Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 29 July 2022

::National::

‘We changed notion that a strong government should control everything’: PM Modi

Prime Minister NarendraModi said his government has changed the notion that a strong government should control everything and everyone, and underlined that the New Education Policy (NEP) 2020 “ensures greater freedom for youth” to take decisions.
PM Modi, who was speaking at the 42nd convocation of Anna University in the presence of chief minister MK Stalin, also defended the new education policy, aspects of which have been vehemently opposed by the Stalin-led DMK government. Tamil Nadu is drafting its own state education policy.
PM Modi said that in the era of tech-led disruptions, there are three important factors in favour of graduates; the third factor being that his “strong government” does not interfere and gives freedom which is offered by NEP 2020. “Earlier, there was a notion that a strong government means it should control everything and everyone. But we have changed this,” said PM Modi, who is on a two-day visit to Chennai.
“A strong government does not control everything or everyone. It controls the system’s impulse to interfere. A strong government is not restrictive but is responsive. A strong government does not move into every domain. It limits itself and makes space for people’s talents. A strong government’s ability lies in its humility to accept that it cannot know nor do everything.
This is why you see reforms in every sphere that makes greater space for people and their freedom. The new National Education Policy ensures greater freedom for youth to take decisions according to evolving situations.”
Stalin spoke of the vision for the state’s education under the Tamil Nadu government’s Dravidian model. “Education is the only wealth which no one can steal or take away from you. So we believe that there should be no obstruction to education,” the chief minister said.
“So our government’s Dravidian model is to take education forward. The Dravidian ideology of social justice is based on education for everyone.”

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::International::

Man behind one of UK's biggest money laundering ops caught sending cash to Dubai

The ringleader of one of the UK’s largest money laundering operations was jailed for nine years and seven months after investigators caught couriers smuggling suitcases packed with bags of cash flying to Dubai.
Abdullah Mohammed Ali Bin BeyatAlfalasi arranged for a network of couriers to fly £104 million ($127 million) of street cash to Dubai over nearly two years through to October 2020, the National Crime Agency said. Alfalasi pleaded guilty earlier this month.
The couriers were given business class flights to take advantage of a larger luggage allowance and check-in closer to the departure time, investigators said. Around £500,000 was crammed into suitcases that were then packed with coffee granules or sprayed with air freshener to disguise the scent from sniffer dogs. In total more than 80 flights were taken.
“There is no doubt that this was a considerable network under your charge, not your sole charge, you were a principal but it is clear that there were others involved,” Judge Simon Davis said handing down the sentence.
Police arrested the Emirati at an apartment belonging to his wife in London’s upmarket Mayfair district last year. Alfalasi offered a “money laundering service” to criminal organizations in both the UK and other European countries, prosecutors said.
“He is the useful idiot in a way,” Adrian Darbishire, Alfalasi’s lawyer, said in court Thursday. The people behind the operation have found someone who is willing to “stick their head above parapet.”

::Economy::

Bank of Baroda hikes interest rates on fixed deposits below Rs 2 crore

Public sector lender Bank of Baroda (BoB) has increased interest rates on fixed deposits below Rs 2 crore, with effect from Thursday, media reports stated citing the bank’s official website said.
The bank increased the interest rate on fixed deposits maturing in 7 days to 45 days from 2.8 per cent to 3 per cent, and on term deposits maturing in 46 days to 180 days from 3.7 per cent to 4 per cent.
For deposits maturing from 181 days to 270 days, BoB will offer an interest rate of 4.65 per cent, up from 4.3 percent, a hike of 35 basis points and BoB will now offer an interest rate of 4.65 per cent which was earlier 4.4 per cent a hike of 25 bps on deposits maturing in 271 days & above and less than 1 year, the website stated.
The interest rate for deposits maturing in one year will fetch an interest rate of 5.30 per cent, up from the previous 5 per cent.

Irdai may offer more flexibility to insurers in corporate agency tie-ups

In the recently concluded board meeting of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai), the regulator has sought to provide greater flexibility to insurers as far as their corporate agency tie-ups are concerned, people in the know said.
The regulator has mooted the proposal that corporate agents can tie-up with up to 9 insurers each in the general, life, and health insurance sectors. Currently, corporate agents are permitted to distribute products of three insurance companies each in the life, health, and general insurance sector.
This would provide a significant boost to the bancassurance channel as insurers will be able to have more bank tie-ups, which in the recent years has proved to be one of the major distribution channels for insurers after the agency channel.
Further, they have proposed to allow corporate agents to place commercial lines general insurance covers without any limit on sum insured. And insurance marketing firms (IMF) can also have tie-ups with six insurance companies each in the life, health, and general insurance sector. Currently, they can solicit and procure insurance products of two insurers each in the three sectors.
As per Irdai’s regulations, about 75 per cent of the insurance companies’ investments has to be in AAA-rated assets, 25 per cent can go to AA or even A- rated instruments. And, an insurance company can take exposure to below AA rated instruments only after taking approval from the board of the company.
Further, they are evaluating permitting equity derivatives for the sole purpose of hedging.
The regulator has also mooted the proposal of removing the requirement of insurers taking prior approval for issuing Other Forms of Capital (OFC). The permissible is also going to be expanded, wherein OFC of the insurer has to be lower of 50 per cent of the total paid up equity capital and securities premium; or 50 per cent of the net worth of the insurer.

::SCIENCE AND TECH::

IAF set to retire all 4 MiG-21 squadrons by 2025

The Indian Air Force is set to retire one of its four remaining squadrons of ageing MiG-21 fighter jets in September, with the other three scheduled to be phased out over the next three years, people familiar with the development.
The phasing out of the squadrons is not linked to the July 28 Barmercrash that killed two fighter pilots, but is part of an earlier air force plan to replace the MiG-21s with newer fighter jets, the officials said.
The squadron being retired in two months is the Srinagar-based No. 51 squadron, which is also known as “Sword Arms,” said one of the officials cited above, asking not to be named. Wing Commander (now Group Captain) AbhinandanVarthaman, who was awarded Vir Chakra for shooting down a Pakistani F-16 during a dogfight over the Line of Control on February 27, 2019, was in the No. 51 squadron then.
The dogfight took place a day after IAF bombed a terror facility in Pakistan’s Balakot.
Several MiG-21s have crashed in recent years with the accidents turning the spotlight on India’s longest-serving fighter plane, its safety record and IAF’s plans to replace the ageing jets with newer ones in the coming years.
The air force got its first single-engine MiG-21 in 1963, and it went on to induct 874 variants of the Soviet-origin supersonic fighters to bolster its combat potential. More than 400 MiG-21s have been involved in accidents that have claimed the lives of around 200 pilots during the last six decades, the officials said.
More MiG-21s have crashed than any other fighter because they formed the bulk of the fighter aircraft in the IAF’s inventory for a long time, and the air force had to keep its MiG-21 fleet flying longer than it would have liked because of delay in the induction of new fighters, they added.

::Sports::

Lovlina stranded after leaving CWG opening ceremony midway, CDM not pleased

Olympic bronze medallist Indian boxer LovlinaBorgohain was left stranded for close to an hour after deciding to leave the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony midway. The ceremony on Thursday night went on for about two hours and Lovlina, along with another member of the Indian boxing contingent, Muhammad Hussamuddin, decided to leave early for the Games Village from the Alexander Stadium, a 30 minute drive.
"We want to train in the morning as we have a bout day after. The ceremony will go on for a while so we thought of leaving. We asked for a taxi but we were told that was not available," said Lovlina when PTI asked her why she was leaving midway.
With the ceremony still on and the duo unable to book a taxi on its own, Lovlina and Hussamuddin were left clueless on how to ride back to their accommodation.
They eventually took the first bus bound for the Village near the National Exhibition Centre.
The Indian delegation has been provided three cars by the organisers but their drivers were done for the day as the athletes and officials arrived for the opening ceremony in buses.