Weekly Current Affairs Highlights – 7th to 12th June

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

Click here for Weekly highlights archives

Updates in Polity and Governance     

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

• SC releases draft model rules for live-streaming and Recording of court proceedings
• Protecting human rights in the age of disinformation
• Issues with recent draft rules notified by the Lakshadweep administration
• Annual review of state laws 2020 report by PRS
• The Pros and Cons of e-Courts project
• Public’s right to information vs. national security interest
• Political and administrative elements in maintaining Healthy Federalism
• PRAGATI (Proactive Governance And Timely Implementation) Portal

Update on Social Issues

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

Articles on Health:

• A study on “effectiveness of vaccines” found more anti-bodies from Covishield
• What is “Indemnity” and why vaccine manufacturers are demanding that?
• “Revised Vaccine Procurement Policy” allows central procurement of vaccines
• “Aducanumab” approved by USFDA for “Alzheimer’s disease”
• Covid-19 vaccines are safe for “inflammatory bowel disease” patients: New research
• NITI Aayog launches “Surakshit Hum Surakshit Tum Abhiyaan”
• Mixing Covid-19 vaccines: Benefits and Concerns
• How COVID -19 can be addressed via COVID-19 appropriate behaviour?
• Lab leak theory of Coronavirus needs credible investigation
• Mitigating the third wave requires a focus on DOTS
• Single dose of vaccine can’t control Delta Variant: Global Study on vaccines
• Tackling pandemic in Rural India – Explained, pointwise
• Need for Equity-focused Vaccination Plan in Vaccine Drive

Articles on Education:

• Govt launches “Performance Grading Index 2019-20”
• “QS World University Rankings 2022” released: Only three institutes from India
• Higher education in India & QS World University Rankings- Explained, pointwise
• All India Survey on Higher Education(AISHE) 2019-20

Others:

• Amending Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act to provide labour rights for sex workers
• Why foster care in India needs to be expanded?
• Need to ban the Conversion therapy of the LGBTQIA+ community
• POSHAN 2.0 and tackling malnutrition in India
• Supreme Court Directions on Migrants Without Ration Cards

SDGs

• India’s efforts to achieve SDGs
• SDG India Index and India’s Sustainable development – Explained, pointwise
• TERI organises “World Sustainable Development Summit 2021”
• NTPC joins “UN’s CEO Water Mandate” to work on water conservation

Report and Indices

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

• IEA releases “World Energy Investment Report 2021”
• “Costs of Climate Change in India Report”: India may lose 3-10% of its GDP in 2100
• “Child Labour: Global estimates 2020” report released by ILO
• NITI Aayog releases “Fast Tracking Freight in India” Report
• “Global Liveability Index” 2021 Released by EIU

Updates on International Relations

This week the important updates in International relations include the ASEAN foreign ministers meet, New Atlantic Charter between the US and the UK, etc. The important articles covered by us include

• INTERPOL launches “I-Familia” to identify missing persons
• China hosts “ASEAN foreign ministers meeting”
• “Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons” and “Chemical Weapons Convention”
• “Operation Pangea” of Interpol targets counterfeit and illicit health products
• How is the “UN Secretary-General” appointed?
• 31st edition of “Indo-Thai CORPAT” commenced
• US President and UK PM to sign “New Atlantic Charter”
• Pakistan Passes Bill to let Jadhav Appeal
• “G7 summit” takes place in the UK: Indian PM will participate virtually
• G7 countries (Group of 7)- Issues and Prospects – Explained, Pointwise
• El Salvador makes “Bitcoin a legal currency”

Updates in Economy

This week, the economic topics in the news include articles on World Bank report on the global economy, debates around special treatment for states under GST Regime, etc. The important articles on Economy are,

• “One Nation One Standard Mission” and “Research Designs & Standards Organization”
• World Bank’s “Global Economic Prospects Report” predicts India’s growth as 8.3%
• “Sardar Sarovar Dam” provides irrigation water in summer for the first time in history
• Problems with “one state one vote” structure of GST Council
• Special treatment under GST for few states is a bad idea
• Global Minimum Corporate Tax and India – Explained, pointwise

Updates in Agriculture

This week there were certain important updates on Agriculture like Maharashtra’s push on the Beed model, etc. The important articles that covered these topics are,

• “State of Environment Report” says “Farmer protests” increased fivefold since 2017
• What is Maharashtra’s “Beed model” of crop insurance?
• FSSAI bans blending of mustard oil with other cooking oil
• Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM)

Science and Technology

This week there were few important updates in the field of science and technology such as the development of ventilators by ISRO, one year of CHIME telescope, etc. The important articles covered in this regard are,

• Hydrographic survey ship “INS Sandhayak” decommissioned
• ISRO develops 3 types of ventilators(PRENA, VaU, SVASTA) to battle Covid-19
• What are “Overture supersonic aircraft” and what are its challenges?
• “CHIME telescope” detects numerous “Fast Radio Bursts”
• Genomic sequencing in India needs to be scaled up

Important updates on Environment

This week there were certain important updates on the Environment like the development of sea snot in Turkey, the announcement of a new tiger reserve in Tamil Nadu, etc. The important articles that covered these topics are,

• “Clean Energy Ministerial” and “Industrial Deep Decarbonization Initiative”
• “World Environment Day” 2021 observed globally
• Global studies on “vulnerability of animals to Covid-19”
• “Sea Snot” outbreak in Turkey and its effect on the marine ecosystem
• Haryana’s “Pran Vayu Devta Pension Scheme” and “Oxy Van” (Oxygen Forests)
• “Srivilliputhur-Mudumalai Tiger Reserve” and “Vaigai River”
• Maharashtra govt clears an amendment to protect “heritage trees”
• Role of National Mission on Biodiversity and Human Well-Being on India’s Biodiversity
• Ethanol Blending of Petrol and its challenges: Explained, pointwise
• “Gharials Conservation” – Odisha Forest department Announces Cash Reward

Miscellaneous articles for Prelims this week

• Delhi Development Authority (DDA) releases Draft Master Plan for Delhi-2041