Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 01 February 2021

::NATIONAL::

President Launches First Round of Pulse Polio Program 2021

On the eve of the Polio National Immunization Day, President Ram Nath Kovind launched the first round of the Pulse Polio Programme for 2021 by administering polio drops to children less than five years of age at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.
Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan and Minister of State for Health Ashwini Kumar Choubey were also present here.
Polio National Immunization Day will be observed on January 31, also popularly known as Polio Ravivar. Polio drops are administered to children in the age group of 0 to 5 years.
In an official release, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said that around 17 crore children of less than 5 years of age will be given polio drops as part of the drive of the Central government to sustain the polio-free status of the country,
The countrywide drive will be supported by about 24 lakh volunteers, 1.5 lakh supervisors, and many Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), and Rotary, it said.
Healthcare workers will be visiting as many as 2 crore households to ensure that no child is left without the protection of the polio vaccine, they added.

Mahatma Gandhi's 73rd death anniversary celebrated

Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation, who is popularly known as 'Bapu' died on this day, January 30, 1948.
The nation remembered Mahatma Gandhi on his 73rd death anniversary with President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading the country in paying homage to the Father of the Nation. President Kovind, Vice President Naidu, Prime Minister Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, among others, also paid floral tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at Raj Ghat in Delhi.
This day is marked as the Martyr’s Day to honour Bapu. Gandhiji will always be remembered for using non-violence to unite the Indians for freedom struggle.
He was shot dead on this day in 1948 by Nathuram Godse. His death anniversary is observed as Martyrs' Day.

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::International::

Bangladesh sends 3rd Batch of Rohingya refugees to Bhashan Char Island

The third batch of Rohingya refugees living in camps at Cox’s Bazar district sailed for relocation at the newly developed facility at the Bhashan Char island in Bangladesh.
A total of 1778 refugees left for Bhashan char island in four navy ships from Chattogram port. In the earlier two rounds, close to 3500 Rohingya refugees have already been sent to the Bhashan Char facility. The relocation to Bhashan Char was started on December 4 last year.
The Bhashan Char island is about 24 kilometres from the land point at Hatiya and 52 kilometres from Patenga which takes about 3-4 hours to cover by ship.
Earlier, the refugees were brought to Chattogram from the Cox’s Bazar camps on Thursday evening, AP quoted Bangladesh Navy commander Mozammel Haque. The Navy officer said that the fourth batch of Rohingyas will be sent to Bhashan char on Saturday.
Bangladesh has maintained that the refugees are being relocated to the newly developed facility voluntarily as the camps at Cox’s Bazaar are overcrowded.
Bhashan Char is an uninhabited island where the government of Bangladesh Navy has built shelter houses for more than one lakh Rohingya refugees at an estimated cost of Tk. 2,300 crore under its Ashrayan 3 project. The environmentalists say that the Bhashan char falls in an ecologically fragile area prone to floods, erosion and cyclones. However, the Bangladesh government insists that the location is safe with adequate safety measures like embankments and cyclone shelters built on the island for the refugees.

::Economy::

India's SJVN awarded to Nepal for 679 MW Lower Arun Hydroelectric Project

SJVN ended higher at Rs25.15 apiece up by 0.80% after announcing that the company has bagged a project in Nepal.
The Investment Board of Nepal in its meeting on 29.01.2021, chaired by Hon’ble Prime Minister of Nepal, Sh. K.P. Sharma Oli awarded the 679 MW Lower Arun Hydro Electric Project in Nepal to SJVN through Competitive Bidding Project to SJVN.
The Lower Arun Hydro Electric Project is located in Sankhuwasabha and Bhojpur Districts of Nepal.
On completion 679 MW Lower Arun Hydro Electric Project will generate 3561 million units of electricity per annum.
SJVN is already constructing 900 MW Arun 3 HEP in Nepal and 217km 400 kV associated transmission system.

14 new minor forest produce items included under MSP scheme to provide fair prices to tribal gatherers

The government has decided to include 14 new minor forest produce items under the mechanism for marketing of minor forest produce through a minimum support price scheme to provide remunerative and fair prices to tribal gatherers of forest produces.
Newly included items are Tasar Cocoon, elephant apple dry, bamboo shoot, malkangani seed and wild dry mushroom among others.
The Central government had introduced a minimum support price for a selected list of minor produce items through mechanism for marketing of Minor Forest Produce through Minimum Support price and development of Value Chain of MFP Scheme in 2011.
It aims to provide a social safety net to these underprivileged forest dwellers, and to aid in their empowerment.

::Science and tech::

Scientists decode how coronavirus damages lung cells within hours

Following months of interdisciplinary research assessing tens of thousands of lung cells infected with the novel coronavirus, scientists have created one of the most comprehensive maps to date of the molecular activities that are triggered inside these cells at the onset of the viral infection, an advance that may lead to the development of new drugs to combat Covid-19.
From their analysis, the scientists, including those from Boston University in the US, discovered close to 18 existing drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that could potentially be repurposed to combat Covid-19 soon after a person becomes infected.
They said five of these drugs could reduce the spread of the coronavirus in human lung cells by more than 90 per cent.
In the research, published in the journal Molecular Cell, the scientists simultaneously infected tens of thousands of lab-grown human lung cells with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and tracked what happens in these cells during the moments after infection.

::SPORTS::

Sumit Nagal begins 2021 season with defeat

India's Sumit Nagal began his 2021 season with an opening round defeat at the Murray River Open, losing in straight sets to Ricardas Berankis, in the run up to the Australian Open.
Nagal, who does not give up easily, suffered a rather tame 2-6 2-6 defeat in the USD 320775 ATP250 event.
The Indian, ranked 139 in the ATP singles chart could convert none of the two break chances he earned while dropped his serve four times in the match against the world number 72 from Lithuania.
It is first competitive event for all the players who have assembled in Melbourne for season's first Grand Slam and have completed quarantine.