Weekly Current Affairs Highlights – 26th Apr to 1st May

On this page, you can read all the major news/Current Affairs of the week.

On a daily basis, we are covering all relevant Current Affairs under our various initiatives. For further reading, you can refer to our following initiatives:

1. 9 PM: Daily Current Affairs Summaries For UPSC 
2. Daily Editorials: Daily Current Affairs Editorials For UPSC 
3. Factly: Daily Current Affairs For Prelims
   

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Updates in Polity and Governance

There are few updates received in the Polity and governance topics from the newspapers. The important updates are,

• “The GNCTD Amendment Act” does not alter the functions of Delhi Assembly – Centre
• A Case for State repression on Civil societies
• What is “Maharashtra’s two-child norm” for govt employees?
• States control over temples is against Secularism
• New Rules by ECI and Effectiveness of Multi-Phase Polling
• A Case of Declining Judicial Federalism in India 

Update on Social Issues

This week health and education took the spotlight. Similarly, there are few articles that highlight the migrant issues. The important articles in this regard are,

Articles on Health:

• Universal vaccination in India : Challenges and way forward – Explained, Pointwise
• What is “Breakthrough Infection”?
• “Immunisation Agenda 2030 or IA2030” launched on World Immunisation Week.
• Need to Accelerate Vaccination drive
• The New Vaccine Strategy May Widen Inequality
• Understanding Herd Immunity and Rising Covid Cases in India

Articles on Education:

• Indian Army initiates “Ladakh Ignited Minds project”
• Exploring Alternatives for Assessing Student Learning

Others:

• A Crisis of Reverse Migration
• Migrants Workers, Who Returned to Cities Earned five-fold : Study
• Increasing Gender Gap in India
• India needs to Focus on Universal Social welfare
• MGNREGA: Issues and Significance – Explained, pointwise

Report and Indices

There are a few important reports and indices released this week. The important ones are;

• “Global Forest Goals Report 2021” and “United Nations Strategic Plan for Forests”
• “Chandlers Good Governance Index” 2021 Released

Updates on International Relations

This week the important updates in International relations include the EU’s dispute with AstraZeneca, India elected to 3 key UN-ECOSOC bodies, etc. The important articles covered by us include

• Changing dynamics of India-US Relations – Explained, Pointwise
• Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons or OPCW
• “E-2025 initiative” – WHO Identifies 25 countries with potential to be malaria-free by 2025
• “UN-ECOSOC” -India Elected to 3 Key Bodies
• “Exercise VARUNA 2021” – Indian and French Navy Conducted the 19th Edition
• “Project DANTAK” Completes 60 years in Bhutan
• India 3rd Highest Military Spender in 2020: SIPRI
• “Supply Chain Resilience Initiative or SCRI” launched by India, Japan and Australia
• What is EU-AstraZeneca Dispute?
• “Armenian Genocide” recognised by the US
• European Parliament approves “EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement(TCA)” 

Updates in Economy

This week the economic topics in news include articles on RBI’s decisions on regulating New Umbrella Entity, etc. The important articles on Economy are,

• Rising fiscal deficit and Expenditure Need during Pandemic
• New Umbrella Entity for Payment System – Explained, Pointwise
• Rising Food Insecurity Due to Pandemic

Updates in Agriculture

This week there were certain important updates on Agriculture like new soybean variety, achievement of Agricultural Infrastructure Fund, etc. The important articles that covered these topics are,

• Impact of Groundwater Depletion on Cropping Intensity
• “Agriculture Infrastructure Fund” crosses Rs. 8,000 crore mark
• “MACS 1407” – A new high-yielding, pest-resistant Soybean Variety
• India hosted the 5th session of “Codex Committee on Spices and Culinary Herbs” 

Science and Technology

The Issue of Medical Oxygen

This week the issue of Medical oxygen came again. But this week also witnessed a few improvements such as the development of indigenous oxygen enrichment technology, etc. Following articles covered these update

• What are “Oxygen concentrators” and how are they different from Oxygen cylinders?
• CSIR-CMERI Indigenously Developed “Oxygen Enrichment Technology”
• “Oxygen Express” Trains – Railways Waive off Few Charges

Updates on Intellectual Property Rights

• Intellectual Property Rights vs Right to Access Basic Healthcare
• Intellectual Property Rights(IPR) and Universal Vaccination – Explained, Pointwise

Other updates in Science and Technology

This week there were few important updates in the field of science and technology such as the Deep time Project, the Oldest water on earth, etc. The important articles covered in this regard are,

• “Zhurong” – China’s first Mars rover
• “Deep Time Project”: Volunteers Leave Cave After 40 Days in Isolation
• “Trachoma” eliminated from Gambia as a public health problem
• “Classical swine fever” vaccine and “Sheep Pox Vaccine” – Technology transfer done
• “Python-5” air-to-air missile – Tejas aircraft permitted to carry
• “NEO-01” – Chinese robot prototype to clear space debris
• “Pink Moon 2021”: This year’s first Supermoon
• “Cybercrime Volunteer Programme” – No Centralised list of Volunteers Maintained
• “Tianhe” – Chinese Space Station Core Module
• “Oldest water on Earth” helps in the quest for life on Mars
• Antimicrobial Resistance may Become a Silent Pandemic

Important updates on Environment

This week there were certain important updates on the Environment like the Glolitter Partnership project, Net Zero Producers Forum, etc. The important articles that covered these topics are,

• “GloLitter Partnerships Project” – 30 countries join the initiative to tackle marine litter
• At Leaders Climate Summit, Countries Adopted Net Zero Targets
• Saudi Arabia joins “Net Zero Producers Forum” on climate change

Updates on Disaster Management

Recently an earthquake of magnitude 6.4 on the Richter scale hit Assam. The National Centre for Seismology (NCS) has said that the tremors in Assam can be attributed to the Kopili Fault Zone. The important articles covered in this regard are,

• “Kopili fault Zone” – A Reason behind Assam Tremors 
• Why North-East is More Vulnerable to Earthquakes? – Explained, Pointwise