Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 19 July 2021

::NATIONAL::

Successful trial of movement of train between Jaynagar in India and Kurtha in Nepal was undertaken on Sunday. The 34.50 km-long rail section is the first section of the rail line links between the two countries which connects Jaynagar in Madhubani district of Bihar to Kurtha in Mahottari district of Nepal. The cost of this rail section is 619 crore. The Jayanagar – Kurtha Railway link has been set up by IRCON under India – Nepal friendship rail project with finance granted by the Indian government.
The Chief Public Relations officer of East Central Railway Rajesh Kumar said that the train movement on this rail section will start soon after fulfilling technical and other formalities between two countries. Remaining 34 km rail line will be built in two phases.
The 17-km-long second section will link Kurtha and Bhangaha while the third phase is 17-km-long and will extend from Bhangaha to Bardibas.
Indian Railways has delivered two modern DEMU trains to Nepal for Jayanagar-Kurtha railway link.

The government in China has a firm grip on the political economy of the country and the recent rise in economic inequality has alarmed the government that it could threaten the rule of the Chinese Communist Party.
Billionaires in China are being forced to find their philanthropic spirit as the Chinese government attempts to bridge the gap between the rich and poor, multiple media outlets, including Al-Jazeera, have reported. According to a 2021 Hurun Global Rich List data, China has over 1,058 billionaires, more than any country on the planet including the United States. With the rapid rise in the ultra-wealthy people in the country, income disparity has also seen a jump, triggering the communist government to force billionaires to make donations for various causes.
In June, the founder of food delivery giant Meituan, Wang Xing donated shares worth about $2.27 billion to his personal charity to promote scientific research and education. In March, the founder of e-commerce giant Pinduoduo, Colin Huang, announced he was stepping down as chairman after last year giving away 2.37% of his shares, worth $1.85 billion for education.

India’s largest private sector lender HDFC Bank is closely tracking developments in the commercial vehicle (CV) space, where it has spotted the impact of high diesel prices. Outstanding loans for CVs and construction equipment (CE) stood at ₹27,100 crore as on June 30, making up a little over 5% of HDFC Bank’s domestic retail loans. Between April 1 and July 16, diesel prices have risen by ₹9.49 per litre in Mumbai to ₹97.45.
“There is one product line where I should point out a non-Covid-19 impact, because we keep talking about how covid-19 has impacted things. The commercial transportation sector has been hit by the diesel price hike and our previous experience also tells us that it usually takes a couple of quarters for people to manage to pass on these price hikes to their customers,” said Jimmy Tata, chief credit officer at HDFC Bank.
Tata told analysts on Saturday that the bank expects that in the current quarter (July-September), a fair amount of the cost would get passed on. “In the quarter after that, particularly with the help of the festive season, people would manage to bring things back on an even keel by passing on these increased costs. This is an aspect where we need to look at the developments in that particular product,” he said.

The Adani Group has made several changes in key leadership positions at its airport holding company Adani Airport Holdings Ltd (AAHL) and Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) to consolidate and push through the transition of the country’s second-largest airport into its fold.
The Adani Group announced the changes on Sunday, days after it took over management control of MIAL from the GVK Group.
The group will relocate the head office of AAHL from Mumbai to Ahmedabad, it said. Adani Group also said R.K. Jain, the chief executive of MIAL, will take over as chief executive of Adani Airports, replacing incumbent Ben Zandi who will take over as chief executive, non-aero at AAHL.
The chief executive of MIAL and chief airport officers at Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Mangaluru, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram and Jaipur will report to Jain. Jain, in turn, will report to Malay Mahadevia, the chief executive officer of AAHL.
Meanwhile, PrakashTulsiani, president, operations, at AAHL, will take over as chief executive of MIAL from Jain.
B.V.J.K. Sharma, who is director of Adani Ports and SEZ, has been appointed as the chief executive of Navi Mumbai International Airport Limited (NMIAL).

SanjalGavande, a 30-year-old woman from Maharashtra's Kalyan, is among the team of engineers who built Blue Origin's suborbital space rocket New Shephard that will take billionaire Jeff Bezos and three others to space later this month.
A systems engineer at the commercial spaceflight company, SanjalGavande is a mechanical engineering graduate from the University of Mumbai. She went to the US in 2011 to pursue her master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Michigan Technological University. “I am really happy that my childhood dream is about to come true. I am proud to be a part of Team Blue Origin," Gavande told The Times of India.
SanjalGavande, the daughter of a municipal corporation employee and a retired MTNL official, opted for aerospace as a subject in her master's and cleared it with a first-class.

Lewis Hamilton celebrated a record eighth British Grand Prix victory on Sunday after fighting back from a 10-second penalty for a first-lap collision that halted the race and sent title rival Max Verstappen to hospital.
The Mercedes driver, now only eight points behind Red Bull's Verstappen after 10 races, passed Ferrari's Charles Leclerc with two laps to go as a capacity 140,000 crowd rose to cheer on their home hero.
Hamilton's team mate ValtteriBottas finished third after being told to let Hamilton through to chase Leclerc, who had led from the re-start and was voted driver of the day.v