Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 29 January 2021

::NATIONAL::

PM addresses NCC rally in New Delhi

Prime Minister Narendra modi will address the rally of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) at Cariappa Ground in Delhi at 12 pm today.
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and the three armed services Chiefs will attend the event.
Prime Minister will inspect the Guard of Honour, review March Past by NCC contingents, and witness cultural performance during the event, as per the press release by the Prime Minister's Office.
The Prime Minister would also present awards to the deserving cadets and would later address the gathering. During the event, the cadets would exhibit a cultural performance and would also showcase their abilities in the fields of adventure sports, music and performance arts, the PMO release added.
The NCC is a youth wing of India's armed forces and is open to students across all schools and colleges on a voluntary basis. The organisation comprises the Army, Air Force and Navy wing, and imparts basic military training in small arms and drills to the cadets.

Union Education Minister reviews implementation of New Education Policy- 2020

Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ chaired a meeting with the senior officials of the ministry to review the implementation of New Education Policy- 2020.
Pokhriyal directed appointment of Nodal Persons in all the concerned ministries for coordinating the seamless implementation of the Policy. For all the 181 tasks identified for implementation in Higher Education, every task must be led by its own team leader, he added.
The Minister informed that Government will soon take necessary steps to establish Virtual Universities, which is different from the concept of open universities, will help in achieving the desired GER in higher education as envisaged in NEP.
Shri Pokhriyal said that National Education Technology forum (NETF) should be seeded in UGC/ AICTE and should start the work immediately. The Minister called for using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning technology for imparting studies in mother languages in the higher education.
Shri Pokhriyal said that branding of Study in India programme should be taken up on a wider scale. He asked the committee constituted for the Stay in India programme to work in a mission mode and submit the report within 15 days.

Printed Study Materials for IBPS, SBI Bank Exam

::International::

China derecognizes British National Overseas passport

China said Friday it will no longer recognize the British National Overseas passport as a valid travel document or form of identification amid a bitter feud with London over a plan to allow millions of Hong Kong residents a route to residency and eventual citizenship.
The announcement by Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian on Friday throws up new uncertainty around the plan just hours after the U.K. said it would begin taking applications for what are called BNO visas beginning late Sunday.
Under the plan, as many as 5.4 million Hong Kong residents could be eligible to live and work in the U.K. for five years then apply for citizenship. Demand soared after Beijing last year imposed a sweeping new national security law on the former British colony following months of pro-democracy protests.
“The British side’s attempt to turn a large number of Hong Kong people into second-class British citizens has completely changed the nature of the two sides’ original understanding of BNO,” Zhao told reporters at a daily briefing.
The BNO passport was originally a disappointment for Hong Kongers when it was first offered ahead of Hong Kong’s handover to Chinese rule in 1997. At the time, it offered only the right to visit for six months with no right to work or become a full citizen. Applicants had to have been born before the handover date.

::Economy::

Saudi Arabia expected to cut March crude prices for Asia: Survey

Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia is expected to lower its official selling prices (OSPs) for Asian buyers in March, the first cut in three months, tracking falling benchmark prices and coronavirus-induced demand weakness, a Reuters survey showed.
Five sources at Asian refiners on average expected the March OSP for the flagship Arab Light grade to fall by 16 cents a barrel, with their forecasts ranging from no change to a 30 cent cut.
In January, benchmark DME Oman's premium to Dubai swaps fell by 23 cents from last month, while cash Dubai's premium to swap dipped 8 cents, as Asian refiners' appetite for crude was crimped by seasonal maintenance and demand uncertainties.
Refiners in China, the world's second-largest oil consumer, slowed crude purchases in January, pressuring China-focused grades such as Russian ESPO Blend crude, which has weakened to its lowest since September last year.
"Sour crude was dropping fast with China demand off," a crude trader said, adding that supplies from onshore storage in Asia were still abundant.

Budget 2021: Economic Survey 2020-21

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Economic Survey 2020-21 in Parliament on Friday as the Budget Session is all set to begin. The Budget will be presented on February 1. Generally, the Economic Survey is presented a day before the Budget, but this year as the Budget follows the weekend, the Economic Survey will be presented earlier than usual. Chief Economic Adviser KV Subramanian will address a press conference at 2.30pm after the presentation of the Economic Survey.
Economic Survey, presented ahead of Budget, provides a review of the economy of the current financial year and forecasts a path for the coming year. This year, it holds major significance because of the economic upheavals owing to Covid-19 pandemic. It will also project India's gross domestic product growth for 2021-22.
As the Budget session has gone paperless this year, all the documents, including the Economic Survey, would be made available online soon after the authenticated copies are laid on the Table of the House, the Lok Sabha Secretariat has said. The copy of the Economic Survey can be downloaded from www.indiabudget.gov.in.
The practice of presenting the Economic Survey dates back to 1950-51 and until 1964, it used to be presented along with the Union Budget. From 1964, the ministry started to release the survey a day before Budget.

::Science and tech::

CSIR celebrates 20 years of India’s Traditional Knowledge Digital Library, the first of its kind globally

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has launched a new campaign of highlighting 80 success stories from the organization as it is set to turn 80 years old in 2022.
This campaign is being launched on 25th January 2021 as CSIR’s Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) completes two decades of safeguarding India’s Traditional Knowledge. To commemorate the two decades, journey a webinar “Two Decades of TKDL - Connecting to the Future" was organized. The distinguished dignitaries who graced the program were Dr Raghunath A. Mashelkar, Former DG, CSIR & Secretary, DSIR, Vd. Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary, Min of AYUSH, Guruprasad Mohapatra, Secretary, DPIIT and Begona Venero, Sr. Counsellor, Traditional Knowledge Division, WIPO, Geneva, and Dr Shekhar C. Mande, DG, CSIR and Secretary, DSIR.
Dr Viswajanani J Sattigeri, Head TKDL described the journey and highlighted that in 2001, CSIR jointly with Department of Indian Systems of Medicine & Homeopathy (ISM&H, now Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa Rigpa and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) developed the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL). This initiative was a follow-up action to thwart misappropriation of India’s valuable traditional knowledge, based on learnings from the patent battles with international patent offices over the grant of intellectual property rights on turmeric, neem, basmati rice and other such ancient knowledge and practices of the country.
TKDL database contains more than 3.9 lakh formulations/ practices from the Indian systems of medicine (Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Sowa Rigpa) and Yoga. The database is available to only patent examiners through TKDL Access (Non-disclosure) Agreement and so far, Access Agreements have been signed with 13 international patent offices including India. Significantly, 239 patent applications have either been set aside/ withdrawn/ amended, based on the prior art evidence present in the TKDL database.
The valuable partnership with Ministry of Ayush and DPIIT and support from WIPO were acknowledged.

::SPORTS::

Sports Authority of India to engage specialised manpower for the operation of NCOEs and upgrade its Hostel and Mess facility

The 54th Governing Body Meeting of the Sports Authority of India took place under the chairmanship of Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju.
The focus of the meeting was on the development of various aspects of the National Centre of Excellence. The key issues that were approved in the meeting were related to creating the highest standards across all National Centres of Excellence which included inter-alia the development and up-gradation of infrastructure, management of hostels and Kitchen through an expert agency and provision of sports science equipment and manpower to various NCOEs. It was also decided to hire expert manpower to optimally operate National Centres of Excellence.
To ensure the highest quality of residential facilities and to ensure best athlete experience, it has been decided to outsource the management of hostel, mess and kitchen facilities to an expert agency at various SAI centres to bring the facilities at par with three-star hotels. The pilot will be started with the newly-built hostels at Karni Singh Shooting Range and JLN complex.