Current Affairs - 2019-20

Notes:
West Bengal Government launches “Karmabhumi”, a job portal to help IT, professionals in June 2020. A web portal will act as a medium between the professionals and IT companies in Bengal. There are around 700 IT and ITeS companies at Salt Lake Sector V and Rajarhat where at present around 2.5 lakh people work. IT professionals now connect to IT companies of Bengal through karmabhumi.nltr.org.

Notes:
On March 5, 2020, The International Conference on Nano Science and Technology 2020 (ICONSAT) was held at Biswa Bangla Conventional Centre, Kolkata. The event was supported by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) & organized by S.N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Kolkata. The conference was held from March 5 to 7,2020. The conference provides a platform for the young researchers &students from within the country and abroad, with the latest development in the emerging areas of Nano Science and Technology.

Notes:
Two companies– Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech continue to advance the development of a variant-specific vaccine for Omicron and expect to have it available by March in the event that an adaption is needed to further increase the level and duration of protection– with no change expected to the companies’ four billion dose capacity for 2022.

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21st Century Fox was acquired by Disney on March 20, 2019. The acquisition also included Fox Networks Group’s 20th Century Fox film and television studios.

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Operation Turtshield, launched by the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau and West Bengal Forest Department, targets the smuggling of protected turtle species in India. The Soft Shell Turtle is classified as threatened by the IUCN, while the Indian Flapshell Turtle is “Least Concern” and the Indian Peacock Softshell Turtle is “Vulnerable.” The latter is protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act and Appendix I of CITES. Operation Save Kurma addresses illegal trade in live turtles and has received a Certificate of Commendation from CITES for its enforcement efforts. Operation Thunderbird, coordinated by WCCB, is part of INTERPOL’s multi-national wildlife enforcement initiative. Operation Soft Gold focused on illegal trade of Tibetan antelope (Shahtoosh) from October 2018 to March 2019.

Notes:
The Jal Jeevan Mission, launched by the Ministry of Jal Shakti in 2019, aims to provide piped drinking water to all rural households in India by 2024. A key component is the Paani Samiti, a village water and sanitation committee with 10 to 15 members, at least half of whom are women. The Paani Samiti prepares a village action plan, which requires approval from the Gram Sabha for implementation.

Notes:
Log4Shell is a vulnerability in Apache Log4j 2 (CVE-2021-44228) that allows remote control of devices running affected versions. Injection flaws occur when attackers exploit unfiltered data to compromise databases or directories linked to web applications. Broken authentication enables attackers to gain unauthorized access and permissions, posing significant risks to web apps. Cross-site scripting (XSS) involves injecting malicious code into legitimate sites to exploit users’ browsers, potentially accessing sensitive data and functions through social engineering tactics.

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Toyota is collaborating with Japan’s space agency to develop the Lunar Cruiser, a vehicle for lunar exploration aimed at supporting human habitation on the moon by 2040 and eventually Mars. The launch is planned for the late 2020s.

Notes:
The Black Budget of 1973-74, presented by Yashwantrao B Chavan, had a fiscal deficit of Rs 550 crore. The Carrot & Stick Budget by VP Singh in 1986 aimed to dismantle the licence raj, introducing MODVAT and targeting smugglers and tax evaders. Manmohan Singh’s 1991 Epochal Budget ended the licence raj, slashing customs duty from 220% to 150% amid an economic crisis. The 1997-98 Dream Budget by P Chidambaram utilized the Laffer Curve, reducing tax rates and customs duties while promoting tax reforms. Yashwant Sinha’s Millennium Budget in 2000 supported the IT industry by lowering customs duties on tech items. The 2002-03 Rollback Budget, also by Sinha, saw several proposals withdrawn.

Notes:
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), in November 2017, announced plans to launch ‘Aditya-L1’, the first Indian mission to study the sun, by the year 2020. It will be India’s first dedicated scientific mission to study sun.The mission aims to put 1,500-kg heavy class Aditya-L1 satellite into halo orbit around Lagrangian point L1, a point between Sun and Earth.