Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams -02 August 2022

SSC CGL Current Affairs

Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 02 August 2022

::NATIONAL::

PM, BJP leaders change profile pics to ‘Tiranga’ to mark 75th Independence Day

Ahead of the celebrations for India's 75th Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday changed his display picture on social media accounts to a 'tiranga' (tricolour) to begin a collective movement to celebrate the Indian flag.
Other senior BJP leaders, including Union home minister Amit Shah and party president JP Nadda followed suit and changed their display pictures. The ‘HarGharTiranga’ movement is part of the Centre's ‘Azadi KaAmrit Mahotsav’ campaign as the country celebrates 75 years of independence.
“On the call of @narendramodiji to make the Azadi KaAmrit Mahotsav a memorable one, I put the tricolor on all my social media profile photos today. To show love and respect for our national flag, I appeal to everyone to put the tricolour as the DP of their social media accounts,” tweeted Amit Shah in Hindi with the hashtag ‘#HarGharTiranga’.
In his Mann kiBaat radio broadcast on Sunday, Modi had said the 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' was turning into a mass movement and urged people to put 'Tiranga' as the profile picture of their social media accounts between August 2 and 15.
Modi also paid homage to the Pingali Venkayya, who had designed the flag, on his birth anniversary.
"Our nation will forever be indebted to him for his efforts of giving us the Tricolour, which we are very proud of. Taking strength and inspiration from the Tricolour, may we keep working for national progress," he said.

::INTERNATIONAL::

China piles up pressure over US House speaker’s Taiwan visit

Chinese fighter jets are said to have been deployed near self-ruled Taiwan to pile up pressure against the US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s possible visit to the island, a report from Taipei said.
Pelosi’s prospective visit is heavily trending on Chinese social media as speculation and tension mount about how Beijing will respond if she does visit the self-ruled island, which China claims as it owns.
Reports from Taiwan and CNN said Pelosi is expected to visit Taiwan as part of her Asia tour - the first for a US House speaker in 25 years.
An unnamed Taiwanese official told CNN that she is expected to stay in Taiwan overnight.
There is no confirmation when exactly Pelosi will land in Taipei but the visit could happen on Tuesday.
Pelosi landed in Singapore on Monday on a four-nation tour including Malaysia, South Korea and Japan: There is no mention of Taiwan in her officially released itinerary.
Beijing claims Taiwan as its own territory and has not ruled out using force if required to merge it with the mainland.
“Several Chinese warships had remained close to the unofficial dividing line since Monday,” the Reuters report said.
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is holding multiple military drills including a live-combat exercise in Fujian province, which is located opposite Taiwan.
The Fujian provincial military command conducted a live-fire shooting in a sea area off the province to test its overall combat capability.

::ECONOMY::

GAIL rationing gas as former Gazprom unit cuts supplies: Report

India's largest gas distributor GAIL (India) Ltd has started gas rationing, cutting supplies to fertiliser and industrial clients after imports were hit under its deal with a former unit of Russian energy giant Gazprom, two sources familiar with the matter said.
Lower gas supplies will affect impact India's urea production, and a sustained cut would lift imports of the soil nutrient, a fertiliser industry source aware of the cuts said.
Neither GAIL nor India's fertiliser ministry responded to Reuters' requests for comments.
Gazprom Marketing and Trading Singapore (GMTS), now a subsidiary of Gazprom Germania, has failed to deliver some liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes to GAIL and has said it may not be able to meet supplies under their long-term deal.
The state-run company is operating its petrochemical complex at Pata in northern India at about 60% capacity to save gas for other clients, they said. GAIL has advanced maintenance shutdown of some units at the 810,000 tonne-a-year plant, one of the sources added.
An industrial consumer said GAIL has restricted its gas quantities to a 'take or pay level', the lowest level at which it will not attract a penalty from the customer.
GAIL's measures will cut gas supplies to clients by about 6.5 million cubic meters a day, while imports under the Gazprom deal were averaging about 8.5 mcmd, a separate source said.
"We don't know where else we can cut supplies... Indian customers cannot afford costly spot gas," the second source said.
This source said that GAIL has written repeatedly to Gazprom Germania about supplies under the deal.
Last month, GAIL bought a spot LNG cargo at $38 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) for August loading, well above the level at which it was getting gas under its deal with Gazprom, at about $12-$14 per mmBtu.
GAIL agreed a 20-year deal with Russia's Gazprom in 2012 for annual purchases of an average 2.5 million tonnes of LNG. Supplies under the contract began in 2018.
GMTS had signed the deal on behalf of Gazprom. At the time, Gazprom Germania was a unit of the Russian state firm.

::Sports::

India's Punam Yadav eyes medal in weight lifting; Women aim for Lawn Bowls history

It was yet another successful outing for Indian athletes on the fourth day of the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham, with judoka Sushila Devi Likmabam winning a silver medal (Women's 48kg) while Vijay Kumar Yadav adding another medal in the sport with a bronze (Men's 61kg).
Harjinder Kaur also won a bronze medal in the Women's 71kg event at weightlifting. On Tuesday, a series of medal events is lined up for India as Punam Yadav takes part in the weightlifting final (Women's 76kg), while India women's Lawn Bowls ‘Fours’ team faces South Africa for a historic gold.
Later in the evening, India men's table tennis will aim at defending its CWG title against Singapore in the final, while the badminton mixed-team will also eye gold in the final against Malaysia.