Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 21 August 2022

::National::

S Jaishankar on India-China border row: 'Problem has not been resolved'

Foreign minister S Jaishankar on Sunday said ties between India and China are going through a “very difficult phase” as he spoke about the Galwan Valley stand-off and Beijing's “disregard” for the border pacts. Jaishankar said the problem has not been resolved and that has been clearly casting a shadow.
He made the remarks while attending an event organised by the Indian community in Brazil's Sao Paulo during his first leg of a three-nation visit. He will also be visiting Paraguay and Argentina.
“We have agreements with China going back to the 1990s which prohibits bringing mass troops in the border area. They have disregarded that. You know what happened in the Galwan Valley. That problem has not been resolved and that has been clearly casting a shadow,” news agency ANI quoted the minister as saying.
Jaishankar also said a relationship cannot be a one-way street and mutual respect has to be there in order to sustain it. "They are our neighbours. Everybody wants to get along with their neighbour. In personal life and country-wise as well. But everybody wants to get along with on reasonable terms. I must respect you. You must respect me."
"Relationships are a two-way street. A lasting relationship cannot be a one-way street. We need that mutual respect and mutual sensitivity. Right now it is no secret we are going through a very difficult phase," Jaishankar added.
The relations between India and China further soured following a standoff in April-May 2020 over the transgressions by the Chinese Army in multiple areas including the Finger Area, Galwan Valley, Hot Springs, and KongrungNala. The situation worsened after violent clashes with Chinese troops in Galwan Valley in June.

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::International::

Singapore to decriminalise gay sex, no change in marriage rules: PM

Singapore will decriminalise sex between men but has no plans to change the legal definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman, Prime Minister Lee HsienLoong.
LGBTQ groups welcomed Lee's decision to repeal Section 377A of the penal code, a colonial-era law that criminalises sex between men, but also expressed concern that ruling out same-sex marriage would help to perpetuate discrimination.
In his annual national day rally speech, Lee said Singaporean society, especially young people in the city-state, were becoming more accepting of gay people.
"I believe this is the right thing to do, and something that most Singaporeans will now accept," he said.
It was unclear when exactly Section 377A would be repealed.
Singapore becomes the latest Asian country to move toward ending discrimination against members of the LGBTQ community.
In 2018, India's highest court scrapped a colonial-era ban https://www.reuters.com/article/india-lgbt-verdict-idINKCN1LM0O6 on gay sex, while Thailand has recently edged closer to legalising same-sex unions.
"For everyone who has experienced the kinds of bullying, rejection and harassment enabled by this law, repeal finally enables us to begin the process of healing. For those that long for a more equal and inclusive Singapore, repeal signifies that change is indeed possible," they said in the statement.

::Economy::

Retail inflation likely to ease below 6% by March quarter, say analysts

India's headline retail inflation may ease below 6% by the fourth quarter of this financial year, bringing an end to the current cycle of rate hikes, analysts said over the weekend.
Following the release of minutes from the central bank's monetary policy committee on Friday, analysts said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may hike repo rates by 50-60 basis points by December.
"We expect the RBI to deliver two 25 bps rate hikes at the September and December meetings, taking the repo rate to 5.90%," Rahul Bajoria, chief India economist at Barclays said.
India's consumer inflation dipped to 6.71% in July, easing for the third month in a row, but remained above the RBI's mandated target band of 2%-6% for a seventh straight month.
Despite signs of inflation having peaked in India, the outlook remains highly uncertain, members of the central bank's monetary policy committee said in their report.
Some analysts said a steep 50 basis points increase in repo rate was also possible next month.
"The possibility of a 50 bps hike in September can't be ruled out, if the (U.S.) Fed delivers another 75 bps hike," GauraSen Gupta, India economist at IDFC First Bank said in a note.
Earlier this month, the RBI raised the bank's key lending rate by 50 bps to 5.40%, its third increase in four months to curb rising price pressures.
The RBI has hiked repo rate by 140 basis points since May.
"In our view, the RBI is effectively being cautious in its policy approach, especially ahead of the winter cycle, when energy prices could be volatile," Bajoria of Barclays said.
Crude supplies could tighten again when European buyers start seeking alternative supplies to replace Russian oil ahead of European Union sanctions that take effect from Dec. 5.

Kerala, UP lag as GSDP of 19 states exceed pre-Covid levels in FY22: Report

The economies of 19 states and UTs in FY22 emerged from the shock of the Covid pandemic and exceeded their pre-coronavirus levels, as they recorded double-digit growth in the last fiscal year, a data analysis done by The Indian Express showed on Monday.
Only 21 states and Union Territories were analysed, as the data for 11 states, including Gujarat and Maharashtra, were not available. The report stated that while the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) of the 19 states and UTs in FY21, when the whole country went under lockdown, had contracted or recorded negligible growth, in FY 2021-22, their economies bounced back, exceeding pre-Covid (FY20) levels.
While the only exceptions were Kerala and Uttar Pradesh, whose GSDP continued to be below pre-Covid levels, the 19 states and UTs that recorded growth are: Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Telangana, Delhi, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka, Tripura, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Uttarakhand, and Puducherry, according to the GSDP (at 2011-12 Constant Prices) figures released by the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
Andhra Pradesh topped the chart, as it recorded the highest growth at 11.43 per cent, while Puducherry was the lowest at 3.31 per cent. Other states that reported double-digit growth were: Rajasthan at 11.04 per cent, Bihar at 10.98 per cent, Telangana at 10.88 per cent, Delhi at 10.23 per cent, Odisha at 10.19 per cent and Madhya Pradesh at 10.12 per cent, reported The Indian Express.
Meanwhile, Haryana and Karnataka were close to double-digit growths at 9.80 per cent and 9.47 per cent, respectively.
The remaining 11 states and UTs — Tripura, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh — recorded GSDP in the range of 4.24 per cent to 8.69 per cent during FY22. UP logged the lowest GSDP at 4.24 per cent in 2021-22, the IE report stated.

::Sports::

AIFF ban: Sports Ministry requests FIFA, AFC to allow Indian clubs to play

The Sports Ministry has requested the world football governing body FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to allow Indian clubs -- SreeGokulam Kerala FC and ATK MohunBagan -- compete in the tournaments as scheduled despite the ban on AIFF.
With FIFA suspending the All India Football Federation (AIFF) late on Monday, there was chaos as Gokulam Kerala women's team had already reached Uzbekistan to participate in their second AFC Women's Club Championship.
The women's team is scheduled to compete against a team from Iran on August 23 and one from the host nation on August 26 in Qarshi, while ATK MohunBagan is slated to play the AFC Cup 2022 (Inter-Zone semifinals) on September 7 in Bahrain.
The ministry wrote an email to FIFA and AFC, apprising them of the fact that Gokulam Kerala was already in Uzbekistan when FIFA's suspension of AIFF was announced.