Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 21 February 2021

SSC CGL Current Affairs

::NATIONAL::

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has said that railways will be fully electrified in three years in West Bengal and all ongoing projects in the state will be completed at the earliest. Mr Goyal said this while dedicating various infrastructure development and passenger amenity related works in North Bengal area through video conferencing. He said that North Bengal is naturally beautiful and development of this region will attract more tourists.
The newly electrified section from New Jalpaiguri to New Coochbehar of 126 Route Kilometers dedicated yesterday is part of the Railway electrification work which is going on to achieve 100 per cent electrification of Indian Railways’ network.
This section is vital for train movement towards northeastern states. The Haldibari station bordering Bangladesh has been constructed considering the need of future economic development of this area.

The agency said it understood some passengers had died, with fatalities rising over the weekend on a boat it said had left the coastal district of Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh about 10 days ago and had experienced engine failure.
The United Nations (UN) refugee agency called on Monday for the immediate rescue of a group of Rohingya refugees who were adrift in their boat in the Andaman Sea without food or water, many of whom were ill and suffering from extreme dehydration.
The agency said it understood some passengers had died, with fatalities rising over the weekend on a boat it said had left the coastal district of Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh about 10 days ago and had experienced engine failure.
"In the absence of precise information as to the refugees' location, we have alerted the authorities of the relevant maritime states of these reports and appealed for their swift assistance," the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a statement.
"Immediate action is needed to save lives and prevent further tragedy," it said, offering to support governments by providing humanitarian help and quarantine measures to those rescued.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare announced on Tuesday that paddy procurement for Kharif 2020-21 session showed an increase of 24.98 per cent with purchase of over 506.33 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of paddy up to January 4 against 405.10 LMT last year.
In the ongoing Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2020-21, the government continues to procure Kharif 2020-21 crops at Minimum Support Price (MSP) from farmers as per existing MSP schemes.
"This is an increase of 24.98 per cent against the last year corresponding purchase of 405.10 LMT. Out of the total purchase of 506.33 LMT, Punjab alone has contributed 202.77 LMTs which is 40.04 per cent of total procurement," the Ministry said.
"Paddy procurement for Kharif 2020-21 is continuing smoothly in the procuring States and Union Territories (UTs) of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu, Chandigarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Odisha, Madhya Pardesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam, Karnataka and West Bengal with purchase of over 506.33 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of paddy up to January 4, 2021," the Ministry said.
About 65.32 Lac farmers have already been benefitted from the ongoing KMS procurement Operations with MSP value of Rs 95596.84 crore.

The commission said it was currently carrying out a feasibility study to specify the project’s scope and associated costs.
The European Union unveiled several programs aimed at boosting the bloc’s civil, space and defense industries, including a low-earth orbit satellite infrastructure to rival Elon Musk’s Starlink network.
The push will aim to provide reliable, secure and cost-effective connectivity for governmental and commercial communications, as well as high-speed broadband throughout Europe, the European Commission said on Monday.
The commission said it was currently carrying out a feasibility study to specify the project’s scope and associated costs.

Key Points

Other EU programs announced are designed to manage satellite traffic in space to avoid collisions and to further develop European drone capabilities.
The action plan also includes measures for efficient investments in the space and defense sectors to ensure there’s no overlap.
Officials also call for technological developments in the space and defense sectors to benefit the civil sector, and vice versa.

The victory for the top-ranked Djokovic, in three sets over the fourth-ranked Daniil Medvedev of Russia, gave him his 18th career Grand Slam title over all.
Defending Champion Novak Djokovic has won his ninth Australian Open title, beating Daniil Medvedev 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 in a one-sided final at Melbourne Park today. Victory takes Djokovic’s grand slam singles tally to 18 - just two behind Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.