Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 25 December 2020

::NATIONAL::

India’s first ‘air safari’ launched

India’s first hot air balloon wildlife safari in a tiger reserve was launched on 25-12-2020 in Madhya Pradesh’s Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve by forest minister Vijay Shah.
A drive through a forest mostly comes to mind when one thinks of a jungle safari, there’s yet another non-intrusive way of exploring the ecologically-sensitive environs - through the air.
Shah said the activity will be restricted to a buffer area and people can watch wild animals such as tigers, leopards, Indian sloth bear and other wild animals from birds’ eye view.
Shah further added that the state was also planning to introduce such services in other Pench, Kanha and Panna tiger reserves as well.
The service is being operated by Jaipur-based Sky Waltz and company official Jai Thakur said it was hoping for a good response from tourists.

Good Governance Day 2020

The actions that a government takes to manage its affairs in a state or a country can be called Governance. In other words, it can be defined as 'the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented.' However, to create awareness of accountability in government among the citizens of India, Good Governance Day is observed every year.
Good governance is observed annually on December 25. The day aims to let the citizens, the students, who are the future of the country know about the government's responsibilities and duties that it needs to fulfill. The day is also celebrated to commemorate the birth anniversary of India's former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
On December 23, 2014, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya (posthumously) were announced as recipients of India's highest civilian award, Bharat Ratna.

Printed Study Materials for IBPS, SBI Bank Exam

::International::

EU and British agreed on Brexit trade agreement

The EU and UK have reached a post-Brexit trade deal, ending months of disagreements over fishing rights and future business rules.
At a Downing Street press conference, Boris Johnson said: "We have taken back control of our laws and our destiny."
The text of the agreement has yet to be released, but the PM claimed it was a "good deal for the whole of Europe".
The UK is set to exit EU trading rules next Thursday - a year after officially leaving the 27 nation bloc.
It will mean big changes for business, with the UK and EU forming two separate markets, and the end of free movement.
But the trade deal will come as a major relief to many British businesses, already reeling from the impact of coronavirus, who feared disruption at the borders and the imposition of tariffs, or taxes on imports.
As the deal was announced, Mr Johnson - who had repeatedly said the UK would "prosper mightily" without a deal - tweeted a picture of himself smiling with both thumbs lifted in the air.
In a press conference in Brussels, European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen said: "This was a long and winding road but we have got a good deal to show for it."
"The EU began with I think wanting a transition period of 14 years, we wanted three years, we've ended up at five years," he said.
And he said the UK had not got all it wanted on financial services, a vital part of the UK economy, but he insisted the deal was "nonetheless going to enable our dynamic City of London to get on and prosper as never before".

::Economy::

PM-KISAN: Seventh installment of financial benefits released

At a time when crores of farmers are waiting for December 25 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi will release the next instalment of benefits under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN), the benefits might not reach to everyone under the scheme.
As per media reports, till 23 December, the FTO (Fund Transfer Order) many farmer beneficiaries were generated while the FTO of many others have not been generated, meaning which, there might be problems debiting of the funds in their account.
PM Modi will transfer Rs 18,000 crores to more than 9 crores beneficiary farmer families under PM-KISAN 12 pm via video conferencing on December 25, which is also the birth anniversary of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) Scheme was launched by PM Modi in 2019. The Scheme aims to provide income support to all landholder farmer families across the country with cultivable land, subject to certain exclusions.
Under the Scheme, an amount of Rs 6000 per year is released in three 4-monthly instalments of Rs 2000 each directly into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries. In a financial year, PM Kisan installment is credited thrice through --Period 1 from April-July; Period 2 from August to November; and Period 3 from December to March.
ln the beginning when the PM-KISAN Scheme was launched (February, 2019), its benefits were admissible only to Small & marginal Farmers' families, with combined landholding upto 2 hectare. The Scheme was later on revised in June 2019 and extended to all farmer families irrespective of the size of their landholdings
The Central Government had notified a decision to extend the benefit of Rs 6,000 per year under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme to all 14.5 crore farmers in the country, irrespective of the size of their landholding.

Foreign exchange reserves reached USD 581.131 billion

The country's foreign exchange reserves surged by USD 2.563 billion to touch a record high of USD 581.131 billion in the week to December 18, RBI data showed. In the previous week, the reserves had declined by USD 778 million to USD 578.568 billion.
In the reporting week, the increase in reserves was due to a rise in foreign currency assets (FCAs), a major component of the overall reserves.
FCAs rose by USD 1.382 billion to USD 537.727 billion, the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) weekly data showed.
Expressed in dollar terms, the foreign currency assets include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound and yen held in the foreign exchange reserves.
The gold reserves increased by USD 1.008 billion in the reporting week to USD 37.020 billion in the week ended December 18, the data showed.
The special drawing rights (SDRs) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) rose by USD 12 million to USD 1.515 billion.
The country's reserve position with the IMF also rose by USD 160 million to USD 4.870 billion..

::Science and Technology::

Chandrayaan-2 mission’s initial data released: ISRO

The Indian Space Research Organisation on Thursday said it has released the first set of data from the country's second mission to the Moon, the Chandrayaan-2, for the general public.
Chandrayaan-2 was launched on July 22, 2019 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
The Orbiter which was injected into a lunar orbit on September 2, 2019, carries eight experiments to address many open questions on lunar science.
"All experiments have been performing well and the data received suggests excellent capability to deliver on the pre-launch promises," ISRO said.
In the period since the launch, payload teams tuned on-board systems for optimal instrument configurations, derived essential in-flight calibration data, revised/updated data processing steps/software and have started to publish early results, it said.
On Thursday the first set of data was being released for all users, the ISRO further said.
The public release data archived at the Indian Space Science Data Centre in Bylalu, near Bengaluru is prepared in the standard, globally followed Planetary Data System 4 (PDS4) format for public release, it added.
This activity has been completed and hence the first set of data from the Chandrayaan-2 mission is now being released for the wider public use through the PRADAN portal hosted by ISSDC.

::SPORTS::

Former bowler Chetan Sharma elected chairman of selectors

Former Indian cricketer, Chetan Sharma, has been appointed as the new chief selector of the Indian Cricket Team. The decision came after the BCCI’s AGM on Thursday, which took place in Ahmedabad. BCCI has once again surprised everyone with their choice as Ajit Agarkar was the front runner to win the race.
Apart from Sharma, the BCCI has also appointed Abey Kuruvilla and Debashish Mohanty in the selection panel. Until now, it was being headed by Sunil Joshi. They were picked by the BCCI’s Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), which also picked Abey Kuruvilla and Debashish Mohanty.