Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 27 April 2021

::NATIONAL::

Armed forces recall retired medical staff to fight COVID-19 pandemic

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Monday took stock of the preparations made by the Indian armed forces to assist the civil administration in Covid management. Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General BipinRawat said retired medical professionals and those who had availed of pre-mature retirement from the forces in the past two years were being recalled to beef up the numbers.
An official statement from the PMO said the forces had recalled the retired personnel “to work in Covid facilities within proximity of their present place of residence”.
On Friday, the Defence ministry had announced it was extending the tenure of SSC doctors in the Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS) to “ tide over the current surge in medical services”. This will augment the strength of AFMS by 238 more doctors.
The CDS told the PM that nursing personnel were being employed in large numbers to complement the doctors at the hospitals.
PM was also briefed that oxygen cylinders available with armed forces in various establishments would be released for hospitals and wherever possible, military medical infrastructure would be made available to civilians.

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::International::

ASEAN Initiative on Myanmar

India on Sunday said it welcomed a Southeast Asian nations’ led initiative to end violence in Myanmar that has shot up since the military dismissed the government headed by Aung San SuuKyi in February.
On Saturday, Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN leaders at a meeting in Jakarta, agreed on five points—ending violence, a constructive dialogue among all parties, a special ASEAN envoy to facilitate the dialogue, acceptance of aid and a visit by the envoy to Myanmar—with Myanmar’s military leader Min AungHlaing. Myanmar is part of the 10 member ASEAN.
According to the statement from ASEAN chair Brunei, the five-point consensus did not mention political prisoners, although the chairman's statement said the meeting "heard calls" for their release. This triggered angry reactions from the opposition in Myanmar.
ASEAN leaders were looking for a commitment from Min AungHlaing to restrain his security forces, which have killed 748 people—according to Myanmar’s opposition groups—since a mass civil disobedience movement erupted to challenge the 1 February ouster of the elected government of Aung San SuuKyi.

::Economy::

Reserve Bank of India limits the tenure of MDs, CEOs of banks to 15 years

The Reserve Bank of India on Monday capped both the tenure and age limit for senior management including that of chairmen in all private banks. While the cap for non-executive directors, and chairman is set at 75 years, their tenure is fixed for 8 years. They can rejoin after 3 years, if found fit.
Likewise, the posts of Managing Director (MD), Chief Executive Officer (CEO) as well as Whole Time Directors (WTD) are capped at not more than 15 years.
These new norms will be applicable for all private sector banks including small finance banks and wholly-owned subsidiaries of foreign banks. However, foreign banks with branches are excluded.
Banks have to implement this by October, 1. The upper age limit is fixed at 70 years. Besides, MDs & CEOs or WTDs who have already completed 12 or 15 years by October 1, are allowed to complete their current term.
The circular is an outcome of the discussion paper issued last June to review the framework for governance in commercial banks to address a few operative aspects.

Oxford Economics cuts India's 2021 GDP growth forecast to 2%

Oxford Economics has revised India’s GDP growth forecast downwards for calendar year 2021 to 10.2 per cent from its earlier projection of 11.8 per cent, citing the country’s escalating health burden, faltering vaccination rate and lack of a convincing government strategy to contain the pandemic.
It further stated that it expects GDP to contract sequentially in the June 2021 quarter. Notwithstanding the likelihood of further mobility restrictions, Oxford Economics expects India’s targeted lockdown approach, less stringent restrictions and resilient consumer and business behaviour to mitigate the economic impact of the second wave.

::Science and tech::

DRDO develops critical crystal blade technology for aero engines

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed single crystal blades technology and supplied 60 of these blades to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) as part of their indigenous helicopter development program for helicopter engine application.
It is part of a program taken up by Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL), a premium laboratory of DRDO, to develop five sets (300 in number) of single crystal high pressure turbine (HPT) blades using a nickel-based super alloy. The supply of remaining four sets will be completed in due course.
Helicopters used in strategic and defence applications need compact and powerful aero-engines for their reliable operation at extreme conditions. To achieve this, state-of-the-art Single Crystal Blades having complex shape and geometry, manufactured out of Nickel based superalloys capable of withstanding high temperatures of operation are used. Very few countries in the world such as USA, UK, France and Russia have the capability to design and manufacture such Single Crystal (SX) components.
The DMRL undertook this task based on its expertise gained during the development of such a technology for an aero-engine project earlier. Complete vacuum investment casting process to realise the blades, including die design, wax pattering, ceramic moulding, actual casting of components non-destructive evaluation (NDE), heat treatment and dimensional measurement, has been established at DMRL.
Special ceramic composition had to be formulated for making strong ceramic moulds which can withstand metallostatic pressure of liquid CMSX-4 alloy at 1500°C and above during casting operation. The challenge of maintaining the required temperature gradient has also been overcome by optimising the casting parameters. A multi-step vacuum solutionising heat treatment schedule for complex CMSX-4 superalloy to achieve the required microstructure and mechanical properties has also been established.Further, a stringent non-destructive evaluation (NDE) methodology for the blades along with the technique for determining their crystallographic orientations has been developed.

::Sports::

India won three gold medals and one bronze in Archery World Cup Stage 1 in Guatemala City

Star archer DeepikaKumari led the show with supreme authority to grab a hat-trick of gold medals as India made an unprecedented clean sweep at the World Cup Stage 3 here on Sunday for a perfect build-up to the Tokyo Olympics in less than a month's time.
In the absence of the world number one Korea, the Indians faced little challenge to win the women's individual, team and mixed pair events with Deepika a constant in each of them, playing back-to-back four matches in less than five hours.
Having secured Olympic qualifications, Korea, along with other Asian heavyweights like China and Chinese Taipei, skipped all the World Cups in the build up to the Tokyo Games.