Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 05 February 2022

SSC CGL Current Affairs

Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 05 February 2022

::NATIONAL::

MP Rakesh Sinha moves Bill on population regulation in Rajya Sabha

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Rajya Sabha member Rakesh Sinha on Friday moved a private members bill on population regulation that seeks to incentivise smaller families.
The bill, titled Population Control Bill, 2019, envisages promoting small family norms of up to two children per eligible couple. It also seeks to ensure healthy birth spacing through measures related to augmenting the availability, accessibility and affordability of quality reproductive health services, and other relevant inter-sectoral development instruments by the central and the state governments to achieve the goal of stabilisation of population.
Speaking in the Upper House during the ongoing budget session, Sinha said the assumption that a “larger population means a demographic dividend” is “misleading as it puts pressure on resources”.
He also referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech in 2020 where he stressed on the need to control population. The PM had emphasised on the need to tackle the challenge of population explosion in the country and cautioned that if left unaddressed, “this could bring with it newer problems for the future generations”.
Sinha informed the House that the proposed bill will come into effect 18 months after it is passed, to give people time to adjust to the new provisions.

::INTERNATIONAL::

EU slaps sanctions on 5 top Mali officials, including the PM

The European Union on Friday imposed sanctions on five senior members of Mali’s transitional government, including Prime Minister Choguel Maiga, accusing them of working to obstruct and undermine the transition from military to civilian rule.
Others hit by the EU’s asset freezes and travel bans include members of the inner circle of Col. Assimi Goita, who put himself in charge last year after two military coups and dismissing the civilian leaders of Mali’s transitional government.
The European Union on Friday imposed sanctions on five senior members of Mali’s transitional government, including Prime Minister Choguel Maiga, accusing them of working to obstruct and undermine the transition from military to civilian rule.
Others hit by the EU’s asset freezes and travel bans include members of the inner circle of Col. Assimi Goita, who put himself in charge last year after two military coups and dismissing the civilian leaders of Mali’s transitional government.
Tensions escalated further, notably with the EU and other international partners, when Goita postponed the next presidential vote by four years, until 2026. The West African regional group ECOWAS imposed tough economic sanctions in response, and the Europeans are following suit.
In December, the EU also slapped sanctions on eight people and three oil companies linked to the Wagner Group of Russian mercenaries, which is accused of rights abuses in the Central African Republic, Libya and Syria.
Insecurity has worsened with attacks on civilians and United Nations peacekeepers. The EU has also been training the Mali armed forces and plans to continue to do so for now despite the severe instability and political upheaval, including the recent expulsion of France’s ambassador from the country.

::ECONOMY::

RBI cancels the license of Nashik's Independence Co-Operative Bank Ltd.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cancelled the licence of Nashik-based Independence Co-operative Bank Limited. According to an official statement, the bank will not be allowed to carry out any operations henceforth and a liquidator will be appointed soon. RBI in a release said, "The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), vide order dated February 02, 2022, has cancelled the licence of Independence Co-operative Bank Ltd., Nashik, Maharashtra.
Consequently, the bank ceases to carry on banking business, with effect from the close of business on February 03, 2022. The Commissioner for Cooperation and Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Maharashtra has also been requested to issue an order for winding up the bank and appoint a liquidator for the bank."
RBI has clarified that the bank does not have adequate capital and earning prospects. As such, it does not comply with the provisions of Section 11(1) and Section 22 (3) (d) read with Section 56 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.
The bank has failed to comply with the requirements of Sections 22(3) (a), 22 (3) (b), 22(3)(c), 22(3) (d) and 22(3)(e) read with Section 56 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949. The continuance of the bank is prejudicial to the interests of its depositors.
The regulator, RB, said that the bank's present financial position is such that it will not be able to pay its depositors in the full and public interest would be adversely affected if the bank is allowed to carry on with its business any further.
RBI has said that post liquidation, every depositor will be entitled to receive deposit insurance claim amount up to a monetary ceiling of five lakh rupees only. The apex bank has said that more than 99 per cent of the depositors are entitled to receive the full amount of their deposits from Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation.

::SCIENCE AND TECH::

IISc commissions one of India's most powerful supercomputers 'Param Pravega'

Param Pravega, a supercomputer that is touted to be one of the most powerful in the country, has been installed at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru under the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM), the premiere academic establishment said in a statement.
According to IISc, Param Pravega has a total supercomputing capacity of 3.3 petaflops (1 petaflop equals a quadrillion or 1,015 operations per second).
“It has been designed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC). A majority of the components used to build this system have been manufactured and assembled within the country, along with an indigenous software stack developed by C-DAC in line with the Make in India initiative,” the statement stated.
India has come a long way in developing its own systems after the US denied the sale of a supercomputer to India in the mid-1980s which was likely to be used for predicting weather. This led to the government of India setting up C-CDAC in 1988 with its first mission to deliver computer power exceeding 1,000 mflops (1 GigaFlops). In July 1991, with a mission effort of more than 300-man years, PARAM800 was delivered.
The supercomputer adds to capabilities in research and development (R&D) including developing platforms for genomics and drug discovery, studying environmental issues, establishing flood warning and predictions systems as well as optimising telecom networks.
“NSM is steered jointly by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), and implemented by C-DAC and IISc. The Mission has supported the deployment of 10 supercomputer systems so far at IISc, IITs, IISER Pune, JNCASR, NABI-Mohali and C-DAC, with a cumulative computing power of 17 petaflops. About 3100,000 computational jobs have successfully been carried out by around 2,600 researchers across the country to date,” IISc said.
The premiere institute had already established a supercomputing facility several years ago and in 2015, installed SahasraT which at the time was the fastest in the country.

::SPORTS::

India moment at Winter Olympics opening ceremony: Skier Khan leads contingent

Skier Arif Khan led a small four-strong Indian contingent during the Winter Olympics opening ceremony here on Friday amid a diplomatic boycott of the event by the country.
The 31-year-old Arif will be the lone Indian competitor at the Games, having qualified in Slalom and Giant Slalom events. India sent a six-member contingent to the Games including a coach, a technician and a team manager.
Arif is the first Indian to secure qualification in two events of the same edition of the Games and his competitions are slated for February 13 and 16.
India was the 23rd contingent to walk in during the grand ceremony at the iconic Bird's Nest stadium here as China welcomed athletes from 84 countries amid a diplomatic boycott by powerful nations such as the USA and Britain over its alleged human rights violations in the Xinjiang region.