Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 26 February 2021

SSC CGL Current Affairs

Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 26 February 2021

::NATIONAL::

PM Modi inaugurates various projects in Puducherry

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Tamil Nadu and Puducherry on Thursday to inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of various development initiatives. According to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone for 4 laning of NH45-A - 56 km Sattanathapuram - Nagapattinam package of Villupuram to Nagapattinam project covering Karaikal district in Puducherry.
The capital cost to be incurred in this project is about Rs 2,426 crores. He will also lay the foundation stone of the Medical College Building at Karaikal New Campus - Phase I, Karaikal District (JIPMER). The estimated cost of the project is Rs 491 crore.
The Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone for the development of Minor Port at Puducherry under Sagarmala Scheme. He will inaugurate the Blood Centre at Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Puducherry, which will function as a research laboratory and a training centre for the short- term and continuous blood bank personnel training in all aspects of transfusion.
"It is a lignite-based power plant designed for power generation capacity of 1000 MW and has two units of 500 MW capacity each. Built at a cost of about Rs 8000 crore, the pit head power plant will utilise lignite as fuel from the existing mines of Neyveli, which have sufficient lignite reserves for meeting the lifetime requirement of the project. The Plant has been designed for 100 per cent Ash utilization. The power generated would benefit Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Puducherry, with Tamil Nadu having a major share of about 65 per cent," a release said.

::INTERNATIONAL::

Facebook banned Myanmar's military from its platforms with immediate effect

Facebook said it had banned the Myanmar military from using its Facebook and Instagram platforms with immediate effect, as pro-democracy demonstrators continued to stage rallies to protest against the military seizing power.
"Events since the February 1 coup, including deadly violence, have precipitated a need for this ban," Facebook said in a blog post.
"We believe the risks of allowing the Tatmadaw [Myanmar army] on Facebook and Instagram are too great."
The army seized power this month after alleging fraud in a November 8 election swept by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), detaining her and much of the party leadership.
At least three protesters and one policeman have been killed in violence at rallies
The US tech giant said it would also ban all "Tatmadaw-linked commercial entities" from advertising on its platforms.

::ECONOMY::

Center allows private banks to participate in government business

Bank unions under the umbrella body AIBEA on Wednesday opposed the government's decision to allow all private sector lenders in the government-related business, saying it was "unfair" and "to the disadvantage" of public sector banks (PSBs).
The finance ministry, in a statement, said all private sector banks can now participate in government-related businesses like the collection of taxes, pension payments, and small savings schemes.
At the moment, only a few large private sector banks are allowed to conduct government-related business.
"It is like feeding milk to the poisonous snake," the All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA) said in a release.
This government decision to give equal treatment to private banks is unfair and to the disadvantage of public sector banks, it added.
The private sector is the main contributor to banks' huge bad loans. But there are attempts to hand over nationalised banks to these private sector players, it added.
Notably, the government has proposed to privatise two more PSBs after having divested the majority stake in IDBI Bank to LIC in 2019. AIBEA said the decision to lift the embargo on private sector banks to have access to the government's business is "unfair" and needs to be withdrawn.
Responding to the government's assertion that it will allow private sector banks to become equal partners in government business, AIBEA said it is a strange move because unlike PSBs, the private banks are exempted from an emphasis on rural branch expansion, rural lending, agriculture loans as well as priority sector loans.

::SCIENCE AND TECH::

Satellite by Indian start-up will not be launched aboard PSLV-C51 mission

One of the two Indian space start-ups that were to send their satellites aboard this week’s PSLV-C51 mission has delayed the launch after some “software issues” were identified during the final round of testing.
“Due to certain software issues that surfaced during the final satellite testing, we have decided not to proceed with our launch on the PSLV-C51 mission. Given the time and effort that has gone into making the satellite, it did not make sense to rush a satellite to launch in which we do not have complete confidence at this time,” said a statement from Pixxel (incorporated as Sygyzy).
The satellite will be launched at the next available opportunity, the company said.
For Pixxel, this satellite – called Anand -- was a technology demonstration for a constellation of 30 Earth Observation Satellites that would provide global coverage every 24 hours. This will enable organisations to detect and monitor global phenomenon in near realtime. The data will be available on an Artificial Intelligence-based platform, making the extraction of the data easy. It will have uses in agriculture, forestry, urban monitoring, and climate. The organisation hopes to complete the constellation by December next year.

::SPORTS::

R Ashwin becomes second fastest bowler to pick up 400 Test wickets

Ravichandran Ashwin reached a huge landmark on day 2 of the third Test against England as he became the fourth Indian bowler to pick up 400 Test wickets. The off spinner reached the mark in his 77th Test, which makes him the second fastest to the feat, missing out Muttiah Muralitharan's record by five matches. The Sri Lankan had picked his 400th wicket in his 72nd Test.
Ashwin followed the footsteps of Indian cricket greats Kapil Dev, Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh who had reached the milestone before him. Kumble remains the highest Test wicket-taker for India with 619 scalps.