Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 11 April 2022

::National::

Modi, Biden to speak ahead of key 2+2 dialogue

Ahead of a crucial 2+2 meeting between India and the US on Monday, in a departure from the norm, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden will hold a virtual meeting to discuss the entire gamut of the relationship, developments in the Indo-Pacific as well as the crisis in Ukraine, officials said.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh and external affairs minister S Jai shankar landed in Washington on Sunday to participate in the 2+2 dialogue with their counterparts, secretary of defence Lloyd J Austin and secretary of state Antony J Blinken — this is the first dialogue under the format since the Biden administration took office and the fourth 2+2 dialogue since the inception of the format.
The virtual meeting and the dialogue comes in the backdrop of differences between the American and Indian positions on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. India has emphasised the need for dialogue and diplomacy, end to cessation of hostilities and violence and spoken up for sovereignty and territorial integrity of states — but has refrained from condemning Russian aggression. The US has led the international coalition against Russia and offered military support to Ukraine, and nudged India to take a stronger position against the Russian invasion and reduce its energy, defence and economic engagement with Russia.
But even as the two governments seek to focus on the wider relationship, Ukraine will remain a key focus area. The White House’s statement on the virtual summit said: “President Biden will continue our close consultations on the consequences of Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine and mitigating its destabilizing impact on global food supply and commodity markets.” A statement released by India did not specifically mention Ukraine.
Jen Psaki, the White House spokesperson, said that Biden and Modi will meet to “further deepen ties between our governments, economies, and our people”. “President Biden and Prime Minister Modi will discuss cooperation on a range of issues including ending the Covid-19 pandemic, countering the climate crisis, strengthening the global economy, and upholding a free, open, rules-based international order to bolster security, democracy, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific,” the White House said. The discussion will also “advance ongoing conversations about the development of an Indo-Pacific Economic Framework and delivering high-quality infrastructure”.

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::International::

Macron to face Le Pen in French election run-off

French President Emmanuel Macron leads far-right leader Marine Le Pen in the first round of France's elections Sunday by a larger than expected margin, with the rivals now set to battle for the presidency in a run-off later this month, projections showed.
Macron scored 28.1-29.7 percent in the first round and Le Pen 23.3-24.7, with the top two candidates going through to the second round run off on April 24, according to projections by polling firms for French television channels based on a sample of votes.
The performance by Macron appears to be stronger than predicted by opinion polls in the run-up to the vote.
Far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon was predicted to come third with 19.8-20.8 percent and extreme-right pundit Eric Zemmour on 6.8-7 percent with candidates of the traditional left and right trailing far behind.
Valerie Pecresse from the right-wing Republicans was on 4.3-5 percent, in a disastrous performance by the party of ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy, the projections showed.
Socialist Party candidate Anne Hidalgo was projected to face electoral doom with a score of just 1.8-2.0 percent.
The projections are compiled by polling companies based on a sample of votes from polling stations especially chosen from across the country. They have generally proved to be highly accurate in past elections.
Although her opponents accuse her of being an extremist bent on dividing society, Le Pen has with some success sought to show a more moderate image and concern with voters' daily worries such as rising prices.

::Economy::

FY23 inflation projections raised to 5.7%

Amid changed geo-political developments since its previous policy, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the central bank on Friday raised its projections for the retail price inflation rate to 5.7 per cent, which is close to 6 per cent, the upper limit of its tolerance level, for 2022-23 against 4.5 per cent estimated in the previous policy review.
The projection on inflation is based on the assumption of international crude oil prices of the Indian basket remaining at $100 billion a barrel. Any upward pressure on it would hike the inflation rate further.
Along with this, the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) committee forecast economic growth 60 basis points lower at 7.2 per cent for the current financial year against its February policy’s projections.
However, this may raise nominal GDP growth to 12.9 per cent, which is much higher than the 11.1 per cent assumed in the Budget. This may bring some positive news regarding resource mobilisation for the government in FY23 but higher inflation than assumed in the Budget would also raise the subsidy burden, particularly on fertiliser and food.
It should be noted that deflators used in GDP calculation are predominantly the wholesale price index and the consumer price index is just one-third of the total. So, nominal GDP growth cannot be gauged specifically but it could be said that it would be higher than the Budget assumption for 2022-23.
The new projections of the MPC came a day after the finance ministry said the economy faced twin challenges — growth may slow while inflation could remain elevated — due to disruption caused by the Russia-Ukraine war.

High 5G spectrum prices may push players up against the wall: COAI DG

Apex telecom industry body COAI has asserted that spectrum pricing should be kept conducive to market conditions as 5G entails upfront capital investments with monetisation spread over a long-haul, and pricing radiowaves high will only push the players up against the wall.
The stage is set for Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to come out with its recommendations on 5G spectrum pricing and other modalities for upcoming auctions, and the announcement from the sector watchdog is expected anytime now.
Norms will also be worked out for new frequencies such as 526-698 MHz and millimetre band, that is 24.25 - 28.5 GHz, in addition to bands such as 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz, 3300-3670 MHz.
Advocating lower prices for spectrum, COAI Director General, SP Kochhar told PTI: "5G does not have any use cases which can be monetised in a quarter, so it is going to be a long-haul. At the same time, the capital investments have to be made in a particular period of time."
It is pertinent to mention here that last time around, TRAI had suggested Rs 492 crore per MHz for spectrum in prime 5G band of 3300-3600 MHz, which meant that a mobile operator going for 100 MHz needed to shell out a whopping Rs 49,200 crore for all-India spectrum.

::Science and tech::

Astronomers find Jupiter's identical twin

Astronomers have discovered a planet that is nearly identical to Jupiter, circling a star 17,000 light-years away from the Earth. In terms of mass, the exoplanet, dubbed K2-2016-BLG-0005Lb, is nearly the same as Jupiter. While K2-2016-BLG-0005Lb has a mass of 1.1 times that of Jupiter, the star that it orbits has a mass of about 60 per cent of the Sun.
The near-identical twin is also around the same distance from its star as Jupiter is from the Sun. K2-2016-BLG-0005Lb is 420 million miles away from its star, while Jupiter is 462 million miles away.
The planet and its star are located in the constellation Sagittarius. An international team of astrophysicists discovered the exoplanet using data from NASA's Kepler satellite telescope collected in 2016. In the Milky Way galaxy, the telescope has discovered over 2,700 verified planets so far, but this system is twice as far away as any ever discovered by Kepler.
The astrophysicists used Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity and a technique known as gravitational microlensing to discover the system. The study has been submitted to the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society and is available as a preprint on ArXiv.org.

::Sports::

Sublime Dutch beat India to book final showdown against Germany

Just like coach Erik Wonink would have wanted, an energetic Indian team came out firing immediately after the pushback. Olympian Sharmila Devi dissected the Dutch defence, passing the ball to SangitaKumari, who attempted a goal in the very first minute. Skipper SalimaTete provided India another chance in the next minute, pushing the ball to Mumtaz Khan, whose attempt was blocked by a very busy Netherlands goalkeeper Sophia terKuile.
Barely tested earlier in the competition, the Dutch were on the backfoot at the start with India pressing hard and high. India earned three penalty corners in the next few minutes, completely stunning the three-time champions. “We were very surprised by the Indian attack at the start,” said Dutch Noor Omrani, the eventual Player of the Match.
All it took was a moment of sheer brilliance in the 12th minute to turn the tables as the Netherlands scored an 18-pass goal—possibly the goal of the tournament—to completely swing the momentum. On a counterattack, the ball got 17 Dutch stick touches before Tessa Beetsma sounded the board to put Netherlands 1-0 ahead in the FIH Hockey Women’s Junior World Cup semi-final in Potchefstroom.