Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 19 August 2021

::NATIONAL::

The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to set up a training centre for Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) commandos in Saharanpur's Deoband, known for its Islamic seminary DarulUloomDeoband.
"Amid the Taliban's savagery, here is a piece of news from UP. Yogi Ji has decided to open a commando training centre in Deoband. The work has also started on a war footing," UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's media advisor Shalabh Mani Tripathi said in a tweet in Hindi.
Over one and a half dozen ATS officers, selected from all over the state, will be deputed there, he added in his tweet. According to sources, the government has already allotted over 2,000 square meters of land for establishing the ATS training centre in Deoband.
On the government’s decision, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said, "The government is strengthening STF and ATS.”
The other places where ATS commando training centres are being set up include Meerut, Bahraich, Shravasti, and Jewar (GautamBuddh Nagar) besides Deoand, he added.
"ATS is setting up units there. Where we get more land, we will set up a training centre there. In Deoband, 2000 sqmt of land has been transferred by the government to the ATS.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankarsaid the Indian government provided two lakh vaccines against the coronavirus (Covid-19) disease for personnel of the United Nations’ Peacekeeping mission in March this year. Jaishankar, who chaired the UN Security Council's open debate on technology and peacekeeping, this was a reflection of the government’s deep commitment to ‘protecting the protectors’ as peacekeeping continued to play a crucial role in India’s vision for international peace and security.
In collaboration with the UN, India launched UNITE AWARE, a technology platform for peacekeeping missions aimed at providing terrain-related information to peacekeepers. The launch came as India assumed the presidency of the 15-nation UN Security Council for August.
“It gives me great pleasure to announce that India is supporting the UN in the rollout of the UNITE Aware Platform across select peacekeeping missions. It is based on the expectation that a peacekeeping operation can be visualized, coordinated and monitored on a real-time basis,” Jaishankar said in his address at the UN headquarters in New York.
India has contributed $1.64 million towards the project and developed it in partnership with the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the Department of Operational Support.

Surging for the nine straight sessions, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) shares on Tuesday hit a new life high to Rs 3560 apiece, surging 2.5 per cent on the BSE intraday trade. The IT major became the second listed company after Reliance Industries to cross the Rs 13 lakh crore (trillion) market capitalisation today. RIL has the highest market capitalisation over Rs 13.8 lakh crore (trillion), as per the data available on the BSE.
TCS has also become the first information and technology heavyweight to surge to over 13 lakh crore as its market capitalisation .
One of the major Tata Group companies — TCS shares in the last 12 trading sessions in August has rallied 11 per cent, against a 6 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. A sharp rally in share price aided the TCS' market-cap jump to Rs 13.02 lakh crore (trillion).
The IT heavyweight has also been named the MongoDB Global System Integrator Partner of the Year for its bold, innovative solutions that accelerate the growth and transformation journeys for businesses across industries. It was also recognised as a leader in the NelsonHall NEAT for CX Services in BSFI.
The company has reported a jump of 35.8 per cent YoY in the Q1 profit, while 19.3 per cent surge in the Q1 revenue in the June-ended quarter of the financial year 2021-22.

To reduce heavy dependence on import of edible oils, the Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister NarendraModi on Wednesday approved a new mission for palm oil to be known as the “National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm (NMEO-OP)" with a financial outlay of ₹11,040 crore with a special focus on the North-Eastern region and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
“Due to the heavy dependence on imports for edible oils, it is important to make efforts for increasing the domestic production of edible oils in which increasing area and productivity of oil palm plays an important part," the Cabinet Secretariat said in a press statement.
India imported palm oils-both crude and refined-worth $5.8 billion in FY21, mostly from Indonesia and Malaysia.
The government in a press statement said given the fact that around 98% of crude palm oil (CPO) is being imported, the new scheme proposes to increase the coverage to 10 lakh hectares by FY26 from 3.7 lakh hectares at present.
The production of CPO is expected to go up to 11.20 lakh tonnes by FY26 and upto 28 lakh tonnes by FY30. For the new centrally sponsored scheme, centre will contribute ₹8,844 crore while states have to contribute ₹2,196 crore including the viability gap funding.

Scientists have discovered two new species of dinosaurs in northwest China, a region where dinosaur fossils had never been found before, according to a study published in Scientific Reports.
The study said the fossils from three different dinosaurs about 130 to 120 million years ago were found in China's Turpan-Hami Basin about 2 to 5km apart. The researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the National Museum of Brazil published their findings in Scientific Reports, part of the Nature family of journals.
Scientists named the species Silutitansinensis or "silu” and Hamititanxinjiangensis named for where the fossil specimen was found in Xinjiang. They have said that “silu” means the “Silk Road” in Chinese Mandarin pinyin, “in memory the great trade routes which connected the East and West”. “Hami” refers to the Hami city where the specimen was found.
According to the study, Silutitansinensis is a new species of sauropod—a plant-eating dinosaur with a very long neck, long tail, large body and small head. It said that the dinosaur was found to have some characteristics in its neck vertebrae that indicate it belonged to a family of sauropods called Euhelopodidae, which have so far only been found in East Asia.

"There's no better feeling in the world when your hard work is recognised and appreciated," said India women's hockey team goalkeeper Savita.
Goalkeeper Savita was one of the pillars of the Indian women's hockey team which narrowly missed out on a medal at the recently concluded Tokyo Olympics.
Born in Jodhkan, Sirsa district, Haryana, Savita is known as one of the best women's hockey goalkeepers in the world. "The Wall" of the Indian team, Savita has been part of multiple victories of the national team which includes a Bronze Medal at the 2014 Asian Games and a Silver Medal at the 2018 Asian Games. Savita played a crucial role in India booking a place in the Rio Olympics 2016.