Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 03 August 2022

Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 03 September 2022

::National::

Air India to work on improving punctuality, says CEO

With an aim to improve its punctuality, Air India will be implementing several new measures like working towards its schedule and training its staff for improved coordination among other measures, Tata Air India chief executive officer (CEO) Campbell Wilson said on Friday. The airlines is already working on restoring its aircraft, improving spare parts and building in-house engineering.
He said the airline is also focusing on the root cause of delays and placing greater emphasis on the actions to prevent such recurrences. “It therefore behoves all of us to accurately report delays and their causes,” he said.
The airline will also work towards its schedule and train its staff for improved coordination, Wilson shared.
“The airline is also doing a full review of block times, airport connecting times, as well as aircraft and crew rotations,” Wilson said in an internal communication to the employees.
Air India has assessed the Northern Winter (from October 2022 to March 2023) schedule, based on which a cross-functional team — comprising network planning, cabin management system (CMS), engineering, ground services, integrated operations control centre (IOCC) among others — has been set up.
Highlightingthree associated work streams (schedule design, processed & systems, and organisation& people) supporting the airline’s improved on time performance (OTP), Wilson said several changes are being made “to improve our capabilities and effectiveness.” He said the airline will establish a passenger recovery and revenue retention cell.
The airline is assessing addition or improvement of operations control centre such as enhanced maintenance control coordination, cargo- load control- catering and air traffic control (ATC) coordination, he said.

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::International::

Indian called 'parasite, genociding our race' in Poland; ‘Stop invading

A fresh video of an Indian being racially abused allegedly by an American in Poland has surfaced on social media. The Indian whose identity has not yet been established was called a parasite, a ‘genocider’ in the video and was asked to go to India. 'Stop filming me,' the man continued to say in the video, but the attacker said he had the right to film him as it was his country. The incident comes to light after a Hindu was abused in California by a Sikh Indian-American, and a group of four women was heckled in Texas -- in similar attacks questioning why Indians are everywhere. Also Read | 'Dirty Hindu', 'disgusting dog': Indian-American abused by Sikh man in California.
It is not yet confirmed as to when the latest attack took place or what led to the conversation between the two people -- as no complaint has been filed. Also Read | 'You…Indians are…': Texas woman arrested for assaulting Indian Americans. Video viral
Social media users identified the place as Warshaw's Atrium Reduta Shopping Centre, and the attacker as Jon Minadeo II, purportedly the founder of Goyim TV -- "A white nationalist and deeply anti-Semitic channel", a user wrote on Twitter. Also Read | ‘Never have I felt so…’: Indian behind camera shares encounter with Texas woman.
"Why are you in Poland?" the video showed the purported attacker stopping the man believed to be an Indian. "Why are you filming me?" the man said. "Because I am from America... and in America, there's too many you guys. So why are you in Poland?" the abuser said.
Passers-by were also filmed as the attacker followed the Indian with his camera.
"Do you think you can just invade Poland? You have your own country. How come you not go back to your country?" The Indian evaded him and kept on walking.

::Economy::

Govt starts work to make regional banks viable; DFS to organise workshop

The Centre has started working on making regional rural banks (RRBs) viable, and would undertake stakeholder consultation to discuss ways to turnaround such lenders on Saturday.
The Department of Financial Services (DFS) is organising a workshop, to be chaired by Secretary Sanjay Malhotra, which will be attended by chairman of all regional lenders and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard); chief executive officer of Indian Banks Association (IBA), and sponsor banks.
Sponsor banks own 35 per cent in RRBs, while the Centre and state governments own 50 per cent, and 15 per cent, respectively.
The workshop will formulate a viability plan to implement operational and governance reforms that may be based on achievement of certain operational aspects such as credit expansion, business diversification, NPA reduction, cost rationalisation and improving corporate governance.
Restructuring of RRBs and making them viable is a priority for the Centre. The DFS had also formed an expert committee to make recommendations for making RRBs viable in the medium to long term.
Even as RRBs collectively have reported profits in FY21 and FY22, some regional lenders are reporting losses. After posting two straight years of losses in FY19 and FY20, RRBs reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 1,682 crore in FY21. Net profit surged 91 per cent to Rs 3,219 crore during FY22.
About 13 RRBs reported a loss of Rs 1,867 crore in FY21. The number of RRBs reporting a loss dropped to nine bringing down their losses to Rs 897 crore. The government is also nudging operationally sound RRBs to explore listing on the stock exchanges, creating additional sources to meet their regulatory capital requirement.
For FY22 and FY23, the Centre had decided to infuse capital of Rs 10,890 crore into RRBs. The Centre’s share will be Rs 5,445 crore and the remaining will come from states and sponsor banks. This compares with the total capital infusion of Rs 8,393 crore by all the stakeholders from 1975 till FY21.

RBI launches project to digitise KCC to transform rural credit delivery

To transform rural credit delivery system, the Reserve Bank has decided to launch pilot projects to digitiseKisan Credit Card (KCC) in Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
Based on the learnings from the pilot, it is planned to expand the digitalisation of KCC lending to other districts in these two states and gradually across the country, the RBI said in a statement.
The pilot project would entail automation of various processes within banks and integration of their systems with the service providers, it said, adding, the proposed digitalisation of the KCC lending process will make it more efficient, reduce costs for borrowers and reduce turn around time (TAT) significantly.
The TAT from loan application to disbursement has also been rather high, ranging from two to four weeks.
Rural credit is closely related to inclusive economic growth, as it caters to the requirements of agriculture and allied activities, ancillary industries, small businesses, etc.
At present, it said, the process for getting such finance requires customer to visit a bank branch in-person along with the proof of land ownership and other documents. Sometimes, the customer may be required to visit the bank branch multiple times.
Considering the challenges associated with rural finance in India, digitalisation of various aspects of rural finance is an important objective of RBI's Fintech initiatives, it said.
In this endeavour, it said, a pilot project for end-to-end digitalisation of Kisan Credit Card (KCC) lending, developed by the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH) in association with RBI is being taken up.
The pilot will commence in September 2022 in select districts of Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu with Union Bank of India and Federal Bank, respectively, as partner banks and with active cooperation of the respective State governments, it said.
"This pilot project on digitalisation of KCC lending is expected to play a pivotal role in facilitating credit flow to the unserved and underserved rural population by making the credit process faster and more efficient. When fully implemented, this has the potential to transform the rural credit delivery system of the country," it said.
The KCC scheme was introduced in 1998 for issue of farm loan to farmers on the basis of their holdings for uniform adoption by the banks so that farmers may use them to readily purchase agriculture inputs such as seeds, fertilizers, pesticides etc. and draw cash for their production needs.

::Science and tech::

NASA to re-attempt launch of Artemis 1 moon rocket

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on Saturday will attempt to launch its uncrewed moon mission Artemis 1 in the two-hour launch window opening at 2:17 pm ET (11:47pm as per Indian time). This second attempt is planned after the first was called off as the space launch system developed a technical snag.
Although the launch has been scheduled, the meteorologists at NASA have raised concern of scattered rain showers. They have predicted only 60 per cent favourable weather at the start of the launch window, however, it will subsequently improve to 80 per cent at the end.
NASA has said that it will take the final call for the launch after inspecting the prevailing condition. “The mission management team will meet early in the morning (by noon as per Indian time), Saturday, Sept. 3 and give the final determination for a “go” or “no-go” decision to begin tanking operations,” an update from NASA reads.
Before launch, the engine was to be conditioned i.e. to be bled with liquid hydrogen and oxygen.
This problem can be simply understood as that one of the four main engines could not be properly chilled ahead of its ignition.
Crew came with a troubleshooting plant but could not solve the problem. After the troubleshooting didn’t work, the launch director asked the hydrogen team to come up with a fresh strategy to address the problem.

::Sports::

Shaji Prabhakaran appointed new secretary general of AIFF

Delhi Football president and long-time administrator ShajiPrabhakaran was on Saturday appointed the new secretary general of the All India Football Federation (AIFF). The appointment, which was on expected lines, was carried out by the newly-formed executive committee of the AIFF, at the helm of which is presidentKalyanChaubey.
The decision was taken during the new dispensation's first executive committee at the Football House, and was chaired by Chaubey. The president proposed Prabhakaran's name as the new secretary general of the AIFF, which was unanimously approved by all the members, the AIFF said in a statement.
Prabhakaran, who was in the forefront of the group of people who wanted a change in the functioning of the AIFF, did not contest the apex body's elections here on Friday, when Chaubey became the federation's first player president in its 85-year existence. Welcoming the members, the AIFF president said: "This is the first time that six former eminent players are part of the Committee as per the order of the Honourable Supreme Court.