Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 22 February 2021

::NATIONAL::

Puducherry CM tenders his resignation after failing to win trust motion

In Puducherry, Chief Minister V Narayanasamy will seek a vote of confidence in the Assembly.
Puducherry Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy today tendered his resignation after failing to win the trust motion moved by him.
Speaker V.P. Sivakolunthu declared that V. Narayanasamy lost the trust motion.
Earlier Narayanasamy was asked to prove his strength in the assembly by the Lt. Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan by 5PM today.
Immediately after the house was convened today at 10 AM, Narayanasamy blamed the central government for not cooperating with him to run the government.
Later after tendering his resignation to the Governor, Narayanasamy said that his cabinet colleagues and other members and DMK members handed over their resignation letter to the Lt. Governor, and insisted her to accept their resignation.

PM Narendra Modi to visit Assam and West Bengal

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Assam and West Bengal.
At around 11:30 AM, Prime Minister will dedicate to the nation important projects of the oil & gas sector in an event organized at Silapathar in Dhemaji, Assam. He will also inaugurate and lay the foundation stone for Engineering Colleges during the event. At around 4:30 PM, Prime Minister will dedicate to the nation and inaugurate several railway projects in Hooghly, West Bengal.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will dedicate to the nation the INDMAX Unit at Indian Oil’s Bongaigaon Refinery, Oil India Limited's Secondary Tank Farm at Madhuban, Dibrugarh and a Gas Compressor Station at Hebeda Village, Makum, Tinsukia. He will also inaugurate the Dhemaji Engineering College and lay the foundation stone for Sualkuchi Engineering College. These projects will usher in an era of energy security and prosperity, and open bright avenues of opportunity for local youth. They are in line with the Prime Minister's vision of Purvodaya to drive Eastern India's socio-economic growth. Governor and Chief Minister of Assam, and Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas will also be present on the occasion.
The INDMAX unit at Indian Oil's Bongaigaon Refinery leverages the technology developed indigenously by Indian Oil-R&D to produce a higher LPG and high-Octane Gasoline yield from heavy feedstocks. The unit will increase the Refinery's crude processing capacity from 2.35 MMTPA (million metric tonnes per annum) to 2.7 MMTPA. Its commissioning will also significantly enhance LPG production from 50 TMT (thousand metric tonnes) to 257 TMT and the Motor Spirit (Petrol) production from 210 TMT to 533 TMT.
Oil India Limited's Secondary Tank Farm has been built for safe storage of about 40,000 Kilo Litres of Crude Oil, and the separation of formation water from Wet Crude Oil. The Rs 490 crore project will also have a Dehydration unit with an operating capacity of 10,000 Kilo Litres per day.

Printed Study Materials for IBPS, SBI Bank Exam

::International::

Facebook takes down pages of Myanmar state TV

"In line with our global policies, we’ve removed the MRTV and MRTV Live Pages from Facebook for repeated violations of our Community Standards, including our violence and incitement policy," said Rafael Frankel, Director of Public Policy, APAC, Emerging Markets.
Facebook took down the pages of Myanmar's state-run television on Monday, a day after the channel had warned anti-coup protesters against taking action and said that confrontation could put lives at risk.
"In line with our global policies, we’ve removed the MRTV and MRTV Live Pages from Facebook for repeated violations of our Community Standards, including our violence and incitement policy," said Rafael Frankel, Director of Public Policy, APAC, Emerging Markets.

::Economy::

Iraq decides against crude-supply deal with Chinese state company

Iraq, whose economy is reeling after last year’s crash in crude prices, in November asked oil traders to bid for a five-year supply deal.
Iraq has decided against signing an oil-supply deal with a Chinese state company that would’ve seen the cash-strapped Arab nation get about $2 billion upfront, according to its oil minister.
Baghdad opted not to go ahead with the contract after oil prices rose in recent months, Ihsan Abdul Jabbar said in an interview with BBC Arabic.
Iraq, whose economy is reeling after last year’s crash in crude prices, in November asked oil traders to bid for a five-year supply deal. Baghdad proposed delivering 4 million barrels a month, or about 130,000 barrels a day, with the buyer paying upfront for one year of supply.
China’s Zhenhua Oil Co., a subsidiary of defense contractor Norinco, won the bid, Bloomberg reported in December.
OPEC’s second-biggest producer had wanted as much liquidity as possible in January and February this year and was concerned that oil prices wouldn’t exceed $40 a barrel, Jabbar said in the interview.

ADB appoints Woochong Um as Managing Director General

Um, who joined ADB in 1993, will assume office immediately and report to its President Masatsugu Asakawa.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has appointed Woochong Um as its Managing Director General.
He will assume office immediately and report to ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa.
Um will support Asakawa to institute bank-wide coherence on key initiatives and issues. He will play a key role in enhancing ADB's internal and external communications across all activities that involve operations, knowledge, fund-raising and institutional reforms.
Um joined ADB in 1993. Since June 2018, he served as Director General and concurrently Chief Compliance Officer of ADB's sustainable development and climate change department.

Cairn Energy hopeful of solution in tax tussle with Centre

Cairn Energy said the two parties have discussed “a number of proposals with the aim of finding a swift resolution that could be mutually acceptable to the Government of India and the interests of Cairn’s shareholders”
After three rounds of discussions on the $1.2 billion retrospective tax litigation last week, the government and UK-based Cairn Energy PLC have expressed hope to settle the matter amicably outside the court through legally available mechanisms such as the tax amnesty scheme “Vivad se Vishwas” [from dispute to trust], two people with direct knowledge of the matter.
In a statement, Cairn Energy said the two parties have discussed “a number of proposals with the aim of finding a swift resolution that could be mutually acceptable to the Government of India and the interests of Cairn’s shareholders”.
The statement came after finance secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey and Cairn Energy chief executive Simon Thomson discussed the matter on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Pandey is leading an inter-ministerial team holding discussions with the visiting Cairn delegates led by Thomson.

::SCIENCE AND TECH::

Isro keen on formulating exclusive space start-up programme

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) has embarked on a mission to take startups in the space sector to a higher orbit with a string of initiatives to help them realise their business potential.
According to a report in news agency PTI, Isro chairman K Sivan said the space agency is keen on formulating an exclusive space startup programme -- "Space Entrepreneurship & Enterprise Development (SEED)".
SEED is conceived as a competitive early stage encouragement programme to startups and MSMEs (Micro, Small, Medium Enterprises) keen on developing products/services in focus areas of interest to ISRO with the space agency helping them to use its facilities, officials was quoted as saying.
A formal mechanism for the programme was expected to be announced soon, they said.
With recent reforms opening up doors for enhanced private sector participation in the space sector, Isro is thrilled to receive several proposals from industries and startups, Sivan said.

::SPORTS::

India's Ankita Raina wins women's doubles title at Phillip Island Trophy Tennis

India's Ankita Raina won her maiden WTA title as she and her Russian partner Kamilla Rakhimova clinched the doubles event in the Phillip Island Trophy here.
The Ankita-Kamilla pair beat Russia's Anna Blinkova and Anastasia Potapova 2-6 6-4 10-7 in the final.