Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 22 June 2022

::National::

Droupadi Murmu, India set to get first tribal President

From a Santhal village in Odisha’s remote Mayurbhanj district, class 3 state government employee, to school teacher, to politician, to India’s first woman tribal governor, Droupadi Murmu’s rise has been close to meteoric. But on Tuesday, one day past her 64th birthday, Murmu’s ascent from relative obscurity received perhaps its crowning moment, when BJP President JP Nadda announced that Murmu was to be the NDA’s candidate for the post of president, which means, bar the most unforeseen of circumstances, Murmu is on the cusp of becoming the first tribal woman to be President of India.
Contacted by HT briefly over the phone after the announcement, Murmu said that the moment she was told about the decision, she was teary eyed. “Though my name was being discussed for long, I had never expected it. I think this is evidence of Sab ka saath, sab ka biswas policy of PM Modi,” Murmu said.
Murmu was born in the Baldaposi village in the Kusumi block of Odisha’s Mayurbhanj, a district which has a 58 percent tribal population, the highest in Odisha. Her father, Biranchi Narayan Tudu was a farmer in the village.
She completed her graduation from the Ramadevi Women’s University in Bhubaneswar with a Bachelor of Arts degree and in 1979, began work as a junior assistant in the state’s irrigation and power department. Post her marriage to Shyam Charan Murmu, a bank officer, Murmu quit the government job in 1983, to look after her three children, two sons and a daughter.
In 2000, she contested her first assembly election from Rairangpur on a BJP ticket and was made minister with independent charge of transport and commerce, fisheries and animal husbandry. In 2004, she won again, this time in a cliffhanger, by a margin of 63 votes. In 2007, she was awarded the “Nilakantha Award” after being adjudged the best MLA in the Odisha assembly for the year 2007. Between 2002 and 2009, she was a member of national executive of ST Morcha of BJP.

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::International::

Biden nominates Indian-American Dr Arati Prabhakar as top science advisor

US President Joe Biden nominated Indian-American scientist Dr Arati Prabhakar as Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).
If confirmed by the Senate, Dr Prabhakar would make history as the first woman, immigrant, or person of colour to head OSTP.
“Dr Prabhakar is a brilliant and highly-respected engineer and applied physicist and will lead the Office of Science and Technology Policy to leverage science, technology, and innovation to expand our possibilities, solve our toughest challenges, and make the impossible possible,” said Biden.
“I share Dr Prabhakar’s belief that America has the most powerful innovation machine the world has ever seen. As the Senate considers her nomination, I am grateful that Dr Alondra Nelson will continue to lead OSTP and Dr. Francis Collins will continue to serve as my acting Science Advisor,” he said.
Once confirmed she would also be Assistant to the President for Science and Technology. In this capacity, Dr Prabhakar will be the President’s Chief Advisor for Science and Technology, a co-chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, and a member of the President’s Cabinet.
“Today’s nomination is historic, with Prabhakar being the first woman, immigrant, or person of colour nominated to serve as Senate-confirmed director of OSTP,” the White House said.
Prabhakar has been unanimously confirmed by the Senate before, to lead the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and was the first woman to hold that role. She later served as director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the birthplace of breakthrough technologies like stealth aircraft and the Internet.

::Economy::

Non-banks not allowed loading credit lines on prepaid wallets, cards: RBI

In a move that could impact a number of fintech players, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked non-bank prepaid payment instruments (PPIs) issuers to not load their PPI instruments through credit lines.
In a circular addressed to the non-bank PPI issuers, the RBI said, “The PPI- master direction does not permit loading of PPIs from credit lines. Such practice, if followed, should be stopped immediately. Any non-compliance in this regard may attract penal action under provisions contained in the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007”.
PPIs are instruments that facilitate purchase of goods and services, conduct of financial services, enable remittance facilities, etc., against the value stored therein. According to RBI, there are over 35 non-bank PPI issuers in the country, including the likes of Amazon Pay, Bajaj Finance, Ola Financial Services, PayU Payments Pvt Ltd, Phone Pe Pvt Ltd, among others.
This circular by the RBI is likely to impact those fintech players who offer credit lines to customers via their wallets in association with non-banking finance players. It may also affect fintechs who are issuing prepaid cards in association with a banking partner or a non-banking partner.
Some of the new generation players were adding closer to 200,000-300,000 cards using PPI license and loading the wallets of consumers using credit lines from NBFCs, banks etc. The main purpose of a PPI license is to act as a payment instrument and not as a credit instrument and we believe many fintechs were using it as a channel to load credit. Many customers were also unknowingly taking a line of credit through their wallets at the point of check-out. Some of these practices haven’t gone down well with the regulator in our view, said Macquarie Research in a note.
“We believe this regulation could significantly impact the business of the Fintechs involved in this business and would be advantageous to banks as they can further accelerate card”, it added.
Rajan Bajaj, Founder & CEO, Slice, told Business Standard, “We are committed to be on the right side of regulation in letter and spirit and are working with our partner bank on this.”

India's Russian imports up 3.5 times on oil buys despite Western pressure

On the back of rising crude oil purchases, India’s bill for imports from sanctions-hit Russia jumped 3.5 times in a year in April to $2.3 billion, showed data from the commerce ministry.
In April, India’s crude oil imports from Russia were valued at $1.3 billion, 57 per cent of India’s total inbound shipments from Russia. Other major imported items during the month included coal, soybean and sunflower oil, fertilisers, and non-industrial diamonds.
That month, Russia was also the fourth-largest crude petroleum supplier to India, after Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). As far as overall imports are concerned, Russia was the sixth largest import partner in April. During the same month last year, Russia was the 7th biggest source of crude oil for India and on an overall basis, it ranked 21st among India’s import partners.
Russia during the month included electrical machinery and equipment, iron and steel, pharmaceutical products, marine products, and automobile components.
Crude oil imports to India from Russia are on the rise since Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24. The invasion was followed by economic sanctions on Russia by the US and its allies, in an attempt to isolate the country from global trade and this led to spike in commodity prices.

::Science and tech::

NASA's DAVINCI mission 2029 will be launched soon

NASA's DAVINCI mission to Venus will carry a dime-sized, student-built sensor to study the planet's near-surface environment.
The DAVINCI (Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gasses, Chemistry, and Imaging) mission, which is slated to launch in 2029, aims to investigate Venus' atmosphere-climate system and shed new light on the scorching planet's potentially habitable past. It is the first Venus mission that will use both spacecraft flybys and a descent probe.
The miniature sensor, called the Venus Oxygen Fugacity (VfOx) instrument, will be mounted on the outside of the spacecraft's Descent Sphere, the probe that will enter Venus' atmosphere. The sensor will be designed, built, tested and operated by students as a part of the mission's Student Collaboration Experiment, according to a statement from NASA.
The spacecraft will perform two flybys of Venus before its probe plunges through the planet's dense atmosphere about two years after launch. The probe is expected to take measurements of clouds and ultraviolet absorption on the Venusian dayside, along with measurements of heat emanating from the planet's surface on the nightside. The probe will also ingest and analyze gasses in the planet's atmosphere while capturing images of its descent to an area known as Alpha Regio, which is composed largely of rugged, mountainous terrain called tessera.
As the probe nears Venus' surface, it will measure the partial pressure of oxygen, known as oxygen fugacity, in the planet's deep atmosphere. Scientists can then compare this information with measurements of oxygen captured in rocks on Venus' surface to better understand the planet's mountainous terrain, which has never been visited by a spacecraft, according to the statement.
"By analyzing these ground-breaking VfOx measurements, scientists will, for the first time, seek to identify what minerals are most stable at the surface of Venus in the highlands and link the formation of rocks to their recent modification histories," NASA officials said in the statement. "VfOx will measure the amount of oxygen present near the surface of Venus as a 'fingerprint' of the rock-atmosphere reactions that are going."

::Sports::

Sunil Chhetri becomes joint 5th highest goal scorer

Indian men's football team captain Sunil Chhetri became the joint fifth highest goalscorer in international football history.
Chhetri achieved this feat during their AFC Asian Cup Qualifier clash against Hong Kong on Tuesday, where he scored his 84th goal. He has now equalled legendary Real Madrid and Hungarian player Ferenc Puskas goals scoring exploits on the international level.
Earlier in October 2021, Chhetri also surpassed legendary football player Pele's record of 77 goals. He is now third on the list of active international goalscorers, just behind Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo and Argentina's Lionel Messi.