Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 28 July 2021

::NATIONAL::

Women and Child Development Minister SmritiIrani today launched a 24/7 helpline number for women affected by violence.
The helpline number is – 7827170170. Speaking at the launch, the Minister congratulated National Commission for Women and said, the helpline gives a message to women that whenever they are in need, their government and Commission will stand by them.
The aim of the helpline is to provide round the clock emergency and non-emergency complaints and counseling services to women affected by violence.
The helpline will link them with appropriate authorities such as police, hospitals, District Legal Service Authority, psychological services and providing information about women-related government programmes across the country through a single uniform number.
The Helpline is in line with several initiatives taken up by the Ministry and National Commission for Women giving utmost priority to women’s safety.

12th Edition of Indo-Russia joint military Exercise INDRA 2021 will be held at Volgograd, Russia from 01 to 13 August 2021. The exercise will entail conduct of counter terror operations under the United Nations mandate by a joint force against international terror groups.
250 personnel from both the nations will form part of the exercise. The Indian Army contingent comprising of a MechanisedInfantry Battalion underwent rigorous training at different locations in India to refine their drills for participation in the joint exercise.
Exercise INDRA-21 will further strengthen mutual confidence and interoperability between the Indian & Russian Armies and enable sharing of best practices between the contingents of both the countries.
The exercise will be yet another milestone in strengthening security cooperation and will serve to reinforce the longstanding bond of friendship between India and Russia.

The Indian rupee opened on a flat note and inched 4 paise higher to 74.43 against the US dollar in early trade on Wednesday, ahead of the US Fed decision later in the day.
Forex traders said the rupee is trading in a narrow range ahead of the monthly expiry and the US Fed's policy decision.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened at 74.44 against the dollar, then inched higher to 74.43, registering a gain of 4 paise over its previous close.
On Tuesday, the rupee had settled at 74.47 against the US dollar.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.04 per cent up at 92.46.

InterGlobe Aviation Ltd, the parent of India’s top domestic airline IndiGo, posted its biggest-ever quarterly loss, hit by the devastating second wave of the pandemic and continued restrictions on air travel.
Foreign exchange losses and lower interest income also contributed to IndiGo’s weak earnings in the three months through June. It was the airline’s sixth consecutive quarterly loss.
Loss widened to ₹3,174.20 crore in the June quarter from ₹2,844.3 crore a year earlier.
Total revenue, however, surged 177% to ₹3,170.25 crore, mainly because scheduled flight services were banned between March and May last year by the government to contain the pandemic’s first wave.
IndiGo’s revenue during April stood at ₹1,540 crore, which more than halved to ₹670 crore during the peak of the second wave in May before recovering to ₹960 crore in June, Dutta said, adding July revenue is expected to be identical to April.

An asteroid thrice the size of the TajMahal will pass close to Earth and according to Nasa, it will reach its closest approach late on Sunday.
The Near-Earth Object, 2008 GO20, will hurtle past Earth at a speed of 8.2 km per second and will be about three to four million kilometres away from our planet.
According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration , a Near-Earth Object (NEO) is generally defined as an asteroid or comet that approaches Earth less than 1.3 times the distance from the blue planet to the Sun and NEOs pose no danger at all.
"This asteroid has visited Earth at a much closer distance of 19 lakh km and 29 lakh km in 1935 and 1977 respectively. At that time, it flew away and never came towards Earth. This time it is around 45 lakh km, which is about 11 to 12 times the Earth-Moon distance, so there is no danger of hitting Earth," he added.
Pattnaik said 2008 GO20 will be closest to Earth on Sunday at 11:21pm Indian Standard Time (IST). He said the gigantic asteroid is estimated to be 97m in width and 230 metres in length which will be around the size of four football fields put together.

Delhi’s VantikaAgarwal stunned a strong field to win the National women online chess title.
In a field headed by R. Vaishali and featuring past National champions like Tania Sachdev, Bhakti Kulkarni, Padmini Rout and seasoned names like Mary Ann Gomes, SoumyaSwaminathan and EshaKaravade, ninth seed Vantika scored 9.5 round from 11 rounds.
Her victims included Bhakti and P. V. Nandhidhaa, seeded three and five. Her lone loss came against former National champion Swati Ghate.