GK Snapshots on 21 May 2021

World Bee Day 2021 – May 20

United Nations(UN)’s World Bee Day is annually observed across the globe on 20th May to create awareness on the importance of bees and other pollinators and the threats faced by them and highlights their contribution towards sustainable development.

20th May 2021 marks the observance of the 4th World Bee Day.

• The 20th May also marks the birth anniversary of Anton Janša, a native of Slovenia, who pioneered modern beekeeping techniques in the 18th century.

• As a part of the celebration of World Bee Day 2021, The Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO) of the United Nations has organised a virtual event under the theme “Bee engaged – Build Back Better for Bees”.

World Metrology Day 2021 – 20 May

World Metrology Day (WMD) is annually observed across the globe on 20th May to celebrate the International system of Unit. The day marks the annual celebration of the signing of Metre Convention on 20 May 1875 in Paris, France by 17 nations.

• The theme for World Metrology Day 2021 is “Measurement for Health”.

NBA Created Social Justice Award, Named after Basketball Player – Kareem Abdul Jabbar

In May 2021, The National Basketball Association (NBA) announced an award named after the former American basketball player – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar called the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion Award to recognise players who are making strides in the fight for social justice.

NASA’s Giant Webb Telescope Successfully Completes Pre-Launch Test

The world’s largest and most powerful space science telescope, James Webb Space Telescope, Successfully Completed its Pre-Launch Test by opening its iconic primary mirror for the last time it is on earth. In the Final Test,the 6.5 meter mirror was commanded to fully expand and lock itself into place, to ensure that it will survive its million-mile (1.6 million kilometer) journey and is ready to discover the origins of the Universe.

ULA launches SBIRS Geo-5 missile warning satellite for US Space Force

United Launch Alliance (ULA) launched the Space-Based Infrared System Geosynchronous Earth Orbit Flight 5 (SBIRS Geo-5) into orbit for the United States Space Force (USSF). The satellite was launched aboard the Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, USA.

• SBIRS Geo-5 is a missile warning satellite built by Lockheed Martin. It will help the US to prepare for any threatening missile attacks.

• It is USSF’s 5th SBIRS satellite, it will be part of a constellation that will contain 6 satellites.

• It is ULA’s 1st launch of 2021.

Iran Launched its Most Powerful Supercomputer: Simorgh

Iran has launched its most powerful supercomputer Simorgh, named after the mythical Phoenix-like bird Simorgh or Simurgh. The system was designed by the Amirkabir University of Technology (AUT) at a cost of 1 trillion Iranian rials (around Rs 173 crore). The system is located at the Iranian High-Performance Computing Research Center (IHPCRC) at AUT.
 

Barbora Strycova, former World No.1 doubles player retires from Tennis

Barbora Strycova, a 35-year old tennis player from Czech Republic announced retirement from Tennis. She has won 2 WTA singles titles and 31 doubles titles. The famous doubles player also won a Bronze Medal in the 2016 Rio Olympics. At the peak of her career, she was ranked WTA World No.1 in Doubles and World No. 16 in Singles.

Six Places added to India’s Tentative List of UNESCO World Heritage Sites

Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Culture Prahlad Singh Patel stated that 6 places have been added to India’s tentative list of UNESCO’s (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage sites.

• 9 sites were proposed by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), in which 6 were selected.

• With addition of the 6 sites, UNESCO has 48 proposals in the tentative list of India.

V Muraleedharan represents India at Summit on the Financing of African Economies 2021

Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan virtually represented India at the Summit on Financing of African Economies 2021 held at Paris, France on May 18, 2021. The event was held in a hybrid format (mix of in-person meetings & Video conferences) and was hosted by France.

• Objective – To arrange financial resources for reviving the economy of African Continent, which has been affected by COVID-19.
• Representatives from countries like Congo, Spain, Portugal, Egypt, Ethiopia and others participated. Also, International public banks such as International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Trade Organisation (WTO), United Nations, World Bank participated in the meeting.
• During the meeting, French President, Emmanuel Macron agreed to work towards persuading rich nations by October to reallocate $100 billion in IMF special drawing rights monetary reserves to African states.

India’s Address

i.V Muraleedharan highlighted several steps taken by India to help the African Continent.
• During the COVID-19 pandemic, India has gifted 150 tonnes of medical aid to 25 Countries in the Continent.
• Under the “Vaccine Maitri” initiative, India supplied 24.7 million doses of Indigenous COVID-19 vaccines as grants, and commercial and COVAX supplies to 42 countries in the continent.
• At present there are around 89 projects across 41 countries in Africa, which are being implemented with Indian concessional credit.
• Several Digital innovations have emerged from India-Africa partnership, one example is the e-Vidhya Bharti and e-Aarogya Bharti (e-VBAB) network project.

ii.During the 3rd India-Africa Forum Summit held in October 2015, India offered USD 600 million as grant, and concessional loans worth USD 10 Billion for development projects.
• Out of this more than USD 6.4 billion of loans have been sanctioned.

India ranked 3rd, US 1st in Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index released by EY

India with a score of 66.2 has been ranked 3rd out of 40 countries in the 57th Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index (RECAI) – May 2021 – released by Ernst & Young Global Ltd (EY). The United States (US) topped the index, while China took the 2nd Rank.

• India has improved its rank from 4th (in 56th RECAI) to 3rd due to its exceptional performance in the Solar PhotoVoltaic (PV) sector. It’s Installed Solar PV capacity has increased to 39 GigaWatts (GW) in 2020.
• The Global Renewable Energy capacity investment increased by 2% to USD 303.5 Billion in 2020 despite the pandemic. It is the 2nd highest annual growth.

RECAI

• It is an biannual report being released since 2003.
• It ranks the world’s Top 40 countries based on the attractiveness of their renewable energy investment and deployment opportunities.

Rankings

Around 55 Million People Internally Displaced Worldwide at the end of 2020: IDMC Report

According to ‘2021 Global Report on Internal Displacement (GRID): Internal displacement in a changing climate’ released by Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), globally the number of people living in Internal displacement reached 55 Million at the end of 2020.

• More than 85%(~48 Million) were displaced due to conflict and violence, and around 7 million due to Natural disasters.
• Around 5 million new displacements were recorded in 2020, which is the highest in 10 years.
• Conflicts and natural disasters forced someone to flee within their own country every second of 2020.
• The highest number of internally displaced people in 2020 was in China (5 Million), followed by Philippines & Bangladesh.
• The Internal Displacements is IDMC’s Global Annual Report.

Delhi Ranks 32, Mumbai Ranks 36 in Prime Global Cities Index of Knight Frank

The Knight Frank, London based International Property Consultant has released the Prime Global Cities Index Q1 2021, a valuation based on the prime residential prices in the local currency across more than 45 cities across the globe.

• Delhi has recorded a decline of 0.0% and dropped from 31st rank in Q4 2020 to 32nd rank in Q1 2021.There was a decline of 0.2% from Q1 2020 to Q1 2021.
• Mumbai recorded a decline of 0.1% and dropped from 35th rank in Q4 2020 to 36th rank in Q1 2021.There was a decline of 1.5% from Q1 2020 to Q1 2021.
• Bengaluru recorded a decline of 0.6% in prime residential prices and dropped from the 36th rank in Q4 2020 to the 40th rank in Q1 2021.There was a decline of 1.5% from Q1 2020 to Q1 2021.

Top 3 Cities: Chinese cities Shenzhen(1st), Shanghai(2nd) and Guangzhou(3rd) have topped the Q1 2021 index where Shenzhen recorded a growth of 18.9% from Q1 2020 to Q1 2021. New York was identified as the weakest performing market with negative 5.8% growth.

Report on SSE by SEBI’s TG: Not Allowed Political, religious firms for SSE

A technical group(TG) under the chairmanship of Harsh Bhanwala on Social Stock Exchanges (SSEs), constituted by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), has recommended not to allow the political and religious organizations, trade organizations, corporate foundations, infrastructure and housing companies (except affordable housing) to raise funds using SSE mechanism.

Background:
i.SEBI had constituted a TG on SSE in September 2020 under the chairmanship of Harsh Bhanwala, former chairman of NABARD.
ii.The TG made recommendations relating to – permitting participation of Social Enterprises on SSE, minimum reporting requirements, possible means/ mechanisms of raising finance etc.

News In Detail