Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 06 October 2021

::National::

PM Modi to interact with beneficiaries of Svamitva scheme

Prime Minister NarendraModi will interact with the beneficiaries of Svamitva (Survey of Villages And Mapping With Improvised Technology In Village Areas) scheme in Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday via video conferencing. The event will take place at 12:30pm. He will also distribute e-property cards to 1,71,000 beneficiaries under the scheme on the occasion, according to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).
Svamitva is a scheme of the Union ministry of panchayati raj, which will pave the way for the use of property as a financial asset by villagers for taking loans and other financial benefits, like in urban areas, the PMO stated.
The scheme aims to demarcate inhabited lands in rural areas through the latest surveying drone-technology. It has also provided a boost to the ecosystem of drone manufacturing in the nation.
According to the panchayati raj ministry, the survey will be done across the nation in a phase-wise manner over a period of four years-- from 2020 to 2024.
The scheme which aims to provide property rights to the residents of rural areas, will bring financial stability to people by enabling them to use their property as financial asset for taking loans and other financial benefits. It will also lead to creation of land records for rural planning and determination of property tax. The government hopes that through this scheme, property disputes and legal cases will be reduced.

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::International::

US diplomats to meet amid heightened tension over Taiwan

Military tension between China and Taiwan, which Beijing says is a breakaway region, has intensified in the last few days with a record number of Chinese fighter aircraft flying into the island’s air defence zone.
The marked increase in tension comes ahead of the meeting between Yang Jiechi, a member of the Communist Party of China’s (CPC) Central Committee Politburo and US national security advisor Jake Sullivan in Zurich, Switzerland, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday.
The meeting in Zurich comes in the backdrop of heightened tensions between Beijing and Washington over a range of issues including Taiwan.
It will be Jake Sullivan’s first face-to-face meeting with Yang Jiechi since their bitter exchanges in Alaska in March, which also involved US secretary of state Antony Blinken.
The deployment of a large number of People’s Liberation Army (PLA) air force jets near Taiwan was highlighted by 56 fighters and bombers dispatched on one day earlier this week.
The deployment coincided with the National Day holidays on the mainland, which is marked by seven days of events and celebrations to observe the founding of modern China under the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 1949.
In Taiwan’s capital, Taipei, the country’s defence minister said military tensions with China were at their worst in more than 40 years. Defence minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said the situation was “the most serious” in more than 40 years since he joined the military, adding there was a risk of a “misfire” across the sensitive Taiwan Strait.

::Economy::

CryptocurrencyBitcoin rises above $51,000; Ethereum, Dogecoin top gainers

Bitcoin prices continued to extend gains, a day after passing the $50,000 mark for the first time in four weeks. The world's largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization was trading 5 per cent higher at around $51,614 at 11:30am.
According to CoinDesk, Ether, the coin linked to ethereumblockchain and the second largest crypto, was up 3 per cent to $3,500. Cardano prices gained marginally to $2.22 whereas dogecoin surged nearly 5 per cent to $0.24. Other digital tokens like Stellar, Litecoin gained Solana and Uniswap slipped over in the last 24 hours.
The global crypto market cap was up by more than 3 per cent to $2.22 trillion compared to Tuesday. However, the total crypto market volume jumped about 4 per cent to $110.80 billion.
The Bitcoin advance has overcome China’s ban on cryptocurrency transactions and turbulence around El Salvador’s troubled rollout of the digital coin as legal tender, reports Bloomberg.
"Now that Bitcoin has surpassed $50,000, we do expect this bull run to take it to near highs during the fourth quarter,” said Leah Wald, chief executive officer of Valkyrie Investments, a specialized alternative asset management firm, in a Bloomberg QuickTake video.

'Risks to a broad global recovery are rising due to...’ IMF chief

The International Monetary Fund said the risks to a broad global economic recovery are rising due to a persistent divide in vaccinations, accelerating inflation and burgeoning debt that all threaten to leave developing countries far behind.
Those were among the challenges highlighted by Managing Director KristalinaGeorgieva in the text of a virtual speech prepared for delivery Tuesday. All three issues were worse for low-income countries and will likely persist in those economies for longer, she said.
“Risks and obstacles to a balanced global recovery have become even more pronounced” since the lender last updated its World Economic Outlook in July, Georgieva said.
The fund is scheduled to release a new forecast next week at the outset of the IMF and World Bank’s annual meetings, which will take place in a hybrid format online and in-person in Washington.
The IMF’s annual meeting arrives just as its chief is embroiled in a scandal from her time at the World Bank.
Georgieva has mounted a defense against accusations that she improperly influenced a report in China’s favor in 2017, saying the claim is “simply untrue.” The IMF said Monday its executive board is conducting a “thorough, objective and timely review” of the matter.

::Science and tech::

Center launches ICMR's drone-based vaccine delivery model 'i-Drone'

The Centre launched Indian Council of Medical Research’s (ICMR) vaccine delivery model --Drone Response and Outreach in North East (i-Drone).
The government said this is for the first time that a 'Make in India' drone has been used in South Asia to transport covid-19 vaccines over an aerial distance of 15 km in 12-15 minutes. The drone covered the distance from Bishnupur district hospital to Loktak lake, Karangisland in Manipur. The actual road distance between these locations is 26 km.
“India is a home to geographical diversities and drones can be used to deliver essentials to the last mile. We can use drones in delivering important life-saving medicines, collecting blood samples. This technology can also be used in critical situations.
This technology may prove a game changer in addressing the challenges in health care delivery, particularly health supplies in difficult areas," MansukhMandaviya, union minister for health and family welfare said while launching the initiative which would facilitate vaccine delivery to tough and hard-to-reach terrains of India.
Incorporating such drone technologies into national programs would also help deliver other vaccines and medical supplies as quickly as possible, he said.
Despite the effective and safe vaccine administration in states and Union Territories, vaccine delivery among tough and hard-to-reach terrains of India is still challenging. The i-Drone has been designed to overcome these challenges by deploying unmanned aerial vehicles/drones to remote areas and hard-to-reach terrains.

::Sport::

India pulls out of 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games hockey competition

The Indian men’s and women’s hockey teams, who performed brilliantly at the Tokyo Olympics, will not take part in the 2022 Commonwealth Games (CWG) in Birmingham, the national federation.
Hockey India (HI) cited CWG's proximity to the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou—the winner will directly qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics--Covid-19 concerns and Britain’s “discriminatory” quarantine rules as reasons for the withdrawal. Significantly, the decision comes a day after England pulled out of the Junior Men’s World Cup, scheduled in Bhubaneswar from November 24-December 5, citing the 10-day quarantine rule imposed by India in response to Britain’s similar decree even for vaccinated Indians travelling to the UK.
“With reference to the pandemic, we have observed over the last 18 months that England has been the worst affected country in Europe,” HI President GyanandroNingombam said in a letter to Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president NarinderBatra, who also heads the world hockey body, FIH.