Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 24 July 2021

::NATIONAL::

Vice Admiral VinayBadhwar has been presented the 2019 Alexander Dalrymple Award in recognition of his “outstanding contribution” to Indian hydrography and across the wider Indian Ocean region, official sources said here.
First awarded by the UK Hydrography Office (UKHO) in 2006, the award is named after the first hydrographer of the Admiralty. Recipients are selected for their efforts in raising the standards of hydrography, cartography and navigation around the world.
Vice Admiral Badhwar, who joined the Indian Navy in 1982, has extensive hydrographic surveying experience, including work in the Gulfs of Kutch and Khambhat, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands – widely recognised as some of the most challenging environments to survey in the world.
In his role as India’s national hydrographer, Vice Admiral Badhwar has been a key member of the International Hydrographic Organisation’s capacity building sub-committee since its creation.

The executive board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a set of policy reforms to the concessional lending facilities to better support the recovery of low-income countries (LICs) from the Covid-19 pandemic.
"These reforms are set to ensure that the Fund has the capacity to respond flexibly to LICs' needs over the medium term while continuing to provide concessional loans at zero interest rates," the IMF said on Thursday in a statement.
The centrepiece of the policy reforms that were approved by the IMF executive board last week is a 45 per cent increase in the normal limits on access to concessional financing, coupled with the elimination of hard limits on access for the poorest countries, Xinhua news agency quoted the statement as further saying.
"The decision to raise access limits is not a directive to lend more across all IMF programs," Sean Nolan, deputy director of the IMF's strategy policy and review department, told reporters later in the day.

The government may initially pursue an initial public offering (IPO) of LIC by selling a five-six per cent stake, following which it could sell more shares in a round of similar size. The overall size of the stake sale could be between Rs 1.2-1.5 lakh crore.
Also, even though the valuation of LIC is still to be concluded, the figure is likely to be between Rs 12-15 lakh crore.
The consideration of two-stage disinvestment via the stock markets comes as the government is said to be apprehensive that a sale of that size would crowd out private companies from the equity market, hampering economic growth.
Meanwhile, it should be noted that the Minister of State for Finance, BhagwatKishanraoKarad had said on 19 July in the Parliament that the proposed IPO is planned to be completed in the current fiscal itself.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has raised the limit of personal loan amount that can be granted by lenders to directors of other banks and their families at not more than ₹5 crore from ₹25 lakh.
"The proposals for credit facilities of an amount less than ₹25 or ₹5 crore (as the case may be) to these borrowers may be sanctioned by the appropriate authority in the financing bank under powers vested in such authority, but the matter should be reported to the Board," the RBI said in a circular.
This will apply to all scheduled commercial banks, except regional rural banks (RRBs), small finance banks and all local area banks, according to the RBI circular released.
Personal loans are loans given to individuals and consist of consumer credit, education loans, loans given for the creation or enhancement of immovable assets and those given for investment in financial assets.

Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-K) launched the first technology innovation hub to find cyber security solutions for anti-drones technologies, intrusion detection system, block-chain and cyber physical system. As many as 13 start-ups and 25 research and development principal investigators were selected after a rigorous application process.
“The presence of cutting- edge technology in cyber security is accompanied by an increasing need to protect digital assets and deploy solutions for the common public as well as government and industry,” said a statement issued by IIT-K.
Prof. Ashutosh Sharma, secretary, department of Science and Technology, Government of India, “ “The Government is committed to bring India to a leadership position in cyber security. IIT Kanpur’s C3i hub will focus on safeguarding cyberspace including critical infrastructure.”

It will be to remember for the rest of her life. MirabaiChanu wrote her name in the annals of the country's sporting history by becoming the first Indian weightlifter to win an Olympic silver medal.
She is the second Indian woman to win an Olympic medal in weightlifting, since KarnamMalleswari's bronze in the Sydney Games in 2000.