Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 29 September 2021

SSC CGL Current Affairs

Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 29 September 2021

::NATIONAL::

What is Elder Line 14567?

India is expected to have nearly 20% elderly population i.e. over 300 million senior citizens by 2050. It is significant; as many countries have a population less than this number. This age group faces various mental, emotional, financial, legal and physical challenges, and the pandemic has further exacerbated it. What is more important to understand is that, this age group is a basket of wisdom and untapped resource for the overall economic and social growth of the country.
Taking cognisance of the growing need to support the elderlies in the country, the Government of India has taken a monumental step towards addressing the challenges and problems they face, through country’s first Pan-India toll-free helpline – 14567 -- called ‘Elder Line’, which provides free information and guidance on pension issues, legal issues, extends emotional support, and even intervenes on field in cases of abuse, and rescues homeless elderly.
The intent of ‘Elder Line’ is to provide all senior citizens, or their well-wishers, with ONE platform across the country to connect and share their concerns, get information and guidance on problems that they face on a day-to-day basis, without having to struggle for it.
One of the callers, for instance, was looking for a hospital for his mother-in law with Parkinson and was bed ridden with health issues. She got Covid positive and had to be shifted to a Covid ward in the ICU. After a few days, the hospital insisted that she be taken back home even though she was positive. Unable to understand this, the caller reached out to Elder Line for guidance. The Elder Line team immediately connected with a private chain of hotels and found one such facility where she could be shifted temporarily.
Elder Line is a culmination of the initiative of Tata Trusts, India’s oldest philanthropy, took through its partner, Vijayavahini Charitable Foundation, in 2017, in collaboration with the Government of Telangana in Hyderabad, to help the elderlies in the city. Tata Trusts has been and continues to be engaged in strategic philanthropy, to create impact that is deep, wide and irreversible in millions of lives in the communities that we serve, distinguished by our scale and depth of interventions on issues of national significance.

::INTERNATIONAL::

Elon Musk, world's richest man, wants to send ‘No 2’ statue to Jeff Bezos

ElonMusk once again reclaimed the title of the world's richest man as he made new records for himself – becoming only the third person in history to amass a net worth of $200 billion, according to Forbes magazine.
In the process, Musk crossed Amazon founder and fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos, who earlier enjoyed his stint as the richest man in the world. The celebratory rivalry between the two entrepreneurs is well-known, as in a seeming acknowledgment of this strife – Elon Musk took a fresh dig at Jeff Bezos.
According to the Forbes report, Elon Musk sent a ‘short email’, joking that he was now going to deliver a giant statue of the digit ‘2’ to the Amazon founder, apparently mocking the fact that the latter had to settle for the number 2 position in the list of richest men.
“I’m sending a giant statue of the digit ‘2’ to Jeffrey B., along with a silver medal,” Musk wrote in a short email, as per the magazine.
Musk and Bezos have been engaged in a well-known feud over entrepreneurial ambitions for a long time now, but conflict recently peaked since both of them have their eyes on the race to outer space and innovations in the automobile sector – including self-driving cars.
Back in August last year, Jeff Bezos became the first person in history to amass a fortune worth $200 billion. But later in the year, stocks for Musk's electric vehicle company Tesla rallied by a humongous 720%, and both of the billionaires were soon trading barbs as equals. Elon Musk eventually crossed Jeff Bezos in the rankings, once briefly in January this year, and then again when his net worth was estimated to be around $200.7 billion.

::ECONOMY::

Future gets NCLT nod to meet on sale of biz to RIL

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Tuesday allowed Future Group companies to hold meetings of their shareholders and creditors to seek approval for the planned sale of assets to Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd.
A Mumbai bench of NCLT comprising SuchitraKanuparthi and Chandra Bhan Singh also dismissed an intervention application filed by e-commerce company Amazon, listed Future group companies said in identical regulatory filings.
The NCLT dismissed Amazon’s application on the ground that it was premature, Press Trust of India reported, citing people it did not name.
The report cited NCLT as observing that no prejudice was caused in conducting these meetings since Amazon is still free to object when the final scheme is filed for NCLT approval.
The scheme of arrangement between Future and Reliance Retail involves the consolidation of Future Group’s retail, wholesale, logistics and warehousing assets into one entity —Future Enterprises Ltd—and then transferring it to Reliance Retail on a slump sale basis.
In August 2019, Amazon acquired 49% in unlisted Future Coupons with the right to buy into the flagship Future Retail in three to 10 years.
Amazon claims the terms of their agreement barred Future from selling assets to specific restricted entities, including Reliance Industries.

::SCIENCE AND TECH::

NASA, Boeing helping Russia in trying to probe cause of cracks on space station

Engineers from the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are helping Russia in its investigation into the possible causes of cracks and air leaks at the International Space Station (ISS).
Paul Hill, a member of NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, said at a Sunday panel meeting that the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, the Langley Research Center, the panel itself and the Boeing company are all conducting engineering analyzes of the issue.
According to Russian Rocket and Space Corporation Energia, persistent air leaks on the ISS could be the result of welding errors made inside the Zarya and Zvezda modules three decades ago.
Energia's First Deputy General Designer Vladimir Soloviev told Sputnik at the end of last month that Russian cosmonauts found cracks in the oldest module of the ISS, Zarya, and warned that the earlier discovery of through cracks in the Zvezda module means that the Zarya cracks could start to expand.
A small air leak was first detected at the ISS in September 2019. The crew have since identified and sealed two cracks but air continues to leak, which, nonetheless, poses no threat to those on board the space station, according to Russia's space agency Roscosmos.

::SPORTS::

ICC launches theme anthem of T20 World Cup

With just a month left for the ICC T20 World Cup to begin, the organisers have officially released the T20 World Cup anthem.
Titled Live the Game, the theme song is composed by India’s renowned music composer AmitTrivedi and features avatars of Indian captain ViratKohli, Afghanistan’s Rashid Kham, West Indian skipper Kieron Pollard and Australian ace Glenn Maxwell.