Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 24 January 2022

::National::

Vijayan, Stalin write to PM Modi objecting to proposed amendments in IAS rules

Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin and his Kerala counterpart, Pinayari Vijayan, on Sunday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to drop the proposed amendments to IAS (Cadre) Rules,1954, saying the rules will “weaken the very root of co-operative federalism”.
The chief ministers of Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Jharkhand have in the past also opposed the proposed amendments which allows the Centre to summon any official (Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service and Indian Forest Service) for central deputation without the consent of the concerned state governments.
In his letter to Modi, Stalin said the amendments “strikes at the very root” of the nation’s federal polity and state autonomy,
“State governments are on the forefront of implementation of various programmes, including the schemes of the Union government at state level. The states also face frequent natural disasters which demand services of IAS officers in the state more than elsewhere,” he said.
“Under such circumstances, forcing the state governments to depute officers would surely aggravate the ‘governance deficit’ in various states due to shortage of officers and also it is an ‘affront’ to the administrative frame work of the states,” he added.
The Tamil Nadu chief minister also claimed that the proposed amendments “would cause irreparable damage to the spirit of cooperative federalism that exist between Union and the states and result in concentration of powers with the Union Government”.
Vijayan said the Centre’s move will create “fear psychosis” among civil service officials to implement the state government policies.
“The proposed amendments in the Deputation Rules of All India Services will definitely induce a fear psychosis and an attitude of hesitancy among All India Service Officers to implement policies of a state government, which are formed by party/parties politically opposed by the ruling party at the Centre,” he said in his letter to the Prime Minister.

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::International::

Nusantara Indonesia's new capital to replace Jakarta

Indonesia’s parliament recently passed a law approving the relocation of its capital from slowly sinking Jakarta to a site 2,000 kilometres away on jungle-clad Borneo island that will be named “Nusantara”. No timeframe has yet been set for finalisation of the project and Jakarta will remain the capital until a presidential decree is issued to formalise the change. Read more about the ambitious project of the country which many of its Presidents have floated in the past but none have made it this far….
Indonesia’s Parliament approved a bill to relocate Indonesia’s capital from Jakarta to a site deep within the jungle of Kalimantan on Borneo island, the most significant advancement of an idea the country’s leaders have been toying with for years.
The move was first tipped by President Joko Widodo in April 2019, citing rising sea levels and severe congestion on densely populated Java island.
Jakarta has long been plagued by serious infrastructure problems and flooding exacerbated by climate change, with experts predicting up to a third of the city could be underwater by 2050.
Jakarta is home to more than 30 million people in its greater metro area. Moreover, Jakarta is the centre for administration, governance, finance and trade, it has inevitably led to relentless construction in the city, due to which the water is not able to seep into the ground in many areas, leading to increased run-off.
Jakarta has been Indonesia’s capital since the country became independent in 1949. The city has become overcrowded and extremely polluted for the last few decades.

::Economy::

ICICI Bank's net profit rises 25 per cent to ₹6,194 crore

ICICI Bank said its net profit rose to ₹6,194 crore ($833 million) in the third quarter of the current financial year, posting a year-on-year growth of 25 per cent.
The bank's core operating profit (profit before provisions and tax, excluding treasury income) increased by 25 per cent year-on-year to ₹10,060 crore ($1.4 billion) in the third quarter of 2021-22 from ₹8,054 crore ($1.1 billion) in the quarter ended December 31, 2020.
Net interest income increased by 23 per cent year-on-year to ₹12,236 crore ($1.6 billion) in October-December 2021 quarter from ₹9,912 crore ($1.3 billion) in the corresponding period of previous year.
The bank's net interest margin stood at 3.96 per cent in Q3 of 2021-22 compared to 3.67 per cent in Q3 of 2020-21 and 4.00 per cent in the quarter ended September 30, 2021.
Non-interest income, excluding treasury income, increased by 25 per cent year-on-year to ₹4,899 crore ($659 million) in Q3 of 2021-22 from ₹3,921 crore ($527 million) in Q3 of 2020-21.
The retail loan portfolio grew by 19 per cent year-on-year and 5 per cent sequentially, and comprised 61.3 per cent of the total loan portfolio at December 31, 2021. Including non-fund outstanding, the retail loan portfolio was 51.3 per cent of the total portfolio at December 31, 2021.
Total deposits increased by 16 per cent year-on-year and 4 per cent sequentially to ₹10,17,467 crore ($136.9 billion) at December 31, 2021.
Average current account deposits increased by 34 per cent year-on-year. Average savings account deposits increased by 25 per cent year-on-year. Total term deposits increased by 12 per cent year-on-year to ₹536,811 crore ($72.2 billion) at December 31, 2021.

India no longer signs FTAs just to be part of a group: Piyush Goyal

Union commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal has said that India is no longer signing free trade agreements (FTAs) just to join a group. Speaking at an event organised by the Merchants' Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Friday, Goyal said that India instead looks at reciprocal access, good market conditions, and fair play in trade in both goods and services.
"We are looking at robust FTAs with like-minded nations with values of democracy, transparency and mutual growth," the minister said.
He added that FTA is a two-way traffic and industry should inculcate a greater appetite for risk taking as these pacts cannot give one-sided access for Indian goods and services alone.
"Our focus is wherever we have comparative or competitive advantage, we should look at market access and wherever the advantage is with some other country, we don't have to force the Indian consumer to buy expensive," the minister said.
Goyal, who is also the textiles minister, said India is trying to get zero-duty exports to the UK for the textiles sector and also discussing the same with the European Union.
India has launched negotiations for such pacts with the UAE, the UK, the European Union (EU), Australia, Canada, Israel and a group of countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
In December 2021, the commerce ministry had said that the negotiations between India and the UAE were at an advanced stage and the two partners were expected to wrap up a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement by January this year.
On October 12, Hindustan Times reported about the government’s aggressive timelines for trade agreements with at least three countries - the UAE, the UK and Australia - by 2022 as part of its ambitious target of $500 billion exports by FY23.

::Science and tech::

Jitendra Singh launches AI-powered start-up for water purification by IIT alumnus

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today launched Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven Start-Up by IIT alumni for water purification through innovative technology. The facility aims to provide clean drinking water at a price much lesser than the market price.
Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said, the Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven Start-Up initiative should be motivating for other Start-Ups as well.
A MoU was also signed between Technology Development Board (TDB), a statutory body of Department of Science & Technology, Government of India and M/s Swajal Water Private Limited, a tech Start Up company founded by ex-IITians based in Gurugram. The company is focused on innovative technologies to make reliable clean drinking water accessible to communities at affordable price, for their project on IoT enabled point of use Solar Water Purification Unit for slums, villages and High Utility Areas.
Dr Jitendra Singh welcomed the financial support extended to Swajal by TDB and said that his Ministry is committed to reach out to potential small and viable Start-ups having skill and talent pool, but lacking resources. The Minister asked the CEO & Co Founder of Swajal, Dr VibhaTripathi to scale up this technology to help achieve India’s ambitious target of providing clean drinking water to all by 2024, as envisaged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Minister said, apart from the Centre’s initiatives like National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) and Jal Jeevan Mission, Private Sector should come forward in a big way with state of the art tech solutions to cover nearly 14 Crore households where clean drinking water is yet to reach.
It may be recalled that Dr Jitendra Singh launched state-of-the-art Heli-borne survey technology for groundwater management, developed by CSIR-NGRI Hyderabad with Union Minister for Jal Shakti, Gajendra Singh Shekawat from Jodhpur in October, last year. To start with, the States of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab and Haryana are being taken up for this latest heli-borne survey.
The Gurugram based company’s patented system, ‘Clairvoyant’ uses artificial intelligence to optimise purification systems and predict future breakdowns.Thus,allowing it to remotely manage, update, and repair each system in real time. They have also developed clean drinking water solutions in the form of Water ATMS, which combines Internet of Things technology with solar energy to provide clean drinking water. Theserural Water ATM by Swajalproposed to use solar energy to pump water from rivers, wells, ponds or groundwater depending upon the location. The water will then be treated with appropriate technology to make it healthy & pure for drinking. With this innovation, the cost of purified water be brought down to as low as 25 paise per litre.
Dr. Srivari Chandrashekhar, Secretary DST & Chairperson TDB, pointed out that this project is a combination of new emerging technologies --- IOT, Artificial Intelligence combined with renewable solar energy to cater to the need of pure drinking water in villages and remote areas.

::Sport::

De Kock surpasses Tendulkar to equal De Villiers' massive ODI record

South African wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock scored an impressive century against India in the third and final ODI of the series in Cape Town on Sunday to not just surpass legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar, but also break Virender Sehwag's feat to equal a massive ODI record held by AB de Villiers.
De Kock laced nine boundaries and two sixes to reach the triple-figure mark in 109 deliveries at the Newlands, that helped revive South Africa from 70 for three in 12.2 overs to 174 for three (and counting) in 31 overs, which included a century stand alongside Rassie van der Dussen.
With the century, his 17th in the format, De Kock surpassed Sachin to take the top spot alongside compatriot de Villiers for most centuries in India-South Africa ODI ties. Sachin had five such scores to his name while De Kock now has six centuries against India in ODIs.