Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 12 March 2022

SSC CGL Current Affairs

Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 12 March 2022

::NATIONAL::

Supreme Court names AK Sikri as chairman of Char Dham panel

The Supreme Court on Friday accepted the resignation of Professor Ravi Chopra as chairperson of a panel formed to oversee widening of roads under the Centre’s ₹12,000 crore ambitious Char Dham project, and appointed its former judge A K Sikri as the new chairman.
A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Surya Kant accepted Chopra’s resignation and appointed Justice (retd) Sikri as the chairperson following a recommendation from the Centre. Attorney General KK Venugopal, Centre’s counsel, said since Justice (retd) Sikri was already appointed by this court as chairperson of the oversight committee to look after environmental concerns and other issues related to the Char Dham project, it would be better if he is appointed as the chairperson.
After his resignation was accepted, Chopra said careful implementation of the road project in the ecologically-fragile Bhagirathi eco-sensitive zone stretch will be a critical task for the panel. Bhagirathi eco-sensitive zone is on one of the feeder routes of the Char Dhampariyojana. It stretches from Gaumukh to Uttarkashi, covering an area of 4179.59 sqkm.
“A very important aspect of the judgment given by the honorable court is that it is conditional upon ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) and ministry of defence (MoD), both observing the unanimous decisions of the HPC. The HPC has unanimously recommended that any work that is to be done in the Bhagirathi eco-sensitive zone should be preceded by an honest environment impact assessment,” Chopra said.
“I would like the oversight committee headed by Justice (retd) Sikri to ensure that the recommendations of the HPC are totally followed. The Bhagirathi eco-sensitive zone is so far an almost pristine stretch of the Char DhamPariyojana highways. The MoRTH had assured the committee that the Jhala-Jangla stretch of the eco-sensitive zone will be of intermediate width (5.5m). That assurance needs to be put into practice,” he added.

::INTERNATIONAL::

India, Canada formally agree to step up talks over FTA

India and Canada on Friday formally agreed to expedite talks to consider a free trade agreement between the two countries to boost trade in goods and services along with an early harvest deal, an official statement said.
Commerce minister PiyushGoyal and Canadian minister for international trade Mary Ng on Friday agreed to formally relaunch the negotiations for India-Canada Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and also consider an interim agreement or Early Progress Trade Agreement (EPTA) that expedite mutual commercial gains, it said. India and Canada on Friday held the fifth Ministerial Dialogue on Trade & Investment (MDTI) in New Delhi.
“The Interim Agreement would include high level commitments in goods, services, rules of origin, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, and dispute settlement, and may also cover any other areas mutually agreed upon,” the statement issued by the commerce ministry said.
Both countries also agreed to undertake intensified work with respect to the recognition of Canada’s systems approach to pest risk management in pulses and market access for Indian agriculture goods such as sweet corn, baby corn and banana.
Canada also agreed to examine expeditiously the request of Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) for facilitating Indian organic export products, it said. “The Ministers acknowledged the significance of establishing resilient supply chains in critical sectors and exchanged views on collaboration in this area,” it said.
They also emphasised enhancing cooperation in sectors such as pharmaceuticals and critical and rare earth minerals among others.

::ECONOMY::

NPCI asks banks to enable customer onboarding onto UPI through Aadhar, OTP

To further deepen the adoption of digital payments in the country, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the umbrella body for retail digital payments, has asked banks to enable onboarding of customers onto UPI by authentication through their Aadhar cards with a one-time password (OTP).
Under the existing mechanism, customers who have debit cards can get onboarded onto UPI by simply keying in their phone numbers and the last six digits of their debit cards. A debit card is mandatory to set the UPI PIN under the current system, thus restricting access to the payments platform only to users who have a debit card. Now, by enabling onboarding through Aadhar, customers who do not have a debit card, or whose debit card is not active, can easily get onboarded to the platform and set or reset their UPI PIN.
NPCI had come out with this circular in September last year and had asked banks to comply with the provisions of the circular by December 15, 2021, which later got pushed to March 15, 2022. “While the process is live on NPCI’s systems, banks, payment service providers, and third party applications may take nine to twelve months to be fully offering this”, said a source aware of the development.
“This enablement will go a long way in increasing inclusion of customers across the country to digital payments, since Aadhar number is now available with almost all Indian citizens. Also, onboarding using Aadhar with OTP acting as the second factor of authentication opens up a safe, secure, and convenient alternative onboarding channel, thereby increasing digital footprint," the circular said.
In this architecture, NPCI will connect with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on behalf of the customer's bank to seek authentication, and validation of Aadhar OTP will be done as per UIDAI guidelines.
However, it is important to note that banks have to ensure that the facility of UPI on-boarding using Aadhar with OTP will be available only if the UPI application is being used on a mobile having an Aadhar registered mobile number and the same mobile number is registered with the bank. Also, the issuer bank has to verify the Aadhar holder’s mobile number, in addition to OTP authentication.

::Science and tech::

Union Power Minister launched Virtual Smart Grid Knowledge Center

Union Minister for Power R.K. Singh launched the Virtual Smart Grid Knowledge Center (SGKC) and Innovation Park virtually as part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav Programme.
Minister of State for Power Krishan Pal Gurjar was also present on the occasion. The SGKC has been established by POWERGRID for demonstration and advancement of frontier smart grid technologies.SGKC aims to be one of the leading Centers of Excellence globally to foster innovation, entrepreneurship and research in smart grid technologies and create capacities in the power distribution sector.
The Virtual SGKC that was launched today enables a digital footprint of the physical setup of SGKC, the need for which was felt during COVID-19 pandemic.
At the event, Mr. R K Singh pointed out that the world is changing in a rapid phase in the energy sector, which has also been witnessed in India. He said that India is way ahead in the energy transition and the rate of implementation of Renewable energy capacity in the country is faster as compared to any other countries around the world.

::SPORTS::

UEFA opens disciplinary case against PSG chief Al-Khelaifi

UEFA opened disciplinary proceedings against Paris Saint-Germain President Nasser Al-Khelaifi over heated incidents after the team's Champions League loss at Real Madrid.
The Qatari is also a member of UEFA's executive committee, chairman of the influential European Club Association and head of Doha-based broadcaster beIN Media Group a key Champions League TV rights holder.
The disciplinary case, which also includes sporting director Leonardo, followed reports that Al-Khelaifi went in search of the match officials to protest refereeing decisions on Wednesday night.