Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 22 January 2021

::NATIONAL::

In the coming week, a large-scale Joint Military exercise will be conducted under the aegis of Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC), the only Joint Forces Command of India, said the Ministry of Defence in a statement.
The Joint Military exercise named as ‘Exercise Kavach’ involves the assets of Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Air Force and Indian Coast Guard.
The joint force would execute multi domain, high intensity offensive and defensive maneuvers in the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal and carry out amphibious landing operations, air landed operation, helicopters-borne insertion of Special Forces from sea culminating in tactical follow-on operations on land.
The tri-services exercise aims to fine tune joint war-fighting capabilities and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) towards enhancing operational synergy.
The exercise involves synergized application of maritime surveillance assets, coordinated air and maritime strikes, air defense, submarine and landing operations.

The Assam Assembly polls will be held keeping in mind the RongaliBihu festival and the process will be finished before the CBSE Board exams scheduled to begin on 4 May, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora.
The Commission is sensitive towards festivals held in the various states "and we have already taken into consideration this before coming here for the review meetings", the CEC told reporters in Guwahati.
Arora also announced that those excluded from Assam’s National Register of Citizens (NRC) will be eligible to vote in this year’s elections since their names are already there on the voters’ list,
The commission had meetings with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) officials to decide on the poll schedule framework and "we have decided that the election process will be finished before the board exams begin on 4 May," he said.
The commission has zero-tolerance on misuse of money power or government machinery and in this regard, a specific meeting was held with the enforcement agencies to crack the whip wherever required.
The increase in the number of polling stations, in turn, would have other logistics and manpower implications and the commission has directed that assured minimum facilities (AMF) including drinking water, toilets, waiting area, and ramps be provided at all polling stations along with voter assistance booth, Arora said.

World Economic Forum releases the 16th edition of Global Risks Report.
Infectious diseases, followed by climate protection failures, are the greatest global risk for the next decade.
Economic fragility and social divisions will increase as underlying disparities in health care, education, financial stability and technology have caused the crisis to disproportionately affect certain groups and countries.
Digital divisions and technology adoption raise concerns that will be further accelerated by COVID-19.
The economic fragility and long-term health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to be devastating.

The ministry is committed to provide pucca houses to all eligible beneficiaries of Urban India by 2022.
The Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs has announced that construction of as much as 1,68,606 new houses has been approved in the 52nd Meeting of the Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee (CSMC) under PradhanMantriAwasYojana (Urban). 14 States/UTs participated in this meeting.
The ministry highlighted that these houses are proposed to be constructed across the verticals of Beneficiary Led Construction, Affordable Housing in Partnership and In-Situ Slum Redevelopment.
Also, the states also put in their proposals for revision of projects due to various issues such as, of land, topographical hazards, inter-city migration, change of preferences of verticals etc. Construction is in various stages in more than 70 lakh houses and more than 41 lakh houses have been completed.
DurgaShanker Mishra, Secretary, MoHUA who presided over the meeting urged the States/UTs to strategize the expeditious implementation of PMAY(U) projects. “The progress under the Mission has been steady. We have to move towards completion of houses with all the basic physical and social infrastructure,” he said. “The States/UTs shall focus on completion and delivery of houses to beneficiaries. He further urged the States/UTs to expedite the implementation of Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHCs) scheme.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Wednesday granted approval to the deal between Kishore Biyani-led Future Group and Reliance Retail, an arm of the MukeshAmbani-led Reliance Industries Limited.
The market regulator, in its letter which approved the deal, listed a number of conditions in accordance to the Composite Scheme of Arrangement.
"Company shall ensure that the shares of the transferee entity issued in lieu of the locked-in shares of the transferor entities is subjected to lock-in for the remaining period post scheme," the regulatory body stated.
"Company shall ensure that proceedings pending before SEBI against the entities part of the promoter/promoter group or are directors of the companies involved in the scheme, should be highlighted in the scheme document filed before National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT)," it further added in the letter.

The state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited achieved a major milestone by successfully test-firing a Smart Anti Airfield Weapon (SAAW) from the Hawk-i aircraft off the coast of Odisha.
The indigenous stand-off weapon, developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation's Research Centre Imarat (RCI), is the first smart weapon fired from an Indian Hawk-Mk132, the HAL said in a statement.
"This was the first test conducted from the Hawk-i aircraft. The results were on the expected line when it hit the target with precision," an HAL official told PTI.
The aircraft flown by HAL test pilots Wing Commander (Retd) P Awasthi and Wg Cdr (Retd) M Patel executed the weapon release in a text book manner and all mission objectives were met.
The telemetry and tracking systems captured all the mission events confirming the success of the trials.
The HAL had rolled out the indigenously upgraded Hawk Mk132 on the eve of Republic Day in 2017.
The Imported Mission Computer and Data Transfer Units in the upgraded aircraft were substituted with HAL designed and developed systems.

In the previous matches, India drew 2-2 and 1-1 respectively with the Argentina junior team.
ndian women's hockey team suffered its first defeat on the tour of Argentina when it lost 1-2 to B side of the host, letting AgustinaGorzelany strike late in the match.
Sol Pagella (11') put the Argentina side while Indian forward SalimaTete (54') scored in the final quarter.
However, the Indian defence let Gorzelany score three minites after finding the equaliser.
In the previous matches, India drew 2-2 and 1-1 respectively with the Argentina junior team.