Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 24 January 2022

SSC CGL Current Affairs

Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 24 January 2022

::NATIONAL::

Homage to Netaji on his 125th birth anniversary

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday unveiled a holographic statue of freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose at central Delhi’s India Gate, and exhorted citizens to build a new India before the 100th year of Independence in 2047.
The 3D hologram, which will later be replaced by a 28-feet high and six-feet wide granite statue of the freedom fighter, was opened to mark the 125th birth anniversary of Bose. On the occasion, the PM also conferred the Subhas Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar to seven individuals and organisations.
“We have a goal to fulfil the dreams of independent India. We have the goal of building a new India before the hundredth year of Independence,” the PM said.
He said that it was unfortunate that after Independence, work was done to erase the contribution of many great personalities along with the culture of the country.
“The freedom struggle involved the penance of lakhs of countrymen, but efforts were made to confine their history as well. But today, the country is boldly correcting those mistakes,” Modi said while citing the development of the Panchtheerth in honour of BR Ambedkar, observing Birsa Munda Jayanti to remember the contribution of the Adivasi leader, and building the Statue of Unity in honour of Vallabhbhai Patel.
Addressing the gathering, he said that Bose, who had established the first independent government in India, gave the country the confidence to achieve a sovereign and strong India. “This statue is a homage to the hero of freedom by the grateful nation and will keep on reminding our institutions and generations the lesson of national duty,” he said.
The hologram statue will be powered by a 30,000 lumens 4K projector. The 3D image of Netaji will be projected on a transparent holographic screen to create the effect of a hologram.

::INTERNATIONAL::

Canada: University of British Columbia researchers unveil the world's first molecular-level analysis of Omicron

Canadian researchers have conducted the world’s first molecular-level analysis of Omicron’s spike protein, revealing key information about why the new variant is so resistant and infectious.
Omicron has a “remarkable” 37 spike protein mutations, said the University of British Columbia’s Dr. Sriram Subramaniam — three to five times more than any other variant during the pandemic so far.
“Because of these mutations it’s very effective at evading the binding of antibodies that can neutralize and block its entry,” Subramaniam explained.
“At the same time, it also retains its ability to bind effectively with the cellular receptors that take it into cells. That combination of the two makes it particularly transmissible.”
Subramaniam’s team at UBC used a cryo-electron microscope to examine how the COVID-19 variant’s spike protein mutations impact Omicron’s behaviour at the molecular level.
Their research was published last week and is waiting for peer review.
It found that some of Omicron’s mutations create “salt bridges” and hydrogen bonds between the spike protein and human cell receptors that seem to increase the strength of their attachment to human cells, while another one of its mutations decreases that strength.
Overall, its binding ability surpasses the original SARS-CoV-2 virus and is more comparable to the Delta variant.
The molecular-level analysis provides a “map” of interactions that could allow researchers to develop more effective therapies against Omicron, said Subramaniam.
For now, however, the team’s research indicated that vaccines are the best defense.

::ECONOMY::

BMS to protest outside EPFO offices across India today to demand hike in pension

The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) will on Thursday hold a nationwide protest outside the offices of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), demanding a hike in EPS95 pension from ₹1,000 to ₹5,000 per month.
According to a statement issued by the BMS on Monday, “The EPS95 pension is becoming a big issue in the organised sector involving nearly 65 lakh pensioners. During the Covid-19 days also those who have worked lifelong got only a partial amount of minimum pension of ₹1,000. This is less than the destitute pension. Hence, the minimum pension under EPS95 should be hiked to ₹5,000 per month from existing ₹1,000 per month.”
The BMS, a trade union affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), had said that any hike in minimum pension will benefit these 65 lakh pensioners.
The BMS also demanded that EPS95 pensioners should be covered under the Union government's Ayushman Bharat scheme as they (pensioners) have low pensions and are unable to get treatment at super speciality hospitals.
The Centre should formulate a universal pension scheme so that it is 50% of the last drawn salary, it further said.
The BMS highlighted that all the above issues were raised during the pre-Budget consultation meeting held in December last year in the presence of Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
The demand for the hike in EPS95 pension comes days after the BMS held a meeting on January 5 to discuss strategies to oppose the privatisation plans of the Union government.
Opposing the asset monetisation of the government, the BMS said, “It is not right to sell the institutions that started after independence in the hands of the private sector. BMS has been saying that PSUs have always worked to strengthen the country and have been the backbone of the country.”

Jerri hamlet declared as 'milk village' in J&K

The Jammu and Kashmir administration has declared Jerri settlement in Reasi district as the first 'milk village' of the Union Territory and sanctioned 57 more dairy farms under the Integrated dairy development scheme (IDDS) for the hamlet, officials said.
The milk village, which houses 73 individual dairy units with 370 cows, will give financial security to the local farmers, they said.
Taking a lead to carving out a hamlet of dairy farms, the women of the settlement have formed a cooperative of 11 females for collecting milk from the dairy farms and households for further transportation to the milk selling plants or other establishments.
"We have carved out this village into a dairy or milk hamlet, as local farmers of DC Reasi inspect dairy farms," a local farmer Dheeraj said.
After being declared as 'milk village', a total of 57 units have been sanctioned under the IDDS for the village, Agriculture Department officials said.
Under the integrated dairy development scheme, dairy units of five animals are provided with a 50 per cent subsidy.
The District Development Commissioner (DDC) Reasi Charandeep Singh reached out to the hamlet to interact with farmers and also inquired about the income status and turnover of their dairy units.
He asked them to encourage fellow farmers for opening more such units for handsome earnings, as this will also resolve the issue of unemployment.
The hamlet saw the formation of one cooperative of 11 women for collecting milk from the dairy farms and households for further transportation to the milk selling plants or other establishments, they said.
The principal secretary also called for increasing the average size of a dairy unit besides asking dairy farmers to form their farmer producer organisations that can transform their lives towards a bright future.

Reliance Retail Q3 revenue rises 53% to ₹50,654 crore

The retail arm of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) had posted a pre-tax profit or EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) of ₹2,312 crore in the October-December period a year ago.
Its revenue from operations stood at ₹50,654 crore, up 53.41 per cent from ₹33,018 crore in the corresponding period of last fiscal.
Its gross revenue, which includes the value of sales and services, jumped 52.5 per cent to ₹57,714 crore as against ₹37,845 crore.
"Reliance Retail delivered a landmark quarter posting all time high Revenue and EBITDA as operating environment returned to normalcy," RIL said in a post-earnings statement.
RIL Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh D Ambani said, "Retail business activity has normalized with strong growth in key consumption baskets on the back of festive season and as lockdowns eased across the country. Our digital services business has delivered broad based, sustainable, and profitable growth through improved customer engagement and subscriber mix."
Reliance Retail has recorded "all time high revenues" across all consumption baskets driven by highest-ever store sales and sustained growth momentum in digital and new commerce.
"Consumer Electronics and Apparel & Footwear doubled their business on the back of strong festive sales while Grocery sustained its consistent and strong double-digit growth momentum," the company added.
During the October-December quarter, Reliance Retail continued to add more stores and invest in network and infrastructure expansion.
In Q3 FY22, Reliance Retail added 837 stores, taking the total count to 14,412 stores and 2.3 million sq ft of warehousing space to bolster its service capabilities.
Its business continued to strengthen its digital and new commerce capabilities.

::SCIENCE AND TECH::

Jitendra Singh launches AI-powered start-up for water purification by IIT alumnus

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today launched Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven Start-Up by IIT alumni for water purification through innovative technology. The facility aims to provide clean drinking water at a price much lesser than the market price.
Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said, the Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven Start-Up initiative should be motivating for other Start-Ups as well.
A MoU was also signed between Technology Development Board (TDB), a statutory body of Department of Science & Technology, Government of India and M/s Swajal Water Private Limited, a tech Start Up company founded by ex-IITians based in Gurugram. The company is focused on innovative technologies to make reliable clean drinking water accessible to communities at affordable price, for their project on IoT enabled point of use Solar Water Purification Unit for slums, villages and High Utility Areas.
Dr Jitendra Singh welcomed the financial support extended to Swajal by TDB and said that his Ministry is committed to reach out to potential small and viable Start-ups having skill and talent pool, but lacking resources. The Minister asked the CEO & Co Founder of Swajal, Dr VibhaTripathi to scale up this technology to help achieve India’s ambitious target of providing clean drinking water to all by 2024, as envisaged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Minister said, apart from the Centre’s initiatives like National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) and Jal Jeevan Mission, Private Sector should come forward in a big way with state of the art tech solutions to cover nearly 14 Crore households where clean drinking water is yet to reach.
It may be recalled that Dr Jitendra Singh launched state-of-the-art Heli-borne survey technology for groundwater management, developed by CSIR-NGRI Hyderabad with Union Minister for Jal Shakti, Gajendra Singh Shekawat from Jodhpur in October, last year. To start with, the States of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Punjab and Haryana are being taken up for this latest heli-borne survey.
The Gurugram based company’s patented system, ‘Clairvoyant’ uses artificial intelligence to optimise purification systems and predict future breakdowns.Thus,allowing it to remotely manage, update, and repair each system in real time. They have also developed clean drinking water solutions in the form of Water ATMS, which combines Internet of Things technology with solar energy to provide clean drinking water. Theserural Water ATM by Swajalproposed to use solar energy to pump water from rivers, wells, ponds or groundwater depending upon the location. The water will then be treated with appropriate technology to make it healthy & pure for drinking. With this innovation, the cost of purified water be brought down to as low as 25 paise per litre.
Dr. Srivari Chandrashekhar, Secretary DST & Chairperson TDB, pointed out that this project is a combination of new emerging technologies --- IOT, Artificial Intelligence combined with renewable solar energy to cater to the need of pure drinking water in villages and remote areas.

::SPORTS::

De Kock surpasses Tendulkar to equal De Villiers' massive ODI record

South African wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock scored an impressive century against India in the third and final ODI of the series in Cape Town on Sunday to not just surpass legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar, but also break Virender Sehwag's feat to equal a massive ODI record held by AB de Villiers.
De Kock laced nine boundaries and two sixes to reach the triple-figure mark in 109 deliveries at the Newlands, that helped revive South Africa from 70 for three in 12.2 overs to 174 for three (and counting) in 31 overs, which included a century stand alongside Rassie van der Dussen.
With the century, his 17th in the format, De Kock surpassed Sachin to take the top spot alongside compatriot de Villiers for most centuries in India-South Africa ODI ties. Sachin had five such scores to his name while De Kock now has six centuries against India in ODIs.