Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 14 January 2021

::NATIONAL::

IMD launches first weather app for general public

Mausam offers fives services – current temperature, humidity, wind speed and wind direction for 200 cities and the information is updated eight times a day.
Now people can keep abreast of weather updates with Mausam, a mobile app that provides all current weather forecasts through the week and even radar-based forecasts updated every 10 minutes.
The ministry of earth sciences launched the app on Monday on the occasion of its foundation day. The app, which can be downloaded on Playstore and Appstore, is dedicated to the public and designed to provide weather information and forecasts in a lucid manner without technical jargon, the ministry said in a statement.
Mausam offers fives services – current temperature, humidity, wind speed and wind direction for 200 cities and the information is updated eight times a day. There is information on sunrise, sunset, moonrise and moonset, three hourly warnings of local weather phenomena and their intensity issued for about 800 stations, and forecast of weather conditions for 450 cities for the past 24 hours and seven day.
“Meghdoot was meant only for farmers. This is for everyone. The now-cast feature of this app will tell you if there will be rain, thunder or any other severe weather in your area based on data from the nearest meteorological station. Otherwise, there will be city-based information and forecasts and even radar products,” said M Rajeevan, secretary in the ministry of earth sciences.

Sugarcane farmers demand timely payment of FRP

Farmers in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh are gearing up to agitate against mills demanding timely payment of Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) and State Advised Price (SAP).
The sugar millers claimed that higher FRP and SAP leads to rising cane price payment arrears.
Sugarcane farmers in Maharashtra have demanded that sugar mills must pay FRP in one go.
According to the Indian Sugar Mill Association (ISMA), one of the main reasons for cane price payment arrears is high FRP set by the Centre.
Millers said that they are facing a tough financial situation, as there is no correlation between the revenue generated by mills and the cost incurred in the production of sugar.
The Centre increased the FRP by ₹10 to ₹285 per quintal for a basic recovery of 10 per cent for the current season.
NITI Aayog, along with various States, have requested for a hike in the MSP to ₹33-36 per kilo, to facilitate timely payment to farmers.
Some States including Uttar Pradesh declare SAP for sugarcane considering the cost of production and productivity levels. The SAP is generally higher than the FRP.

Printed Study Materials for IBPS, SBI Bank Exam

::International::

Turkey urges 'review' of US government's sanction move for advanced Russian air defence system

A top Turkish official is calling on the new US administration to engage in a dialogue with Turkey and to review a decision to sanction the country over its purchase of an advanced Russian air defence system.
That request comes even though Washington has made clear that there can be no waiver of the sanctions until Ankara disposes of the Russian technology. Speaking to reporters late Wednesday, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar would not be drawn into a question on whether Turkey would consider disposing of the Russian S-400 system amid US pressure.
But he said he was hopeful that a solution can be found "through common sense before coming to that point." Akar also said talks with Russia on acquiring a second consignment of the S-400 were continuing. In December, the United States sanctioned four Turkish officials under a US law known as CAATSA, which is aimed at pushing back on Russian influence.
Turkey maintains that the S-400s would not affect NATO systems or the F-35s. "We are saying let's not break things up in this way. Let's sit down and talk and find a solution," Akar said. US officials have ruled out the possibility of discussions with Turkey over the S-400's risks to the F-35s.
They have also said the sanctions cannot be lifted as long as the Russian air-defense system remains on Turkish soil. Akar said Turkey was left with no choice but to acquire the Russian air defense system after no NATO ally offered Turkey favourable terms.
"We are part of NATO, we are together with the European Union and the United States. Therefore, we want to be with Europe, with the United States and NATO for our defense and security," he said.

::Economy::

For first time in Independent India, Union Budget 2021 to go ‘paperless’

Union Budget 2021: Although the central government had first decided to cut down on the printing of hard copies of the Budget in 2016-17 in a bid to go green, this will be for the first time when printing could be stopped altogether.
Union Budget 2021-22: For the first time in independent India, the Budget for FY22 will go “paperless”, as the government intends to refrain from printing the copies in the wake of the safety issues posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, an official source told FE.
Still, the government will likely undertake the traditional “halwa ceremony” that takes place every year before the printing of the Budget copies, said the source. Apart from the finance minister, the minister of state for finance and top bureaucrats in the ministry, this ceremony is usually attended by all the people involved in the Budget-making and printing process.
Over 100 people are usually required to stay for around a fortnight at the printing press in the basement of the North Block (which houses the finance ministry) until the Budget is presented. The pandemic has forced the government to consider halting this practice and look for alternatives, as it would be difficult to maintain social distancing in limited space. Budget documents are not printed outside for fear of compromising the secrecy around the proposals. However, the soft copies of the Budget will continue to be made available.
Indian Army's Aviation Corps was raised on November 1 in 1986. The Corps is comprised of officers and jawans from all arms of the Army.
Within a year of its formation, the Army Aviation Corps personnel were inducted in 'Operation Pawan' in 1987 in Sri Lanka and proved their mettle.
The Corps also played a significant role during the Kargil War in 1999.
Army Aviation Corps’ choppers are being used for casualty evacuation, reconnaissance, observation, essential load drops, and combat search and rescue.
During peace times, the Corps performs Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations across the country.
Indian Air Force was the first to induct women fighter pilots on an experimental basis in 2015. Bhawana Kanth, Mohana Singh, and Avani Chaturvedi were the trainees in the first batch who qualified for the fighter stream.

Next set of fresh NPAs may arise from India’s top 100 bank borrowers: RBI

The next set of slippages could come from the top 100 bank borrowers, according to the RBI. Slippages are nothing but fresh additions to bad loans during a given quarter. The share of the top 100 large borrowers in the gross NPA pool declined from 12.6 per cent in March 2020 to 8.8 per cent as on September 2020.
However, large advances in the SMA-0 category registered a jump of 155.6 per cent over the previous quarter and 245.6 per cent over March 2020 levels, portending slippages in the ensuing quarters, RBI noted in its latest Financial Stability Report.
Standard assets overdue for 1-30 days are categorised as SMA-0, while those pending for 31-60 days and 61-90 days fall under SMA-1 and SMA-2, respectively. According to RBI, the top 100 borrowers accounted for 17 per cent of gross advances, down from 17.5 per cent as on March 2020, while the share of restructured standard advances increased, indicating that large borrowers have commenced availing restructuring benefits extended for borrowers facing Covid-related stress.
Large industries account for an 82.3 per cent share in the total outstanding credit to industries, but reported a fall of 1.78 per cent in November 2020 vs a growth of 3 per cent in November 2019. Though infrastructure has the maximum share of 36.6 per cent in the total bank credit outstanding to industries, it registered a de-growth of 1.8 per cent as on November 2020 compared with a growth of 8 per cent a year ago. Retail credit growth bounced bank last November after registering slow offtake in September and October 2020.

::SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY::

Scientists produce electron gas with ultra-high mobility

Recently, Institute of Nano Science and Technology (INST), an autonomous institution of Department of Science and Technologyhave produced electron gas with ultra-high mobility.
2d-electron gas (2DEG) is an electron gas with ultra-high mobility, which can speed up transfer of quantum information and signal from one part of a device to another and increase data storage and memory.
Strong spin-orbit coupling and relativistic nature of the electrons in the 2DEG resulted in Rashba field.
Rashba effect consists of splitting of spin-bands in an electronic system, might play a key role in spintronic devices.
Due to the high mobility of the electron gas, electrons do not collide inside the medium for a long distance and hence, do not lose the memory and information.

::SPORTS::

Indian women hockey team working on PC conversion and defence: Gurjit

Gearing up for its first international assignment in almost a year, drag-flicker Gurjit Kaur on Thursday said the Indian women hockey team is paying more attention to penalty corner conversion and defence ahead of its clash against formidable Argentina.
The Indian team will begin the eight-match tour against the world number two side.
"Playing against a strong team like Argentina on their home ground won't be easy but our focus will be on bringing out our best play against them. We worked really hard on our fitness over the past 11 months in SAI and the aim was to return to our best form. It is against teams like Argentina where we can test our potential," said Gurjit.