Current Affairs for UPSC IAS

Recently a report named ‘Pegasus Project’ was published that says that over “300 verified Indian mobile telephone numbers were targeted using spyware made by the Israeli firm, NSO Group.

Tech firm Microsoft will run a pilot for the agriculture ministry’s AgriStack in 100 villages in six Indian states to “develop farmer interface for smart and well-organised agriculture" aimed at improving efficiency and reducing waste.

The Delhi High Court has recently granted Twitter three weeks’ time to state on record that it has appointed a resident grievance officer and observed that it has to comply with the IT Rules, 2021, if they have not been stayed.

Mucormycosis or, “black fungus”, is being detected relatively frequently among Covid-19 patients in various states. The disease often manifests in the skin and also affects the lungs and the brain.

The rising trend of the infection has compelled the Government to ask the states to make it notifiable under Epidemic Diseases Act 1897and making it mandatory for states to report both suspected and confirmed cases to the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP).

In this second wave of COVID-19 pandemic pulse oximeters have become a daily household item and regrettably hypoxia has become the leading cause of death.

Four astronauts are sent to the International Space Station (ISS) from Florida through a collaboration program of NASA and SpaceX under the Commercial Crew Program.

AI-generated fake videos (or deep fakes) are becoming more common and convincing. These videos have become one of the key weapons used in propaganda battles for quite some time now.

In a positive development, the Ministry of Science and Technology released new guidelines for the ‘Geospatial sector’ in India, which deregulates existing protocol and liberalizes the sector to a more competitive field.

The world is increasingly witnessing a shift to online marketplaces and online platforms. However, this shift also poses many unprecedented challenges for antitrust/ competition law.

ISRO’s recent launch of a Directorate of Space Situational Awareness and Management (DSSAM), aimed at monitoring, tracking and protecting India’s space assets, bodes well for the Indian space programme. The control centre is envisaged to function as a hub of all SSA activities within India.

While the terrestrial, maritime and aerial warfare are much talked about, it is outer space which is the new arena for competition and rivalry. It is important to focus on space security.

In this regard, the British’s recently proposed policy emphasizes a bottom-up approach and stresses trust-building. It’s a critical first step.

Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Jio has declared that they will launch 5G in the 2nd half of 2021.