Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 01 January 2022

::National::

VS Pathania takes over as Chief of Indian Coast Guard

VS Pathania took charge as the Director-General of the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) on 31-12-2021, an official statement said.
VS Pathania replaced K Natarajan, who served as the Chief of the ICG from July 1, 2019 to December 31, 2021.
He is an alumnus of the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, and National Defence College, New Delhi, the ICG's statement said.
He is a qualified helicopter pilot and holds a Master's Degree in Defence and Strategic Studies from the University of Madras, it mentioned.
"He has also undergone specialisation in search and rescue and port operations with the US Coast Guard," it stated.
VS Pathania was elevated to the rank of additional director general in November 2019 and took over the reins as Coast Guard Commander (Eastern Seaboard) at Visakhapatnam, it mentioned.
"The period under his apex watch on eastern seafront saw surge in major operations that included apprehension of gold and tons of drugs/narcotic substance worth thousands of crores, pollution response operations, joint exercises with foreign coast guard, anti-poaching operations, mass rescue operations and humanitarian assistance during cyclones/natural calamities and strengthened coastal security," it noted.

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::International::

China launches 5-year plan to become center of world robotics innovation

China on Tuesday unveiled a five-year plan for smart manufacturing, vowing that large manufacturers will basically achieve digitalization by 2025, in a bid to bolster the technology and market competitiveness of the sector in a new round of fierce global race in advanced manufacturing.
The plan, released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and seven other departments, came as countries such as the US, Germany and Japan are also pushing to boost intelligent manufacturing.
By 2025, more than 70 percent of large-scale Chinese enterprises should be digitalized, and more than 500 demonstration manufacturing facilities will be built nationwide, according to the plan.
The technical level and market competitiveness of intelligent manufacturing equipment and industrial software should be significantly improved, with market satisfaction rates exceeding 70 percent and 50 percent respectively, the plan said.
The current market satisfaction rate of intelligent manufacturing equipment exceeds 50 percent.
The plan vowed to strengthen research on key technologies such as artificial intelligence, 5G, big data and edge computing.
"The development level of intelligent manufacturing is related to the global position of China's manufacturing industry in the future," said the MIIT statement.
The White House in 2018 released a Strategy for American Leadership in Advanced Manufacturing to ensure the leading position of the US in advanced manufacturing.
In 2019, Germany presented the final version of its "National Industry Strategy 2030," under which the first pillar is to "improve the framework conditions" for Germany as an industrial location.
Compared with leading countries such as the US, Germany and Japan in intelligent manufacturing, China still needs to catch up in software and industrial infrastructure, Zhang Xiaorong, director of the Beijing-based Cutting-Edge Technology Research Institute, told the Global Times.

::Economy::

ICRA rating agency expects India to grow at 9% in FY 2022-23

The Indian economy is expected to maintain a real GDP growth of 9.0% each in FY22 and FY23 amid the uncertainty triggered by the Omicron variant of Covid-19, ratings and research firm Icra said.
The rating agency said the available data for Q3 FY2022 does not offer convincing evidence that the Monetary Policy Committee’s (MPC’s) criteria of a durable and sustainable growth recovery had been met, to confirm a change in the Monetary Policy stance to neutral in February 2022.
According to AditiNayar, chief economist, ICRA Ltd, “The data for October-November 2021 does not point to a broad-basing of the growth recovery in India. After the higher-than-expected net cash outgo sought under the second supplementary demand for grants, the pace of actual Government spending is likely to determine whether the pace of GDP growth meaningfully exceeds 6.0-6.5% in Q3 FY2022."
Similar to the trend in Q2 FY2022, the volumes of seven of the 13 high frequency indicators rose above their pre-Covid levels in October-November 2021, including GST e-way bills generation (+26.7%), non-oil exports (+26.0%), rail freight traffic (+20.2%), Coal India Limited output (+15.7%), electricity generation (+9.9%), petrol consumption (+6.4%) and ports cargo traffic (+4.0%).
However, the volumes of six of the 13 high-frequency indicators contracted in October-November, relative to October-November 2019, and in line with the trend in Q2 FY2022, suggesting that the recovery is yet to broad-base.
The subset trailing their pre-Covid performance in October-November 2021, includes scooter production (-25.1%), domestic airline passenger traffic (-22.8%), vehicle registration (-22.8%), diesel consumption (-6.8%), passenger vehicle (PV) production (-3.1%) and motorcycle production (-2.6%).

::Science and tech::

Russia tests 10 new Tsirkon (Zircon) hypersonic cruise missiles

Russia test-fired around 10 new Tsirkon (Zircon) hypersonic cruise missiles from a frigate and two more from a submarine, the weapon Russian President Vladimir Putin has lauded as part of a new generation of unrivalled arms systems, according to the Interfax news agency citing Russia's northern fleet on Friday.
Putin has called a missile test, conducted last week, "a big event in the country's life," adding that this was "a substantial step" in increasing Russia's defense capabilities.
Some Western experts have questioned how advanced Russia's new generation of weapons is, while recognizing that the combination of speed, maneuverability and altitude of hypersonic missiles makes them difficult to track and intercept.
Putin announced an array of new hypersonic weapons in 2018 in one of his most bellicose speeches in years, saying they could hit almost any point in the world and evade a United States-built missile shield.
In October, Russia had successfully test-launched a Tsirkon (Zircon) hypersonic cruise missile from a submarine for the first time.

::Sport::

India beat Sri Lanka by 9 wickets to win Under-19 Asia Cup title in Dubai

India reaffirmed their supremacy in the U-19 Asia Cup with a record eighth title as they hammered Sri Lanka by nine wickets in a rain-hit summit showdown.
The Indian bowlers were all over Sri Lanka, who were gasping at 74 for seven in 33 overs, when heavy rain lashed the Dubai International Cricket Stadium and stopped play for more than two hours.
It became a 38-over-a-side contest when play resumed with Sri Lanka limping to 106 for nine.
India were set a revised 102-run target in 38 overs via DLS method which they reached rather comfortably in 21.3 overs with opener AngkrishRaghuvanshi scoring an unbeaten 56 off 67 balls.
India’s only loss in the competition came against arch-rivals Pakistan who lost to Sri Lanka in the semifinals.