Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 03 August 2022

::National::

Pingali Venkayya birth anniversary: Remembering the man who designed national flag of India or Tricolour

Freedom fighter PingaliVenkayya was the designer of India's National Flag. A farmer, a geologist, a lecturer at the Andhra National College in Machilipatnam and a fluent speaker of Japanese, he was the articet of the Tricolour. In fact, he was so fluent in Japanese that he was famously known as 'Japan Venkayya'.
PingaliVenkayya was born near Machilipatnam on August 2, 1876. PingaliVenkayya went to South Africa to fight in the war as a British Indian Army soldier. It was in South Africa that he was struck by the sense of nationhood the Union Jack inspired among British soldiers.
Venkayya went on to design many models of the national flag. It was in 1921 when Mahatma Gandhi approved a design at the Indian National Congress meeting in Vijayawada.
The version presented by Venkayya to Mahatma Gandhi had two stripes -- green and red, and the Gandhian charkha at the centre. On Mahatma Gandhi's suggestion, Venkayya added a white stripe on top and this became the original Tricolour.
The flag was used informally at all Congress meetings since 1921. During its 1931 session, Congress adopted the Tricolour with the colour scheme -- saffron, white and green and the charkha at the centre.
The flag became the standard of Mahatma Gandhi's non-violent freedom movement.
To mark his birth anniversary, the Central government will release a special commemorative postage stamp on August 2. Prime Minister NarendraModi will release the stamp at a programme in New Delhi. The government has invited family members of PingaliVenkayya for the programme.
PingaliVenkayya died in penury and oblivion in 1963. Back in 2009, a postage stamp in his honour was released. The Vijayawada station of the All India Radio (AIR) was also named after him in 2014.
Meanwhile, Union Minister for Tourism and Culture G Kishan Reddy noted that there is a demand to confer Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, on PingaliVenkaiah. Last year, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had proposed his name for the Bharat Ratna.

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::International::

Ayman al-Zawahiri: Al-Qaeda leader killed in US drone strike

The US has killed the leader of al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, in a drone strike in Afghanistan, President Joe Biden has confirmed.
He was killed in a counter-terrorism operation carried out by the CIA in the Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday.
He and Osama Bin Laden plotted the 9/11 attacks together, and he was one of America's most wanted terrorists.
Mr Biden said al-Zawahiri had "carved a trail of murder and violence against American citizens".
"From hiding, he co-ordinated al-Qaeda's branches and all around the world, including setting priorities for providing operational guidance and calling for and inspired attacks against US targets," the president said in a live television address from the White House.
"Now justice has been delivered and this terrorist leader is no more," he added.
The FBI updated its Most Wanted Terrorist poster on Monday with Zawahiri's status: "Deceased."
The 71-year-old Egyptian doctor took over al-Qaeda after the death of Bin Laden in 2011.
Mr Biden said he had given the final approval for the "precision strike" after months of planning.
Officials said Zawahiri was on the balcony of a safe house when the drone fired two missiles at him.
Other family members were present, but they were unharmed and only Zawahiri was killed in the attack, they added.

::Economy::

RBI’s Financial Inclusion Index Rises, Reflects Growth Across All Parameters

The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) composite financial inclusion index (FI-Index) that captures the extent of financial inclusion across the country, rose to 56.4 in March 2022, up from 53.9 in March 2021, reflecting growth across all sectors.
“The value of FI-Index for March 2022 stands at 56.4 vis-a-vis 53.9 in March 2021, with growth witnessed across all the sub-indices,” the RBI said in a press release.
According to the RBI, the FI-Index captures information on various aspects of financial inclusion in a single value ranging between 0 and 100, where 0 represents complete financial exclusion and 100 indicates full financial inclusion.
The FI-Index comprises three broad parameters, namely, access (35 per cent), usage (45 per cent), and quality (20 per cent) with each of these consisting of various dimensions, which are computed based on a number of indicators.
The FI-Index is responsive to ease of access, availability and usage of services, and quality of services, comprising in all 97 indicators. A unique feature of the FI-Index is the quality parameter, which captures the quality aspect of financial inclusion as reflected by financial literacy, consumer protection, and inequalities and deficiencies in services.
Incidentally, the FI-Index has been constructed without any ‘base year’. Therefore, it reflects the cumulative efforts of all stakeholders over the years towards financial inclusion.
The RBI had conceptualised the FI-Index as a comprehensive index incorporating details of banking, investments, insurance, postal as well as the pension sector in consultation with the government and respective sectoral regulators. The FI-Index is published annually in June every year.
In its bi-monthly policy monetary policy statement in 2021, the RBI had said that financial inclusion has been viewed as a key enabler for achieving inclusive and sustainable development worldwide. This has also been a thrust area for government, the RBI and other regulators, with a number of steps having been taken and significant progress made over the years.

::Sports::

India Table Tennis men’s team wins gold at Commonwealth Games 2022, beats Singapore in final

India’s paddlers retained their men’s team championship title with a convincing 3-1 win over Singapore in the Commonwealth Games (CWG) in Birmingham.
Despite Sharath Kamal’s shock loss to southpaw Clarence Chew, Harmeet Desai fought back for India with a stunning show against Chew to seal the deal in his team’s favour.
The final was a repeat of the group stage affair between the two CWG table tennis powerhouses. With India having trumped Singapore 3-0, Singapore changed its combination.
The reliable doubles combination of Harmeet and G. Sathiyan got India off to an ideal start, with a 3-0 win in the lone doubles rubber against Koen Pang and IzaacQuek. While Sathiyan was solid with his forehand top-spins, Harmeet stole the show with his backhand blocks to give India the lead.
Instead of Pang, Singapore head coachGaoNing pitted Clarence against Sharath. And the move worked wonders as the southpaw caught Sharath off guard in the duo’s first meeting in eight years. Clarence used his angles effectively to race to a win in four games.