Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 03 March 2021

::NATIONAL::

Delhi Airport once again emerges as the Best Airport in ACI-ASQ Award for 2020

Annual ASQ Awards 2020 recognises Delhi Airport in over 40 MPPA category in the Asia-Pacific region.
Delhi Airport retains the best airport position under the highest category for three consecutive years- 2018, 2019 and 2020 in Asia-Pacific region. Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL), a GMR led consortium, today announced that Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) has once again emerged as the ‘Best Airport by Size and Region’ in Asia-Pacific for 2020. The airport’s efforts have been recognised by Airports Council International (ACI) for Airport Service Quality (ASQ) awards in the category of over 40 Million Passengers Per Annum (MPPA).
The COVID-19 pandemic had a dramatic impact on global passenger traffic in 2020 as well as changing customer perceptions and expectations of the airport experience. Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, DIAL showed its efforts in providing a superior customer experience under trying circumstances. The Airport Service Quality programme is the world’s leading airport customer experience measurement and benchmarking programme. The ASQ Departures programme measures passenger’s satisfaction across 34 key performance indicators. More than half of the world’s traveller pass through an ASQ airport.
ACI adopted the rigorous quality control process for the ASQ awards programme to ensure the benchmarking and findings from the ASQ survey remained of the highest quality during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Commenting on the achievement, Videh Kumar Jaipuriar, CEO-DIAL mentioned, “We are proud to see the continued recognition received by Delhi Airport in Airport Service Quality over the past several years.
Delhi Airport has consistently raised the bar in terms of service and operational excellence. DIAL has once again consolidated its position on the world aviation map. I commend the efforts made by the employees of DIAL and that of all stakeholders in the IGIA community. This award is a testimony of continued improvements in passenger-service that Delhi Airport has witnessed since DIAL took over its operations in 2006. The award demonstrates DIAL's strong focus on operational efficiencies and resilient approach towards service delivery.

Lok Sabha TV and Rajya Sabha TV merged into one unit

The presiding officers of both houses of Parliament have set the ball rolling for the merger of Lok Sabha TV and Rajya Sabha TV into a single entity, SANSAD TV, which will soon move to seek requisite government license.
According to a circular issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat, retired IAS officer Ravi Capoor has been appointed the CEO of the new integrated channel for a period of one year, beginning March 1.
"Consequent upon the joint declaration of the Rajya Sabha Chairman and Lok Sabha Speaker to merge RSTV and LSTV into Sansad Television (SANSAD TV), Ravi Capoor has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer, SANSAD TV, on contract basis, for a period of one year with immediate effect," the circular reads.
Sources said though the channels are being integrated into single entity, it will function on two platforms during the parliament sessions -- one to telecast live proceedings of Lok Sabha and the other of Rajya Sabha.
During the inter-session period, the channel will be on one single platform having enriched bilingual contents (Hindi and English), senior officials of the two secretariats said.

Printed Study Materials for IBPS, SBI Bank Exam

::International::

Sri Lanka to develop Waste Container Terminal at Colombo Port with India and Japan

Sri Lanka on Tuesday said it will develop the West Container Terminal (WCT) at the Colombo Port along with India and Japan. The decision comes a month after the Rajapaksa government ejected the two partners from a 2019 tripartite agreement to jointly develop the East Container Terminal (ECT), citing resistance to “foreign involvement”.
Addressing the media on decisions taken at Monday’s Cabinet meeting, spokesperson Keheliya Rambukwella said approval had been granted to develop the WCT with investors nominated by India and Japan. While the High Commission of India had “approved” Adani Ports, which was to invest in the ECT project earlier, Japan is yet to name an investor, according to officially published Cabinet decisions.
Neither India nor Japan has officially commented on the offer, or on the said private investment from the countries. According to official sources in New Delhi, Colombo had been in talks directly with potential investor Adani Group, while the government “was not part of” the discussions.

::Economy::

GST compensation shortfall released to States reaches Rs. 1.04 Lakh crore

The Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure has on Friday, released the 18th weekly instalment of Rs. 4,000 crore to the States to meet the GST compensation shortfall.
Out of this, an amount of Rs. 3,677.74 crore has been released to 23 States and an amount of Rs. 322.26 crore has been released to the 3 Union Territories (UT) with Legislative Assembly (Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir & Puducherry) who are members of the GST Council. The remaining 5 States, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim do not have a gap in revenue on account of GST implementation.
Till now, 94 percent of the total estimated GST compensation shortfall has been released to the States & UTs with Legislative Assembly. Out of this, an amount of Rs. 95,138.08 crore has been released to the States and an amount of Rs. 8,861.92 crore has been released to the 3 UTs with Legislative Assembly.
The Government of India had set up a special borrowing window in October, 2020 to meet the estimated shortfall of Rs. 1.10 Lakh crore in revenue arising on account of implementation of GST. The borrowings are being done through this window by the Government of India on behalf of the States and UTs. 18 rounds of borrowings have been completed so far starting from 23rd October, 2020.
Under the special window, the Government of India has been borrowing in Government Stock with tenor of 3 years and 5 years. The borrowing made under each tenor is equally divided among all the States as per their GST compensation shortfall.

::SCIENCE AND TECH::

Karnataka launches engineering research and development policy

The Karnataka government launched the ‘Karnataka Engineering Research & Development (Engineering R&D) Policy 2021’ as a measure to leverage the sector’s potential, create jobs and improve the state’s contribution in the space through strategic interventions and bridging the gap between academia and industry. Bengaluru accounts for 34% of all the multinational corporations (MNC) in the country and nearly 50% of the fortune 500 companies have a presence in India’s IT capital.
“The ER&D sector in the country is the fastest growing industry with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.8%. Meanwhile, the global Engineering Research and Development industry is expected to reach spending of $2 trillion by 2025.
Considering this scenario, this policy aims to prepare the state to make use of the future opportunities emanating from this sector,” said CN Ashwatha Narayana, Karnataka’s deputy chief minister and in-charge of IT/BT, science and technology portfolios.

::SPORTS::

Virat Kohli became the first cricketer to make 100 million followers on Instagram

Indian skipper virat kohli became the first Asian celebrity to reach the 100 million followers milestone on Instagram, and fans couldn’t keep calm. As the ace cricketer scored a century on the popular photo-video sharing app, desi fans were left in a frenzy congratulating the ‘century machine’ both on and off the field.
Along with his name, #100MillionViratiansOnInsta started to trend across social media sites as fans cheered for the captain. Even ICC welcomed Kohli in 100M club with a post as he joined other star athletes and celebrities in the elite league. While Portuguese footballer Christiano Ronaldo tops the chart with 266 million followers, singer Ariana Grande is second in the list with 224 million followers, followed by actor and former WWE superstar Dwayne Johnson with 220 million followers.