Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 22 April 2021

::NATIONAL::

While India has not slipped further on the World Press Freedom Index 2021 published by the international journalism not-for profit body, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), however, it continues to be counted among the countries classified “bad” for journalism and is termed as one of the most dangerous countries for journalists trying to do their jobs properly.
The latest index released on Tuesday ranks 180 countries, topped, yet again, by Norway followed by Finland and Denmark, while Eritrea is at the bottom. China is ranked 177, and is only above North Korea at 179 and Turkmenistan at 178.
India is ranked 142, same as last year, after it had consistently slid down from 133 in 2016. In the South Asian neighbourhood, Nepal is at 106, Sri Lanka at 127, Myanmar (before the coup) at 140, Pakistan at 145 and Bangladesh at 152.
The report released on Tuesday stated that India shares the “bad” classification with Brazil, Mexico and Russia.
For India, the latest report has blamed an environment of intimidation created by BJP supporters for any critical journalist, who, the report said, is marked as “anti-state” or “anti-national”.

By the start of 2017, China was increasingly desperate to sign Australia to its $US1 trillion infrastructure development project, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), designed to revive the glory of the Silk Road. But Malcolm Turnbull, the then prime minister, wasn’t having a bar of it.
“They wanted Australia to sign and announce during Premier Li Keqiang’s visit to Australia at the start of the year [2017], but that didn’t happen,” a government source told The Saturday Paper. “It was something they always wanted to happen. They were very keen.”
Saying a firm “no” to the nation’s largest trade partner was tricky business. To keep an open mind, then Trade minister Steven Ciobo was sent to a One Belt One Road investment forum in Beijing in May 2017. The national security committee of Turnbull’s cabinet had twice debated the merits of signing up to the BRI, and twice decided they could find no benefit beyond existing trade relations. Indeed, they could not really find any detail.

According to a survey, India is ranked 87th out of 115 countries in the Energy Transition Index (ETI), which monitors countries' current success in various aspects of their energy systems.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) paper, prepared in collaboration with Accenture, includes ETI insights.
The top ten countries in the index are all from Western and Northern Europe, with Sweden topping the list, followed by Norway (2nd), and Denmark (3rd) (3rd).
Despite coal having to play a significant role in their energy mix, China (68) and India (87), which together account for a third of global energy demand, have both made significant progress over the past decade, according to the study?
With a strong political engagement and regulatory framework for the energy transition, India has targeted changes through subsidy reforms and rapidly scaling energy access.
China's gains are largely due to lower economic energy intensity, gains in decarbonizing the energy mix via the expansion of renewables, and changes in the enabling environment through investments.
The index measures 115 countries' readiness to shift to stable, efficient, accessible, and inclusive energy systems through three dimensions: economic development and growth, sustainability, and energy protection and access indicators.
The most recent study is based on an updated ETI approach that considers recent developments in the global energy environment as well as the growing urgency of addressing climate change.

Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur announced the launch of its flagship healthcare product called COVIRAP. COVIRAP is a diagnostic technology that can be used for detecting infectious diseases including COVID-19 and beyond.
The product has been developed by lead researchers Professor SumanChakraborty, DrArindamMondal and their research group. According to its official blog post, “The research team has now developed a more advanced version of COVIRAP using a stepwise isothermal nucleic acid testing technology for the rapid diagnostics of pathogenic infections including SARS-CoV-2 in individuals.”
Director Prof. V K Tewari at IIT, Kharagpur stated, “The above move has taken place at a critical juncture when the recent spurt in COVID-19 infection, commonly known as the second wave, has been threatening to spread more rapidly than ever before.”
“Moreover, the commercialization of COVIRAP will initiate complete indigenization and availability of a large range of affordable healthcare products in the Indian market as well as deep trenches of a large global market that is literally starving for the need of such technology.

Bharat Biotech’s Covid-19 vaccine Covaxinneutralises multiple variants of SARS-CoV-2 and effectively works against the double mutant strain as well, said the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Wednesday.
In a tweet from its official handle, the ICMR said, “ICMR study shows Covaxinneutralises against multiple variants of SARS-CoV-2 and effectively neutralises the double mutant strain as well.” It added: “Covaxin has been found to effectively neutralise the double mutant strain as well.”

ICMR-National Institute of Virology (NIV) recently has been successful in isolating and culturing the double mutant strain B.1.617 SARS-CoV-2 identified in certain regions of India and several other countries, the ICMR stated.
Most of the mutations are known to decrease although not completely eliminate the binding of the antibodies created by infection or vaccination, said DrBaviskar.
Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin has not only received approval in India, but also in several international markets. The company is pursuing emergency-use authorisations in 60 countries now.