CRRENT AFFAIRS OF MARCH 2021

 1. INDIA IS ‘PARTLY FREE’, SAYS U.S. THINK-TANK 

U.S. based Human Rights watchdog Freedom House has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government of “driving India toward authoritarianism with a “hamfisted lockdown”, scapegoating of Muslims, and a crackdown on critics, and downgraded India’s status from 'Free’ to 'Partly Free’, in its annual report. 

“Under Modi, India appears to have abandoned it’s potential to serve as a global democratic leader, elevating narrow Hindu nationalist interests at the expense of its founding values of inclusion and equal rights for all,” said Freedom in the World 2021, which was released on Wednesday. 

2 INDIA,17 COUNTRIES FACE US ANTI-DUMPING TAX 

The U.S. Department of Commerce is preparing to tax aluminium sheet exporters from 18 Countries after determining on Tuesday that they had benefited from subsidies and dumping. 

The US International Trade Commission (ITC), an ; independent body,must approve the final decision By April 15 to impose anti dumping or countervailing  Quties,a department statement said. 

President Joe Biden’s administration determined that imports from Germany in particular ($287 million in 2019) benefited from dumping ranging from 40 % to 242%. , 

The same is true for aluminium alloy sheets from Bahrain ($241 million), which the administration said benefited from pricing below the cost of production, or the local market of 83%.Imports from India ($123 

 million in 2019) have benefited from subsidies for 35% to 89%, according to the U.S. Investigation. 

3. IN 2020 WORLD ADDED 3 BILLIONAIRES EVERY TWO DAYS, INDIA ADDED ONE EVERY WEEKNATIONAL 

In 2020, world added 3 billionaires every two days, India added one every week 

The world added 607 new billionaires or more than three billionaires in 2 days, while India added 55 new billionaires or | billionaire every week in 2020, despite the COVID-19 PANDEMIC, as per the 10% Edition of Hurun Global Rich List 2021 released on Tuesday. 

Tesla’s Elon Musk added $15 1billion to become the richest man in the world for the first time with net worth of $197 billion, followed by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos with $189 billion in net worth, the chairman and CEO of LVMH Moét Hennessy -Louis Vuitton Bernard . Arnault ($114 billion), Microsoft’s Bill Gates($110 billion) and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg ($101 billion). 

Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, who emerged as the richest man in India with net worth of $83 billion, came in at number eight in the global rich list 2021. 

India retained the third spot in number of billionaires from a country with a total of 177 billionaires living in the country. ‘China has pulled away big time from the U.S.A in the past year, Adil 259 to 1,058 to become the first country in the world to top 1,000 ‘known’ dollar billionaires. The U.S.A. Is second with 696 billionaires, up 70. 

Between the ‘Big Two’, China and the USA have 54% of the ‘known’ billionaires on the planet. India added 40 to solidify its third place, followed by Germany, the U.K., and Switzerland, each with more than 100 ‘known’ billionaires”’. It added. 

The report also noted that Mumbai Is home to the highest number of Billionaires in India with 60 “ ( Billionaires, followed by New Delhi e(40) and Bengaluru (22). 

4. PRE-BOOKING FOR ELON MUSK’S HIGH-SPEED STARLINK SATELLITE INTERNET BEGINS IN INDIA 

Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service is coming to India. According to multiple media reports,starlink has already started accepting free bookings and the services could be launched any time in 2022. 

The Company is charging a fully refundable deposit of USD 99 (Rs 7300). This payment is towards the star link equipment. The equipment will be installed at your consumer’s place that will allow access to internet service. 

Starlink is a satellite internet constellation to provide broadband internet access. It . promises speeds of 50-150 Mbps. The Starlink service is operated by SpaceX, am aerospace company owned by Elon Musk. Musk has already said that the speed will be doubled to 300 Mbps by the end of 2021. : 

As per the details available on Starlink’s website, it is targeting to launch date is not available right now. “Starlink is targeting coverage in your area in 2022. Availability is limited. Orders will be fulfilled on a first come, first served basis,” a note published on the company’s website reads. 

5. SWISS MUSLIMS DENOUNCE 'BURQA BAN’ PROPOSAL AS REFERENDUM NEARS 

According to official statistics, there are approximately 3,80,000 Muslims living in Switzerland, about 5% of the population. 

Asimilar burqa ban was import previously by other European Nations including the Netherlands, Germany, France, Austria, 

Belgium, Switzerland and Denmark. ° 

The Swiss are set to vote on whether they want to ban full facial coverings in public on March 7, when they will also vote ona range of other issues as part of the country’s direct democratic system. 

The text of the proposed ban does not _ mention Muslim veils explicitly, stating only that ‘‘no one shall cover their face in public, nor in areas accessible to the public or in ‘ areas where services are ordinarily accessible to all’’. !