Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 13 January 2022

SSC CGL Current Affairs

Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 13 January 2022

::NATIONAL::

PM: Envision India as world’s go-to affordable healthcare destination

Hitting out at previous governments for not addressing the shortage of doctors in India, Prime Minister NarendraModi on Wednesday said his government has taken several steps to address the issue since 2014.
Speaking at a virtual event to inaugurate 11 medical colleges in Tamil Nadu as well as a new building Central Institute of Classical Tamil, Prime Minister Modi said the Covid-19 pandemic had reiterated the importance of the medical sector
“The once in a lifetime Covid-19 pandemic has re-affirmed the importance of the health sector...The future will belong to societies which invest in healthcare. Learning from the pandemic, we keep working to ensure inclusive and quality healthcare services to all our countrymen,” he said,
The Prime Minister said that they are working towards taking Indian practices such as Yoga, Ayurveda and Siddha to the world. “In the coming years I envision India as being the go-to destination for quality and affordable care,” he said. “India has everything needed to be a hub for medical tourism. I say this based on the skills of our doctors.” He urged the medical fraternity to take up at telemedicine as well.
“I am told that this would be the first time that 11 medical colleges are being inaugurated at one stroke located in any one state,” Modi said adding that recently, he had inaugurated 9 medical colleges at one go in Uttar Pradesh.
With these 11 new colleges -- one each in Virudhunagar, Namakkal, Nilgiris, Tiruppur, Thiruvallur, Nagapattinam, Dindigul, Kallakurichi, Ariyalur, Ramanathapuram and Krishnagiri -- the total number of government medical colleges in the state has increased to 36 with the total number of medical colleges in the state at 70, which is the highest in the country, a state health department official said.
The 11 colleges were sanctioned during the regime of NDA ally AIADMK between 2017-2021. A major part of construction was completed before the DMK assumed office in May 2021.
The colleges have been constructed at an estimated cost of nearly ₹4,000 crore, of which around ₹2,415 crore has been given by the union government and the remaining amount is met by the state.
Talking about his fascination for the Tamil language, Modi also pitched for the Centre’s National Education Policy (NEP) which the DMK-led government has been opposing.
Tamil Nadu has been planning to come up with a state education policy. “We have given great emphasis on promotion of Indian languages and Indian Knowledge Systems in our National Education Policy 2020,” Modi said. “Tamil can now be studied as a classical language in school education at the secondary level or middle level. Tamil is one of the languages in the Bhasha-Sangam where school students get familiar with 100 sentences in various Indian languages in audio, videos.”

::INTERNATIONAL::

US inflation reaches highest level in four decades as consumer prices jump 7%

Inflation jumped at its fastest pace in nearly 40 years last month, a 7% spike from a year earlier that is increasing household expenses, eating into wage gains and heaping pressure on President Joe Biden and the Federal Reserve to address what has become the biggest threat to the U.S. economy.
Prices rose sharply in 2021 for cars, gas, food and furniture as part of a rapid recovery from the pandemic recession. Vast infusions of government aid and ultra-low interest rates helped spur demand for goods, while vaccinations gave people confidence to dine out and travel.
As Americans ramped up spending, supply chains remained squeezed by shortages of workers and raw materials and this magnified price pressures.
The Labor Department reported Wednesday that a measure of inflation that excludes volatile food and gas prices jumped 5.5% in December, also the highest in decades. Overall inflation rose 0.5% from November, down from 0.8% the previous month.
Price gains could slow further as snags in supply chains ease, but most economists say inflation won’t fall back to pre-pandemic levels anytime soon.
“U.S. inflation pressures show no sign of easing,’’ said James Knightley, chief international economist at the financial services company ING. “It hasn’t been this high since the days of Thatcher and Reagan. We could be close to the peak, but the risk is that inflation stays higher for longer.’’
High inflation isn't only a problem for the U.S. In the 19 European countries that use the euro currency, inflation rose 5% in December compared with a year earlier, the biggest increase on record.
Companies large and small are adapting as best they can.
Nicole Pomije, a bakery owner in the Minneapolis area, said she plans to raise prices for cookies because of surging ingredient costs.

::ECONOMY::

1 bn transactions a day on UPI quite possible in 3-5 years' time: NPCI CEO

With UPI transactions setting record highs every month as digital payments adoption deepens in the country, it is quite reasonable to expect this flagship payments platform to process 1 billion transactions a day.
While this milestone can be achieved in 10 years’ time without any effort whatsoever, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the umbrella organisation of digital payments in the country is aiming to achieve the 1 billion transactions per day milestone on UPI in the next 3 – 5 years, said DilipAsbe, MD&CEO, NPCI.
“If we don’t do anything, we will achieve this target in the next ten years. But we should aim to do it in the next 3 – 5 years’ time and this is where the whole ecosystem has to rally behind it. It is just 5-6x growth than what it is today”, Asbe said in a fireside chat with Amirsh Rau, CEO, Pine Labs, at the India Digital Summit.
"The digital payment potential of a country is related to its population and that way we are blessed with a large population and 1 billion transactions a day is clearly possible in 3 – 5 years’ time," he said.
To achieve this milestone in the next 3-5 years, Asbe said, it is imperative that we follow the three “zero” approaches – zero touch (contactless), zero time (it has to be faster than cash), and zero cost to the customer. If these three “zero” come along then 1 billion transactions a day will happen in the next 3 – 5 years’ time, he said.

::SCIENCE AND TECH::

Senior Kerala rocket scientist S Somanath appointed as new ISRO chief

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) approved the appointment of S Somanath to the post of Secretary, Department of Space and Chairman, ISRO for a combined tenure of three years from the date of joining of the post.
Somanath, who is at present director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), will succeed K Sivan.
"The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of S Somanath, Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) to the post of Secretary, Department of Space and Chairman, Space Commission for a combined tenure of three years from the date of joining of the post, inclusive of an extension in tenure beyond the age of superannuation in the public interest, or until further orders whichever is earlier," the statement reads.
Speaking to ANI, Somanath said, "I am very happy to join as Secretary, Department of Space and Chairman, Space Commission (ISRO). It is really an honour."
Talking about the areas of focus he said there are different segments which we need to concentrate on.
"Areas of focus will be technology, policy, implementation and areas where stakeholders need to be taken care of. There are different segments that we need to concentrate on. Looking at the technology side we are the powerhouse of technology various disciplines. We need to bring new approach methods so that available can be best utilized. There are many new technologies too. We need to bring in newer approaches; have to work with various capacity builders like tech companies," said Somanath.

::SPORTS::

Srikanth among 7 Indian shuttlers to test positive for Covid-19 at India Open

Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Thursday confirmed that as many as seven players have been withdrawn from the impending India Open 2022 after they tested positive for Covid-19.
These players include - KidambiSrikanthNammalwar, AshwiniPonnappa, Ritika Rahul Thaker, Treesa Jolly, MithunManjunath, SimranAman Singh, Khushi Gupta.
"The players returned a positive result to a mandatory RT-PCR test conducted on Tuesday. Doubles partners deemed close contact of the seven players have also been withdrawn from the tournament," the world governing body said in a statement.
These players will not be replaced in the main draw of the competition and their opponents will be given a walkover to the next round.