Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 28 December 2021

SSC CGL Current Affairs

Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 28 December 2021

::NATIONAL::

Tamil Nadu government launches monitoring system "CM Dashboard Tamil Nadu 360"

In yet another attempt to fine-tune the government administration towards prompt delivery of services and quick decision-making to cope with the emerging situations and cutting-down of delays, Chief Minister MK Stalin will be launching a state-of-the-art “CM Dashboard - Tamil Nadu 360” at his office on Thursday.
Terming this a measure to ensure real-time governance, official sources said, “It will convey the pulse of the people to the government, and also depict the awareness about the services of the government to the people.
Under this project, the government is pre-disclosing information regarding the status of the schemes to the public. So, it is will be an effective way for people to participate in governance. What the Chief Minister knows, the people will also know.”
This dashboard will provide real-time information on all State government departments, storage levels of key reservoirs, rainfall patterns, price mesh, which monitors the price stability over 25 foodgrains/vegetables/fruits, and it will provide projections on possible increases in price, enabling government intervention.
Apart from this, the first batch of dashboards will also cover current employment trends to indicate status of the economy, civil supplies, Chief Minister’s Helpline, and status of CM in Your Constituency petitions, health-related information, daily police reports of major crimes in the State with reference to districts that require attention, housing progress for the urban and rural poor and progress of water supply schemes, particularly tap connections to all households.
“Across the country, the Chief Ministers of a few States, including Orissa, Punjab, Haryana have dashboards which provide available information.
Tamil Nadu has used advanced technology to create this dashboard using artificial intelligence and data analysis. So, it will not only give real-time information but also projections,” official sources told TNIE. Explaining the monitoring system, the sources added, “For each government department, there will be a nodal officer for this project.

::INTERNATIONAL::

Israel approves plan to double settlers in occupied Golan Heights

Israel’s government on Sunday approved a $317 million plan to double the Jewish settler population in the Golan Heights, 40 years after it annexed the territory captured from Syria.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s cabinet voted in favour of the plan that aims to build 7,300 settler homes in the region over a five-year period, during a meeting held at the Mevo Hama community in the Golan.
It calls for 1 billion Israeli shekels to be spent on housing, infrastructure and other projects with the goal of attracting roughly 23,000 new Jewish settlers to the area, seized during the 1967 Six Day War.
“Our goal is to double the population of the Golan Heights,” the right-wing Bennett said ahead of the meeting.
Bennett said the recognition by the Trump administration of Israeli sovereignty over the swath of land, and the Biden administration’s indication that it will not at this point walk that decision back, prompted the new investment in the region.
Israel occupied the Golan Heights in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed the territory, promoting settlement and agriculture there as well as creating a thriving local tourism industry.
The US was the first country to recognise Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan, which the rest of the international community regards as Israeli-occupied.
“The Golan Heights are Israeli. This is self-evident,” Bennett said.
Israel has long argued that the strategically important area has, for all practical purposes, been fully integrated into Israel since it was captured from Syria and that control of the strategic plateau is needed as protection from Iran and its allies in Syria.

::ECONOMY::

RBL Bank drops by record 25% as RBI names director to board

RBL Bank Ltd shares dropped by a record on Monday after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) named an additional director to the lender's board over the weekend and its chief executive went on medical leave over the weekend. The stock tumbled as much as 25 per cent, the biggest decline since listing in 2016.
YogeshDayal was appointed to RBL’s board by the RBI for two years from December 24 and Rajeev Ahuja was elevated as the interim managing director and chief executive officer of the bank after VishwavirAhuja went on medical leave.
The RBI’s action comes as RBL grapples with a surge in soured loans to consumers during the pandemic, prompting the lender to boost provisions that led to a first-quarter loss.
Rajeev Ahuja said on the weekend the RBI’s move wasn’t motivated by worries over asset quality and deposit levels.
Analysts at ICICI Securities said given the circumstances under which RBI initiated such an action in the past, there will be clarity required not only on management succession, but fundamental performance and strategy of the bank.
It also downgraded RBL's stock to "sell" and cut its price target to ₹130 from ₹181.
Morgan Stanley analysts, including SumeetKariwala, wrote in a note the changes at RBL “may have reflected some delay in implementation of certain RBI guidelines, as well as increased risk on the balance sheet in recent years -- including a sharp increase in unsecured loans”.
RBL’s shares are now down about 40% this year, trimming the lender’s market value to $1.1 billion.

::SCIENCE AND TECH::

Rajnath Singh lays foundation of BrahMos unit, defence technology centre in Lucknow

Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday laid the foundation stone of the Defence Technology and Test Centre and BrahMos manufacturing centre that will be established by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in Lucknow.
Speaking on the occasion, Rajnath Singh said India wants to manufacture BrahMos missiles not to attack anyone, but to ensure that no other country has the audacity to cast an evil eye on it.
The Yogi Adityanath government has allocated 200-acre land for the project in Lucknow. The BrahMos Manufacturing Centre, announced by BrahMos Aerospace, is a modern, state-of-art facility in the Lucknow node of Defence Industrial Corridor, Uttar Pradesh.
The next generation BrahMos missiles will be manufactured here and this facility will be made operational in the next two-three years. Around 80-100 missiles will be manufactured at the Lucknow unit every year.
Rajnath Singh expressed confidence that the foundation laying of the two units would herald a new chapter in defence manufacturing of the country, the economy of Uttar Pradesh and the city of Lucknow.
Stressing the need to maintain nuclear deterrence, he said, “We want to manufacture BrahMos on Indian soil so that no country has the audacity to cast an evil eye on India.” The missile is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.
“It has never been the character of India to attack any other country or grab even an inch of land of any country,” he said.

::SPORTS::

Cricket Australia should consider moving New Year's Test to MCG: Vaughan

Former England skipper Michael Vaughan on Monday said Cricket Australia should act proactively in the wake of the COVID scare on the second day of the ongoing Boxing Day Test here and consider moving the Sydney fixture also to Melbourne.
The second day of play on Monday was delayed by half-an-hour following multiple positive cases within the England camp.
"I think Cricket Australia have to act quickly and be proactive in terms of the situation. It's unprecedented times," 'Sen Radio' reported Vaughan telling 'Fox Cricket'.
"Could the next Test match be played here in Melbourne, under lights at the MCG, to make sure we all stay in Victoria where the protocols are different to Sydney?