Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 18 March 2021

::NATIONAL::

The Termination of Prevention of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020

The Act regulates the conditions under which a pregnancy may be aborted. The Bill increases the time period within which abortion may be carried out.
Currently, abortion requires the opinion of one doctor if it is done within 12 weeks of conception and two doctors if it is done between 12 and 20 weeks. The Bill allows abortion to be done on the advice of one doctor up to 20 weeks, and two doctors in the case of certain categories of women between 20 and 24 weeks.
The Bill sets up state level Medical Boards to decide if a pregnancy may be terminated after 24 weeks in cases of substantial foetal abnormalities.

Key Issues and Analysis

There are differing opinions with regard to allowing abortions. One opinion is that terminating a pregnancy is the choice of the pregnant woman, and a part of her reproductive rights. The other is that the state has an obligation to protect life, and hence should provide for the protection of the foetus. Across the world, countries set varying conditions and time limits for allowing abortions, based on foetal health, and risk to the pregnant woman.
Several Writ Petitions have been filed by women seeking permission to abort pregnancies beyond 20-weeks due to foetal abnormalities or rape. The Bill allows abortion after 24 weeks only in cases where a Medical Board diagnoses substantial foetal abnormalities. This implies that for a case requiring abortion due to rape, that exceeds 24-weeks, the only recourse remains through a Writ Petition.

Rajasthan passed the demand for higher education grant

The Rajasthan Assembly on Tuesday passed the demand for grants for higher education by voice vote amid an uproar by the BJP over the phone-tapping row.
The opposition legislators stormed into the well of the House, staged a sit-in and shouted slogans against the government even as state Higher Education Minister Bhanwar Singh Bhati replied to a discussion over the issue.
The BJP legislators continued their dharna even after the House passed the demand for grants of more than ₹370.60 billion by voice vote.
Bhati said the state government's focus is on skill development and quality education.
The minister said in the past two years, Rajasthan's gross enrolment ratio in higher education has increased from 21.7 to about 25 per cent.

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::International::

The world's largest floating solar farm is being built in Singapore

Thousands of panels glinting in the sun stretch into the sea off Singapore, part of the land-scarce city-state's push to build floating solar farms to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
It may be one of the world's smallest countries, but the prosperous financial hub is among the biggest per capita carbon dioxide emitters in Asia.
And while authorities have been pushing to change that, renewable energy is a challenge in a country with no rivers for hydro-electricity and where the wind is not strong enough to power turbines.
So the tropical country turned to solar power -- however, with little land space in a place half the size of Los Angeles, it has resorted to setting up energy plants off its coasts and on reservoirs.
"After exhausting the rooftops and the available land, which is very scarce, the next big potential is actually our water area," said Jen Tan, senior vice president and head of solar in Southeast Asia at conglomerate Sembcorp Industries, which is building a project.
An island-state threatened by rising sea levels because of climate change, Singapore is aware of the urgency of cutting emissions, although critics say authorities' environmental commitments have thus far fallen short.

::Economy::

Coal production in the country

An Inter - Ministerial Committee (IMC) has been constituted in the Ministry of Coal for the purpose of coal import substitution.
The Representatives from Ministry of Power (MoP), Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Shipping, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Steel, Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME), Department for Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade (DPIIT), Central Electricity Authority (CEA), Coal Companies and Ports are members of this IMC.
This Committee provides a platform for discussions on a larger forum with the Administrative Ministries so as to guide them to encourage the coal consumers of their respective sector to eliminate imports of coal. Nine meetings of the IMC have been held so far. IMC has also directed for development of an Import Data System by Ministry of Coal to enable the Ministry to track the imports of coal. Coal India Limited (CIL) has also started an online portal to register the requests of coal consumers willing for import substitution of coal.
In addition to it, the following steps have also been taken to reduce coal imports:
The Annual Contracted Quantity (ACQ) of the Power Plants have been increased upto 100% of the normative requirement in those cases where the ACQ was earlier reduced to 90% of normative.
CIL has signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) under Import Substitution for about 12 Million Tonne Per Annum (MTPA) coal with the Power plants linked with CIL. Accordingly, CIL has allocated 9.53 Million Tonne (MT) coal to the power plants till February’ 2021 under Import Substitution.
Reserve/floor price across all e-auction schemes was kept to notified price till 2nd quarter (earlier by 10-30% above the notified price) with a view to maximize coal utilization by the consumers.
Increase in the dispatch to Non-regulated Sector (NRS) consumers in the current Financial Year (Apr-Feb’21) to 37.8 rakes/day compared to 28.4 rakes/day last year with a growth of 33%. Total dispatch to NRS registered a growth of 12% as compared to same period of last year.
Indian IT companies, like Wipro Limited and Tech Mahindra, will be collaborating with Finland companies to develop the 5G and 6G technologies to use them in India and global market.

::SCIENCE AND TECH::

KRAS releases first batch of MRSAM missiles

Kalyani Rafael Advanced Systems (KRAS) has rolled out the first Medium Range Surface to Air Missile (MRSAM) batch for the Indian Air Force (IAF) and army.
KRAS is a joint venture (JV) between Indian firm Kalyani Group and Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.
The roll-out is a major step towards India’s ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative.
The JV received a $100m contract to manufacture 1,000 BARAK – 8 MRSAM missiles kits in 2019.
The kits will be supplied for final integration to India’s state-run defence firm Bharat Dynamics (BDL), which is the lead integrator for the MRSAM missile systems.
The first batch was rolled out from the KRAS facility located near Hyderabad International Airport.
Kalyani Group chairman and managing director Baba Kalyani said: “This is the beginning of a new era filled with self-confidence, a marked step-change in technological expertise and a collective demonstration of capability to be the global manufacturing hub for defence products.
“We are confident to complete the order far ahead of the stipulated time, and support the armed forces with the best in class missile kits. Apart from the missile kits, we will extend our support in maintenance and repair operations (MRO) as in-service air defence missile system for the armed forces.”

::Sports::

Pressure mounting on stuttering table-toppers Atletico

Diego Simeone's side have won just two of their last five Liga fixtures, seeing their 10-point lead slashed to four by second-placed Barcelona and six by Real Madrid in third.
Their disappointing form continued on Wednesday as they crashed out of the Champions League in the last-16 after a 2-0 defeat at Chelsea to depart 3-0 on aggregate.
Simeone said that far from allowing his side to concentrate solely on their domestic title bid, the exit was a blow.