Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 08 May 2021

::NATIONAL::

MK. Stalin (M. K. Stalin) became the new Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu

Stalin's DMK won 133 seats in the recently held elections for the 234-member assembly. The party contested the polls in alliance with some other regional parties and Congress.
DravidaMunnetraKazhagam's chief MK Stalin on Friday was sworn in as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu by Governor BanwarilalPurohit at Raj Bhavan in Chennai.
Stalin's DMK won 133 seats in the recently held elections for the 234-member assembly. The party contested the polls in alliance with some other regional parties and Congress.
Along with Stalin, 33 other ministers from his party also took the oath. The names include 19 former ministers and 15 new faces. There are two women among the newly sworn-in ministers.

Printed Study Materials for IBPS, SBI Bank Exam

::International::

UNEP and CCAC launch Global Methane Assessment

The assessment highlights the critical role that cutting methane emissions, including from the fossil fuel industry, plays in slowing the rate of global warming.
Cutting human-caused methane by 45% this decade would keep warming beneath a threshold agreed by world leaders.
There are multiple benefits to acting including: the rapid reduction of warming, which can help prevent dangerous climate tipping points; improved air quality that can save hundreds of thousands of lives; improve food security by preventing crop losses; and create jobs through mitigation efforts while increasing productivity through reduced heat stress.
The assessment was launched by Climate & Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) together with the United Nations Environment Programme.

::Economy::

RBI has appointed SBI MD S. Janakiraman set up a Consultative Group to assist the Second Regulatory Review Authority (RRA 2.0)

The Reserve Bank of India (RRBI) has set up a Regulations Review Authority (RRA 2.0), initially for a period of one year from May 1, 2021. The group of advisors of the authority has called for feedback and suggestions from the stakeholders.
RBI stated, “To undertake its preparatory work, the Group has decided to invite feedback and suggestions from all regulated entities, industry bodies and other stakeholders.”
The last day for suggestion and feedback is June 15, 2021,
S Janakiraman, Managing Director, State Bank of India is the Chairman of the advisory group. Other Members of the advisory group are T TSrinivasaraghavan, Former MD and Non-Executive Director, Sundaram Finance; Gautam Thakur, Chairman, Saraswat Co-operative Bank Ltd; SubirSaha, Group Chief Compliance Officer, ICICI Bank; Ravi Duvvuru, President & CCO, Jana Small Finance Bank; and AbadaanViccaji, Chief Compliance Officer, HSBC India.
The RRA has constituted an Advisory Group, representing members from regulated entities, including compliance officers, to support the RRA in achieving the objective set forth in the terms of reference of RRA 2.0.

SBI and EIB (European Investment Bank) to invest up to €100 million in climate change-focused Indian SMEs

In a significant development, the European Investment Bank and the State Bank of India have launched a new initiative of €100 million (~$121.63 million) for climate action and sustainability financing.
The official announcement to this effect was made at the European Union (EU)-India leaders’ meet in Portugal.
This is one of the first private equity operations by EIB in India. The Neev Fund II is a result of the commitment of EIB and SBI to support the country’s climate action and sustainability goals.
As per the arrangement, Neev Fund II will invest up to €100 million (~$121.63 million) in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across the country. Financing will be provided to companies offering solutions for clean energy, electric vehicles, efficient use of raw materials, and water and circular economy projects in the country.
The fund will help emerging Indian companies invest in their growth through equity and quasi-equity arrangements. The funding will target the sectors that support the United Nations’ sustainable development goals.
Commenting on this latest development, EIB Vice President Christian Kettel Thomsen said, “Climate change claims thousands of lives and causes damage amounting to hundreds of billions of euros every year. Innovative solutions often require innovative forms of financing, such as private equity funds. Our partnership with the SBI will create a much-needed source of equity financing for climate action and environmental sustainability solutions offered by innovative SMEs.

::Science and tech::

Scientists model Saturn's internal structure

The models, published this week in AGU Advances, also indicate that Saturn's interior may feature higher temperatures at the equatorial region, with lower temperatures at the high latitudes at the top of the helium rain layer.
It is notoriously difficult to study the interior structures of large gaseous planets, and the findings advance the effort to map Saturn's hidden regions.
"By studying how Saturn formed and how it evolved over time, we can learn a lot about the formation of other planets similar to Saturn within our own solar system, as well as beyond it," said co-author Sabine Stanley, a Johns Hopkins planetary physicist.
Saturn stands out among the planets in our solar system because its magnetic field appears to be almost perfectly symmetrical around the rotation axis. Detailed measurements of the magnetic field gleaned from the last orbits of NASA's Cassini mission provide an opportunity to better understand the planet's deep interior, where the magnetic field is generated, said lead author Chi Yan, a Johns Hopkins PhD candidate.
By feeding data gathered by the Cassini mission into powerful computer simulations similar to those used to study weather and climate, Yan and Stanley explored what ingredients are necessary to produce the dynamo -- the electromagnetic conversion mechanism -- that could account for Saturn's magnetic field.
"One thing we discovered was how sensitive the model was to very specific things like temperature," said Stanley, who is also a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins in the Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences and the Space Exploration Sector of the Applied Physics Lab. "And that means we have a really interesting probe of Saturn's deep interior as far as 20,000 kilometers down. It's a kind of X-ray vision."