Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 13 August 2022

::National::

Seers prepare constitution of ‘Hindu Rashtra’

A section of seers and scholars are preparing a draft of the ‘Constitution of India as a Hindu nation’, said people familiar with the matter, adding that the document is scheduled to be presented at the ‘Dharam Sansad’ that will be organised during Magh Mela 2023.
During this year’s Magh Mela, held in February, a resolution was passed in the ‘Dharam Sansad’ to make India a ‘Hindu Rashtra’ with its own “constitution”.
Now, a draft of this “constitution” is being prepared by a group of 30 people under the patronage of Shambhavi Peethadheeshwar, said Swami Anand Swaroop, president of the Varanasi-based Shankaracharya Parishad.
“The constitution will be of 750 pages and its format will be discussed extensively now. Discussions and debates will be held with religious scholars and experts of different fields. On this basis, half the constitution (around 300 pages) will be released in the Magh Mela-2023, to be held in Prayagraj, for which a ‘Dharam Sansad’ will be held,” added Swaroop.
He said 32 pages have been prepared so far spelling out aspects related to education, defence, law and order, system of voting, among other topics.
The group preparing the draft comprises of Swaroop; Hindu Rashtra Nirman Samiti chief Kamleshwar Upadhyay; senior Supreme Court lawyer BN Reddy; defence expert Anand Vardhan; Sanatan Dharma scholar Chandramani Mishra and World Hindu Federation president Ajay Singh, among others.

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::International::

US lawmakers pass landmark climate, health plan in big win for Biden

US lawmakers on Friday adopted President Joe Biden's sprawling climate, tax and health care plan -- a major win for the veteran Democrat that includes the biggest ever American investment in the battle against global warming.
Passage in the House of Representatives along strict party lines came after approval of the bill in the Senate by a razor-thin margin, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote.
Biden quickly hailed the adoption of his plan, which includes a $370 billion investment aimed at bringing about a 40 percent drop in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
"Today, the American people won. Special interests lost," the president tweeted in the minutes after the vote.
"With the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act in the House, families will see lower prescription drug prices, lower health care costs, and lower energy costs. I look forward to signing it into law next week."
The vote is a clear victory for Biden on one of his top policy priorities less than three months before November's crucial midterm elections, with his Democratic Party's control of Congress in the balance.
Climate activists rejoiced after the 220-207 vote, which earned the support of all Democrats, even progressives who had lamented that it did not go far enough.
The president of the Union of Concerned Scientists, Johanna Chao Kreilick, called the legislation "a game changer and reason for hope."

::Economy::

RBI asks banks, regulated entities to prevent harassment by recovery agents

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) asked banks, non-banking financial institutions, and other regulated entities to ensure that they and their loan recovery agents do not harass people.
A RBI circular said the central bank has observed that recovery agents are deviating from instructions for outsourcing of financial services. It asked regulated entities to ensure that borrowers do not receive phone calls before 8.00 am and after 7.00 pm. It warned against making false and misleading representation to borrowers.
Regulated entities and their agents must not resort to "intimidation or harassment of any kind, either verbal or physical, against any person in their debt collection efforts, including acts intended to humiliate publicly or intrude upon the privacy of the debtors' family members, referees and friends, sending inappropriate messages either on mobile or through social media, making threatening and/ or anonymous calls.”
Any violation will be viewed seriously, said the RBI circular that applies to all commercial, regional and rural, small finance banks, and non-banking financial companies including housing finance companies. Payments banks are excluded.
All-India financial institutions including Exim Bank, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, the National Housing Bank, the Small Industries Development Bank of India and National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development also fall under the purview of the circular.
Despite better transmission, MCLR didn't meet expectations: RBI paper
The marginal cost of funds-based lending rate (MCLR) regime leads to better pass-through of changes in benchmark policy interest rates than the previous base rate regime, a working paper written by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) staff said.
According to the paper, under the MCLR regime, an increase of 100 basis points (bps) in the policy rate leads to a rise of 26-47 bps in the weighted average lending rate of banks versus 11-19 bps during the base rate regime.
The study examines the nature of pass-through to lending interest rates during the period April 2004-July 2019. The paper, authored by Sadhan Kumar Chattopadhyay and ArghyaKusumMitra, said, however, that none of the benchmarks for lending rates, including the MCLR, had met expectations.
“In India, the banking system being the pre-dominant sector for financial intermediation, it is imperative that monetary policy signals pass through the banking system without any ‘leakage’ and in quick time,” the authors wrote.
“A crucial pre-condition is transparency in the process of pricing of loans by banks, not only for customer protection but also for better assessment of transmission by the monetary authority,” they wrote.
The views expressed in the paper are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the institution to which they belong.

::Science and tech::

Meteorite impacts led to formation of continents on Earth?

The much debated phenomenon of formation of continents has got another dimension added to it. Scientists have found substantial evidence to support the theory that giant meteorite impacts were responsible for the formation of continents. The theory was long discussed in scientific circles, but lacked observation to support it.
The study published in Nature journal found that Earth’s continents were formed by gigantic meteorite impacts that were predominant during the first billion years of the planet’s four and a half billion-year history. These meteorite impacts generated massive energy to form oceanic plates, which later developed into continents, the research concluded.
Dr Tim Johnson, from Curtin’s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences was quoted stating the significance of the research by ANI, he said, “Our research provides the first solid evidence that the processes that ultimately formed the continents began with giant meteorite impacts, similar to those responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs, but which occurred billions of years earlier.”
And Zircon crystal becomes a key element in the study because it helps the scientists to determine the age of rocks. “Zircons can survive processes like erosion, transport and metamorphism, so they preserve a record of past geological processes”, Geoscience Australia’s website reads.
The researchers inspected the variants or isotopes of oxygen, oxygen-18 and oxygen-16, within these crystals. The ratio between the two variants served scientists to estimate past temperatures. They found out that the older grains of zircon owned the lighter oxygen-16. The younger ones contained the heavier oxygen-18.ot obviate the need for these laborious and expensive methods — yet — say scientists, but the AI will make it possible to study living things in new ways.

::Sports::

Unvaccinated Novak Djokovic out of US Open tuneup in Cincinnati

Novak Djokovic pulled out of next week's hard-court tournament in Cincinnati on Friday because he has not gotten any COVID-19 vaccine shots and so is not allowed to travel to the United States.
That is also why Djokovic is not expected to be able to enter the U.S. Open, the year's last Grand Slam tournament, which begins in New York on Aug. 29.
Djokovic is a 35-year-old from Serbia who owns 21 major championships, one behind Rafael Nadal for the men's record. Djokovic has said he won’t get vaccinated against the illness caused by the coronavirus, even if that prevents him from playing in certain tournaments. He missed the Australian Open in January after being deported from that country and needed to sit out two events in the United States earlier this year, along with a tournament in Montreal this week.
Unvaccinated foreign citizens can’t go to Canada or the U.S. currently; the Cincinnati tournament's news release announcing Djokovic's withdrawal cited “travel restrictions.”