Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 14 April 2021

::NATIONAL::

Raisina Dialogue is being organized by the Ministry of External Affairs and Observer Research Foundation from 13 to 16 April

The 6th Edition of the prestigious Raisina Dialogue will be inaugurated tomorrow. The Dialogue will be held virtually from 13-16 April, 2021.
The Raisina Dialogue is India’s flagship conference on geopolitics and geoeconomics, held annually since 2016. It is jointly organised by the Ministry of External Affairs and the Observer Research Foundation.
Due to the exceptional circumstances of Covid-19 pandemic, the organisers have decided to the hold the Dialogue virtually.
Prime Minister of India will inaugurate the Dialogue through a video message on 13 April. President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame and Prime Minister of Denmark, MetteFrederiksen will also join the Inaugural Session as Chief Guests. Prime Minister of Australia, Scott Morrison and the President of the European Council, Charles Michel will also participate in the conference, in subsequent sessions.
The theme for the 2021 Edition is "#ViralWorld: Outbreaks, Outliers and Out of Control”. Over the course of four days, the Dialogue, will have panel conversations on five thematic pillars - WHOse Multilateralism? Reconstructing the UN and Beyond; Securing and Diversifying Supply Chains; Global ‘Public Bads’: Holding Actors and Nations to Account; Infodemic: Navigating a ‘No-Truth’ World in the Age of Big Brother; The Green Stimulus: Investing in Gender, Growth, and Development.
The event will also see the presence of Carl Bildt, Former Prime Minister of Sweden; Anthony Abbott, Former Prime Minister of Australia, and Helen Clark, former Prime Minister of New Zealand. Foreign Ministers of France, Portugal, Slovenia, Romania, Singapore, Nigeria, Japan, Italy, Sweden, Australia, Kenya, Chile, Maldives, Iran, Qatar, Poland, Turkey and Bhutan will also participate.

Printed Study Materials for IBPS, SBI Bank Exam

::International::

Ecuador: Guillermo Lasso elected new president

The right-wing Guillermo Lasso obtained 52.41% of the votes while progressive candidate Andrés Arauz secured 47.59% of the votes in the election held on Sunday. Arauz’s Union for Hope alliance won the most seats in the legislature.
Guillermo Lasso of the right-wing coalition of Creating Opportunities party (CREO) and Social Christian Party (PSC) won the second round of presidential elections held in Ecuador on April 11. According to the preliminary results released by the National Electoral Council (CNE), with 98.83% of the votes counted, Lasso obtained 52.41% of the votes. Meanwhile, his opponent, Andrés Arauz of the progressive Union for Hope alliance (UNES), who won the first round and was projected as the winner of the run-off in opinion polls, secured 47.59% of the votes.
In a press conference on Sunday night, Arauz conceded his defeat and said that he would call Lasso to congratulate him on the victory. Arauz said that “it is an electoral setback, but in no way it is a political or moral defeat because our project is for life. It is a fight to organize and build a more just and supportive future for all Ecuadorians, for the entire nation.”

::Economy::

Commerce and Industry Minister PiyushGoyal launched e-SANTA, an electronic market connecting farmers and buyers

Union Commerce and Industry Minister PiyushGoyal on Tuesday virtually inaugurated e-SANTA, an electronic marketplace providing a platform to connect aqua farmers and buyers.
Speaking on the occasion, MrGoyal said e-SANTA will raise income, lifestyle, self-reliance, quality levels, traceability, and provide new options for the aqua farmers.
According to an official release of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the platform will enable the farmers to get a better price and the exporters to directly purchase quality products from the farmers enhancing traceability, a key factor in international trade.
MrGoyal said the e-SANTA platform will change the traditional way of carrying out business from a word of mouth basis to become more formalised and legally binding.
"e-SANTA will RAISE the lives and income of farmers by -- reducing risk, awareness of products and markets, increase in income, shielding against the wrong practice, and ease of processes," the Minister said.
The Minister said e-SANTA is a digital bridge to end the market divide and will act as an alternative marketing tool between farmers and buyers by eliminating middlemen.

NCDC (National Cooperative Development Corporation) has secured a loan of Rs 600 crore from Deutsche Bank of Germany for lending to cooperative societies in the country

At a time when Covid-19 induced Covid-19 crisis has made lending a challenging proposition, the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) has secured a Euro 68.87 million (nearly Rs 600 crore) loan from Deutsche Bank, Germany’s largest bank, for onward lending to cooperative societies in the country.
An agreement was inked between the NCDC, a development finance statutory institution under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, and the German Bank in this regard in the presence of Union Agriculture Minister, Narendra Singh Tomar here on Tuesday.
On the occasion, a pact was also signed between the Kolkata-based Indian Chamber of Commerce and the NCDC, according to which India Inc will help boost farmers' linkages with markets and sell produce in the private sector.
Tomar said that Prime Minister ShriNarendraModi has given a new vision to India’s agrarian landscape and to her economic relations with Germany. He added that the Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) being set up in the country would be able to access easier credit and market through the NCDC agreements with ICC and Deutsche Bank. “This will help fill gaps and challenges being faced by the farmers and ultimately boost their income to make them self-reliant.”
This is for the first time that one of the largest European banks is lending to the NCDC. In a statement, KaushikShaparia, CEO & Country Head, Deutsche Bank AG, said that he looked forward to a robust relationship with NCDC in the agri space.
While Agriculture Secretary Sanjay Agarwal talked about financial steps taken in recent years to develop markets and boost farmers’ income, NCDC MD SundeepNayak said that the financing would help NCDC to assist farmers to make a successful pivot towards sustainable, climate-smart agriculture.

::Sports::

Former hockey player Balbir Singh Jr (88) passed away

Balbir Singh Junior, who was a member of the silver medal- winning 1958 Asian Games Indian hockey team, died here at the age of 88, his daughter MandeepSamra said on Tuesday.
He is survived by his wife, daughter and son
Balbir Singh Junior was born on May 2, 1932, at Sansarpur in Jalandhar, also known as the nursery of hockey players in India.
Singh took to hockey when he was six years old. He studied at Lyallpur Khalsa College in Jalandhar and was first selected to play for the Indian hockey team in 1951.