Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 14 December 2020

::NATIONAL::

Shakti Bill for crime against women tabled in Maharashtra assembly

The Maharashtra government tabled Shakti Bill, with the provision of stricter punishments, including death penalty and fine up to Rs10 lakh, for crimes against women and children.
The Bill assures investigation and filing of the charge sheet in 15 days and completion of trial in another 30 days from then.
The Shakti Bill, modelled on Andhra Pradesh’s Disha Act, is expected to be cleared in both the Houses on 15-12-2020.
State home minister Anil Deshmukh tabled two draft bills -- Maharashtra Shakti Criminal Law (Maharashtra Amendment) Act, 2020, and Special Court and Machinery for Implementation of Maharashtra Shakti Criminal Law, 2020. While the first bill has provision for amendment in existing sections in Indian Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act for stricter punishment, the second has provision for establishing special courts for trial under the Act.
Proposed amendments to CrPC seek to bring down the investigation period from two months to 15 days and the trial period from two months to 30 days. The appeal period has also been proposed to be reduced to 45 days from six months.

Ramanujan Prize for YoungMathematicians

Dr. Carolina Araujo,Mathematician from Brazil, received the 2020 award for her work in algebraic geometry.
Prize is given annually since 2005 to a researcher from a developing country who is less than 45 years of age.
Srinivasa Ramanujan was Indian mathematician who made spectacular contributions to elliptic functions, continued fractions, infinite series, and analytical theory of numbers.
Award has been instituted by Department of Science and Technology (DST) in memory of SrinivasaRamanujan.

Printed Study Materials for IBPS, SBI Bank Exam

::International::

US signs notification to officially remove Sudan from State sponsor of terror list

The US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo has signed a notification, removing Sudan from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list.
“The congressional notification period of 45 days has lapsed and the Secretary of State has signed a notification stating rescission of Sudan’s State Sponsor of Terrorism designation is effective as of today (December 14), to be published in the Federal Register,” read a Facebook post from the US embassy in Khartoum.
This comes after US President Donald Trump sent Congress a letter formally informing the lawmakers that his administration has rescinded Sudan’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism, in late October.
Trump also said that Sudan has provided assurances it will not support acts of international terrorism in the future.
Earlier, in October, the President announced that Sudan will be removed from its State Sponsors of Terrorism list after it pays USD 335 million to the victims of previous attacks in the US.
According to a report by Anadolu news agency, the announcement marks a milestone in relations between the countries that have been steadily improving following the 2019 ouster of former longtime leader Omar al-Bashir.
Sudan, which sheltered Osama bin Laden for nearly five years at a time when the Al-Qaeda leader was involved in attacks in the United States, was placed on the US State Sponsors of Terrorism list in 1993, Sputnik quoted the US State Department.

Pratas Islands

Recently, experts are increasingly warning of a possible Chinese attack to capture the Pratas Islands.
Pratas Islands also known as Dongsha Islands have emerged as anew flashpoint in South China Sea (SCS).
Islands are located in the northern part of SCS underjurisdiction of Taiwan.
If China controlled the Pratas Islands, the islands could functionas a gatekeeper to monitor U.S. and other countries‘ships andaircraft entering the South China Sea from the Pacific Ocean.

India, Uzbekistan sign 9 pacts

India and Uzbekistan signed nine agreements to further broadbase cooperation in an array of areas even as they vowed to combat the threat of terrorism by “destroying” terrorist safe-havens, networks and funding channels.
At a virtual summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uzbek President ShavkatMirziyoyev extensively deliberated on expanding overall bilateral ties, and agreed to step up efforts for an early conclusion of a bilateral investment treaty.
In another news, many doctors at several hospitals in the national capital, including AIIMS, sported black ribbons in support of the protest call of the IMA against the Centre’s move allowing post graduate practitioners of Ayurveda to be trained in performing surgical procedures.
Holding that the current level of bilateral trade does not reflect the true potential, the two leaders instructed officials concerned to fast-track the conclusion of an ongoing joint feasibility study that will pave the way for commencement of negotiations on a preferential trade agreement, it said.
The agreements signed are aimed at expanding cooperation in a range of areas, including new and renewable energy, digital technologies, cyber security and sharing of information. The statement said the Indian side confirmed approval of $448 million of Line of Credit for four development projects in Uzbekistan.

::Economy::

‘Indian economy likely to return to pre-Covid levels by end of this fiscal year’

Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Monday said that India proved the predictions of many doomsayers wrong, bouncing back from the adverse impact of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) much sooner than expected. Addressing the valedictory session of FICCI’s annual conclave, Singh highlighted how the proactive approach of the Narendra Modi government led this turnaround.
“The Covid-19 pandemic is a massive challenge that impacted the entire world. The pandemic brought along with it a great amount of uncertainty and adversely affected the global economy. India too was impacted by it,” said Singh.
The defence minister also said that when the Covid-19 outbreak was first reported, the government’s utmost priority was to save the lives of the people of the country. He said that the government was always certain that “we would bounce back”.
“India is back on track with a new vigour in our fight against Covid-19. The role of citizens in successful implementation of the lockdown is no mean achievement,” said Singh.
He then went on to describe the steps taken by the Centre to check the spread of the infection and how it became successful with the help of the citizens.
“Doomsayers started making prophecies that it will take India two-three years to get back on the track. But we proved them wrong. India bounced back in no time. In Q2, India recorded 7.9% contraction in its GDP. It was a significant improvement in the 23.9% contraction that we witnessed in first quarter,” said the defence minister.

Abu Dhabi to reopen for foreign tourists amid vaccine optimism

Abu Dhabi is planning to reopen for international tourists by early January as it eases restrictive measures, looking to recover from the pandemic.
The capital of the United Arab Emirates will allow visitors from a group of countries it deems safe, and that list will be updated every two weeks, according to an official at the Department of Culture and Tourism. The timeline for reopening may change, the official said. Travellers from other countries with a lower safety grade will be required to quarantine for 14 days.
The UAE registered a China-backed Covid-19 vaccine after finding it had a 86% efficacy rate, paving the way for a full public use and allowing for a reopening of the Gulf nation’s economy.
In an early sign of how the vaccine could be a game-changer, Abu Dhabi also said it will start working with local authorities to resume all activities including economic, tourism and cultural operations.

Special Assistance to States for Capital Expenditure scheme

All the states except Tamil Nadu have availed benefits of the newly announced scheme for “Special Assistance to States for Capital Expenditure”.
The scheme was announced by the Finance Minister on 12th October as a part of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat package.
The Scheme is aimed at boosting capital expenditure by the State Governments who are facing a difficult financial environment this year due to the shortfall in tax revenue arising from the COVID 19 pandemic.
Therefore, despite the adverse financial position of the Central Government, it was decided to extend a special assistance to the State Governments in respect of capital expenditure in 2020-21.
The Scheme has got a very positive response from the State Governments. So far, capital expenditure proposals of over 9,879 crore rupees of 27 States have been approved by the Finance Ministry.

::Science and Technology::

HD106906 b

Recently the astronomers have shown their interest on a strange exoplanet, orbiting a double-star 336 light years away.
HD106906 bhints about our own mysterious Planet Nine that because of oddball behaviour of the planet, — if it exists.
This exoplanet is not a new discovery: It appears in archival images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2004.
In our solar system Planet Nine is an elusive, distant planet. Although it has not been found yet, it has been predicted by a series of studies over the last few years, and has been described by astronomers as “hiding in plain sight”. If it exists, Planet Nine is 10 times as massive as Earth.
These predictions arise from the peculiar behaviour and alignment of various objects in the Solar System.
Astronomers believe all this is happening under the influence of Planet Nine. Some of the objects in this region have been found to be very peculiarly aligned, and Planet Nine is likely responsible for this, according to a paper published in 2016 by Konstantin Batygin and Michael Brown of the California University of Technology.
Then in 2018, astronomers reported the peculiar behaviour of another object in the Solar System, called 2015 BP519.
The object orbits our Sun — but at an extreme tilt (54°) when compared to the orbits of Earth and the other seven planets. Simulations showed that the influence of Planet Nine (if it exists) would explain this tilt. Without Planet Nine, the tilt would be unexplained.
Both planets (assuming Planet Nine is real) reside far out in their respective stellar systems. Both orbit their respective stars at an extreme tilt. And both are massive enough to influence the behaviour of other objects in their respective regions.
All that said, HD106906 b presents a more extreme case in these respects. While Planet Nine is assumed to be 10 times as massive as Earth, HD106906 b is 11 times the mass of Jupiter.
HD106906 b is unusually far away from its pair of host stars — over 730 times the distance that earth is from the sun. That makes its orbit extremely long — 15,000 years.
Its binary star is relatively young at 15 million years, compared to our Sun which is 4.6 billion years old.

::Sports::

Max Verstappen ends F1 season with processional win in Abu Dhabi

Max Verstappen brought the curtain down on the 2020 Formula One season with a lights-to-flag cruise to victory on Sunday in the year-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The Dutchman led every lap of what turned out to be a processional race in his Red Bull to cross the line 15.9 seconds ahead of Mercedes pair Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton on an uncharacteristic off day for the otherwise dominant champions.