CURRENT AFFAIRS: August 7, 2021
• NASA ATTEMPT TO TAKE MARS SAMPLES
Perseverance, a NASA mission, bore into Mars’ surface but unsuccessful in its first effort to gather rock samples which would be collected by space projects and analysed by scientists on Earth. The drill bit is the first phase in an 11-day sample operation aimed at seeking for indications of ancient microbial life preserved in old lakebed sediments.
• FIVE MORE TERRORISTS HAVE BEEN ADDED TO THE US STATE DEPARTMENT’S WORLDWIDE TERRORIST LIST.
The US State Department added five suspected Islamist militants to its Specially Designated Global Terror watchlist on Friday, allowing any ownership or holdings in American properties held by them to be blocked. Anybody or foreign financial firms who partake in specific transactions with the five might face US penalties as a result of the designations.
• MARITAL RAPE AS GROUND FOR DIVORCE
A division bench of the Kerala High Court ruled that marital rape is legitimate grounds for divorce. A husband’s lustful disposition that disregards his wife’s freedom is a marital rape, and while such behaviour is not punishable, it falls under the category of bodily and emotional abuse. Our legal system does not recognize marital rape.
• DELHI TO OPEN MARKETS AND MALLS
The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) has been asked by the Chamber of Trade and Industry to enable malls and marketplaces to stay open till 10 p.m. Traders and businesspeople have previously petitioned Delhi’s AAP administration to allow marketplaces to operate ahead of the holiday season. There is no legislation prohibiting the opening of liquor stores, but weekly street markets must do so within a certain regulatory framework. Presently, just one weekly market is permitted each municipal ward.
• KARNATAKA CABINET PORTFOLIO
Basavaraj Bommai, the Chief Minister of Karnataka, assigned responsibilities to the 29 ministers who were sworn into his new government on Friday. Core BJP MLAs gained prominent slots in Bommai’s cabinet, but the CM maintained the important ministries of finance, Bengaluru development, and cabinet affairs. Sunil Kumar has been assigned the Energy and Power portfolio, according to a government announcement.
• REGIONAL COMMITTEE FOR BORDER DISPUTE IN ASSAM
The Chief Ministers of Assam and Meghalaya approved the introduction of various committees chaired by cabinet ministers from respective sides during the second round of chief minister-level discussions on the inter-state boundary issue conducted in Guwahati on Friday. They also indicated that six of the twelve points of contention will be handled first.
• COVAVAX FOR ADULT IN SEPTEMBER
Adar Poonawalla, CEO of the Serum Institute of India (SII), expressed optimism that Covovax, another Covid-19 vaccine getting developed by SII, The Covovax vaccine for children will be available in the first quarter of the next year, most probably in January-February, while Covovax for adults will be available in October. DCGI clearances are required.
• KERALA: 21 NURSING STUDENTS TESTED POSITIVE
On Thursday, twenty-one student nurses from Kerala positively identified for Covid in Karnataka’s Hassan district. They’d all enrolled at a private nursing school. On Tuesday, a student with Covid symptoms was tested using the RT-PCR method. The illness was verified, and tests were performed on the degree holders in the PG. The majority of individuals afflicted show no signs or symptoms.
