Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 02 July 2022

::National::

'Nupur Sharma not responsible for…': Dutch MP Geert Wilders after SC remark

Netherlands far-right politician Geert Wilders, known for his Islamophobic comments, said BJP former spokesperson Nupur Sharma should never apologise and she is not responsible for Udaipur. Geert Wilders extended his support to Nupur Sharma and her comments on the Prophet when her comments met global outrage.
As the Supreme Court on Friday chastised the former BJP functionary and said that she is "single-handedly responsible" for what is happening in the country, including the beheading of a Hindu tailor in Udaipur, the Dutch MP said not Nupur Sharma but radical intolerant jihadi Muslims are responsible for the Udaipur incident. "I thought India had no sharia courts," Geert Wilders tweeted.
The Supreme Court on Friday said Nupur Sharma should have apologised in front of the country on television where in the first place she made those comments on teh prophet. While several Muslim nations raised the issue with New Delhi, protests broke out across the country last month -- in a repercussion of her comments.
On Tuesday, KanhaiyaLal, a Hindu tailor, was hacked to death for supporting Nupur Sharma on social media.
While opposition political parties welcomed the remarks made by the top court, Vishva Hindu Parishad said the court should have allowed the clubbing of the FIRs. "Whether Nupur Sharma committed an offence under law or not was not the issue before the Supreme Court.
It will be decided by a magistrate (court) after recording deposition of witnesses and hearing arguments of the parties involved in the case," VHP working President Alok Kumar said, as quoted by PTI.

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::International::

Google to delete user location history on US abortion clinic visits

Google announced it would delete users' location history when they visit abortion clinics, domestic violence shelters and other places where privacy is sought.
"If our systems identify that someone has visited one of these places, we will delete these entries from Location History soon after they visit," Jen Fitzpatrick, a senior vice president at Google, wrote in a blog post. "This change will take effect in the coming weeks."
Other places from which Google will not store location data include fertility centers, addiction treatment facilities, and weight loss clinics.
The announcement comes a week after the US Supreme Court made the tectonic decision to strip American women of constitutional rights to abortion, leading a dozen states to ban or severely restrict the procedure and prompting mass protests across the country.
Activists and politicians have been calling on Google and other tech giants to limit the amount of information they collect to avoid it being used by law enforcement for abortion investigations and prosecutions.
"Google has a long track record of pushing back on overly broad demands from law enforcement, including objecting to some demands entirely," she wrote.
"We take into account the privacy and security expectations of people using our products, and we notify people when we comply with government demands."
Concerns over smartphone data and reproductive rights arose even before the Supreme Court ruling, when several conservative US states in recent months passed laws that give members of the public the right to sue doctors who perform abortions -- or anyone who helps facilitate them.

::Economy::

Pain for rupee likely as India's trade gap, capital outflows balloon

India’s ballooning trade gap and capital outflows are raising new risks for the rupee, just as the currency’s plunge to a record low adds to inflation woes.
“India’s external balances are deteriorating,” economists at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. wrote in a note Thursday, citing the terms-of-trade shock from higher commodities prices and weakening global growth. “Going forward, the trajectory of the rupee is likely to be pushed weaker versus the dollar on account of the deteriorating external balances.” The Indian rupee declined to a new all-time low of 79.1113 per dollar on Friday.
Pain for rupee likely as India's trade gap, capital outflows balloon
While the Reserve Bank of India has begun raising rates, which usually supports currencies, the moves also deflate the domestic stock market, and can accelerate rupee-weakening outflows. Meanwhile, demand for dollars is rising, further pressuring the currency and forcing the RBI to dip into its reserves pile to support it.
A shortfall in India’s current account -- the broadest measure of trade -- will probably widen to 2.9% of gross domestic product in the fiscal year ending March 31, according to a Bloomberg survey in late June, nearly double the level seen in the previous year.
“The current account deficit widening has been relentless,” said Rahul Bajoira, an economist with Barclays Plc in Mumbai. “The broad-based increase in commodity prices is likely to keep the deficit sticky in the near term and, along with capital outflows, exacerbate the external financing requirements.”

Big tech firms offering financial services pose risk to stability: RBI

Big tech companies offering financial services pose risk to financial stability as their complex intertwined operational linkages with financial institutions could lead to contagion effect and potential anti-competitive behaviour, the RBI has said.
The central bank, in its 25th Financial Stability Report (FSR), said the advent of FinTech has exposed the banking system to new risks which extend beyond prudential issues and often intersect with other public policy objectives relating to safeguarding of data privacy, cyber security, consumer protection, competition and compliance with anti-money laundering policies.
Big techs can scale up rapidly and pose risk to financial stability, which can arise from increased disintermediation of incumbent institutions, it noted.
"Moreover, complex intertwined operational linkages between BigTech firms and financial institutions could lead to concentration and contagion risks and issues relating to potential anti-competitive behaviour," as per the report released.
Regulators and supervisors face a challenging balancing act between innovation-friendliness and managing risks to financial stability.
The report pointed out that the financial technology (FinTech) industry has undergone tremendous growth over the past few years. The global FinTech market size was valued at USD 111 billion in 2020, and is projected to reach USD 698 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 20.3 per cent.
The Indian FinTech industry, which is amongst the fastest growing in the world, was valued at USD 50-60 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach USD 150 billion by 2025. India has the highest FinTech adoption rate globally (87 per cent) receiving funding of USD 8.53 billion (in 278 deals) during 2021-22.

::Sports::

Chopra heads to worlds with “satisfaction”

On the eve of the Diamond League in Stockholm, Neeraj Chopra, flanked by Sweden’s world and Olympic discus champion Daniel Stahl and rising sensation KristjanCeh, looked at ease fielding questions from the world media.
Chopra spoke about how it felt like having millions of followers in India and the way life changed for him after the gold in Tokyo. When it came to javelin, Chopra called it an exciting time for throwers with many of them breaching 90m and Johannes Vetter taking it to another level.
It was the second time in three competitions that Chopra had come agonisingly close to the 90m mark. Peters, the season’s leading thrower, threw 90.31m in his fourth try. Chopra’s next five throws were all clean attempts: 84.37m, 87.46m, 84.77m, 86.67m, 86.84m. He finished second behind Peters, who admitted to being fired by Chopra’s big opening effort.