Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 14 August 2021

::NATIONAL::

The Odisha government has directed engineers of its Water Resources Department to prepare an action plan for the coastal stretches of the State, which are highly vulnerable to storm surges, within a month.
The State plans to raise saline and flood embankments along the coast to prevent tidal surges from inundating human habitations.
As there is every possibility of increased frequency and intensity of the cyclones in the future, raising and strengthening of embankments has become vital.
Storm surge is the abnormal rise in seawater level during a storm, measured as the height of the water above the normal predicted astronomical tide.
The surge is caused primarily by a storm’s winds pushing water onshore.

Special purpose vehicle (SPV) model of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) willreplace build-operate-transfer (BOT) mode for some projects.

About:

SPV is a legal entity that is formed for a well-defined, sole and narrow purpose.
They are generally formed to isolate a company’s assets or activities.
The activities or assets are distanced into the new entity, i.e., the SPV and so investors or lenders feel more comfortable.

Significance:

Myanmar has conveyed its apprehension over the deployment of the Border Road Organisation (BRO) for the completion of the India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway and Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport (KMTT) project.
The Union government informed the parliamentary committee on home affairs. The military in Myanmar seized control in February this year, forcing thousands of Myanmarese nationals to seek shelter in India.
The National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highway (NHIDCL) has not submitted its willingness despite several requests and personal meetings, BRO has not found favour with the Myanmar government for the implementation of the KMTT project.
The ministry is exploring the involvement of other agencies like NPCC, NHAI, IRCON and RITES for the implementation of the project,” reads the action taken report, tabled before Parliament, on August 9.

KMTT project:

Multi-modal transport project having three different stretches involving shipping, Inland Water and road transport stretches.
It connects Kolkata port to Sittwe port in Myanmar through sea route, Sittwe to Paletwa by Inland water transport on Kaladan River,Paletwa toIndia by road crossing the Indo-Myanmar border in the way.
It will reduce distance from Kolkata to Mizoram by approximately 1000 km and cut travelling time to 3-4 days for transport of goods.

Qatar hosted a meeting of the “extended troika” that was convened by Russia and was joined by the US special envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, and his counterparts from Russia,China and Pakistan.

About:

Original “Troika” process involved consultations between U.S., Russia and China.
India participated in the regional conference in Doha for the first time, along with Russia, US,China and Pakistan.
However, post conference no official statement has been given.
Aim of the extended troika meet is to fasten Afghan peace process

NITI Aayog has released a handbook to guide state governments and local bodies to frame policies and norms towards setting up charging networks for electric vehicles.
The objective is to enhance charging infrastructure and facilitate a rapid transition to electric mobility in the country.
The Handbook for Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Implementation has been jointly developed by NITI Aayog, Ministry of Power, Department of Science and Technology, Bureau of Energy Efficiency, and World Resources Institute India.

Key objectives:

It provides a systematic and a holistic approach for adoptions by implementing authorities.
Other stakeholders involved in planning, authorisation and execution of electric vehicles charging infrastructure.
The handbook addresses the common challenges being faced by different local authorities in implementing electric vehicles charging networks.
It serves as a starting point for the peer-to-peer exchange of best practices between states and local bodies.

Hackers pulled off the biggest ever cryptocurrency heist stealing $613 million in digital coins from token-swapping platform Poly Network, only to return $260 million worth of tokens less than 24 hours later.

What is Poly Network?

A lesser-known name in the world of crypto, Poly Network is a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform that facilitates peer-to-peer transactions with a focus on allowing users to transfer or swap tokens across different blockchains.
For example, a customer could use Poly Network to transfer tokens such as bitcoin from the Ethereum blockchain to the Binance Smart Chain, perhaps looking to access a specific application.
Poly Network was launched by the founders of Chinese blockchain project Neo.
Poly Network operates on the Binance Smart Chain, Ethereum and Polygon blockchains. Tokens are swapped between the blockchains using a smart contract which contains instructions on when to release the assets to the counterparties.