Today's Current Affairs-25th November 2022

INTERNATIONAL

Europe Names Its First Disabled Astronaut

• The European Space Agency has named the first ever “parastronaut” in a major step towards allowing people with physical disabilities to work and live in space. The 22-nation agency said it had appointed British Paralympic sprinter John McFall to take part in a feasibility study during astronaut training to assess the conditions needed for people with disabilities to take part in future missions.
• Notably: McFall, who lost his right leg due to a motorcycle accident at the age of 19, won a bronze medal in the 100 metres at the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games.
• The announcement came as ESA appointed a new set of astronauts for the first time since 2009 after whittling down 22,500 valid applications. ESA posted openings last year for people fully capable of passing its usual stringent psychological, cognitive and other tests who are only prevented from becoming astronauts due to the constraints of existing hardware in light of their disability. It received 257 applications for the role of astronaut with a disability. McFall will work with ESA engineers to understand what changes in hardware are needed to open professional spaceflight to a wider group of qualified candidates, the agency said.

Qatar seals 27-year LNG deal with China as competition heats up

• QatarEnergy announced a 27-year natural gas supply deal with China, calling it the “longest” ever seen as it strengthened ties with Asia while Europe scrambles for alternative sources. The state energy company will send four million tonnes of liquefied natural gas annually from its new North Field East project to China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec).
• Asian countries led by China, Japan and South Korea are the main market for Qatar’s gas, which is increasingly being sought by European countries since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Negotiations with European countries have struggled as Germany and others baulked at signing the type of long-term deals made with Asian nations. North Field is at the centre of Qatar’s expansion of its liquefied natural gas production by more than 60 percent to 126 million tonnes a year by 2027.

 NATIONAL

Lt Governor inaugurates Annual Youth Festival 'Sonzal-2022' at University of Kashmir

• Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha inaugurated the Annual Youth Festival ‘Sonzal-2022’ at the University of Kashmir. The Lt Governor said that the annual festival is a great opportunity for young artists to showcase their talents and ‘Sonzal’ provides them a much-needed platform to achieve the dream of ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat’.
• Sonzal means rainbow, which is a symbol of hope, inspiration, and good fortune.
• The Lt Governor entrusted on the Educational Institutions to discharge their responsibility to ensure freedom, creativity, and engagement for them to become multi-achievers, and acquire knowledge & skills to thrive and shape their future.
• The Lt Governor appreciated the efforts of the Kashmir University for making necessary changes to incorporate recommendations of the National Education Policy.

JOINT HADR EXERCISE SAMANVAY - 2022 TO COMMENCE AT AIR FORCE STATION AGRA

• Indian Air Force is conducting the Annual Joint Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) Exercise ‘Samanvay 2022’ from 28 November 2022 to 30 November 2022 at Air Force Station Agra.
• To assess the efficacy of institutional Disaster Management structures and contingency measures, the exercise will comprise a seminar on Disaster Management, a ‘Multi Agency Exercise’ involving static and flying displays of various HADR assets, and a ‘Tabletop Exercise’.
• Along with the involvement of various stakeholders from the country, the exercise will see participation by representatives from the ASEAN countries as well.
• Hon’ble Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh will be Chief Guest for the Capability Demonstration events planned during the exercise on 29 November 2022.
• Samanvay 2022 will promote a synergistic approach towards HADR by various national and regional stakeholders involved in Disaster Management including the Civil Administration, the Armed Forces, NDMA, NIDM, NDRF, DRDO, BRO, IMD, NRS, and INCOIS.

 SPORTS

Bhukya, Patri win National U-13 badminton titles

• Telangana’s Nishanth Bhukya and Odisha’s Tanvi Patri became the boys and girls’ singles’ champions at the 34th Under-13 National Badminton Championships, notching contrasting wins at the UP-Badminton Academy.
• Fourth-seeded Bhukya came from behind to beat Andhra Pradesh’s Akhil Reddy Boba 19-21, 21-12, 22-20 in 44 minutes whereas Patri took just 22 minutes to brush aside local challenger and 15th-seeded Divyanshi Gautam 21-7, 21-10.
• Patri won her maiden National U-13 Ranking Tournament in Maharashtra earlier this month, and Patri was in sublime touch against Agra’s Gautam.
• Tossing and placing the shuttle well, Patri kept Gautam on her toes with cross-court volleys to take the first game.
• In the second round, Gautam tried to narrow the lead after trailing 5-9, dribbling the shuttle at the net, Patri was too good in her placements and forced Gautam to commit a series of unforced errors before wresting the game as well as the match.
• In the boy’s final, Bhukya found Boba quite tough to handle in the first game as the Andhra shuttler raced to a 15-11 lead before winning the game at 21-19.

 APPOINTMENS & RESIGNATIONS

Pakistan PM picks Lt Gen Asim Munir as new army chief

• Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif appointed Lieutenant General Asim Munir as the new army chief of the country, replacing incumbent General Qamar Javed Bajwa. Information minister Marriyum Aurangzeb announced the appointment on Twitter ending weeks of speculation over what some call the most powerful position in the South Asian nation.
• Pakistan’s military has directly ruled the country of 220 million people for nearly half of its 75-year history.
• Lieutenant General Sahir Shamshad will take charge as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee
• PM Sharif held a cabinet meeting earlier where he selected Munir from a list of six nominees for the top military post.

Romal Shetty Designated As CEO Of Deloitte India

• Senior consultant Romal Shetty has been nominated CEO-designate of Deloitte India after a months-long selection process, according to an email sent to the firm’s partners late. The nomination committee, after considering multiple candidates, zeroed in on Shetty, who leads Deloitte’s consulting practice in India. The next step is for its Indian equity partners to confirm his candidacy.
• Romal Shetty has 20 years of experience in advisory services across large-scale transformation programs covering the business and technology domain and has worked in over 30+ countries across risk and consulting domain. Shetty’s key focus areas are financial and operational turnaround, customer experience, product innovation, revenue management, analytics, business continuity, risk management, cost reduction, managed services and process reengineering. He is a Fellow Member of the ICAI and a Certified Information Systems Auditor.

BANKING AND ECONOMY

RBI adds GSTN in financial information providers list under account aggregator norm

• With a view to facilitate cash flow-based lending to MSMEs, it has been decided to include Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) as a Financial Information Provider (FIP) under the Account Aggregator (AA) framework. Department of Revenue shall be the regulator of GSTN for this specific purpose and Goods and Services Tax (GST) Returns, viz. Form GSTR-1 and Form GSTR-3B, shall be the Financial Information.
• Facilitate cash flow lending to the micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). The AA network had been in discussion with the GSTN network for their onboarding for a long time as this would give financial institutions access to data regarding small businesses, which would help them to extend loans to such businesses.
• All major public sector banks and private sector banks are live on the network and many large non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) have also gone live, expert are saying.

BOB opens its first dedicated mid-corporate branch in Kochi

• Bank of Baroda opened its first mid-corporate Branch in Kerala at Kochi. The branch was inaugurated by Debadatta Chand, Executive Director in the presence of S. Rengarajan, GM (Head – Mid Corporate Cluster South), and Sreejith Kottarathil, Zonal Head-Ernakulam.
• The key focus of mid corporate branch is to increase corporate book size and income to improve turnaround time (TAT) for corporate proposals and provide enhanced service to corporate customers.
• The branch will cater to mid-corporate, large corporate, and PSU borrowers and provide corporate loans, trade finance, forex, and cash management services.
• The Bank recently reorganized its corporate banking model. The corporate banking vertical has been divided into two units — large corporates and mid-corporates – to effectively serve both customer segments.

Flipkart and Axis Bank partner to launch Super Elite Credit Card

• Axis Bank, India’s third largest private sector bank, and Flipkart, India’s homegrown e-commerce marketplace have partnered to launch the ‘Super Elite Credit Card. To scale the Flipkart SuperCoins reward program and enhance the customer shopping experience, this card will serve extensive value to shoppers.
• Following the three million milestones recently achieved for the existing Flipkart Axis Bank Credit Card, this partnership enables yet another avenue for customers on the platform to unlock and enjoy unique rewards.
• The Super Elite Credit Card will offer an activation benefit of 500 Flipkart SuperCoins with 4X SuperCoins earned for every transaction and rewards up to Rs 20,000 across Flipkart, Myntra, etc.
• SuperCoins are rewards that customers can earn on each purchase across Flipkart, Myntra, and Cleartrip.