Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 11 February 2021

::NATIONAL::

Indian Navy's TROPEX-21 exercise

The Indian Navy is carrying out a mega war game involving almost all operational assets like warships, submarines and aircraft over a vast geographical expanse in the Indian Ocean Region to test the force's combat readiness in a complex dimensional scenario, officials said on Wednesday,
The biennial 'Theatre Level Operational Readiness Exercise (TROPEX)' aims to validate the Navy's offensive as well as defence capabilities and safeguard national interests in the maritime domain besides promoting peace and stability in the Ocean, they said.
"Indian Navy's largest war game, the biennial TROPEX 21, which commenced in early January is currently underway with participation of all operational units of Indian Navy including ships, submarines, aircraft as well as units of the Indian Army, Indian Air Force and Coast Guard," the Navy said.

World Sustainable Development Summit is being organized on 10-12 February

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to inaugurate the World Sustainable Development Summit 2021.
As per an official release, the theme of the Summit is 'Redefining our common future: Safe and secure environment for all'.
"Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali, President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana; James Marape, Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea; Mohamed Nasheed, Speaker of the People's Majlis, Republic of Maldives; Amina J Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General, United Nations, and Prakash Javadekar, Union minister of environment, forest, and climate Change will be present on the occasion," it stated.
The 20th edition of The Energy and Resources Institute's (TERI) flagship event, the World Sustainable Development Summit, will be held online from February 10 to February 12 and will bring together a wide number of governments, business leaders, academicians, climate scientists, youth, and the civil society in the fight against climate change.
"India's Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and Ministry of Earth Sciences are key partners of the Summit. Energy and industry transition, adaptation and resilience, nature-based solutions, climate finance, circular economy, clean oceans and air pollution, are amongst the range of topics to be discussed during the Summit," the release added.

Printed Study Materials for IBPS, SBI Bank Exam

::International::

India and US review Indo-Pacific Development and Quad cooperation

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a "comprehensive discussion yesterday and reviewed Indo-Pacific developments and the Quad cooperation. In a tweet, Mr Jaishankar said that they also exchanged views on the situation in Myanmar.
The External Affairs Minister said, he looks forward to remaining in touch with him. The telephonic conversation between Mr Jaishankar and Blinken came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a telephonic conversation with US President Joe Biden. During the conversation, both the leaders discussed regional issues and the shared priorities.

::Economy::

Parliament passed Major Port Authorities Bill, 2020

Parliament passed the Major Port Authorities Bill, 2020. Shri Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister of State (I/C) for Ports, Shipping &Waterways moved the bill in Rajya Sabha today and it was passed. Now the Bill will go to the President of India for his assent.

The salient features of the Major Port Authorities Bill 2020 are as under: -

The Bill is more compact in comparison to the Major Port Trusts Act, 1963 as the number of sections has been reduced to 76 from 134 by eliminating overlapping and obsolete Sections.
The new Bill has proposed a simplified composition of the Board of Port Authority which will comprise of 11 to 13 Members from the present 17 to 19 Members representing various interests. A compact Board with professional independent Members will strengthen decision making and strategic planning. Provision has been made for inclusion of representatives of State Government in which the Major Port is situated, Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Defence and Customs, Department of Revenue as Members in the Board apart from a Government Nominee Member and a Member representing the employees of the Major Port Authority.
The role of Tariff Authority for Major Ports (TAMP) has been redefined. Port Authority has now been given powers to fix tariff which will act as a reference tariff for purposes of bidding for PPP projects. PPP operators will be free to fix tariff- based on market conditions. The Board of Port Authority has been delegated the power to fix the scale of rates for other port services and assets including land.
An Adjudicatory Board has been proposed to be created to carry out the residual function of the erstwhile TAMP for Major Ports, to look into disputes between ports and PPP concessionaires, to review stressed PPP projects and suggest measures to review stressed PPP projects and suggest measures to revive such projects and to look into complaints regarding services rendered by the ports/ private operators operating within the ports.
The Boards of Port Authority have been delegated full powers to enter into contracts, planning and development, fixing of tariff except in national interest, security and emergency arising out of inaction and default. In the present MPT Act, 1963 prior approval of the Central Government was required in 22 instances.
The Board of each Major Port shall be entitled to create specific master plan in respect of any development or infrastructure.
Provisions of CSR & development of infrastructure by Port Authority have been introduced.
Provision has been made for safeguarding the pay & allowances and service conditions including pensionary benefits of the employees of major ports.

RailTel IPO to open on Feb 16; price band set at ₹93-94

State-owned information and communications technology infrastructure provider RailTel corporation of India will launch its maiden initial public offer (IPO) for subscription on February 16. The IPO was first supposed to be launched in January. RailTel Corporation was incorporated in the year 2000 and is wholly owned by the government of India and administered by the ministry of railways. As on 30 June 2020, the company has covered an optic fiber network of over 55,000km and 5677 railway stations. The company has data centers in Haryana, Gurugram, Secunderabad, and Telangana.
Here’s everything you need to know about RailTel IPO which opens on February 16:
The price band for the public issue has been fixed at ₹93-94 per share, which is 9.30-9.40 times the face value of equity shares.
The IPO will be a complete offer of 8,71,53,369 equity shares held by the government. Of this, 5 lakh equity shares may be reserved for the company's employees.
The offer will give ₹819.24 crore at higher price band to the government. Therefore, the company will not get any money from this offer.
Investors can bid for a minimum 155 equity shares and in multiples of 155 equity shares thereafter.
The offer will close on February 18.
ICICI securities, IDBI capital markets & securities and SBI capital markets are the book running lead managers to the issue. The registrar of the IPO is KFintech Private Limited.
Investors who are willing to invest can apply for the IPO online using either UPI or ASBA as payment method. ASBA IPO application will be available in net banking whereas UPI IPO application will be offered by brokers who don't offer banking services.
This would be the sixth IPO this year, after Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC), Indigo Paints, Home First Finance Company, Stove Kraft and Brookfield India Real Estate Trust.

::Science and tech::

India launched 328 satellites from 33 different countries till date: Centre

Union Minister Jitendra Singh said that ₹900 crore was allocated to the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) for the financial year 2020-21 for developing capacity for the launching of satellites.
In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, he said that the Department of Space has been involved in launching satellites of foreign countries since long. The total number of satellites launched till date is 328 from 33 different countries and the revenue earned till date is 25 million US dollars and 189 million Euros. Moreover, the Government of India has established New Space India Limited (NSIL), a public sector undertaking (PSU) under the Department of Space to commercially launch satellites and become financially self-reliant.
"ISRO is striving towards achieving Atmanirbharta in the field of capacity development in launching satellites; therefore, no policy is envisaged for seeking foreign cooperation in this direction," stated the press release by the Department of Space.

::SPORTS::

FA Cup: City on record winning run, Everton beats Spurs 5-4

One of the most relentless schedules in the history of English soccer hasn’t stopped Manchester City putting together a record-setting run of wins.
It’s 15 straight victories and counting for Pep Guardiola’s irrepressible team, which has another domestic treble in its sights.
On an action-filled evening in the FA Cup featuring a wild 5-4 win for Everton over Tottenham, Man City beat second-tier Swansea 3-1 to also reach the quarterfinals and break the record for most consecutive wins in all competitions by a top-flight team. The mark had lasted for nearly 130 years, with Preston winning 14 in a row in 1892. That was later matched by Arsenal’s class of 1987.