Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 07 February 2021

::NATIONAL::

A day after Prime Minister NarendraModi slammed the TMC dispensation for not implementing central schemes in West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday told the Assembly that her government has sent to the Centre names of 2.5 lakh farmers who are eligible for benefits under the PM KisanSammanNidhiYojana.
Banerjee told the House that the state government had received a list of six lakh applicants from the Centre for verification, of which 2.5 lakh names have been sent to the Centre for financial assistance under the central welfare programme.
She also said that her government would float 19 industrial projects in the state, entailing an investment of ₹72,200 crore, and create 3.29 lakh employment opportunities.
The CM was responding to questions raised by the members of the House during a debate on a vote-on-account that she had presented on February 5.
With state elections round the corner, Banerjee had presented a vote-on-account for ₹2.99 lakh crore in the Assembly and made a slew of announcements, including a hike in the annual aid of farmers.

Prime Minister NarendraModi inaugurated the 348-km Dobhi-Durgapur natural gas pipeline built by GAIL and a four-lane road overbridge at Ranichak in Haldia.
He also dedicated Bharat Petroleum's LPG import terminal to the nation. Earlier, while addressing a rally in West Bengal’s Haldia, PM Modi slammed the TMC government of the state saying that it is nothing but the rebirth of the erstwhile Left rule.
"It will cater to the growing requirement of LPG in West Bengal and other states in eastern and north-eastern India and is an important step towards realising the vision of the Prime Minister to provide clean cooking LPG to every household," the Prime Minister's Office said.
He will also dedicate to the nation the 348-km Dobhi-Durgapur natural gas pipeline section, which is part of the PradhanMantriUrja Ganga Project. It marks an important milestone towards achieving ''one nation, one gas grid'' project of the government, the PMO said.
The increase in the number of medical colleges and hospitals will not only mitigate the shortage of doctors in the state but also make Assam a hub for tertiary care and medical education for the entire northeastern region," the PMO said.

There is no evidence that the Astrazeneca vaccine does not prevent death or serious illness, and South Africa has only imposed a temporary halt on using the vaccine.
"The dominant strains in this country are not the South African strain, there are a small number of cases of that, the dominant strains here are the historic one we've had, and then the Kent variant, against which this vaccine is highly effective."
Israel is currently far ahead of the rest of the world on vaccinations per head of population, followed by the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Bahrain, the United States and then Spain, Italy and Germany.
The United Kingdom, which has the world's fifth worst official death toll, has vaccinated 12.014 million people with a first dose. Around half a million people have received a second dose.
While thousands of individual changes have arisen as the virus mutates on replication and evolves into new variants, only a tiny minority are likely to be important or change the virus in an appreciable way, according to the British Medical Journal.

Bitcoin is back near $40,000 on the heels of a global market rally as investors grow increasingly confident in reflation and fresh US stimulus.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency was up 1.1% to $39,012 as of 9:57 a.m. in London after briefly surpassing $40,000 on Saturday. It’s now about 7% below an all-time high set in early January.
After a brief dip this month, Bitcoin is climbing once again as enthusiasts tout the digital asset as a hedge against inflation and store of value in a world awash with stimulus and rampant central-bank money printing.
Prominent economists including Lawrence Summers have recently raised concerns that President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion virus relief package may risk overheating the economy.
Dogecoin rose as high as 8.2 US cents before falling back to about 7 cents, according to pricing data from CoinGecko. The token has a market value of about $9 billion, making it the 10th biggest cryptocurrency.

State-run aerospace behemoth Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) on Monday said it has entered into an agreement with Elbit Systems Electro Optics Elop Ltd., Israel, for supply of Digital Overhead Head Up Display Systems (DOHS) during the recently concluded Aero India-2021.
The Digital Overhead HUDs will be initially manufactured in the existing facility of HAL's Division at Korwa, HAL said in a release. It said a dedicated facility will be augmented progressively in proportion to manufacturing volume.
HAL said the company and Elbit Systems have envisaged a mutual co-operation to upgrade its technological base and acquire high end technology on Digital Overhead HUD System which is primarily used in transport aircraft worldwide.
The Digital Overhead HUD with modern optics provides sharp brightness, larger field of view and larger head motion box.
More than 500 HUDs have been supplied for various Indian platforms such as Su-30MKI, Jaguar and MiG-27M upgrade, it added.

The first Arab space mission, the UAE's "Hope" probe, is expected to reach Mars' orbit, making it the first of three spacecraft to arrive at the Red Planet this month.
The United Arab Emirates, China and the United States all launched projects to Mars last July, taking advantage of a period when the Earth and Mars are nearest.
If succesful, the wealthy Gulf state will become the fifth nation to ever reach Mars—a venture timed to mark the 50th anniversary of the unification of the UAE—with the China mission due to become the sixth the following day.
Landmarks across the UAE have been lit up in red at night, government accounts emblazoned with the #ArabstoMarshashtag, and on the big day Dubai's BurjKhalifa, the world's tallest tower, will be at the centre of a celebratory show.
"Hope", known as "Al-Amal" in Arabic, will orbit the planet for at least one Martian year, or 687 days, while the Tianwen-1 from China and the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover from the US will both land on Mars' surface.

Sixth seed Alexander Zverev overcame an inconsistent start to battle past unheralded American Marcos Giron 6-7(8) 7-6(5) 6-3 6-2 in the opening round of the Australian Open on Monday and keep his hopes of winning his first Grand Slam title alive.
After losing a first-set tiebreak, Zverev went up an early service break in the second. Zverev was serving for the set but Giron broke him to make it 5-4, prompting the German player to smash his racket in frustration and pick up code violation.
Zverev clung on to win the second set in a tiebreak and level the match, and got another early service break in the third set to put himself in control, with his serve finally firing.