Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 08 March 2021

SSC CGL Current Affairs

Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 08 March 2021

::NATIONAL::

India-Bangladesh: 'MaitriSetu' to be inaugurated on 9 March

Prime Minister NarendraModi will inaugurate ‘MaitriSetu’ between India and Bangladesh on 9th March 2021 at 12 noon via video conferencing.
Prime Minister will also inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of multiple infrastructure projects in Tripura during the event.
The bridge ‘MaitriSetu’ has been built over Feniriver which flows between Indian boundary in Tripura State and Bangladesh. The name ‘MaitriSetu’ symbolizes growing bilateral relations and friendly ties between India and Bangladesh. The construction was taken up by the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd at a project cost of Rs. 133 Crores.
The 1.9 Km long bridge joins Sabroom in India with Ramgarh in Bangladesh. It is poised to herald a new chapter for trade and people to people movement between India and Bangladesh. With this inauguration, Tripura is set to become the ‘Gateway of North East’ with access to Chittagong Port of Bangladesh, which is just 80 Kms from Sabroom.
Prime Minister will also lay the foundation stone for setting up an Integrated Check Post at Sabroom. It will help ease the movement of goods and passengers between the two countries, provide new market opportunities for products of North East states and assist seamless movement of passengers to and from India and Bangladesh.
The project is being taken up by the Land Ports Authority of India at an estimated cost of about Rs. 232 Crores.
Prime Minister will also lay the foundation stone of NH 208 connecting the Unakoti district headquarters at Kailashahar with the Khowai district headquarters. It will provide an alternative route to the NH 44. The 80 Km NH 208 project has been taken up by the National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited with a project cost of Rs. 1078 Crores.

::INTERNATIONAL::

'Independence Award': Bangladesh's highest civilian honor

Bangladesh has announced the names of 9 individuals and one organization for conferring the Independence Award, the highest civilian award of Bangladesh for the year 2021.
The Cabinet department of the government issued a press release regarding this on Sunday.
Four individuals have been selected posthumously for the award under the category of freedom fighters for their contribution to the liberation war of Bangladesh.
These include A K M BazlurRahman, AhsanUllah Master, Brig Gen. KhurshidUddin Ahmed and AkhataruzzamanChowdhuryBabu.
Dr. MrinmoyGuhaNiyogi has been selected for his contribution to science and technology. MahadevSaha will be honoured with the award for literature while AtaurRahman and GaziMazharul Anwar will get the award for their contribution in the field of Culture. Dr. M AmzadHossain has been nominated for the award for social and public service.

::ECONOMY::

SBI Payments launches 'RuPay Soft PoS'

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) on March 5 announced that they have tied-up with SBI Payments to launch ‘RuPaySoftPoS’ for millions of Indian merchants.
Through the new move, NCPI is aiming to provide innovative solution to transform NFC-enabled smartphones into merchant Point of Sale (PoS) terminals for the retailers. By using this, the merchant would be able to accept contactless payments of up to Rs 5,000 through a simple tap and pay mechanism on their smartphones.
The cost for using the RuPaySoftPoS to retailers will be nominal. Also, the mechanism, NPCI claims, will proliferate digital payment acceptance among millions of underserved Indian MSMEs. By downloading the app, merchants would now be able to convert their existing android smartphone devices into a payment terminal.
NPCI claims that the new app would revolutionise the way micro and small merchants receive payments. Apart from this, the app would help the merchants shift to accept secure, contactless digital payments instead of dealing with cash.

::SCIENCE AND TECH::

What is Space Hurricane?

A space hurricane is a form of environmental phenomenon where instead of wind and rain, charged electrons and plasma make up the majority of the storm. Until now, it was thought to be a theoretical event, but scientists at the Shandong University in China were the first to observe and record this real space hurricane event. As per their report, the hurricane measured roughly 600 miles across and rained down charged electrons for as long as eight hours. The space hurricane spun counterclockwise at speeds up to 4,700 miles per hour, the academic paper reported. The hurricane was reported in space directly above the North Pole.
Four satellites passing over the North Pole detected the space hurricane. The authors of the academic paper reported that the hurricane was very much like a typical terrestrial hurricane in shape. It was shaped like a funnel with a quiet 'eye' at the centre surrounded by large amounts of plasma arms spinning counter-clockwise. The space hurricane rained down electrons into the Earth's upper atmosphere.

::SPORTS::

Bajrang Punia attains No.1 ranking in the world

Star Indian wrestler BajrangPunia today touched a new high in his career by achieving the number one rank in the world in the 65kg category.
The 24-year-old Bajrang was placed atop the ranking table with 96 points in the United World Wrestling (UWW) list.
United World Wrestling is the international governing body for the sport of amateur wrestling. Its duties include overseeing wrestling at the Olympics. Bajrang has won five medals this season, including Common Wealth Games and the Asian Games gold and a silver at the World Championship in Budapest.