Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 12 July 2021

::NATIONAL::

Recognition from the EU will help people avail the EU Digital Covid Certificate or 'Green Pass', with an aim to facilitate free movement during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Belgium has become the latest European country to recognise the Covishield vaccine, which was developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca and is being produced by the Serum Institute of India (SII).
"Belgium recognisesCovishield, the Astra Zeneca vaccine produced by Serum Institute of India and distributed by COVAX. An important decision for India, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bangladesh in the fight against vaccine inequality," the embassy of Belgium in India.
With this, a total of 15 countries in the EU have confirmed that they will allow travellers from India who have taken the Covishield shots to enter their territory.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday attended the formal handing over ceremony of the holy relics of 17th century Queen St Ketevan to Georgia, nearly 16 years after they were found in Goa, describing such historical objects as a “bridge of faith” between the two countries. Jaishankar is on a two-day visit to Georgia, a strategically important country situated at the intersection of Eastern Europe and Western Asia.
“Today is a special day, not only for Georgia but also for India. I have the honour to hand over the holy relics of St. Queen Ketevan to the people of Georgia,” Jaishankar said at the ceremony at the Sameba Holy Trinity Cathedral.

“I consider myself blessed that the purpose of my first visit to Georgia is such an auspicious one,” he said.

Jaishankar handed over the relics of St. Queen Ketevan to the government and the people of Georgia at a ceremony in Tbilisi in the presence of Beatitude Ilia II, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, and Prime Minister IrakliGaribashvili.
St. Queen Ketevan was a 17th century Georgian Queen. Her relics were found in 2005 at the St. Augustine Convent in Old Goa, on the basis of medieval Portuguese records, people aware of the matter said.
“The presence of some of the relics in India and Georgia is a bridge of faith between our two countries. I hope that in the coming years, the people of both of our nations will traverse that bridge, of spirituality as much as of friendship,” Jaishanakar said.
The relics are believed to have been brought to Goa in 1627 and interred in St Augustine Complex.
At the instance of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, carried out DNA analysis that confirmed its authenticity, the people cited above said.

The National Fisheries Development Board celebrated the National Fish Farmers Day virtually on Saturday. This annual event is celebrated to commemorate Professor Dr. HiralalChaudhury and his colleague Dr. Alikunhi for their contribution in achieving the successful induced breeding of major carps on 10th July,1957 at Angul in Odisha for the first time in the country.
Speaking on the occasion, Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Minister ParshottamRupala said India is benefitted with a vast coastline on three sides with a huge potential for fisheries sector.
He said realizing the importance of the sector, Government has launched the PradhanMantriMatsyaSampadaYojana. Under the scheme, financial assistance is provided to fishers and fish farmers for fish farming, creation of infrastructure facilities, seed and feed procurement, fishing activity along with training for its proper implementation.
L. Murugan, Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, stated that with the growing population, there is demand for nutritional security and fish is an excellent source for meeting this requirement.
He stated that the PMMSY is a dream scheme announced by the Prime Minister under AtmaNirbhar Bharat. The scheme will boost the fish production definitely and transform the life of fishers.

India has expanded its footprint of mango exports to newer countries this season, notwithstanding logistical challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said on Saturday.
In a major initiative that would boost mango export potential from the eastern region especially to Middle East countries, a consignment of Geographical Identification (GI) certified Fazil mango variety sourced from Malda district of West Bengal was exported today to Bahrain.
"APEDA (Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has been initiating measures to boost mango exports from non-traditional regions and states. It has been conducting virtual buyer-seller meets and festivals to promote mango exports.
This shipment to Bahrain comes a few days after APEDA organized a mango promotion programme at Doha, Qatar where nine varieties of mangoes including GI certified from West Bengal & Uttar Pradesh were displayed at the stores of importer Family Food Centre," the release said.

Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity, as the spaceplane is called, took off for the 1.5-hour mission above New Mexico from the Spaceport America launch facility at 10:40 a.m. ET following a 90-minute delay due to bad weather.
Aeronautical engineer SirishaBandla on Sunday became the third Indian-American woman to fly into space when she joined British billionaire Richard Branson on Virgin Galactic's first fully-crewed successful suborbital test flight from the US state of New Mexico.
Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity, as the spaceplane is called, took off for the 1.5-hour mission above New Mexico from the Spaceport America launch facility at 10:40 a.m. ET following a 90-minute delay due to bad weather.
Bandla joined Branson and four others on board Virgin Galactic’sSpaceShipTwo Unity to make a journey to the edge of space from New Mexico. They reached an altitude of about 88 kilometers over the New Mexico desert - enough to see the curvature of the Earth. The crew experienced a few minutes of weightlessness before making a gliding descent back to Earth.

Top-seeded Ashleigh Barty became the first Australian to win the Wimbledon women's singles tennis title in 41 years on Saturday in London.
Barty defeated the Czech Republic's Karolina Pliskova 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-3 to claim the title in the first three-setter in a Wimbledon final since 2012.
It's the second Grand Slam title for Barty, who won the French Open in 2019.