Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 04 July 2021

::NATIONAL::

Union Minister of State (MoS) for Home G Kishan Reddy announced that the central government has authorized capital from the PM CARES Fund to establish a vaccine-testing laboratory in Hyderabad.
Reddy mentioned that enhanced attention towards the production of vaccines amidst the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in the need of more number of vaccine-testing laboratories in the country.
Currently, there are only two such centres in India, namely: National Institute of Biologicals at Noida and the Central Drug Laboratory at Kasauli.
One of them will be at the National Institute of Animal Biotechnology, Hyderabad, under the Department of Biotechnology and another one at the National Centre for Cell Science in Pune.
The laboratory from Hyderabad will kick off its operations from the coming year onwards and it will expedite the comprehensive development of the pharma sector in the city as it already hosts several pharma majors along with research and development (R&D) institutes.
Furthermore, the centre will also assist in increasing the production of the much-necessary Covid-19 vaccines as well.

China's rise as a super power has always been under global scrutiny. Many countries in the West, as well as smaller countries, have raised concerns about China's handling of issues. It is involved in a stalemate with the United States, particularly over the origin of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic, which has killed hundreds of thousands across the globe.
The cautious approach is what has led to various countries going slow with importing the weapons made by China, especially the fighter jets.
According to a report in Foreign Policy, and quoted by news agency ANI, after last month's confrontation with the Philippines, where Chinese naval vessels entered Philippine waters without authorisation, few want to partner up with Beijing.
China is involved in a border standoff with India in Ladakh, leading to deterioration of bilateral ties, said Foreign Policy. Though it has imported weapons from other countries, India won't consider China for the same, the magazine said. Ditto for Vietnam, with its worsening maritime dispute with China. Malaysia and Indonesia are also too wary of Beijing's ambitions to ever consider acquiring a Chinese fighter, reported Foreign Policy.
A report released by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) earlier this year said that India is increasingly becoming self-reliant under its Atmanirbhar Bharat scheme, which is showing results.

In an attempt to arrest the spiralling prices of pulses, the Union government on Friday directed the States to impose stock limit on all pulses except Moong till October 31. The stock limits will be applicable on wholesalers, retailers, millers and importers.
The Department of Consumer Affairs issued the Removal of Licensing Requirements, Stock Limits and Movement Restrictions on Specified Foodstuffs (Amendment) Order, 2021 prescribing the limits which have been imposed with immediate effect.
The stock limit of 200 tonnes has been imposed on wholesalers provided they do not hold more than 200 tonnes of one variety of pulses, the Ministry said in the order. On retailers, the stock limit will be 5 tonnes. In case of millers, the stock limit will be the last three months of production or 25% of annual installed capacity whichever is higher. For importers, the stock limit will be the same as that of wholesalers for stocks held/imported prior to May 15, 2021. And for pulses imported after May 15, stock limit applicable on wholesalers will apply after 45 days from date of customs clearance, the order said.
As per the orders if the stocks of entities exceed the prescribed limits, they have to be declared on the online portal of the Department of Consumer Affairs and have to be brought within the prescribed limit within 30 days of the notification of the order.

The commerce ministry on Friday said it unveiled plans for freight smart cities to improve urban freight efficiency, and create an opportunity for reduction in the logistics costs.
Under the freight smart cities initiative, city-level logistics committees would be formed and they will have related government departments and agencies at the local and state levels.
These would also include the private sector from the logistics services and also users of logistics services, the ministry said in a statement.
“On the freight smart city initiatives, the logistics division is working closely with GIZ (Germany) under Indo-German Development Cooperation, Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and RMI India. A challenge is expected to be announced to encourage the participation of cities in this initiative," it said.
From the 10 cities to be identified on immediate basis, it is planned to expand the list to 75 cities in the next phase before scaling up throughout the country.

One of the astronauts - Liu Boming, was transported via mechanical arm to a work site and the other - Tang Hongbo was moved by climbing on the outside of the cabin.
Astronauts at China's new space station conducted their first spacewalk on Sunday, news agency AFP reported quoting the Chinese state media. This comes as part of Beijing's plan to expand its extraterrestrial ambitions.
Three spacemen blasted off in June, docking at the Tiangong station where they are to remain for three months in China's longest crewed mission to date. On Sunday morning, two of them exited the core cabin, said state broadcaster CCTV.
One of the astronauts - Liu Boming, was transported via mechanical arm to a work site and the other - Tang Hongbo was moved by climbing on the outside of the cabin. Their mission involves elevating the panoramic camera outside the Tianhe core module, as well as verifying the robotic arm's transfer capability.
Television footage showed the astronauts preparing for the spacewalk by donning gear and conducting health checks while exercising in the cabin. The astronauts were later shown opening the cabin door and exiting the module, in the first of two spacewalks planned for the mission, both expected to last six or seven hours.
The crew underwent more than 6,000 hours of training for preparation.

Norway’s KarstenWarholm broke Kevin Young’s 29-year-old 400m hurdles world record when he completed the race in 46.70 seconds at the Diamond League meeting in Oslo on Thursday.
Warholm beat 1992 Olympic champion Young’s mark of 46.78secs, which was set four years before the Norwegian was born and was the longest-standing record in men’s track.