Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 14 December 2021

::National::

India opposed a UN Security Council draft resolution on climate change on the grounds that it sought to “securitise” the issue and that the body was not the appropriate forum to discuss such matters.
The draft resolution was framed by Ireland and Niger, who are members of the UN Security Council responsible for leading negotiations and drafting resolutions on climate change. Though it was backed by 12 of the council’s 15 members, Russia vetoed the resolution while China abstained.
The resolution sought to portray climate as an issue that threatens global peace and security but people familiar with the matter said the UN Security Council was not the proper forum to discuss the matter.
The Indian mission to the UN said in a tweet that the country voted against the draft resolution “that attempted to securitize climate action and undermine the hard-won consensual agreements” at the COP26 conference in Glasgow.
“India had no option but to vote against [the resolution],” TS Tirumurti, India’s permanent representative to the UN, said while explaining the country’s vote.

The US workplace safety watchdog is investigating the circumstances around the collapse during Friday night's storm of an Amazon.com Inc building in Illinois in which six workers died, an official at the U.S. Department of Labor said.
The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has six months to complete its investigation, issue citations, and propose monetary penalties if violations of workplace safety and/or health regulations are found, Scott Allen, a US Department of Labor regional director for public affairs, said via email. He added that compliance officers have been on site since Saturday.
Six workers were killed when the Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois, buckled under the force of a devastating storm, police said. A barrage of tornadoes ripped through six US states, leaving a trail of death and destruction at homes and businesses stretching more than 200 miles (322 km).
Amazon spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said the company would cooperate with the investigation. "OSHA investigates all workplace fatalities and we are supporting them," she said.
Responding to a reporter, Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker said officials are investigating the condition of the warehouse before it gave way.
"Already there has been an effort to determine some of the challenges ... if there were any structural issues, what exactly the storm's trajectory was coming in and affecting the various pieces of the building," Pritzker said.

Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) has collaborated with Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) to scale up Alkaline Electrolyser technology for Green Hydrogen production.
"Presently, Electrolyser Plants are imported. This is a first of its kind initiative to support the country's commitment to achieve renewable energy targets and reduce greenhouse gas emissions," a BPCL statement said.
Refineries use large quantities of hydrogen for de-sulfurisation to make petrol, diesel and other chemicals. Currently, this hydrogen is made using steam reforming of natural gas, but results in high CO2 emission. Therefore, Refiners are setting up large-scale electrolysers to produce green hydrogen from water and thereby decarbonise Hydrogen production.
"Through collaboration with BARC, we intend to scale up Indigenous Alkaline Electrolyser Technology and look forward to commercializing it for large use especially in Refineries," BPCL's Chairman and Managing Director, Arun Kumar Singh said.

Weeks after the Centre repealed the three agriculture acts, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant today said that the going forward India is determined to carry out more reforms across all sectors because the country needs more of them, not less.
Replying to a question on whether the repeal of the three agriculture acts has changed the government’s appetite to do significant reforms, Kant said that on the contrary the government will push for greater levels of reforms across sectors to make things easy and simple.
“The basic philosophy of this government is that wealth is created by the private sector and we have to make things easy for them and the government must act as a facilitator and catalyst and we will continue to push all reforms in that direction,” Kant said while addressing a session on ‘Tracking India’s Reform Journey: The Investment Trajectory,’ at the ongoing CII-Partnership Summit today.
He also said that in a federal polity and in a country as vast as India, which is bigger than many European Countries taken together, one needs to push for change through the states.

The Indian Space Research Organisation has signed an agreement with Chinese smart devices maker Oppo's Indian arm to strengthen the research and development of the NavIC messaging service.
The NavIC system provides regional navigation services covering the Indian mainland and an area up to 1,500 km beyond the Indian mainland. In addition to its primary function of providing PNT (position, navigation and timing) services, NavIC is also capable of broadcasting short messages.
Under the agreement ISRO and Oppo India will exchange technical information of NavIC messaging services to build rapid, ready to use, end-to-end application-specific solutions by integrating NavIC messaging service with the mobile handset platform keeping in mind the need of Indian users.
"The memorandum will pave the way for future collaborations between ISRO and Oppo India to develop indigenous solutions by incorporating the NavIC short messaging feature in the smartphones released by OPPO India," Oppo India said in a statement.
"Under our latest MoU, we will support ISRO with our industry-leading R&D capabilities to provide a seamless experience to the users of the NavIC application. In line with our vision towards Make In India, OPPO will invest in further scaling the product with its competitive and experienced R&D team," Oppo India Vice President, India R&D Head TasleemArif said.
Oppo India has its manufacturing unit in Noida and R&D centre in Hyderabad.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced an aid package of USD 560,000 to help up to 2,000 Afghan beneficiaries carry on their sporting activities.
"An aid package of up to USD 560,000 was approved today by the IOC Executive Board; this will benefit up to 2,000 beneficiaries and help them over the winter to carry on their sporting activities," IOC said in a statement.