Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 11 February 2022

SSC CGL Current Affairs

Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 11 February 2022

::NATIONAL::

Nehru left Goa’s freedom fighters to die, delayed liberation, says PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday took a swipe at former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru for ‘failing’ to liberate Goa soon after India achieved independence from the British.
The Prime Minister claimed that Nehru allowed freedom fighters to be killed by the Portuguese police without offering any assistance. PM Modi was addressing a rally at an open ground in Mapusa town of North Goa.
“Many people do not know about the fact that Goa became independent 15 years after independence of India. It had to stay enslaved for 15 years more. India had a force; it had the army, a strong navy. What could have been done in a few hours, the Congress delayed for 15 years. The people of Goa continued to fight for their freedom, satyagrahis braved bullets, and continued to tolerate atrocities but the Congress government did not help them,” the Prime Minister said.
“The first Prime Minister of the country Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru spoke from the Red Fort and you can listen to his speech on YouTube. He said from the Red Fort that he could not send the army to help the satyagrahis, who were fighting and freeing Goa. That means you do what you want, if you want to die, die, live if you want to live. This is what he did! This is how the Congress treated Goa and it continues to treat it now,” he added.
The Prime Minister praised the work done by Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and said that the fight in these elections was between the “development-oriented BJP and the instability-oriented Congress.”
“People in Goa these days are shocked at the new faces. They are looking at some political parties who believe that Goa is a launchpad for themselves and their politics. Such parties have no idea about the emotions of the people of Goa. These parties have no agenda, no vision; they do not even have an understanding of Goa. They have come here, but these parties do not even know what announcements to make. Therefore, they are making assurances which have been already implemented by the BJP,” he said.
“The people of Goa have told these parties to keep their violence, their riots, to themselves. Let Goa walk the path of progress in peace,” he added.

::INTERNATIONAL::

US secy of state Blinken says century will be shaped by Indo-Pacfic region

The United States remains focused long-term on the Indo-Pacific region despite concerns over Russian aggression toward Ukraine, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
Blinken is in the Australian city of Melbourne for a meeting on Friday with his counterparts from Australia, India and Japan.
The four nations form the so-called “Quad,” a bloc of Indo-Pacific democracies that was created to counter China’s regional influence.
“There are a few other things going on in the world right now, some of you may have noticed. We have a bit of a challenge with Ukraine and Russian aggression. We’re working 24/7 on that,” Blinken said in his first public address since arriving in Australia on Wednesday.
“But we know, the president knows and each of you knows this better than anyone else, that so much of this century is going to be shaped by what happens here in the Indo-Pacific region,” he added.
What matters in the region matters around the world and challenges like climate change and Covid-19 can’t be tackled by any nation alone, he said.
“More than ever before, we need partnerships, we need alliances, we need coalitions of countries willing to put their efforts, their resources, their minds into tackling these problems,” Blinken said.
“What really drives us is a shared vision” of a “free and open society,” he added.
Blinken’s trip is designed to reinforce America’s interests in Asia and its intent to push back against increasing Chinese assertiveness in the region. He will also visit Fiji and discuss pressing concerns about North Korea with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts in Hawaii.

::ECONOMY::

$113 billion in 2021: India-US goods trademarks new record

In yet another sign of the deepening economic relationship between India and the United States (US), bilateral trade in goods between the two countries crossed the $100 billion mark in 2021, making it the largest volume of goods trade in a calendar year in India-US economic history.
This also represents an almost 45% jump from 2020, and while US trade with its top 15 partners increased over the past year, the single biggest jump was with India.
India retains a trade surplus in the relationship.
According to figures released by the US Census Bureau, India-US bilateral goods trade was worth $113.391 billion from January to December 2021. India exported goods worth over $73 billion, and imported goods worth a little over $40 billion dollars. In 2020 – an unusual year because of the pandemic and subsequent economic restrictions – trade fell to a little over $78.2 billion, from the high of $92.1 billion in 2019. India had then exported goods worth $57.8 billion and imported goods worth $34.2 billion.
Placing the figures in perspective, Richard M Rossow, the Wadhwani chair in US-India Policy Studies at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the foremost expert of the bilateral economic relationship in Washington DC, said that bilateral trade has been on an upward trajectory for 20 years, and shrunk year-on-year only thrice since 2002. “While we should certainly pause to celebrate the milestone of crossing $100 billion in bilateral trade, it is not far off the overall trajectory of the trade relationship in this period.” The 45% jump, he said, was due to the “deep trough” in 2020, as both India and the US dealt with the initial onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic.
Mukesh Aghi, president and chief executive officer of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), said that a key reason for the spike in Indian exports to the US was the concerted increase in demand in the US market. “The US has seen consumption-driven growth in the past year. There was pent-up demand for items such as jewellery and electronics, which has got channelled in the last six months. The fact that US companies have also sought to diversify their supply chains has played a role, too. Electronic component markets have moved production to India. For instance, Apple now exports a million smart phones from India to the US every month.” The challenge, he added, was to sustain the momentum.ech

::SCIENCE AND TECH::

Lockheed Martin wins NASA contract to bring Mars samples back to Earth

Lockheed Martin's space division has won a NASA contract to build the rocket that will return the first Mars rock samples to Earth in the 2030s, the US space agency said.
The "small, lightweight rocket" will be the first to take off from another planet, bringing back "rock, sediment and atmospheric samples from the surface of the Red Planet," NASA said in a statement.
NASA's Perseverance Rover has been collecting samples from various Martian areas since landing on Earth's neighbor a year ago.
The goal of the mission is to find traces of ancient life on the Red Planet. But these samples will have to be analyzed in laboratories back on Earth, capable of more sophisticated tests than anything that can be done on Mars.
The samples will be gathered and then launched back to Earth in a complex operation in which the Lockheed Martin rocket will be a key element.
"The pieces are coming together to bring home the first samples from another planet. Once on Earth, they can be studied by state-of-the-art tools too complex to transport into space," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for science at NASA headquarters in Washington.
According to the space agency's plans, a mission will be launched in 2026 at the earliest to send the mini-rocket to Mars, carrying another rover responsible for collecting the samples left behind by Perseverance.
Once the samples are placed in the rocket, it will take off and put them in orbit around Mars. They will then be captured by another vessel sent there to complete the final leg of the journey back to Earth.

::SPORTS::

Novak Djokovic on entry list for Indian Wells tournament

Top-ranked Novak Djokovic is on the entry list for the BNP Paribas Open in California, where the Serb would face a vaccine mandate.
Djokovic, who was unvaccinated against Covid-19 as of last month, was detained and eventually deported from Australia for failing to meet that country's strict vaccination requirements. It prevented him from defending his Australian Open title last month.
To enter Australia, Djokovic submitted a positive test issued in Serbia on Dec. 16 for a visa exemption on the grounds that he had recently recovered from the virus. But the Australian government canceled his visa and deported him.