Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 04 October 2021

SSC CGL Current Affairs

Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 04 October 2021

::NATIONAL::

World's largest Khadi national flag unfurled in Leh

The world's largest Khadi national flag was installed in Leh, Ladakh, today on the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi's 152nd birth anniversary. It was inaugurated by Ladakh Lieutenant Governor RK Mathur this morning.
The tricolor, which is 225-feet long and 150-feet wide, weighs around 1,000 kg. It has been prepared by the 57 Engineer Regiment of the Indian Army, according to national broadcaster Doordarshan, which broadcast the inauguration ceremony.
"Gandhi Ji had said that our flag is a symbol of unity, humanity, and a sign accepted by everyone in the country. It's a symbol of greatness for the country... In coming years, this flag (in Leh) will be a sign of enthusiasm for our soldiers," the Ladakh Lieutenant Governor said, according to news agency ANI.
Union Health Minister MansukhMandaviya, while sharing a video on Twitter, said, "It is a moment of great pride for Flag of India that on Gandhi ji'sJayanti, the world's largest KhadiTiranga is unveiled in Leh, Ladakh. I salute this gesture which commemorates Bapu's memory, promotes Indian artisans and also honours the nation. Jai Hind, Jai Bharat!"
The flag has been made by Khadi and Village Industry Commission (KVIC) and was displayed by the army in Leh.
Army Chief General ManojMukundNaravane, who is on a two-day visit to Ladakh, was also present along with other army officials during the inauguration of the flag.
In a video of the event, shared by ANI, Indian Air Force helicopters could be seen flying over the site of the event in Leh to salute and honour the national flag.
At least 150 troops of Indian Army's 57 Engineer regiment carried the flag to the top of a hill at over 2,000 feet above the ground level in Leh. It took two hours for the troops to reach the top.

::INTERNATIONAL::

NajlaBudenRomdhane becomes Tunisia's first female prime minister

NajlaBoudenRomdhane has been named Tunisia’s first female prime minister, two months after President Kais Saied assumed executive authority, sacked the prime minister and suspended parliament.
Romdhane, 63, was assigned on Wednesday to form a new government amid growing domestic and international discontent about the president’s power seizure.
“For the first time in Tunisia’s history, a woman will head a government,” Saied said in a video posted on the presidency’s Facebook page.
Saied said he will work with Romdhane “with a firm will and determination to combat corruption and chaos that pervaded in many state institutions”.
Romdhane is likely to have less direct power than previous prime ministers under the 2014 constitution after Saied last week said that during the emergency period, the government would be responsible to the president.
Before she was appointed prime minister, she was assigned by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research to implement programmes with the World Bank, according to the official Tunisian News Agency.
In 2011, she was appointed director-general in charge of quality at the Ministry of Higher Education.
The little-known engineer does not have any political affiliation, according to Anadolu Agency.
There was no immediate reaction from Tunisia’s powerful General Labour Union or political parties to Romdhane’s appointment.

::ECONOMY::

IMF released report on cryptocurrencies

New digital forms of money have the potential to provide cheaper and faster payments, enhance financial inclusion, improve resilience and competition among payment providers, and facilitate cross-border transfers.
But doing so is not straightforward. It requires significant investment as well as difficult policy choices, such as clarifying the role of the public and private sectors in providing and regulating digital forms of money.
Some countries may be tempted by a shortcut: adopting cryptoassets as national currencies. Many are indeed secure, easy to access, and cheap to transact. We believe, however, that in most cases risks and costs outweigh potential benefits.
Cryptoassets are privately issued tokens based on cryptographic techniques and denominated in their own unit of account. Their value can be extremely volatile. Bitcoin, for instance, reached a peak of $65,000 in April and crashed to less than half that value two months later.
And yet, Bitcoin lives on. For some, it is an opportunity to transact anonymously—for good or bad. For others, it is a means to diversify portfolios and hold a speculative asset that can bring riches but also significant losses.
Cryptoassets are thus fundamentally different from other kinds of digital money. Central banks, for instance, are considering issuing digital currencies—digital money issued in the form of a liability of the central bank.

World Bank approves $150 million for Chennai's Sustainable Urban Services

The World Bank Board of Executive Directors today approved a $150 million program to support the Government of Tamil Nadu’s vision of making Chennai into a world-class city that is more green, livable, competitive, and resilient to climate change and other shocks.
The $150 million Chennai City Partnership: Sustainable Urban Services Program will help strengthen institutions, improve the financial health of service agencies, and drive significant improvements in the quality of four key urban services — water supply and sewerage, mobility, health, and solid waste management.
The Chennai Metropolitan Area, home to about 10.9 million people, is India’s fourth-most populous metropolitan area. Despite being an economic powerhouse, Chennai has not kept pace with growing demand for key services. The coastal city also remains highly vulnerable to natural disasters, climate change and, as the COVID-19 emergency revealed, to pandemics.
This program will support the Government of Tamil Nadu (GoTN) in its efforts to transform the city and its services, while accelerating Chennai’s shift to a lower carbon and a more resilient growth trajectory. It will help GoTN, Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC), and key service agencies adopt new approaches to service delivery and bring a renewed focus on results for citizens.

::SCIENCE AND TECH::

Study finds Mars' surface got shaped by furious floods from overflowing craters

Massive floods from overflowing crater lakes had an outsized role in shaping the Martian surface, carving deep chasms and moving vast amounts of sediment, suggest a recent study, led by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin.
The findings of the study were published in the journal 'Nature'.
The study found that the floods, which probably lasted mere weeks, eroded more than enough sediment to completely fill Lake Superior and Lake Ontario.
"If we think about how sediment was being moved across the landscape on ancient Mars, lake breach floods were a really important process globally," said lead author Tim Goudge, an assistant professor at the UT Jackson School of Geosciences.
"And this is a bit of a surprising result because they've been thought of as one-off anomalies for so long," Goudge added.
Crater lakes were common on Mars billions of years ago when the Red Planet had liquid water on its surface. Some craters could hold a small sea's worth of water. But when the water became too much to hold, it would breach the edge of the crater, causing catastrophic flooding that carved river valleys in its wake. A 2019 study led by Goudge determined that these events happened rapidly.

::SPORTS::

India won bronze in Asian Table Tennis Championship

India wrapped up their Asian Table Tennis Championships 2021 campaign in Doha, Qatar with a total of three bronze medals - two of them coming on Monday.
Sharath Kamal Achanta-SatihyanGnanasekaran and ManavThakkar-Harmeet Desai, the two Indian men’s doubles teams in action on the day, lost their respective semi-final clashes and had to settle for bronze medals.
Both losing semi-finalists get bronze in the competition.
The two men’s doubles medals, along with the men’ team bronze won on Friday, made this edition India’s best outing at the continental championship
Olympians Sharath Kamal and G Sathiyan were beaten 3-0 (11-5, 11-9, 13-11) by Japan’s YukiyaUda, a former continental bronze medallist, and Shunsuke Togami.