Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 09 October 2021

::National::

89th anniversary of the Air Force celebrated

The Indian Air Force is celebrating its 89th anniversary today, September 8. The IAF was established on October 8, 1932, in undivided India which was under colonial rule.
On the occasion of Air Force Day, the IAF put up a scintillating display in the air as a combination of 75 aircraft, drawn from both vintage and modern fleet of the IAF performed skilfulmanoeuvres in the sky to also mark the platinum jubilee year of India's Independence.
Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters during the Air Force Day Parade at Hindon Air Force Station in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. India's long-delayed plans to overhaul its military are getting a new life as Prime Minister NarendraModi's government moves closer to the U.S. and its allies, which are strengthening defense cooperation against China.
Indian Air Force (IAF) Chief Vivek Ram Chaudhary inspects the 89th Air Force Day parade at Hindon Air Force station in Ghaziabad on October 8.
An Indian Air Force (IAF) Chinook helicopter carries an artillery gun during the Air Force Day Parade at Hindon Air Force Station in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh on October 8.

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::International::

The annual international G-20 conference was held

The G20 Urban 20 Summit 2021 will take place ahead of the G20 Leaders Summit 2021, which is to be hosted by Italy in October 2021. Urban 20 (U20) is one of the G20 Engagement Groups.
The 2021 G20, under the Italian Presidency, will focus on three broad, interconnected pillars of action: People, Planet, Prosperity. Within these pillars, the G20 aims to take the lead in ensuring a swift international response to the COVID-19 pandemic – able to provide equitable, worldwide access to diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines – while building up resilience to future health-related shocks.
The Engagement Groups are independent collectives that are led by organizations from the host country. They work with other organizations from G20 countries to develop policy recommendations that are formally submitted to G20 leaders for consideration. The U20 initiative is facilitated by C40 Cities, in collaboration with United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG). Rome and Milan are the co-Chairs of the Italian G20 U20 and will co-host the annual Mayors' Summit.
The G20 is made up of 19 countries and the European Union. The 19 countries are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the UK, and the US.

::Economy::

ICMR releases MUDRA Toolbox in 5 Indian languages

The Indian Council of Medical Research released the Multilingual Dementia Research and Assessment (MUDRA) toolbox in five different Indian languages, including Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.
In an official statement, Dr. BalramBhargava, Director General of ICMR, mentioned the availability of the validated MUDRA toolbox in various Indian languages Hindi, Kannada, Bengali, Telugu and Malayalam. He further explained the significance and need for undertaking uniform dementia research in the country. The ICMR Neuro-Cognitive Tool Box (ICMR-NCTB) initiative is taken to transform India's dementia and mild cognitive impairment research and clinical practices.
It is a collective effort by seven leading centres in India NIMHANS (Bengaluru), SCTIMST (Thiruvananthapuram), AIIMS (New Delhi), NIIMS (Hyderabad), Apollo Hospital (Kolkata), Manipal Hospital (Bengaluru) and Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College. The toolbox provides several features to assess various domains of cognitive tests like cognition, memory, visuospatial functions, and language. The Principal of Christian Medical College, Ludhiana, Prof Jeyaraj D Pandian, said that MUDRA toolbox is a comprehensive tool designed specifically to diagnose dementia in the Indian population. Dr. Pradhan further expressed appreciation for the hard work of the investigators over the last six years to develop and validate the tool in the Indian population, which finally yielded results.
Dr. R S Dhaliwal, head of NCD, said that it is a unique tool consisting of various tests and questionnaires. It is sensitive to the factors that affect performance on cognitive tests like education, language and culture.

World Bank releases report 'Shifting Gears: Digitization and Services-Led Development'

Buoyed by an increase in public investment and incentives to boost manufacturing, India's economy is expected to grow by 8.3 per cent in the fiscal year 2021-22, less than the previous projection early this year before the country was hit by the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Bank has said in its latest report.
World Bank Chief Economist for the South Asia Region Hans Timmer told PTI here that when one looks at the high frequency data, they see that as a result of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the recovery paused, and some indicate that the recovery actually declined briefly.
We project for this fiscal year 8.3 per cent (growth rate for Indian economy) that is less than we projected early in the year before the health crisis caused by the second wave.
Given the sharp contraction of the economy last year, it might not look like a lot, but in my view, that is actually very positive news, given the violent second wave and the severity of the health crisis, he said.
In April-May, India struggled with the second wave of the deadly coronavirus pandemic with more than 3,00,000 daily new cases, throwing hospitals and health system out of gear due to a shortage of medical oxygen and beds.
According to Timmer, what is remarkable and what is the positive part of that number is that the pause was short lived, and the hit on the economy was by far enough, not even comparable as large as a year earlier.

::Science and tech::

PM Modi to launch 'Indian Space Association'

Prime Minister NarendraModi will launch the Indian Space Association, a grouping of space and satellite companies, at a virtual event on October 11, the industry body said.
Indian Space Association (ISpA) represents homegrown and global corporations with advanced capabilities in space and satellite technologies.
Its founding members include BhartiAirtel, Larsen & Toubro, Nelco (Tata Group), OneWeb, Mapmyindia, Walchandnagar Industries and Ananth Technology Limited.
Other core members include Godrej, Hughes India, Azista-BST Aerospace Private Limited, BEL, Centum Electronics and Maxar India.
"We are truly honoured to have the Hon'ble Prime Minister grace the launch ceremony and outline his vision for the growth of India's space industry and making our nation a global leader in the space arena," ISpA Director General A K Bhatt said in a statement.
L&T-NxT Senior Executive Vice President for Defence, JayantPatil has been appointed as the first chairman of ISpA, while BhartiAirtel's Chief Regulatory Officer Rahul Vatts will serve as vice chairman.

::Sport::

Anshu Malik became the first Indian female wrestler to win a silver medal at the World Championships

A billion hopes were riding on the young shoulders of Anshu Malik in Oslo, Norway, during the World Wrestling Championships. She had already made history by winning her 57kg semifinal on Wednesday, becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to reach the final at the World Championships.
Anshu, the reigning Asian Championships gold medallist, was in control of the final in the first period as she thwarted all the attacks of the American wrestler. She led 1-0 after the first period from a passivity point. But all changed seconds into the second period when Maroulis first scored a two-point take-down and then accrued another two points for exposure and then pinned Anshu to win.