Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 01 May 2022

SSC CGL Current Affairs

Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 01 May 2022

::NATIONAL::

Jharkhand's first family hit by graft charges

The era of instability seems to be returning to mineral-rich Jharkhand, which was carved out of Bihar on November 15, 2000. Chief minister Hemant Soren is in the midst of an office-of-profit controversy. And two more members of the Soren family, Hemant Soren’s younger brother Basant Soren and sister-in-law, Sita Soren, both law-makers in the state assembly, are also facing legal trouble. The chief minister has been accused of awarding himself a lease to mine stone chips mines in his name, cleared by the mines and environment departments which he heads.
The charge has led to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Jharkhand High Court demanding an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate. The court has issued notices to the chief minister and the state for their response. Additionally, the Election Commission of India has also initiated a probe on a reference from the Jharkhand Governor to look into the Bharatiya Janata Party’s complaint that Soren held an “office of profit” by granting a lease to himself. The BJP has asked that Soren be disqualified from the assembly for violating the Representation of People’s Act.
Election Commission of India officials on Wednesday said that they would look at the possibility of issuing notice to HemantSoren after examining the documents submitted by the Jharkhand government in response to the notice issued by it. “We are getting the documents legally examined,” a senior ECI official said on condition of anonymity.
Besides the charge of granting a lease to himself, the chief minister has also been accused of allotting a 11-acre plot to his wife KalpanaSoren’s firm in an industrial park in Ranchi. The industry department is also headed by Soren. The state’s opposition BJP has announced it plans to raise this issue also with the Governor. The developments have given the opposition ammunition to target the Sorens, the most powerful political family in the tribal state.
The family is not new to controversy. ShibuSoren, popularly known as “Guruji” in the state, first hit the national limelight in the early 1990s during what is now called the JMM bribery case. Four JMM MPs including ShibuSoren were accused of taking money to support the PV NarsimhaRao-led minority Congress government in 1993. They escaped judicial scrutiny on the premise of parliamentary privilege.

::INTERNATIONAL::

Beijing reopens makeshift hospital in preparation of Covid surge

Beijing reopened a makeshift hospital last used during the Sars epidemic in 2003 and set aside 4,000 hospital beds amid the ongoing Covid outbreak in the city, which has led to tightening of social distancing rules and banning of restaurant dining.
Beijing began fresh rounds of mass testing on Sunday with the residents of Chaoyang district, the city’s most populous and worst-hit district, queuing up for their fourth round in less than a week.
Beijing also shut down the Universal Studios theme park and ordered residents to provide proof of a negative Covid test to enter public venues in what seems to be pre-emptive restrictions as case numbers remain low.
The city reported 788 confirmed locally transmitted Covid-19 cases and 7,084 local asymptomatic infection cases on Saturday, the municipal health commission said on Sunday. It reported 37 new deaths on Saturday.
The local government has stressed on continued strict implementation of the epidemic control requirements in the three categories: areas under lockdown, control, and precaution.
In Beijing, so far, about 4,000 beds have been reserved for Covid infections and more venues are being transformed into large-scale makeshift hospitals in case of need, Li Ang, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Health Commission, told a press conference on Saturday.
“Beijing reopens Xiaotangshan makeshift hospital for Covid patients from Sunday amid latest flare-up,” state-run Global Times reported on Sunday.
Work on reconstructing Beijing’s Xiaotangshan Hospital began in January 2020 with the first wave of the Covid outbreak. The hospital was built in 2003 in a week to treat Severe acute respiratory syndrom (Sars) patients but decommissioned in 2010.

::ECONOMY::

IndusInd Bank standalone net jumps 55% to Rs 1,361 cr, gross NPAs dip

IndusInd Bank on Friday reported that its standalone net profit jumped 55.5 per cent to Rs 1,361.37 crore, from Rs 875.95 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.
Interest earned for the quarter rose 5.93 per cent in the March quarter to Rs 7,859.89 crore compared with Rs 7,419.36 crore in the same quarter last year.
Gross non-performing asset (NPA) for the quarter came in at 2.27 per cent compared with 2.48 per cent in the December quarter and 2.67 per cent in the same quarter last year.
The bank made provisions and contingencies of Rs 1,463.52 crore compared to Rs 1,654 crore in December quarter and Rs 1,865.69 crore in the year ago quarter.
The bank's board announced a dividend of Rs 8.5 per share.
Shares of the lender ended 0.94 per cent down at Rs 978.20 apiece on BSE.

::Sports::

PV Sindhu loses cool at chair umpire, referee over 'unfair' point penalty

Controversy erupted during PV Sindhu's semi-final against Japan's Akane Yamaguchi in the semi-final of the Badminton Asia Championships on Saturday, when the Indian shuttler was handed a point penalty for taking too much time to serve. The double-Olympic medallist was leading 14-11 in the second game – having won the first – when the chair umpire handed Sindhu a penalty for a delay in the serve.
The call from the umpire led to the 26-year-old Indian shuttler having a detailed argument with the umpire, further leading to an intervention from the chief referee. The incident eventually proved to be the turning point in the game as Sindhu conceded a defeat in the three-game thriller.
While Sindhu argued that Yamaguchi “was not ready,” the chief referee insisted that the decision was fair. The chair umpire had earlier warned Sindhu for late serve earlier in the match, but the decision to hand a point penalty to the Indian shuttler didn't sit well with many.