Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 25 February 2022

::National::

Delhi HC asks Twitter to take down posts by historian that allege plagiarism

The Delhi high court directed micro-blogging site Twitter to take down several tweets made by academician Audrey Truschke against historian DrVikramSampath over allegations of plagiarism by him concerning his work on VinayakDamodarSavarkar.
The bench of Justice AmitBansal also sought the response of Meta Inc, the parent company of social media platform Facebook, after Sampath alleged that defamatory content was circulated on the platform.
The court, however, did not pass any orders to take down the Facebook post since it is not a party to the petition yet.
In his defamatory lawsuit, Sampath said he is the author of a critically acclaimed biography of VinayakDamodarSavarkar and is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society in London. However, academicians Dr. Audrey Truschke, Dr. AnanyaChakrabarti, and Dr. Rohit Chopra, in a recent letter to the Royal Historical Society in London, accused him of plagiarism. Truschke and others later sent another communication to the society alleging further plagiarism in his work and this was also posted on Twitter and Facebook, he said.

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::International::

Biden's response to Putin's 'greatest consequences..' threat, Ukraine

The United States announced new sanctions on Russia over the invasion of Ukraine as other nations too joined in to punish Kremlin.
As Russia launched a full-scale attack on Ukraine on Thursday, United States President Joe Biden reacted to Vladimir Putin's "threat" to the West "with the greatest consequences in history". On a question if Putin was threatening a nuclear strike, Biden said: “I have no idea what he (Vladimir Putin) is threatening. I know what he has done,” the US President replied as he addressed the United States on Thursday the Ukraine crisis. After attack on Ukraine, Putin had warned other countries that an attempt of interference could have consequences that have been never seen before.
“No one expected the sanctions to prevent anything from happening. This is going to take time. And we have to show resolve so he knows what is coming and so the people of Russia know what he’s brought on them. That is what this is all about,” Biden told at a briefing as Ukraine saw one of the worst attacks from Kremlin in recent times. “This is going to take time. It’s not going to occur — he’s (Putin) going to say, “Oh my God, these sanctions are coming. I’m going to stand down,” he added.
President Biden said that the US will block assets of large Russian banks, impose export controls aimed at the nation’s high-tech needs and sanction its business oligarchs.
Additionally, the US will also deploy additional forces to Germany to bolster NATO after Ukraine’s invasion. “Specifically, the sanctions we’ve imposed exceed SWIFT. The sanctions we imposed exceed anything that’s ever been done. The sanctions we imposed have generated two-thirds of the world joining us. They are profound sanctions. Let’s have a conversation in another month or so to see if they’re working,” Biden said.

::Economy::

Bank credit grows by 7.86%; deposits by 9.11%: RBI data

Bank credit grew by 7.86 per cent to Rs 115.45 lakh crore and deposits rose by 9.11 per cent to Rs 161.28 lakh crore in the fortnight ended February 11, RBI data showed.
In the fortnight ended February 12, 2021, bank advances stood at Rs 107.03 lakh crore and deposits at Rs 147.81 lakh crore, according to the RBI's Scheduled Banks' Statement of Position in India as on February 11, released on Thursday.
In the previous fortnight ended January 28, bank credit grew by 8.21 per cent and deposits by 8.31 per cent.
In FY2020-21, bank credit had risen by 5.56 per cent and deposits by 11.4 per cent.

Northern Arc Group to acquire SMILE Microfin

Northern Arc Group to acquire the microfinance business of S.M.I.L.E. Microfinance Ltd on slump sale basis to strengthen its retail finance business.
The transaction will involve the takeover of the microfinance portfolio of S.M.I.L.E., along with its network of nearly 150 branches catering to over 0.2 million customers.
Around 850 employees of S.M.I.L.E. will move to the rolls of the Northern Arc group upon the consummation of the transaction, Northern Arc said in a statement. The company did not provide details like deal value nor assets under management (AUM) of SMILE.
According to an ICRA report SMILE had total managed assets of Rs 460 crore at the end of September 2021. The gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of 16.3 per cent and net NPAs of 3.3 per cent as of September 2021.
The acquisition is subject to the completion of a standard set of Conditions Precedent that are typical in such transactions.
The acquisition will help Northern Arc to target the next billion in the rural finance business, through a digital and data-led platform. The Northern Arc Group has recently entered the retail finance business through two segments – rural finance and secured MSME finance. This business will capitalize on Northern Arc’s capabilities across domain know-how, underwriting track record, technology, data, and analytics.
It will be based on a phygital model – sourcing and assessment will be largely driven through technology which will be substantively backed by physical collection presence and infrastructure.

::Science and tech::

IIT Roorkee launches 'Kisan' mobile app in Uttarakhand

IIT Roorkeeorganised a regional farmers’ awareness program under GraminKrishiMausamSewa (GKMS) project and in continuation of the series of ‘AzadikaAmritMahotsav’. Farmers from Haridwar, Dehradun, and PauriGarhwal districts participated in the program.
Farmers and other stakeholders were sensitized about the Agromet Advisory Services jointly provided by the AMFU Roorkee and India Meteorological Department (IMD). A mobile App 'KISAN' has been launched for easy access to these services for farmers on their mobile phones.
Dr K K Singh, Additional Director General Meteorology, IMD, New Delhi apprised that the block-level weather forecast and weather based Agromet Advisory Bulletins are being provided to the farmers for all six blocks of Haridwar district by the AMFU Roorkee every Tuesday and Friday regularly. Farmers can now easily access these bulletins on their mobile phones through the 'Kisan' App.
He said that the special feature of the 'KISAN' App is that the weather forecast and advisory bulletin will be displayed only for the block selected by the farmer.
Dr. Singh added that the farmers can share their feedback about these bulletins, which would be helpful to improve the quality of bulletin as per farmers’ requirements.

::Sport::

SAAF and National Cross Country Athletics Championships to be held in Nagaland

The 2nd South Asian Athletic Federation (SAAF) Cross-Country championship and the 56th National Cross Country Athletics Championship will be held in Kohima on March 26, a top official of the Nagaland Athletic Association (NAA) said.
NAA president Abu Metha said on Tuesday the tournament was initially scheduled to be held on January 15 but the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) postponed it due to rapid spread of Omicron variant of coronavirus.