Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 10 March 2021

SSC CGL Current Affairs

Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 10 March 2021

::NATIONAL::

PM to inaugurate 1.8 km "Friendship Bridge" between India and Bangladesh

With an eye to further strengthen India’s friendly ties with Bangladesh, Prime Minister NarendraModi Tuesday virtually inaugurated the 1.9-km-long ‘MaitriSetu’ or the India-Bangladesh Friendship Bridge, built over Feni river that connects Sabroom district in south Tripura to Ramgarh in Bangladesh.
Inaugurating the bridge, Modi said it will not only boost friendly ties between the two neighbours but also prove to be a strong link of business.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a video message said the bridge will usher a new chapter in relations between the two countries.

::INTERNATIONAL::

Energy connectivity among India’s most dynamic sector’s of cooperation with Bangladesh- Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla

Foreign Secretary Harsh VardhanShringla has said that energy connectivity is one of the most dynamic sectors of cooperation in India’s relationship with Bangladesh.
He said that India-Bangladesh cooperation in hydrocarbons’ sector is diversifying into the entire value chain of the oil and gas sector. The bilateral hydrocarbon trade was USD 337.3 million in 2019-20 further registering an impressive USD 322.32 million in the period April-November 2020.
Speaking about new initiatives in the cooperation between India and Bangladesh in the electricity sector, Harsh VardhanShringla said that discussion is ongoing regarding the construction of a 765 KV power interconnection through Katihar in India via Parbatipur in Bangladesh to Bornagar in India. When constructed, it will reinforce interconnection of grids in the region. He said that a proposal for supplying R-LNG through a cross-border pipeline and establishment of a LNG terminal are also being explored.
Inaugurating the South Aia Group on Energy (SAGE) at the Research and Information System (RIS) in Delhi on Wednesday, Foreign Secretary Shringla said that India is working assiduously to promote the sub-region comprising Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and India as an energy hub. India is taking the lead to promote regional approach to energy needs in both conventional and non-conventional sources.
Describing the ongoing cooperation between India and Bangladesh in the energy sector, Foreign Secretary cited projects like India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline from Siliguri to Parbatipur in Bangladesh for supply of high speed diesel, inauguration of the project to import Bulk LPG from Bangladesh in October 2019 among others as examples.

::ECONOMY::

DoT launches online certification course on 5G technology for government officials

Department of Telecommunications (DoT) created an in house panel of 5G experts by inaugurating a 12-week online certificate course to prepare and ensure its authorities on the fifth generation technology.
The 36-hour certificate course on 5G has been made available to Officers of Department of Telecommunications with the first batch starting from 9th March 2021 which later on, would be offered to other stakeholders also, Ministry of Communications said in a statement.
Telecom Secretary AnshuPrakash on Tuesday inaugurated the online 5G certification course.
He said that this course would act as a capsule programme for learning overall 5G technology from the perspective of Policy making. Secretary (Telecom) highlighted the importance of exploiting the potential of 5G to the full and making possibilities like Machine-to-Machine Communications, Internet of Things a reality.

::SCIENCE AND TECH::

ISRO Develops Radar for Joint Earth Observation Satellite Mission with NASA

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) ticked off an important job from their to-do list. They created an S-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) that will be used in the world's first earth observation satellite using two radars. This mission is a joint effort with NASA and the ISRO-made radar was shipped to them recently.
This is a part of an agreement that was signed by NASA administrator Charles Bolden and the then ISRO chairman named K Radhakrishnan on September 30, 2014, in Toronto, Canada.
Known appropriately as the 'NISAR' satellite, this will be integrated with the L-band one that is being developed by the American space giant. As soon as the integration is done, NASA will send it back to ISRO who will then launch it into space with the GSLV MK-II rocket.
Speaking to the Times of India, ISRO chairman K.Sivan talked about how the radar was flagged off from the Space Applications Centre in Ahmedabad. "NASA will integrate our S-band and its L-band radar and send the integrated module back to India in the first quarter of next year and the complete satellite will be ready by 2022-end," he said.
Further, he added that NISAR will be launched in the early part of 2023.
Weighing around 2800 kg, this satellite is touted to be the world's most expensive ever. The total cost project is Rs 788 crore from ISRO's end and about $808 million from NASA (approximately over Rs 5000 crores). NISAR will have an imaging swath that will be greater than 240 km. An imaging swath is the width of the strip of the data collected along the length of the orbit track of the satellite.

::SPORTS::

Koneru Humpy won the BBC Indian Sportswomen of the Year Award for 2020

The 33-year-old beat sprinter Dutee Chand, airgun shooter Manu Bhaker, wrestler VineshPhogat and India hockey captain Rani Rampal to the award.
Humpy is the World Rapid Chess champion having won the title in December 2019 after a two-year maternity break. In 2020, she won the Cairns Cup, an elite-level tournament for the top female players.