Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 16 February 2022

SSC CGL Current Affairs

Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 16 February 2022

::NATIONAL::

KV Rajendranath Reddy takes charge as new DGP

In a sudden move, the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday named K V Rajendranath Reddy as its new director general of police (DGP). Reddy will be replacing GautamSawang from the post.The reason for Sawang’s sudden transfer are not immediately known.
Sawang has been asked to report to the government in the general administration department for further posting, until further orders. Before taking charge as the DGP, Reddy, 1992-batch officer of Andhra cadre, had been working as the director general of police (intelligence).
Sawang, the 1986-batch IPS officer of Andhra cadre, was appointed as the DGP on June 1, 2019, a day after Jagan Mohan Reddy took over as the chief minister on May 31. He was considered a favourite of the chief minister and had been in the cross hairs of the main Opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) from Day 1.
The TDP leaders had previously accused Sawang of behaving like a YSR Congress party leader and resorting to alleged witch-hunt of the former party’s leaders. The party had been demanding Sawang’s sacking from the DGP post for quite some time.
Prakash had held this post during the regime of former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, before moving to the CMO.
Interestingly, Prakash, a 1994-batch IAS officer, will be relieving his wife BhavanaSaxena, who had been holding the post of resident commissioner till now. She has been appointed as joint secretary in the Union ministry of external affairs on central deputation.

::INTERNATIONAL::

Talks with India only if special status of Kashmir restored, says Imran Khan

There is currently “no relationship” between India and Pakistan and talks between the two countries can be held only if New Delhi restores the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said.
The Kashmir issue is the “main difference” between the two countries and Pakistan’s security concerns increased after India’s decision to scrap the special status of Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019, Khan said in an interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro.
“There is no relationship right now, and at the moment...there is just a stalemate,” Khan said, according to a video of the interview posted on YouTube. He added there had “no relationship” since India’s move to scrap the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
Khan said restoring the special status of Jammu and Kashmir is the only condition he has for talks with India. ““Yes, go back to August 5, 2019, and yes, we can talk after that,” he said.
To negotiate with India at this juncture would amount to a “betrayal of the people of Kashmir”, who had been given a guarantee by the world community that they would be allowed to decide their own destiny through a plebiscite, Khan said. “There’s no way we can move forward until they restore that status [of Kashmir],” he added.
There was no immediate response from Indian officials to Khan’s remarks.
India and Pakistan have not held any comprehensive or structured dialogue since the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which were carried out by the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Though top leaders of the two sides have met since then, they were unable to make any breakthrough.

::ECONOMY::

Asset quality issues to affect realty-focused non-banks till FY23: Study

The real estate asset under management (AUM) of non-banks, which registered degrowth of 10 per cent in 2021, is likely to further contract by 5-10 per cent in 2022 and stabilise in the next year, says a report.
The performance of non-banks (non-banking financial companies and housing finance companies) in recent years has been marred by several challenges as entities have grappled with fund-raising challenges and asset quality issues, domestic rating agency Icra Ratings said in a report on Monday.
The outlook for real estate-oriented non-banks remains negative due to the asset quality pressures over the near to medium term and the muted growth expectation, the agency said.
The real estate AUM of non-banks contracted by 17.64 per cent to Rs 2.8 lakh crore as of March 2021 from Rs 3.4 lakh crore as of March 2019.
"Icra expects the same to contract further by 5-10 per cent in the current fiscal. It is expected to stabilise in FY2023 (0-5 per cent degrowth)," the agency said.
Its Vice President and Sector Head (Financial Sector Ratings) SamriddhiChowdhary said non-banks witnessed a significant slowdown in growth since H2 FY2019, following the liquidity crisis, and consequently moderated their disbursements.
The impact was more pronounced on wholesale financiers with sizeable real estate exposures compared to their retail counterparts owing to a prolonged period of risk aversion by investors and other stakeholders, she said.
"Given the fund-raising challenges, real estate oriented non-banks not only limited incremental disbursements to this sector but also attempted to scale down their portfolios through asset sell-down to shore up liquidity," Chowdhary said.

::SCIENCE AND TECH::

ISRO Successfully Launches Earth Observation Satellite, EOS-04

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) successfully launched its earth observation satellite EOS-4 and two co-passenger technology demonstrator and scientific satellites at 5:59 am Monday from the first launch pad at the country’s only spaceport in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
“After a flight of about 17 minutes 34 seconds three satellites namely EOS-04, INSPIREsat-1 and INST-2TD were injected successfully into a sun-synchronous polar orbit of 529 km. The orbit achieved for the satellites is very close to the intended orbits,” the space agency said in a statement.
After separation, two solar arrays of EOS-04 deployed automatically and Isro Telemetry Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bengaluru assumed control. The satellite will be manoeuvred to its final position and begin providing data in a few days.
This was the first mission of the space agency under the chairmanship of S Somanath, who took over as the chairperson Isro and secretary department of space in January. Keeping his remarks short, the chairperson thanked his teams and said that the satellite was a big asset for the country. S Somanath ended his less-than-a-minute long address with, “We will be back again with the next launch of PSLV very soon. Till then, goodbye.”
The 1,700kg EOS-04 is a radar imaging satellite capable of providing high-quality images under all weather conditions. It can be used to capture images for agriculture, forestry, flood mapping, soil moisture and hydrology. The satellite has a mission life of 10 years.
The spacecraft will also carry the INS-2DT technology demonstrator satellite, which has a thermal imaging camera and can help in the assessment of land and water surface temperatures apart from mapping vegetation.
The third InspireSat-1 satellite was developed by the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, University of Colorado, US, Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, and National Central University in Taiwan. This satellite will use two instruments to study ionosphere dynamics and the Sun’s coronal heating process.

::SPORTS::

Indian Railways to set up country's largest wrestling academy

The Indian Railways will soon set up the country's biggest and exclusive world-class academy for wrestlers in railways, with all the best sports facilities in Delhi's Kishanganj locality.
The ministry said the railway has already sanctioned an estimated cost of Rs 30.76 crore for its establishment on February 11.
In a written reply in the RajyaSabha, union railway minister AshwiniVaishnav announced that India's proposed biggest wrestling academy would be equipped with advanced training facilities that will provide ample opportunities to many aspiring wrestlers to become champions in future.