Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 24 July 2022

SSC CGL Current Affairs

Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 24 July 2022

::NATIONAL::

Droupadi Murmu likely to wear traditional Santhali attire for oath-taking ceremony

President-elect Droupadi Murmu is likely wear a traditional Santhali jhal saree that her sister-in-law will bring for her during the oath-taking ceremony as 15th President of the country.
Murmu’s younger brother, Trainmen Tudu who stays with her at her Rairangpur residence, said his wife Sakramani is bringing the Jhal saree, a traditional Santhali saree designed with motifs of birds, fishes, flowers, leaves and animals for the President-elect. “Santhali women wear these handwoven sarees on special occasions and I hope my sister will wear it tomorrow,” Tudu said.
Her family is also fetching some Arisa pitha, a sweet pancake and Guda pitha made from jaggery, both favourites of Murmu for her special day.
Apart from Murmu’s brother and sister-in-law, her daughter Itishree and son-in-law Ganesh will also attend the oath-taking ceremony. Some childhood friends of Murmu are also likely to attend Monday’s ceremony.
Six tribal MLAs of the BJP from Mayurbhanj district, three members of the Ishwariya Prajapati Brahmakumari’s Rairangpur branch- Brahma Kumari Supriya, Brahma Kumari Basanti and Brahma Kumar Govind will also attend the oath-taking. After she started doing Rajyoga with the help of Brahmakumari institutions, Murmu managed to overcome personal tragedies that happened with her family since 2009.
Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Dharmendra Pradhan and Bisweswar Tudu, and 7 other Lok Sabha MPs of the party will be present at the ceremony.
In her native village of Uparbeda under Kusumi block, villagers are planning to hold a community feast on Monday to celebrate her victory. “The entire day will be spent dancing and singing and having lunch together. We also have plans to put up a large TV screen so that people can see her taking oath. Tomorrow will be the best possible day for our village,” said Sunaram Hembram, a Santhali villager. Murmu studied in an upper primary school of Uparbeda from Class 1 till Class 7.

::INTERNATIONAL::

Pope heads to Canada to make amends for Indigenous school scandal

Pope Francis left Rome on Sunday for Canada for a chance to personally apologise to Indigenous survivors of abuse committed over a span of decades at residential schools run by the Catholic Church.
The head of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics will be met at Edmonton's international airport by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The Pope's plane took off from Rome shortly after 9:00 am local time (0700 GMT).
The 10-hour flight constitutes the longest since 2019 for the 85-year-old pope, who has been suffering from knee pain that has forced him to use a cane or wheelchair in recent outings.
The pope was in a wheelchair on Sunday and used a lifting platform to board the plane, an AFP correspondent accompanying him said.
Francis' Canada visit is primarily to apologise to survivors for the Church's role in the scandal that a national truth and reconciliation commission has called "cultural genocide".
Before he left, the pope said on Twitter he was making a "penitential pilgrimage" that "might contribute to the journey of reconciliation already undertaken".
The head of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics will be met at Edmonton's international airport by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The Pope's plane took off from Rome shortly after 9:00 am local time (0700 GMT).
The 10-hour flight constitutes the longest since 2019 for the 85-year-old pope, who has been suffering from knee pain that has forced him to use a cane or wheelchair in recent outings.
The pope was in a wheelchair on Sunday and used a lifting platform to board the plane, an AFP correspondent accompanying him said.
Francis' Canada visit is primarily to apologise to survivors for the Church's role in the scandal that a national truth and reconciliation commission has called "cultural genocide".
Before he left, the pope said on Twitter he was making a "penitential pilgrimage" that "might contribute to the journey of reconciliation already undertaken".

::ECONOMY::

Banks likely to lose Rs 11,790 cr in Q1 on bond rally, says report

Banks are unlikely to take a big hit on profitability this quarter due to rising bond yields, which may eat up 5.3 per cent (Rs 11,790 crore) of their net income in the worst-case scenario, according to a report.
In the worst-case scenario, banks may see a profit erosion of 2.6 per cent of their pre-provisioning operating profit and 5.3 per cent of their post-tax profit from treasury losses in Q1, India Ratings said in a note on Friday.
During the first quarter, the bond yields rose 61 bps, peaking at 7.5 per cent.
This is because a 100 bps year-on-year upward shift in the yield curve can impact the system-wide pre-provisioning operating profit by 4.5 per cent and return on assets by just 9 bps, the agency said.
Banks will continue to face headwinds in the current upward interest rate cycle, the agency said but argued that the impact is likely to be lower than the past cycles because banks can utilise their investment fluctuation reserve, reclassify their trading portfolio between the held-to-maturity (HTM) and available for sale (AFS) and also further calibrate the modified duration of AFS portfolios.
The report further argues that banks will gain from lower pension costs, higher interest income from bond purchases with higher yields, and resetting of interest rates on floating rate bonds (although in limited quantum), offsetting the treasury losses.
With an expected overall improvement in the profitability of banks in FY23 and select banks already providing for higher movement in yields (up to 7.5 per cent), according to the agency, the impact on return on assets can be as low as 9 bps if none of the aforementioned offsets is in place.
Also, there has been a moderation in yields of the benchmark 10-year G-Secs from a peak of 7.62 per cent in June to around 7.45 per cent this month after the Reserve Bank unveiled a series of steps to contain the rupee.
Ankit Jain, a senior analyst at the agency, said that banks are in a much better position to absorb the impact of upward movement in G-Sec yields compared to the past cycles.

::Science and tech::

China launches Wentian, second of three space station modules

In the latest step in its ambitious space programme, China on Sunday launched the second of three modules needed to complete its new space station, news agency AFP reported citing state media.
Beijing launched the central module of its space station Tiangong -- which means "heavenly palace" -- in April 2021.
Almost 60 feet long and weighing 22 tonnes, the new module has three sleeping areas and space for scientific experiments.
It will dock with the existing module in space, a challenging operation that experts said will require several high-precision manipulations and the use of a robotic arm.
Wentian will also serve as a backup platform to control the space station in the event of a failure.
The final module to complete the space station is scheduled to dock in October, and Tiangong is expected to become fully operational by the end of the year.
The station will then assume its final T-shape, and be similar in size to the former Russian-Soviet Mir station.
Its lifespan should be at least 10 years.
The world's second-largest economy has poured billions into its military-run space programme, with hopes of having a permanently crewed space station and eventually sending humans to the Moon.

::Sports::

Neeraj Chopra wins historic silver medal for India at World Athletics C'ships

India's Neeraj Chopra won the country's only second medal at the World Athletics Championships, finishing with a historic silver in the men's javelin final. Neeraj's throw of 88.13m in his fourth attempt secured him of not only a podium finish but also ended India's 29-year-long wait for a medal at the World's after Anju Bobby George's bronze medal finish in the women's long jump way back in 2003.
Trailing outside the top three after his first three attempts, Neeraj's massive throw escalated him to the second position, only behind reigning World Champion Anderson Peters of Grenada, who took gold with a humongous throw of 90.54m. In fact, all his attempts breached the 90m-mark.