Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 06 July 2021

::NATIONAL::

The Supreme Court on Monday expressed its “anguish” over what it called attempts by “all governments and institutions” to deprive people with disabilities of their rights under the disability law.
“This has been our experience for decades as judges. Irrespective of dispensation, all governments, and all authorities have always tried their best to defeat the objective of the disability law. Nobody wants to make ways for the disabled,” regretted the bench of justices Sanjay KishanKaul and Hemant Gupta.
The bench was hearing an appeal by a consortium of Catholic school management and Catholic institutions of higher education in Kerala against the high court decision to appoint disabled candidates as teachers in their schools under the disability law.
In February this year, the high court told the management to calculate posts for the disabled candidates since 1996 and earmark four posts for each year.
The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016 provides that all government educational institutions and other educational institutions receiving aid from the government shall reserve at least 3% seats for persons with disabilities.
Senior advocate V Giri, appearing for a group of Catholic educational institutions, expressed “practical” difficulties in complying with the judgment of the high court and said that apart from the fiscal liability, the creation of these many posts was also not possible.

Journalists in Pakistan have given a call for countrywide protest on Monday against the passage of the controversial Provincial Assembly Privileges (Amendment) Bill, 2021 by the Punjab Assembly. The call has been given by Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), which claims that the bill has provisions that target press freedom in the Punjab region.
The PFUJ is an umbrella organisation of all journalist unions in the country.
As per a statement from PFUJ, all unions of journalists will organise rallies and hoist black flags at press clubs to protest against the bill described as a "brutal" piece of law, local media reported. The unions have also announced a rally outside the governor house in the Punjab.
They are demanding the government a rollback of the bill. They have also called upon provincial government (in Balochistan) to take steps against the "undemocratic action".
As per local media reports, the amendment bill has a provision of three-month imprisonment or a fine of ₹10,000, or both, for publishing any report on the proceedings or a report of a committee before it was reported to the assembly.

NMDC share prices slipped over 2 per cent in early trade on Tuesday after the government said it will offload a 4 per cent stake in the state-owned miner through an offer for sale (OFS) and fixed a floor price of ₹165 per equity share. At 10:39am, NMDC was quoting at ₹173.75, down ₹1.65, or 0.94 per cent on BSE, while on NSE it was at ₹173.50, down 1.75 or 1 per cent. NMDC share touched a 52-week high of ₹213.15 and a 52-week low of ₹75.60 on May 12, 2021, and September 24, 2020, respectively.
NMDC announced that the government plans to offload a 4 per cent stake in the company through an offer for sale (OFS) which opens for subscription on Tuesday. The company said the President of India, acting through and represented by the Union ministry of steel is the promoter of NMDC.
"The promoter proposes to sell up to 11,72,24,234 equity shares of the company, (representing 4 per cent of the total issued and paid up equity share capital of the company on July 6 for non-retail investors and on July 7 for retail and non-retail investors who choose to carry forward their un-allotted bids with an option to additionally sell 10,22,78,144 equity shares representing 3.49 per cent of the total issued and paid-up equity share capital of the company," it said.

Eminent economist PinakiChakraborty on Sunday said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) should not print money to finance the fiscal deficit as it shall lead to fiscal profligacy.
The director of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) said that high inflation is a concern and there is a need to stabilise inflation to manageable levels.
“I think this debate started in the beginning of the pandemic and printing money for deficit financing was not considered. I don't think the RBI should ever do that. We stopped it in 1996 through a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the RBI and the government. We should not go back to it again,” Chakraborty was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
The eminent economist also said that if there is no major third wave of Covid-19 India may see a faster economic recovery. Pinaki’s statements come amid recent calls from various quarters to print more money to finance the fiscal deficit.
The RBI’s monetisation of the fiscal deficit means that the central bank will print currency for the government so that it can take care of any emergency spending to bridge its fiscal deficit. Chakraborty highlighted that India’s macroeconomic situation is comparatively better than what it was during the first wave of the pandemic.

Researchers have identified the brain circuit for spirituality in humans by using datasets from neurosurgical patients and those with brain lesions.
In a new study published in the journal Biological Psychiatry, researchers said that more than 80% of the global population consider themselves religious and spiritual, but research on the neuroscience of spirituality and religiosity has been sparse.
A team of investigators at Brigham and Women's Hospital used datasets from 88 neurosurgical patients who were undergoing surgery to remove a brain tumour. The patients completed a survey that included questions about spiritual acceptance before and after surgery. Out of 88 patients, 30 showed a decrease in self-reported spiritual belief after neurosurgical brain tumour resection, while 29 showed an increase, and the rest showed no change.
The researchers found that brain lesions associated with self-reported spirituality map to a brain circuit centred on the periaqueductal grey, a brainstem region previously implicated in fear conditioning, pain modulation, and altruistic behaviour.
They validated their results using a second dataset made up of more than 100 patients with lesions caused by penetrating head trauma from combat during the Vietnam War.

MC Mary Kom, the six-time world boxing champion, and Manpreet Singh, the men’s hockey team skipper, will be India’s flag-bearers at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics, announced Indian Olympic Association (IOA) on Monday.
BajrangPunia, a silver medallist at the 2018 World Wrestling Championships, will be the flag-bearer at the closing ceremony on August 8.
In a first, India is having two flag-bearers — one male and one female — at the upcoming Tokyo Games to ensure “gender parity”. The IOA has communicated the decision in this regard to the Organising Committee of the Games.