Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 24 January 2021

::NATIONAL::

A large-scale tri-service joint amphibious exercise AMPHEX – 21 was conducted in Andaman & Nicobar group of islands from 21 – 25 Jan 2021.
The exercise involved participation of Naval ships, amphibious troops of the Army and different types of aircraft from the Air force.The exercise was aimed at validating India’s capabilities to safeguard the territorial integrity of it’s island territories. It also sought to enhance operational synergy and joint warfighting capabilities amongst the three Services.
The exercise involved multi-faceted maritime operations by synergised employment of amphibious assault ships, surveillance platforms, execution of maritime air strikes and complex manoeuvres at sea. Airborne insertion of Marine Commandos of Navy and Special Forces of the Army, naval gunfire support, amphibious landing of forces and follow-on operations also formed part of the exercise.
Ex KAVACH for defence of Andaman & Nicobar Islands formed a part of AMPHEX – 21.

India's rich and diverse cultural heritage was on display on Sunday when Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with Tribal Guests, NCC Cadets, NSS Volunteers and Tableaux Artists in New Delhi.
These artists, volunteers and cadets will be part of the Republic Day parade in the National Capital on January 26.
Interacting with these artists and Volunteers, Prime Minister highlighted the importance of Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat programme to promote cultural connect in the areas of language learning, culture, and traditions.
Prime Minister said that despite of different cultures, religions and languages, people of India live together with love.
The colourful cultural presentation by the artists was the true manifestation of national unity.
Each and every region of the country portrayed different customs and tradition. Nonetheless, they all tried to instill a sense of social cohesion and infuse patriotic fervor.

A banner apparently flew near former US President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Sunday, calling him the worst President ever.
The banner can be seen trailing behind a plane in a video shared Sunday by Twitter user Daniel Uhlfelder that read, "TRUMP WORST PRESIDENT EVER."
In a separate tweet by Uhlfelder, a photo also shows a banner reading "TRUMP, YOU PATHETIC LOSER GO BACK TO MOSCOW."
"Trump is getting a warm welcome from the skies near Mar-a-Lago today," Uhlfelder tweeted.
Social media also jumped in and hailed the move by saying. "Bravo!" and "This gave me a lil joy."
"Thanks for posting and a big thanks to this pilot. This just makes my day. Thanks again," another user wrote.

he government may tweak customs duties in the Budget next week on several goods, including furniture raw materials, copper scrap, certain chemicals, telecom equipment and rubber products, to promote domestic manufacturing and exports, sources said.
They said that while import duties could be tweaked on over 20 products such as cut and polished diamonds, rubber goods, leather garments, telecom equipment and carpet, the customs duties could be removed on select raw materials (like wood in rough, swan wood and hard board) used for furniture manufacturing and copper concentrate.
"Expensive raw materials impact India's price competitiveness in the international market. The country's exports of furniture is very low (about one per cent), while countries like China and Vietnam are major players in the sector," they added.
The government may also consider reducing customs duties on coal tar pitch, and copper scrap, while raising the levies on certain finished goods like refrigerator, washing machine and clothes dryer, one of the sources said.

Gold prices inched lower on Monday due to concerns that a massive economic stimulus in the United States may not be passed smoothly, although a weaker dollar limited bullion's losses.
Spot gold fell 0.1% to $1,850.91 per ounce by 0822 GMT, having dropped 0.9% in the previous session. US gold futures fell 0.2% to $1,851.80.
US President Joe Biden's administration tried to head off Republican concerns that his $1.9 trillion pandemic relief proposal was too expensive on a Sunday call.
"We're seeing bigger question marks over the passage of Biden's stimulus package, Senate Republicans are starting to object with particular parts of the package," said Lachlan Shaw, National Australia Bank's head of commodity research.
"So, it does raise the question about the speed and the timing of the package. (Although,) some of the issues of the vaccine delays in the U.S. are perhaps tilting the balance in odds of favour of that stimulus," Shaw added.

In a cross-cultural analysis, found several factors may have played a role in building the mutually beneficial relationship between humans and dogs, including temperature, hunting and surprisingly - gender.
The findings of the novel study by Washington State University researchers were published in the Journal of Ethnobiology. It drops a hint that a man's best friend (dog) might actually belong to a woman.
"We found that dogs' relationships with women might have had a greater impact on the dog-human bond than relationships with men," said Jaime Chambers, a WSU anthropology Ph.D. student and first author.
"Humans were more likely to regard dogs as a type of person if the dogs had a special relationship with women. They were more likely to be included in family life, treated as subjects of affection and generally, people had greater regard for them."
While dogs are the oldest, most widespread domesticated animal, very few anthropologic studies have directly focused on the human relationship with canines. Yet when the WSU researchers searched the extensive collection of ethnographic documents in the Human Relations Area Files database, they found thousands of mentions of dogs.

The visiting Indian women's junior hockey team pipped the Chile senior side 2-1 in the sixth and final match to end the tour unbeaten.
Forward Beauty Dungdung's brace scored in the 6th and 26th minutes gave India a much-deserved win while the lone goal for the hosts was scored by Francisca Tala (40th) at the Prince of Wales Country Club on Sunday.
With their narrow victory in the sixth and final match, the young Indian team returns to the country with an undefeated streak, winning five and drawing one game.
India started proceedings on the front foot as they created pressure on their hosts, and open the scoring in the 6th minute, with talented young forward Dungdung converting a beautiful team move.