Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 24 June 2022

::National::

Gujarat riots: SC dismisses plea for probe into larger conspiracy

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea seeking a probe into the “larger conspiracy” related to the 2002 Gujarat riots that left over 1,000 people dead, saying it is devoid of merits.
A bench of justices AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari, and CT Ravikumar upheld a Gujarat court’s order accepting a Special Investigation Team (SIT)’s closure report exonerating 64 people, including Prime Minister NarendraModi, who was then Gujarat chief minister, of the larger conspiracy.
In December, the bench reserved the verdict on ZakiaJafri and social activist TeestaSetalvad’s plea challenging the report.
Jafri’s husband, former Congress Member of Parliament EhsanJafri, was among the 69 people massacred at Ahmedabad’s Gulbarga Society during the riots. In 2006, ZakiaJafri filed a complaint seeking a probe into 30 points, which she said established the larger conspiracy.
The bench said it cannot “countenance with the submission of the appellant [ZakiaJafri] on the infraction of rule of law regarding the investigation and the approach of the magistrate and the Gujarat high court in dealing with the final [closure] report”. “We uphold the decision of the magistrate in accepting the report of February 8, 2012, and rejecting the protest petition.”
The Supreme Court, which monitored the probe into the riot cases, directed the SIT in 2011 to examine the allegations. In February 2012, the SIT filed the closure report. The petitioners unsuccessfully challenged the report before a trial court and the Gujarat high court before moving the top court in 2018.
During the hearing in the top court, the petitioners said they do not wish to contest the closure report via a visModi as there was no “undisputed” material to show that the larger conspiracy emanated from a meeting he chaired in February 2002.

Printed Study Materials for IBPS, SBI Bank Exam

::International::

US Senate passes breakthrough bill on gun safety

US senators advanced a bipartisan bill addressing the epidemic of gun violence convulsing the country, approving a narrow package of new firearms restrictions and billions of dollars in mental health and school security funding.
The reforms -- which are almost certain to be rubber-stamped by the House of Representatives on Friday -- fall short of the demands of gun safety advocates and President Joe Biden, but have been hailed as a life-saving breakthrough after almost 30 years of inaction by Congress.
The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which was backed by all 50 Democratic senators and 15 Republicans, includes enhanced background checks for buyers under the age of 21, $11 billion in funding for mental health and $2 billion for school safety programs.
It also provides funding to incentivize states to implement "red flag" laws to remove firearms from people considered a threat.
"Tonight, the United States Senate is doing something many believed was impossible even a few weeks ago: we are passing the first significant gun safety bill in nearly 30 years," Senate Democratic majority leader Chuck Schumer said after the legislation passed.
"The gun safety bill we are passing tonight can be described with three adjectives: bipartisan, commonsense, lifesaving."
His Republican counterpart Mitch McConnell said the legislation would make America safer "without making our country one bit less free."
"This is a common-sense package. Its provisions are very, very popular. It contains zero new restrictions, zero new waiting periods, zero mandates and zero bans of any kind for law-abiding gun owners."

::Economy::

RBI proposes norms for outsourcing of IT services by banks, NBFCs

The Reserve Bank on Thursday proposed norms for the outsourcing of IT services to ring-fence banks and other regulated entities from financial, operational and reputational risks.
Regulated entities (REs) will not require prior approval from the central bank for the outsourcing of IT and IT-enabled services, according to RBI's draft Master Direction on Outsourcing of Information Technology (IT) Services.
"The underlying principle of these Directions is that the RE should ensure that outsourcing arrangements neither diminish its ability to fulfil its obligations to customers nor impede effective supervision by the supervising authority," said the draft, on which the RBI has invited comments from stakeholders by July 22.
Banks, payment banks, cooperative banks, credit information companies, NBFCs and other regulated entities, would be required to put in place a comprehensive board-approved IT outsourcing policy.
"Outsourcing of any activity of the RE shall not diminish its obligations as also of its Board and senior management, who shall be ultimately responsible for the outsourced activity.
The RBI has also proposed that the REs should set up a robust grievance redressal mechanism, "which in no way shall be compromised on account of outsourcing", meaning responsibility for redressal of customers' grievances related to outsourced services would rest with them.
As per the draft, a risk management framework for the outsourcing of IT services should comprehensively deal with the processes and responsibilities for the identification, measurement, mitigation/ management and reporting of risks associated with outsourcing.

Former SBI official appointed member of advisory committee of SIFL & SEFL

The Reserve Bank on Thursday appointed VenkatNageswarChalasani, former Deputy Managing Director of SBI, as a member of the Advisory Committee of Srei Infrastructure Finance Limited (SIFL) and Srei Equipment Finance Limited (SEFL).
After superseding the boards of SIFL and SEFL in October last year, the RBI had appointed a three-member advisory committee to assist Rajneesh Sharma, the administrator of the two crisis-ridden firms.
"Consequent upon resignation of R Subramaniakumar from the Advisory Committee with effect from June 22, 2022, it has been decided to appoint ShriVenkatNageswarChalasani as a member of the Advisory Committee with immediate effect," the central bank said in a statement.
The Advisory Committee shall advise the Administrator in the operations of the SIFL and SEFL during the corporate insolvency resolution process, it added.
The other two members of the committee are: T TSrinivasaraghavan (former Managing Director, Sundaram Finance Limited) and Farokh N Subedar (former Chief Operating Officer and Company Secretary, Tata Sons Limited).
In October 2021, the RBI had filed applications for initiation of corporate insolvency resolution process against SIFL and SEFL at the Kolkata Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal.

::Science and tech::

New class of stellar system called 'blue blobs' found: Research

A new class of stellar systems has been identified- they're not quite galaxies and only exist in isolation, according to the researchers at University of Arizona.
The new stellar systems contain only young, blue stars, which are distributed in an irregular pattern and seem to exist in surprising isolation from any potential parent galaxy.
The stellar systems -- which astronomers say appear through a telescope as "blue blobs" and are about the size of tiny dwarf galaxies -- are located within the relatively nearby Virgo galaxy cluster. The five systems are separated from any potential parent galaxies by over 300,000 light-years in some cases, making it challenging to identify their origins.
The astronomers found the new systems after another research group, led by the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy's Elizabeth Adams, compiled a catalog of nearby gas clouds, providing a list of potential sites of new galaxies. Once that catalog was published, several research groups, including one led by Arizona associate astronomy professor David Sand, started looking for stars that could be associated with those gas clouds.
SECCO1 was one of the very unusual "blue blobs," said Michael Jones, a postdoctoral fellow in the Arizona Steward Observatory and lead author of a study that describes the new stellar systems. Jones presented the findings, which Sand co-authored, during the 240th American Astronomical Society meeting in Pasadena, California.

::Sports::

FIFA allows bigger 26-man squads for pandemic-era World Cup

FIFA has approved bigger 26-man squads for the World Cup in Qatar, deciding to extend soccer’s relaxation of rules that help coaches and players during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The move was expected from the FIFA Bureau — comprising the presidents of FIFA and soccer’s six confederations — after 23-player rosters were expanded for recent continental championships.
Adding three players to the typical World Cup roster follows UEFA doing the same for the European Championship last year.
There were 28-player squads also approved for the Copa América tournament in South America last year and at the African Cup of Nations in January.
The extra numbers help the coaches of the 32 teams cope with possible outbreaks of virus cases. It also means additional players are already following health protocols within the camp in Qatar rather than be brought from their home country.