Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 08 March 2021

::NATIONAL::

Delhi Cabinet approves formation of Delhi Board of School Education

The Delhi government on Saturday approved the formation of a separate school board for nearly 2,700 schools in the city. In the beginning, 21-22 state government schools will be affiliated to the Delhi Board of School Education (DBSE) and in the next four-five years all the schools will be brought under it, Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal said in a press conference.
There are around 1,000 Delhi government schools and about 1,700 private schools, most of them affiliated to the CBSE, in the city.
The new Board will have a governing body headed by the Education minister of the Delhi government and an executive body headed by a chief executive officer, MrKejriwal said.
The DBSE will be aimed at imparting such education that prepares "fiercely patriotic" and self-dependent students who serve the society and the country in a selfless manner, he said.

PM Modi salutes Nari Shakti on International Women's Day

Prime Minister NarendraModi has saluted the indomitable spirit of women on the International Women's Day.
In his message, PM Modi said India takes pride in the many accomplishments of the women of the nation.
He said it is his government’s honour to be getting the opportunity to work towards furthering women empowerment across a wide range of sectors.
On this occasion, Om Birla greeted them and lauded their contributions to society. Acknowledging that women have held the highest positions in the socio-political and economic fields with distinction and have made outstanding contributions towards the development of society, the Speaker said that women have led from the forefront while holding important positions like President, Prime Minister, LokSabha Speaker etc.
Birla also said that apart from holding positions of power and contributing towards positive societal change, women are also playing the role of catalysts in the field of social welfare. Birla also added that women have the ability, patience, self-confidence, will power and equity and with these qualities, they are serving the nation from panchayat to Parliament.
Remembering the contributions of women freedom fighters and their role in the post-Independence nation-building, Birla said that development and progress of the country could be possible because of the participation of women in each and every stage of nation-building.
LokSabha Speaker Birla noted that the present LokSabha (17th LokSabha) has the highest number of women parliamentarians. He also appreciated the performance of women parliamentarians in the House and the intensity and substance of their debates.

Printed Study Materials for IBPS, SBI Bank Exam

::International::

Bangladesh-India hold Commerce Secretary level meeting in Dhaka

Bangladesh and India held the Commerce Secretary level meeting in Dhaka.
Both sides held extensive discussion on a wide range of issues of mutual interest such as streamlining Certificate of Origin procedures, regional connectivity initiatives, anti-dumping duty on Jute products, harmonization of standards, removal of port restrictions, trade infrastructure-related issues, India-Bangladesh CEOs’ Forum, sharing of trade data, and upgradation of border trading infrastructure. According to an official press release, both sides decided to expeditiously move forward on the feasibility study on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).
During the visit Commerce Secretary DrAnupWadhawan called on the Commerce Minister of Bangladesh TipuMunshi and Private Industry and Investment advisor to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Salman F. Rahman.
The President of the Indian Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IBCCI) along with his board members called on the Commerce Secretary and discussed ways to further enhance bilateral trade.
Earlier, a meeting of the Joint Working Groups (JWG) on Trade between the Commerce Ministries of both the countries was held on 16-17 February virtually. The meeting had held detailed technical discussion on issues of mutual interest in trade and commerce.

::Economy::

Over 81% account holders are women under Stand Up India Scheme

Ministry of Finance, in the past seven years has launched various schemes which have special provisions for empowerment of women.
These schemes have financially empowered women to lead a better life and chase their dreams of being an entrepreneur.
As we are celebrating International Women’s Day on 8th March 2021, we take a look at various schemes initiated by the Ministry of Finance which have benefitted the women in India.
Stand-Up India Scheme - Stand Up India Scheme was launched on 5 April 2016 to promote entrepreneurship at grass root level for economic empowerment and job creation. This scheme seeks to leverage the institutional credit structure to reach out to the underserved sector of people such as Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Women Entrepreneurs so as to enable them to participate in the economic growth of nation.
The objective of this scheme is to facilitate bank loans between Rs.10 lakh and Rs.1 crore to at least one Scheduled Caste (SC) or Scheduled Tribe (ST) borrower and at least one woman borrower per bank branch of SCBs for setting up a Greenfield enterprise.
As on 26.02.2021, more than 81% i.e., 91,109 accounts with an amount of Rs. 20,749 crore have been sanctioned to women entrepreneursunder Stand Up India Scheme.
PradhanMantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY) - PMMY was launched on April 8, 2015 for providing loans up to 10 lakh to the non-corporate, non-farm small/micro enterprises. These loans are classified as MUDRA loans under PMMY. These loans are given by Commercial Banks, RRBs, Small Finance Banks, MFIs and NBFCs.
Under the aegis of PMMY, MUDRA has created three products namely 'Shishu', 'Kishore' and 'Tarun' to signify the stage of growth / development and funding needs of the beneficiary micro unit / entrepreneur and also provide a reference point for the next phase of graduation / growth.

SBI Payments launches 'RuPaySoftPoS'

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) on March 5 announced that they have tied-up with SBI Payments to launch ‘RuPaySoftPoS’ for millions of Indian merchants.
Through the new move, NCPI is aiming to provide innovative solution to transform NFC-enabled smartphones into merchant Point of Sale (PoS) terminals for the retailers. By using this, the merchant would be able to accept contactless payments of up to Rs 5,000 through a simple tap and pay mechanism on their smartphones.
The cost for using the RuPaySoftPoS to retailers will be nominal. Also, the mechanism, NPCI claims, will proliferate digital payment acceptance among millions of underserved Indian MSMEs. By downloading the app, merchants would now be able to convert their existing android smartphone devices into a payment terminal.
NPCI claims that the new app would revolutionise the way micro and small merchants receive payments. Apart from this, the app would help the merchants shift to accept secure, contactless digital payments instead of dealing with cash.

::SCIENCE AND TECH::

What is Space Hurricane?

A space hurricane is a form of environmental phenomenon where instead of wind and rain, charged electrons and plasma make up the majority of the storm. Until now, it was thought to be a theoretical event, but scientists at the Shandong University in China were the first to observe and record this real space hurricane event. As per their report, the hurricane measured roughly 600 miles across and rained down charged electrons for as long as eight hours. The space hurricane spun counterclockwise at speeds up to 4,700 miles per hour, the academic paper reported. The hurricane was reported in space directly above the North Pole.
Four satellites passing over the North Pole detected the space hurricane. The authors of the academic paper reported that the hurricane was very much like a typical terrestrial hurricane in shape. It was shaped like a funnel with a quiet 'eye' at the centre surrounded by large amounts of plasma arms spinning counter-clockwise. The space hurricane rained down electrons into the Earth's upper atmosphere.

::SPORTS::

BajrangPunia attains No.1 ranking in the world

Star Indian wrestler BajrangPunia today touched a new high in his career by achieving the number one rank in the world in the 65kg category.
The 24-year-old Bajrang was placed atop the ranking table with 96 points in the United World Wrestling (UWW) list.
United World Wrestling is the international governing body for the sport of amateur wrestling. Its duties include overseeing wrestling at the Olympics. Bajrang has won five medals this season, including Common Wealth Games and the Asian Games gold and a silver at the World Championship in Budapest.