Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 01 August 2022

::National::

India’s aviation sector safe, snags reported are routine: DGCA chief

Aviation watchdog DGCA’s chief Arun Kumar said technical snags faced by domestic carriers in recent weeks did not have the potential to cause havoc and that even foreign airlines that came to India reported 15 technical snags in the last 16 days.
The country’s civil aviation space is “absolutely safe” and all the protocols laid down by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) are followed, he said.
Against the backdrop of a spate of technical snags suffered by Indian airlines in recent weeks and DGCA curtailing operations of SpiceJet, Kumar stressed that there is no need to panic as none of the events that have been reported/discussed had the potential to cause havoc.
“All the snags experienced are routine and happen with all airlines and all types of fleet. In the last 16 days, even for the foreign operators who come to India, we have seen 15 technical snags, which have been attended and rectified,” Kumar told PTI in an interview.
Specific details about snags that were faced by the overseas carriers were not disclosed.
In recent times, more than a dozen instances of Indian carriers facing technical snags have become public, especially in the case of SpiceJet, and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is keeping a close watch on the developments.
“What most of them (recent incidents of technical snags) required was troubleshooting, replacement of some component say windshield due to outer layer crack, defective valve, high-pressure switch, landing gear uplock, hydraulic accumulator or an engine,” Kumar said.

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::International::

Myanmar's junta chief wins approval to extend state of emergency

Myanmar's junta chief has won approval to extend a state of emergency for six more months, state media reported.
Min AungHlaing, who led last year's coup, requested the military government to "allow him to serve for an additional 6 months," according to a report in the Global New Light of Myanmar.
Members of the junta's National Defence and Security Council "unanimously supported the proposal," it said.
The junta had declared a state of emergency after its coup that ousted Aung San SuuKyi's government in February last year and plunged the country into turmoil.
It has previously said elections would be held and a state of emergency lifted by August 2023 -- extending the initial one-year timeline it announced days after the coup.
Also Read | Myanmar junta executes democracy activists as it sinks into economic mess
The army has justified its power grab by alleging massive fraud during 2020 elections won by SuuKyi's National League for Democracy (NLD).
Last year, it cancelled the results of the polls, announcing it had uncovered more than 11 million instances of voter fraud.
International observers said the voting was largely free and fair.
SuuKyi has been detained since the coup and faces an eclectic raft of charges that could see her jailed for more than 150 years.

::Economy::

HDFC raises benchmark lending rate, RPLR by 25 bps with effect from Aug 1

Housing Development Finance Corp Ltd hiked its benchmark lending rate by 25 basis points, with effect from August 1, the company said in an exchange filing.
The hike in rate by the mortgage lender came before the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) monetary policy meeting, which is to be held between August 3 and August 5.
"HDFC increases its Retail Prime Lending Rate (RPLR) on housing loans, on which its Adjustable Rate Home Loans (ARHL) are benchmarked, by 25 basis points, with effect from August 1, 2022," the exchange filing said.
The revised rates for new borrowers will range between 7.80 per cent and 8.30 per cent, against the existing range of 7.55 per cent to 8.05 per cent. For existing customers, the rates will rise by 25 bps.

Credit offtake to industry stays robust in June 2022, shows data

The pace of credit offtake continued to be robust in June, with sectors clocking year-on-year (YoY) growth between 9.5 per cent and 18.1 per cent. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data showed that credit to industry grew 9.5 per cent in June 2022 (against a contraction of 0.6 per cent in June 2021).
Size-wise, credit to medium industries grew 47.6 per cent YoY in June against 59 per cent in the same month last year. The credit growth to micro and small industries rose to 29.6 per cent from 11.6 per cent a year ago.
The large industries segment saw a credit growth of 3.3 per cent against a contraction of 4.8 per cent in June 2021. Bankers said the rise in credit offtake now is partly driven by expansion in economic activity.
Also, higher working capital limits due to rising input costs and some shift to bank loans from costly market borrowing have led to an uptick in credit demand from industry.
The growth in loans to the services sector was 8.9 per cent in March 2022. Credit growth to agriculture and allied activities amid the onset of monsoon and the kharif sowing season was 13 per cent in June 2022 (against 10.6 per cent in June 2021). It was 9.9 per cent in March 2022.
Data on sectoral deployment of bank credit for June was collected from 40 scheduled commercial banks. These lenders account for about 93 per cent of the total non-food credit deployed by scheduled commercial banks. The non-food bank credit grew 13.7 per cent in June 2022 from 4.9 per cent a year ago.

::SCIENCE AND TECH::

Distant dwarf galaxy formation spotted, Assam researcher in global research team

A first of its kind study has found new stars forming beyond the visible boundaries about 1.5 to 3.9 billion light years away from the Earth, according to an article by a research scholar of Tezpur University in Assam. AnshumanBorgohain, the research scholar was a member of the team of astronomers from India, the USA and France which conducted the study. He is the lead author of the article.
"It is still unclear how dwarf galaxies of the past have evolved into the ones in the present day. Hence, capturing their assembly process over the cosmic ages is considered as one of the important links to complete the picture of galaxy formation and evolution," said the research article which was published in the multidisciplinary science journal 'Nature' this month.
Bruce Elmegreen, a principal research staff in USA's IBM research division who too was involved in the study, said that it has been a mystery how some small galaxies like these can have such active star formation. The study was conceived using the ultra violet imaging telescope (UVIT) onboard AstroSat, India’s first dedicated multi-wavelength space observatory, a release issued by Tezpur University said.
The AstroSat/UVIT’s imaging capabilities have opened up promising avenues in the field of extragalactic astronomy, it added. Borgohain works under the joint supervision of RupjyotiGogoi of Tezpur University and Prof KanakSaha of Pune-based Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics who are co-authors of the article.
The resolving power of the ultra violet imaging telescope onboard AstroSat, India's first dedicated multi-wavelength space observatory and UV deep field imaging techniques have been the key to spotting these very young, faint and large star forming clumps, Saha said.
The current work is an inspiration for young researchers of the country as this utilizes data from India’s indigenous satellite AstroSat, Gogoi said.
"The discovery of such unseen phenomena in these distant dwarf galaxies is just another piece of the puzzle and a glimpse of the unknown that new state of the art observatories are starting to show and have to offer in near future,' the university vice-chancellor Vinod K Jain said.

::Sports::

Amid plaudits for golden boy AchintaSheuli

As celebrations and plaudits came AchintaSheuli's way for winning the country's the third gold in the ongoing Commonwealth Games, his brother said nobody even knew until now that a boy from a village in Bengal was taking part in the global sports contest. He said the state's sports minister also seemed ignorant, adding government support was needed for budding sportspersons to flourish.
Sheuli clinched the gold in the men's 73 kg final at the CWG 2022 being held in Birmingham. Soon after, tweets of praise poured from across the country for the young athlete who is a havildar in the Indian Army.
His brother Alok, however, said they are yet to see how much funds Achinta receives for his feat. “In 2020, the state government gave an award, nobody knows that a boy from our village participated in CWG. Even the state's sports minister seems ignorant, we need government support. We are yet to see how much money will they give for it,” AlokSheuli was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.