Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 06 February 2022

SSC CGL Current Affairs

Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 06 February 2022

::NATIONAL::

Political row erupts as Telangana CM skips PM Modi event

Telangana chief minister and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president K Chandrasekhar Rao was conspicuous by his absence during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tour of Hyderabad on Saturday, triggering criticism from opposition parties in the state.
The Prime Minister inaugurated the golden jubilee celebrations of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) campus in Patancheru in the afternoon. He later unveiled the Statue of Equality, a 216-foot statue of 11th century Vaishnavaite saint Sri Ramanujacharya at Sriramanagaram, the ashram of Chinna Jeeyar Swamy at Muchintal, on the outskirts of the city.
KCR, as the chief minister is popularly called, was not present at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Shamshabad, to receive Modi, who landed at 2.15 pm. Instead, he deputed state minister for animal husbandry, fisheries, dairy development and cinematography Talasani Srinivas Yadav, who was nominated as the minister-in waiting, to receive and see off the Prime Minister on his arrival and departure.
Though it was expected that the chief minister might attend the functions at ICRISAT and Jeeyar Ashram, he did not turn up at any of the events.
There was no official communication from the chief minister’s office on KCR’s absence, but an official at Pragati Bhavan, the CM’s camp office, said he was indisposed.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said KCR had deliberately resorted to a breach of protocol by staying away from Modi’s visit. “It is very evident that the chief minister does not want to show his face to the Prime Minister, after hurling choicest abuses at the latter at his recent press conference,” Telangana BJP president Bandi Sanjay told reporters, alleging that KCR had insulted the Prime Minister, which was insulting the entire nation.
“KCR wants to display his utter animosity towards the BJP and Modi by skipping the programmes. But being the chief minister of the state, he should have followed the protocol, when the Prime Minister visits the state. His absence is very disgraceful,” Sravan said.
The ruling TRS chose to maintain silence on the issue, but claimed Modi had not displayed “equality for Telangana,” while inaugurating the Statue of Equality, and questioned why Telangana was ignored when it came to allocations of funds or national status to its projects.

::INTERNATIONAL::

Iconic tapestry of Picasso's 'Guernica' is back at the UN

The iconic tapestry of Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica,” which is considered by numerous art critics as perhaps the most powerful anti-war painting in history, returned to its place of honor at the United Nations on Saturday after a year-long absence that angered and dismayed many U.N. diplomats and staff.
The tapestry of the painting, woven by Atelier J. de la Baume-Durrbach, was re-hung Saturday outside the Security Council, the U.N.’s most powerful body charged with ensuring international peace and security. Since February 2021, the yellow wall where it had hung had been empty.
The tapestry was commissioned in 1955 by former U.S. vice president and New York governor Nelson Rockefeller and offered to the U.N. on loan in 1984.
The Rockefeller family donated the land to build the U.N. complex after the world body was founded on the ashes of World War II, in the words of the U.N. Charter, “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.”
When the United Nations headquarters was undergoing a major renovation starting in 2009, the tapestry was returned to the Rockefeller Foundation for safekeeping. It was reinstalled in September 2013 when the renovations were completed.
Early last year, Nelson A. Rockefeller, Jr., the son of the late vice president and governor who owns the “Guernica” tapestry, notified the United Nations of his intention to retrieve it. The U.N. returned it to him in February 2021.
Rockefeller said in a statement Saturday that the tapestry was being returned on loan to the United Nations, and he intends to donate the work to the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the future.

::ECONOMY::

Jio Platforms acquires 25 pc stake in Two Platforms for USD 15 mn

Digital service company Jio Platforms on Friday announced an investment of USD 15 million in Silicon Valley-based deep tech startup Two Platforms for acquiring 25 per cent equity stake on a fully diluted basis.
Founded by former Samsung Technology and Advanced Research president and CEO Pranav Mistry, Two Platforms is an artificial reality company with focus on building interactive and immersional AI experiences.
"We are impressed with the strong experience and capabilities of the founding team at Two in the areas of AI/ ML, AR, metaverse and Web 3.0. We look forward to working together with Two to help expedite development of new products in the areas of interactive AI, immersive gaming and metaverse," Jio Director Akash Ambani said in a statement.
After text and voice, Two believes the next chapter of artificial intelligence (AI) is visual and interactive. Its artificial reality platform enables real-time AI voice and video calls, digital humans, immersive spaces and lifelike gaming.
"Jio is foundational to India's digital transformation. We at TWO are excited to partner with Jio to push the boundaries of AI and introduce applications of Artificial Reality to consumers and businesses at scale," Mistry said.
Two will work collaboratively with Jio to fast-track the adoption of new technologies and build disruptive technologies such as AI, metaverse, and mixed realities.

::SCIENCE AND TECH::

Global Center of Excellence in Affordable and Clean Energy launched at IIT Dharwad

A virtual function was held to mark the launch of the Global Center of Excellence in Affordable and Clean Energy (GCoE-ACE) at the Indian Institute of Technology, Dharwad (IITDh), Karnataka on Friday, 28th January 2022 in the presence of, Prof. K. VijayRaghavan, Principal Scientific Adviser, Government of India.
The center is supported by the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) donation from HHSIF. The first phase of the CSR project with HHSIF is to establish equipment for the GCoE-ACE mainly as skill development, fabrication, and R&D equipment. The subsequent phases are envisaged to encourage innovation and to provide incubation support for the solutions to the grass-root problem statements in the affordable and clean-energy domain.
A welcome and brief introduction to the center was given by Prof. SRM Prasanna, Dean (R&D), IIT Dharwad. He mentioned that India is blessed with many renewable energy sources like solar, wind, biomass, and such affordable technologies for clean energy can be developed and optimized, which will precisely be the scope of this center.
Prof. K. VijayRaghavan mentioned that energy and energy solutions are a critical part of the adaptation and mitigation of climate change. He added that in the past two decades, there has been an enormous increase in the research on Solar, Wind, Nuclear, and other forms of energy and the results of such research are yet to come to the market more effectively. IIT Dharwad will be one of the very few institutions in the country which is joining hands with industry partners such as Honeywell in training the young generation to address the complex problems of mitigation and adaptation to climate change. As the global temperature rises, there are big challenges ahead in high temperature and high humidity areas which make people dysfunctional. Secondly, energy availability for farming is another big challenge, further energy availability for the health sector, education sector with 24×7 accessible education for all are some of the important challenges that this GCoE needs to address. Finally, he added, the Government has launched a hydrogen mission and one of the objectives is to use the energy required for its generation from clean energy sources such as solar and wind energy hence calling it green hydrogen energy. The center’s research & development efforts may go in that direction too. With these points, the PSA to Govt. of India congratulated all the stakeholders IIT Dharwad, Honeywell, and SELCO Foundation for establishing one of its kind GCoE in Affordable and Clean Energy.

::SPORTS::

Rohan Bopanna-Ramkumar Ramanathan pair lift Tata Open trophy

India's Rohan Bopanna and Ramkumar Ramanathan won their second ATP World Tour title together after pipping the top seeded Australian pair of Luke Saville and John-Patrick Smith in the final of the Tata Open Maharashtra,.
The Indians erased the first set deficit to win 6-7(10) 6-3 10-6 in one hour and 44 minutes.
Bopanna and Ramkumar combined as a team on the ATP Tour for the first time at the Adelaide event last month in the run-up to the Australian Open and won the trophy.
For Bopanna, it was his 21st ATP doubles title while for Ramkumar it was second trophy at this level and it will push him inside doubles top-100 for the first time in his career.