Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 27 February 2021

::NATIONAL::

The Army's northern commander Lt Gen YK Joshi on Saturday said the agreement between India and Pakistan to strictly adhere to the ceasefire pact along the Line of Control (LoC) would have no bearing on the counter-terrorism operations in Jammu and Kashmir.
He said the northern command, which looks after the security of the twin union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, remained on the highest alert and made possible what was believed impossible by the bravery, grit and determination of its personnel in the face of challenging situations along the border.
"Recently, the Director General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of India and Pakistan have announced an agreement to uphold ceasefire along the LoC from February 24 and 25 midnight. I want to assure that this ceasefire will have no bearing on the counter-terrorist operations and we will maintain our alertness," Lt Gen Joshi said at the northern command investiture ceremony here.
During the ceremony, the Army commander presented two Bar to Sena medals (gallantry) and 50 Sena medals (gallantry) to the brave soldiers.

The cabinet secretary will chair a high-level review meeting on Saturday with eight states and union territories exhibiting a surge in Covid-19 cases, the Union Health Ministry said.
The states showing a surge are Telangana, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and West Bengal.
India's total Covid-19 active caseload is 1,59,590 which is 1.44 per cent of the total infections.
Six states -- Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat -- have shown a surge in new cases in a span of 24 hours, the ministry underlined.
Maharashtra continued to report the highest daily new cases at 8,333. It was followed by Kerala that reported 3,671 new cases and Punjab with 622 new cases.
The ministry said 85.75 per cent of 16,488 new cases registered in a span of 24 hours are from six states and UTs.

Indicating the status quo of being on FATF's 'grey list', the global body against money laundering and terror financing on Thursday said Pakistan will continue to remain on the increased monitoring list as there are "serious deficiencies" in checking terror financing and the country lacks an effective system to deal with it.
After its meeting, Marcus Pleyer, president of Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF), said the deadline given to Pakistan has already expired and asked Islamabad to address their concerns "as quickly as possible".
"To date, Pakistan has made progress across all action plan items and has now largely addressed 24 of the 27 action items. As all action plan deadlines have expired," Pleyer said in Paris at the end of its plenary session.
There is a serious deficiency on the part of Pakistan in checking terror financing and the country is yet to demonstrate taking action against the UN-designated terrorists and their associates, he said.

Texas’s grid operator needs to come up with $1.3 billion to pay power plants for energy they supplied during last week’s historic blackouts, raising the prospect it may require a state bailout.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages most of the state’s grid, said it’s still waiting on more than $2 billion in payments from retail power providers and others after a deep winter freeze caused energy prices to skyrocket.
The grid operator, known as Ercot, managed to cover part of that debt by transferring $800 million in revenues from another market but remains $1.3 billion short, according to a market notice.
If Ercot can’t come up with the rest, the debt could end being shared by everyone in the market -- even consumers. That may prompt lawmakers to step in and make up the difference, said Evan Caron, chief strategy officer of energy technology firm ClearTrace and a former Ercot trader.

Ambani spent most of the past two years leading the ranking of Asia’s richest people, taking over from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s Jack Ma.
India’s MukeshAmbani is back to being the wealthiest person in Asia.
Despite a brutal week for markets, his Reliance Industries Ltd. was relatively unscathed as it said it would spin off its oil-to-chemicals business into an independent unit. With a net worth of about $80 billion, Ambani is again richer than ZhongShanshan, whose bottled-water company tanked a record 20% this week. The Chinese tycoon is worth $76.6 billion, down more than $22 billion from a peak just last week, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Ambani spent most of the past two years leading the ranking of Asia’s richest people, taking over from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s Jack Ma. Then the listing of two companies put Zhong on the map: He grabbed the title from Ambani at the end of December and by early 2021 was the sixth-wealthiest person on Earth, surpassing Warren Buffett.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is gearing up for its first launch of the year as it prepares to send a Brazilian satellite Amazonia-1 into space on Sunday. This is the first Brazilian satellite to be launched from India.
The countdown for the launch of PSLV-C51/Amazonia-1 mission began on Saturday at the SatishDhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. This is the 53rd mission of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). The rocket will launch the primary satellite Amazonia-1 along with 18 co-passenger payloads. The launch, which is subject to weather conditions, is scheduled at 10:24 am; the countdown commenced at 8:54 am (IST).
The 637-kg Amazonia-1 will provide remote sensing data to scientists who will need the data from the satellite to monitor deforestation in the Amazon region, according to a statement from ISRO. The statement further said that Amazonia-1 will also provide analysis of diversified agriculture across the Brazilian territory.

Prime Minister NarendraModi today inaugurated the second Khelo India Winter Games in Gulmarg and said that the event is a step towards making Jammu and Kashmir a hub of winter sports.
Athletes from 27 states and Union Territories are competing in the Games which will conclude on March 2.
"This is a step towards making India's presence felt in the international winter games arena and also make Jammu and Kashmir a hub of winter sports," he said in a virtual address.