regulators on the steps to build its two-dose vaccine.
 Zydus Cadila’s ZyCoV-D, the world’s first plasmid-DNA three-dose COVID-
19 vaccine on August 20, 2021, had received Emergency-Use Authorization
(EUA) from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) to be
administered in children 12 years old and above.
 Gujarat-based Zydus Cadila’s ZyCoV-D vaccine is now India’s first vaccine
to inoculate the age group of 12 to 18 years against COVID-19. Patel
mentioned that 1,400 adolescents in the age group 12 to 18 years had
participated in the vaccine trials for children during which no severe side
effects were reported.
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9. Evidence of solar-driven change found on moon
 Asteroid impacts and solar radiation affects the moon in unique
ways as it lacks the protective magnetic field and the atmosphere
that protect us here on the Earth.
 Both the asteroids and solar radiation break down the lunar rocks
and soil, forming iron nanoparticles that are detectable from the
instruments on satellites orbiting the moon.
 The data from NASA and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
(JAXA) spacecraft was used to understand how quickly the iron
nanoparticles form on the moon over time.
 As per Tai Udovicic, it was thought for a long time that solar wind
has a small effect on lunar surface evolution, when in fact it may be
the most significant process producing iron nanoparticles.
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10. What is Caste Census and why Nitish Kumar led 10-
party delegation is demanding it now?
 Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led ten parties delegation including
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Janata Dal (JD), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), and
others on August 23, 2021, has arrived at South Block to meet PM Narendra
Modi to demand caste-based census.
 The Registrar General of India and Census Commissioner Vivek Joshi said
that the integrity of the Census exercise will be affected adversely if the
enumeration of OBCs, SEBs is taken up hence it has been decided to not
take it up in Census 2021.
 •Joshi further stated procedural issues wherein the current total number of
OBCs in India at 6,285 in the Central list will go up to 7,200 if we start taking
the list prepared by the States and Union Territories (UTs).
 The procedure will further lead to misclassification of the castes as people
use their clan, gotra, sub-castes, and castes names interchangeably and
phonetic similarities in the names.
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11. India to add 100 more earthquake
observatories by 2026
 Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh said on August 21,
2021, that India will add 100 more observatories by 2026. The
minister also informed that the country is going to have 35 more
earthquake observatories by the end of this year.
 While addressing the inaugural ceremony of the Joint Scientific
Assembly of International Association of Geomagnetism and
Aeronomy (IAGA)- International Association of Seismology and
Physics of the Earth’s Interior (IASPEI), the minister said that India
has been considered as one of the world’s most disaster-prone
areas in terms of landslides, earthquakes, floods, cyclones, and
tsunamis and that the government has been taking all the
necessary steps to meet these challenges.
 The Union Minister further informed that India is going to have 35
more earthquake observatories by the end of 2021 and 100 more
such observatories in the next 5 years.
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12. World Athletics U20 Championships:
India's Shaili Singh wins silver in long jump, misses gold by 1cm
 India's Shaili Singh won the silver medal in the women's long jump
event at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Nairobi on
August 22, 2021.
 Shaili Singh jumped a distance of 6.59m in her third attempt, which
was her best show at the event. She won the silver medal, narrowly
missing the gold.
 Sweden's Maja Askag won the gold with a jump of 6.60m, while
Ukraine's Mariia Horielova settled for bronze with a jump of 6.50m.
 This is India's third medal at the World Athletics U20
Championships, after a bronze in the 4x400m mixed relay and Amit
Khatri's silver in 10,000m racewalking event.
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13. US President Joe Biden hopes to conclude ‘heartbreaking’
evacuation from Afghanistan by August 31
 The President of the United States on August 22, 2021, said that
he hopes to complete the ‘heartbreaking’ evacuation from
Afghanistan by the end of August but he warned of the potential
terrorist attack against the crowded Kabul airport.
 As the number of evacuees from war-torn Afghanistan steadily
rose, Biden said that he has been aiming to complete the task by
August 31 despite a volatile situation on the ground and the
enormous logistical difficulties.
 The mentioned date is also agreed with the Taliban.
 While speaking at the White House about the heartbreaking
scenes at Kabul airport, where people can be seen trying to
climb and running behind the US plane to leave the country, said
that he hopes that we will not have to extend.
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14. COVID-19 Third Wave may peak in October, pediatric
facilities nowhere close: MHA Panel
 COVID-19 third wave could peak around October and children
may be at a similar risk as adults, as per an expert committee
constituted by the Home Affairs Ministry under the National
Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM).
 The expert committee has sought better medical preparedness for
children while noting that pediatric facilities including staff, doctors
and equipment like ventilators and ambulances are nowhere close
to what may be required in case a large number of children
become infected.
 The committee's report titled “Third Wave Preparedness: Children
Vulnerability and Recovery" has been submitted to the Prime
Ministers' Office. The report mainly studied the possibility of
COVID affecting children and required strategies to deal with the
looming third wave.
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