Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 11 October 2021

::National::

Navies of India, US, Japan and Australia will conduct the second phase of Maritime Exercise Malabar in the Bay of Bengal from October 12 to 15

Naval forces from India, Japan, the US and Australia will commence the second phase of the annual maritime exercise Malabar 2021 from 12-15 October.
Hosted by the US Navy and conducted in the Bay of Bengal, the 25th edition of Malabar 2021 is being carried out in two phases.
The exercise is designed to improve the planning, training, and employment of advanced warfare tactics between the participating nations.
The Indian Navy will be represented by INS Ranvijay, INS Satpura, P8I long range maritime patrol aircraft and a submarine.
The US Navy’s aircraft carrier USS Carl, as well as destroyers USS Lake Champlain and USS Stockdale, are taking part in the exercise.
HMAS Ballarat and HMAS Sirius will represent the Royal Australian Navy and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force by JS Kaga and JS Murasame in the exercise.
In a statement, the Indian Ministry of Defence said that the second phase of the exercise will build upon the coordination and inter-operability developed during the first Phase of the exercise, which took place in August this year.

Printed Study Materials for IBPS, SBI Bank Exam

::International::

11 October: International Day of the Girl Child

International Day of the Girl Child: This year, the UN urges the world to bridge the gender digital divide that exists in diverse skills and jobs – a challenge that society is increasingly facing due to the prevailing coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.
The International Day of the Girl Child is observed annually on October 11, a date set by the United Nations to urge the global community to embolden gender equality impacts. This year, the UN urges the world to bridge the gender digital divide that exists in diverse skills and jobs – a challenge that society is increasingly facing due to the prevailing coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic. “The gender digital divide in connectivity, devices, and use, skills and jobs is real,” the UN said in an official statement detailing the significance of the International Day of the Girl Child 2021. “It is an inequity and exclusion gap across geographies and generations that is our challenge to address if the digital revolution is to be for all, with all, by all.”
A blueprint for a proper framework of recognising girls' rights first began to take shape in 1995 at the World Conference on Women in China. The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which was unanimously adopted by all the countries present, was since regarded as “the most progressive blueprint ever for advancing the rights of not only women but girls.”
Later, on December 18, 2011, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) declared October 11 as the International Day of the Girl Child, to recognise the unique challenges that girls face around the world, which may share links but also be completely different from the kind of challenges that women face.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) adopted by world leaders in 2015 embody a roadmap for progress that is sustainable and leaves no one behind. Each of the 17 goals is integral to achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment.

::Economy::

PNB launches '6S campaign'

Punjab National Bank (PNB) launched '6S Campaign' under customer outreach programme to extend financial services at concessional rate during the festival season.
The '6S Campaign' encapsulates different schemes such as – Swabhiman, Samruddhi
, Sampark and Shikhar, Sankalp and Swagat, PNB said in a statement.
The objective is to drive a special awareness campaign for the development of financial services in the country and to accelerate credit growth, improve penetration of social security schemes and drive digital banking push, it said.
Through Swabhimaan, the bank aims to aggressively push the financial inclusion agenda by deepening penetration of the three Jan Suraksha or social security schemes pertaining to the insurance and pension sector, namely PradhanMantriSurakshaBimaYojana, PradhanMantriJeevanJyotiYojana, and Atal Pension Yojana, it said.
The bank aims to drive credit outreach for the agricultural sector that is the cornerstone of the Indian economy through the Samruddhi scheme.
The scheme will cover all agricultural credit products like KCC, gold loans and investment credit, and the bank aims to leverage multiple strategic partnerships made in this sector to drive impetus, it said.
Under Shikhar, Sankalp and Swagat schemes, the bank has devised special rates of interest to drive credit offtake in retail and MSME sectors, it said.
In addition, focussed products and customer segments have also been identified for targeted outreach in line with the bank's broader strategic agenda.

Telangana to test mobile based e-voting system

There is no doubt that the coronavirus pandemic has caused worldwide devastation, affecting millions of people around the globe. But the pandemic has also pushed the world into all-digital operations and considering that the Telangana said it has created India's first smartphone-based e-voting solution.
In a news release on 6 October, the state government said that it was ready to conduct a dummy election in the Khammam district to test the e-voting system.
Future elections in Telangana could witness a major change in the voting process, with the state government gearing up for a dry run of the first-ever smartphone-based e-voting system in the country.
The system allows voters to cast their ballots through their mobile phones, by downloading an application.
A dummy election will be held to test this application on 20 October in the Khammam district, and all eligible voters from the district can participate in it by applying on the app from 8 to 18 October.
The initiative for the e-voting system was taken by the Telangana State Election Commission (TSEC), and implemented with support from the Emerging Technologies Wing of the state’s IT Electronics and Communications Department, with technical development by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC).
The technical development was also guided by an expert committee comprising Prof. RajatMoona, director of IIT Bhilai and technical advisor to the Election Commission of India, and professors from IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi.
According to a statement released by the Emerging Technologies Wing, which was also shared by IT Minister K.T. Rama Rao’s office, the mobile application will carry out a three-factor authentication of valid voters using artificial intelligence.
This includes matching voters’ names to their Aadhaar cards, live detection of individuals and matching their image with the EPIC (electoral photo identity cards) database with records dating back to 15 to 20 years.
“Further, Blockchain (Distributed Ledger) technology has been used to secure the de-identified and encrypted votes so that they are maintained as immutable records,” read the statement.
It added: “The smartphone application follows a minimalist design approach and supports both English and Telugu, and also has a detailed help section with tutorial videos and helpline number to aid the citizens.”

::Science and tech::

PM Modi to launch 'PM Gati Shakti' masterplan

Prime Minister NarendraModi will unveil on October 13 PM GatiShakti - National Master Plan for multi-modal connectivity to economic zones, a digital platform which will bring 16 ministries including rail and roadways together for integrated planning and coordinated implementation of infrastructure connectivity projects, a top government official said on Monday.
The official said the 16 ministries/departments have put all these projects in GIS mode, which are to be completed by 2024-25, at the platform.
The platform will provide high resolution satellite images, infrastructure, utilities, administrative boundaries, land and logistics.
"Gati Shakti will be a National Infrastructure Master Plan for our country which will lay the foundation of holistic infrastructure. Right now, there is no coordination between our means of transport. Gati Shakti will break the silos and will remove all these obstacles," the official added.
It would help in increasing productivity of industry, support local manufacturers, enhance competitiveness of industry and also help in developing new possibilities for the creation of future economic zones.
It has been prepared depicting economic zones and the infrastructure linkages required to support them that can ensure the seamless movement of goods, besides integrating the planning and designing of projects with a common and holistic vision.
"It will resolve issues of disjointed planning, lack of standardisation, issues of clearances and timely creation and optimal utilisation of capacities. It seeks to use latest technologies like a Geographic Information

::Sport::

Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Anurag Thakur launched Delhi Hockey Weekend League 2021-22 at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium

We want more states to organize such events so that Hockey can be promoted and young talent gets opportunities to sharpen their skills: Sports Minister
36 teams competing for the trophy and more teams can also participate in later stages
Union Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports ShriAnurag Singh Thakur launched the ‘Delhi Hockey Weekend League 2021-22' which is taking place at the iconic Major Dhyanchand National Stadium.
ShriAnurag Singh Thakur said that Men's and Women's teams' success in Tokyo Olympics has given a new lease of life to Hockey as a sport in India. Speaking at the event Shri Thakur said that there is no dearth of talent in India and I congratulate Delhi Hockey for this initiative which will help induct more talent at the grassroots.
We aim to nurture grassroots talent towards the global excellence. Training and competitions are equally important as they boost the morale of athletes. "We want more states to organize such events so that Hockey can be promoted and young talent gets opportunities to sharpen their skills", the minister added.