Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 15 September 2021

::National::

Prime Minister NarendraModi laid the foundation stone of Raja MahendraPratap Singh University

Prime Minister NarendraModi laid the foundation stone of Raja MahendraPratap Singh State University in Aligarh.
The university is being established by the Uttar Pradesh government in the memory and honour of Raja MahendraPratap Singh, the great freedom fighter, educationist and social reformer. It is being set up in a total area of over 92 acres at Lodha village and Musepur Kareem Jarouli village of Aligarh's Kol tehsil.
The university will provide affiliation to 395 colleges of the Aligarh division.
The Yogi Adityanath government's decision to set up the university after the noted Jat figure is being politically seen as part of the ruling BJP's bid to win over the community ahead of the crucial state assembly polls early next year.
A section of Jats, who live in sizeable numbers in western Uttar Pradesh, is seen to be aggrieved with the BJP over the issues of farmers.
The prime minister also visited exhibition models of Aligarh node of the Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor.
UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma briefed Modi about the upcoming university.
UP Governor Anandiben Patel was also present on the occasion.

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::International::

International community announces commitment of over $1.2 billion to Afghanistan humanitarian crisis

The international community has announced over $1.2 billion in aid for the Afghanistan humanitarian crisis, with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres underlining the importance to engage with the Taliban to ensure continued humanitarian assistance in the country and address other concerns including terrorism, human rights and the nature of the government.
The United Nations on Monday convened a high-level ministerial event in Geneva on the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan to highlight the acute needs in the country and underscore the urgent funding support and actions required by international partners to support the people of Afghanistan.
UN agencies and non-governmental partners launched a flash appeal seeking $606 million for the remainder of the year to bring vital relief to 11 million people in the war-torn nation.
In his closing remarks to the meeting, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths said more than $1.2 billion in humanitarian and development aid has been announced by “very generous member States” for the Afghanistan humanitarian crisis. This includes funding for the flash appeal as well as for the regional response.
“This conference has fully met my expectations in relation to the solidarity with the people of Afghanistan,” Guterres said at a press conference.
“Considering the flash appeal, considering the support to neighbouring countries and other programmes that several countries mentioned, today we already heard clearly more than $1 billion of pledges. It is impossible, as I said, to say how much of these will be for the flash appeal; but in any case, it represents a quantum leap in relation to the financial commitment of the international community towards the Afghan people,” he said.

::Economy::

Land records integrated with the Centre's e-portal

The Punjab government told the state arhtiya association that it was “not possible at this juncture” to stop integration of land records with procurement as 50% of the process has been completed and further work is underway.
The matter was raised during a meeting of chief minister CaptAmarinder Singh with the association office-bearers who claimed to have raised the farmers’ apprehensions about the land records integration process.
“We conveyed to everyone present in the meeting that it was not possible as the Centre has mandated all procurement states, including Punjab, to integrate land records (farads) with the procurement portal and the entire process is at an advance stage,” said secretary (food and civil supplies) Rahul Tiwari.
A state food and civil supplies department official said of 8.75 farmers registered on the procurement portal, land records of over 4 lakh have been integrated and further verifications are going on.
In a meeting between the SamyuktKisanMorcha leaders and political parties on September 10, the farmer unions expressed apprehension that the demand for land records (fards) for details of land ownership before procurement as ordered by the Centre is unjust as a large number of cultivators have taken land on lease and in many cases division is still to be done.
On September 12, Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu sent a communiqué to the CM, asking him to “fight against the injustice” saying “it was an attack on resilient minimum procurement price (MSP) regime and to push farmers away from the APMC mandis towards private markets, where no such records are maintained.

RBI announces opening of third cohort under regulatory sandbox

The Reserve Bank on Monday said six entities have completed the test phase in the 'First Cohort' under the Regulatory Sandbox scheme with retail payments as theme and their products are found viable for adoption by the regulated entities.
Their products mainly deal with offline digital payments, prepaid cards, contactless payment and voice-based UPI.
Regulatory sandbox usually refers to live testing of new products or services in a controlled/test regulatory environment for which regulators may (or may not) permit certain relaxations for the limited purpose of the testing.
The entities whose products have been found meeting the norms set by the RBI in the First Cohort are Nucleus Software Exports (PaySe), Tap Smart Data Information Services (Citycash), Natural Support Consultancy Services (IND-e-Cash), Naffa Innovations (ToneTag), Ubona Technologies (BHIM Voice) and Eroute Technologies (offline payment using SIM).
These products were evaluated based on mutually agreed test scenarios and expected outcomes, the RBI said, adding "all the products have been found viable within the boundary conditions defined during testing under the Regulatory Sandbox".
These entities, the RBI said, have now exited the First Cohort of the Regulatory Sandbox on 'Retail Payments'.

::Science and tech::

IIT Bombay launches 'Project Udaan'

On the occasion of Hindi Diwas, IIT-Bombay launched “Project Udaan” on 14 September 2021. The program is able to finally see the light of day, after seven years of toil.
Prof. Ganesh Ramakrishnan envisaged this project from the Department of Computer Science & Engineering in IIT Bombay. It was launched to break the language barrier that many students face while joining higher education institutes.
Project Udaan enables the translation of textbooks and other study material of engineering and other streams from English to Hindi and other Indian languages. It is a donation-based and artificial intelligence-based translation ecosystem. It helps in translating engineering textbooks and learning materials in one-sixth the time as compared to manual tasking. This machine translation will be aided by human effort.
Every year, more than one crore students appear in CBSE, ICSE, and state board class 10th and 12th exams in India. Of these students, more than 65% study in non-English medium schools. Often, when joining higher education institutes where the primary language of instruction is English, such students face language barriers.
Lack of textbooks and other educational resources in native languages add more to the issue for these students. Even when trying to understand the content from supplementary resources such as the internet or keeping up with contemporary research, they face a similar issue. Leaving behind such potential minds will retard the growth potential for the country. Project Udaan will play a significant role in accelerating the said growth and uplifting the overall potential of the nation’s young minds.

::Sports::

Raja Randhir Singh appointed as Acting President of Asia Olympic Council

India's Raja Randhir Singh has taken over as acting president of the Olympic Council of Asia as Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah appeals a guilty verdict in a Swiss forgery trial.
A five-time Olympic shooter and an Asian Games gold medallist in 1978, Singh was promoted to the role from his position as an honorary life vice president.
"Whilst I have every confidence that Sheikh Ahmad will be successful in his appeal, I would be honoured to step in temporarily as the acting president of the OCA to ensure the continued smooth running of the organisation in the critical period ahead," Singh said in a statement.