Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 20 February 2021

::NATIONAL::

25 cities selected for 'Nurturing Neighborhoods Challenge'

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs on Thursday announced shortlisting of 25 cities for the ‘Nurturing Neighbourhoods Challenge’ cohort, in collaboration with the Bernard van Leer Foundation (BvLF) and technical partner WRI India under the smart cities mission.
The Challenge is a 3-year initiative aimed at supporting early childhood-friendly neighbourhoods.
The cohort cities are Agartala, Bengaluru, Coimbatore, Dharamshala, Erode, Hubballi-Dharwad, Hyderabad, Indore, Jabalpur, Kakinada, Kochi, Kohima, Kota, Nagpur, Rajkot, Ranchi, Rohtak, Rourkela, Salem, Surat, Thiruvananthapuram, Tiruppur, Ujjain, Vadodara, and Warangal.
The cohort cities will receive technical assistance, capacity building and scale-up support to experiment, and implement trials and pilots over the next six months to demonstrate early wins, solicit citizen participation, and build consensus around their proposals.
According to the ministry, 63 cities from across India submitted applications proposing neighbourhood-level pilot projects in public space, mobility, and access to services to enhance the physical and psychological health of young children and their caregivers.

Atal Paryavaran Bhavan inaugurated in Lakshadweep

Union Minister for Forests, Environment, Climate Change and Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar's four day visit to Lakshadweep is in progress. He inaugurated Lakshadweep forest department's headquarters, Atal Paryavaran Bhavan and added that while maintaining the natural beauty and security of Lakshadweep, environmental permits have been issued for different tourism projects as part of NITI AYOG'S scheme in the three islands.
He expressed confidence that this will ensure more growth and create more employment opportunities in the island.
The central minister promised that the comprehensive development of the country will be realised by ensuring nature's security as desired by the people.

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::International::

India will rebuild 6 secondary schools in Nepal

India will reconstruct a total of 56 higher secondary schools in seven districts of Nepal as part of post-earthquake reconstruction in the Himalayan nation with a grant of 2.95 billion Nepali rupees.
"The Embassy of India and the Central Level Project Implementation Unit (CLPIU) of the Ministry of Education, Nepal signed seven Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) for re-building 56 higher secondary schools located in Gorkha, Nuwakot, Dhading, Dolakha, Kavrepalanchowk, Ramechhap and Sindhupalchok districts of Nepal," Indian Mission in Kathmandu stated in a release.
The devastating earthquake in 2015 reduced thousands of schools in Nepal to rubbles and Gorkha, Nuwakot, Dhading, Dolakha, Kavrepalanchowk, Ramechhap and Sindhupalchowk were amongst the severely-hit districts of the Himalayan nation.
The Central Building Research Institute (CBRI), Roorkee, a premier institute in India in earthquake-resilient reconstruction, will be providing technical hand-holding for re-building these schools.

::Economy::

Go Electric campaign launched in India

The Go Electric Campaign is an initiative aimed at reducing the import dependence of our country in the coming years and has also been projected as an important step towards a cleaner and greener future.
Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways along with R. K. Singh, the Union Minister of State (IC) for Power and New & Renewable Energy, launched the “Go Electric" Campaign to spread awareness on the benefits of e-mobility and EV Charging Infrastructure as well as electric cooking in India.
The Go Electric Campaign is an initiative aimed at reducing the import dependence of our country in the coming years and has also been projected as an important step towards a cleaner and greener future. The campaign is aimed at creating awareness at PAN-India level and is expected to boost the confidence of Electric Vehicle manufacturers.
EIL and OIL to bid for 61.65% stake of BPCL in Numaligarh Refinery
Oil India (OIL) in consortium with Engineers India (EIL) has decided to bid for acquiring 61.65 percent stake of the Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) in Numaligarh Refinery (NRL).
The bid is to be submitted through a formal process. The exact percentage of the stake of OIL and EIL will depend on the extent of right of first offer (ROFO) to be exercised by the government of Assam which already holds 12.35 percent stake in NRL.
NRL is the largest customer of OIL’s crude produced from its North-Eastern fields. The acquisition is expected to improve the synergy in OIL’s portfolio.

::SCIENCE AND TECH::

India successfully test-fires Helina, Dhruvastra anti-tank guided missiles in Pokhran

India successfully test-fired indigenously-developed anti-tank guided missile systems 'Helina' and 'Dhruvastra' on Friday. This paved way for their induction into the Army and the Indian Air Force respectively, officials said.
As per a report in PTI, the defence ministry described the missiles as one of the most-advanced anti-tank weapons in the world.
"The system has all-weather day-and-night capability and can defeat battle tanks with conventional armour as well as with explosive reactive armour. It is one of the most-advanced anti-tank weapons in the world," the ministry said.
It said five missions were carried out for evaluating the capabilities of the missiles in minimum and maximum range.
"The missiles were fired in hover and max forward flight against realistic static and moving targets. Some missions were carried out with warheads against derelict tanks. A mission was carried out against a moving target from a forward flying helicopter," the ministry said in a statement.
The 'Helina' and 'Dhruvastra' are third-generation anti-tank guided missiles that can engage targets both in direct hit mode as well as top attack mode, reported PTI.

::SPORTS::

Naomi Osaka tops Jennifer Brady at Australian Open for 4th Grand Slam title

Osaka used a six-game run from 4-all in the opening set Saturday to take control and improve to 4-0 in major finals. She is the first woman to start her career that way since Monica Seles did it 30 years ago.
The trouble for Naomi Osaka at Grand Slam tournaments comes in Week 1. Get beyond that at the hard-court majors, though, and start preparing to etch her name on the trophy.
Osaka won her fourth title in her past eight appearances at a Slam, emerging from what initially was a tight Australian Open final and pulling away by grabbing six consecutive games to beat Jennifer Brady 6-4, 6-3 on Saturday.