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Important Current Affairs 23rd January 2021

NATIONAL

India’s longest Road Arch Bridge inaugurated in Meghalaya

• Meghalaya Chief Minister, Conrad K. Sangma has inaugurated India’s longest road arch bridge “Wahrew Bridge” at Sohbar in East Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya on 22 January 2021. The project was sanctioned in 2013 and, the work started in 2014. The construction of the bridge was completed in December 2018.

• The arch bridge has been constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 49.395 crore under the Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR) of the Ministry of Development of North East Region (DoNER). The iconic structure is expected to boost the tourism sector in the State.

Amit Shah inaugurates new 4-lane Thaltej-Shilaj-Rancharda railway overbridge

• Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah has inaugurated the new 4-lane Thaltej-Shilaj-Rancharda railway overbridge in Ahmedabad city of Gujarat through video conferencing. The new overbridge has been built at a cost of Rs 55 crore.

• There was a big problem of traffic on more than one lakh railway crossings in the country. Railway gates would open and close more than 100 times a day, due to which the costly fuel and precious time was wasted. In view of this, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi decided and under the leadership of Railway Minister Shri Piyush Goyal, a huge campaign was started in which the work of constructing overbridges or underbridges at these one lakh railway crossings was started. Today, this overbridge has been inaugurated under the same scheme.

Karnataka CM Yediyurappa launches Avalokana software

• The Karnataka Chief Minister, BS Yediyurappa recently launched Avalokana software. The software will enable the state government to access data on expenditures and sanctions incurred on 1,800 programmes. The software provides a focused eye view on Sustainable Development goals, Scheduled Caste Sub-Plan, Tribal Sub-plan and Centrally Sponsored Schemes.

• It is a transparent e-governance tool that will provide Assembly constituency-wise release of government grants and allocations to different government programmes.

• This will help the government to decide on releasing funds based on the expenditure incurred by the department.

• It will eventually increase the government hold over resources. The software provides a focused view on scheduled caste sub-plan, sustainable development goals and tribal sub-plan and centrally sponsored scheme.

MeITY and AWS announced Quantum Computing Applications Lab in India

• The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has announced the establishment of a Quantum Computing Applications Lab in partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS). The move will give select researchers, scientists access to Amazon’s Bracket cloud-based quantum computing service.

• It is to be implemented by the Department of Science and Technology operating under the Ministry of Science and Technology.

• The mission focuses on fundamental science, technology development and addresses the issues concerning the national priorities.

• It will prepare next-generation skilled manpower and encourages entrepreneurship and startup ecosystem development.

• The Union Budget 2020-21 had proposed to spend Rs 8,000 crores on the National Mission on Quantum Technologies and Applications.

• Quantum Technology is based on principles of quantum physics. That is, it is based on quantum theory. In simple words, it is the behaviour of energy and material in atomic and subatomic levels. It will help achieve information processing that will go beyond the limits of the classical world. A conventional computer will process in bits. On the other hand, a quantum computer will process in quantum bits.

Andaman and Nicobar Command to conduct joint military exercise ‘Kavach’

• The Indian Army is to conduct a large scale joint military exercise Kavach in the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal. The exercise is to be held under the aegis of Andaman and Nicobar Command. The Joint Military Exercise Kavach will involve Indian Navy, Indian Army, Indian Air Force and Indian Coast Guard.

• During the exercise, the joint forces will execute high-density offensive and defence measures in the Andaman sea and Bay of Bengal. Also, they will carry out amphibious landing operations, helicopter-borne insertion of special forces from sea culminating in tactical follow-on operations on land.

• The exercise is to fine-tune the joint war capabilities of all the three forces of India.

• Kavach Exercise will also involve coordinated air and maritime strikes, synergized application of maritime surveillance assets, air defence and landing operations.

• Along with Kavach Exercise, the Joint Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance (ISR) Exercise will also be held. The ISR will validate the capabilities of intelligence gathering. Also, it will validate the capabilities of information sharing from space, land, air and sea.

CM to inaugurate first child-friendly police station of U’khand

• Uttarakhand Chief Minister, Trivendra Singh Rawat will inaugurate the first child-friendly police station of Uttarakhand, which is meant to provide a friendly environment to children associated with crimes. The child-friendly police unit has been set up in the Dalanwala police station with a budget of about Rs 5 lakhs on the recommendation of the Child Protection Committee of Uttarakhand.

• According to the chairperson of State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) Usha Negi, the children who are either victims or need proper counselling or visit police station due to other reasons should be provided with a comfortable and unintimidating environment rather than keeping them in a dull and scary atmosphere. To keep children at ease, the walls are painted in bright colours and cartoons and the police personnel will also be dressed in casual clothes rather than their uniforms.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

DRDO Successfully Test Flights indigenously developed “SAAW”

• The DRDO successfully conducted captive and release trial of indigenously developed Smart Anti-Airfield Weapon (SAAW) from Hawk-I aircraft of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) off the Odisha coast. This was the 9th successful mission of SAAW conducted by DRDO till now and the first test conducted from the Hawk-i aircraft.

• The 125 Kg class smart weapon SAAW was successfully test-fired from Indian Hawk-Mk132 of HAL.

• SAAW is indigenously designed and developed by DRDO’s Research Centre Imarat (RCI) Hyderabad.

• It is capable of engaging ground enemy airfield assets such as radars, bunkers, taxi tracks, and runways among others, up to a range of 100 km.

IMPORTANT DAYS

Parakram diwas is celebrated on 23 January

• Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s, 125th birth anniversary on 23 January 2021 is observed as Parakram Diwas. The day is celebrated to honour and remember Netaji’s indomitable spirit and selfless service to the nation.

• Netaji’ was born on January 23, 1897, in Cuttack in Odisha. He graduated from Kolkata and proved his mettle by becoming an Indian Civil Services (ICS) officer. But he left the comfort and amenities that came with his job and decided to be part of the freedom struggle.

• With the slogan “Give me blood and I will give you freedom”, he awakened the country towards fighting against the British.

• Netaji built a force known as the Azad Hind Fauj (Indian National Army) giving the slogan of “Dilli Chalo”. Thousands of soldiers of his 60,000-strong army sacrificed their lives for the country.

• At the time of India’s Independence, Clement Attlee the British Prime Minister said that the loyalty of the Indian army and navy to the British state was declining due to the increasing military activities of Bose’s Azad Hind Fauj and this was one of the major reasons that nudged Britishers into leaving India.

RANKING

The Global Risks Report 2021 released

• The World Economic Forum (WEF) has released the Global Risks Report 2021, 16th Edition. The findings of the report are based on the Global Risks Perception Survey (GRPS) undertaken by over 650 members of WEF’s diverse leadership communities. The Report is prepared with Strategic Partners, Marsh McLennan in Partnership with SK Group and Zurich Insurance Group.

• The report is being released before WEF’s upcoming virtual Davos Agenda scheduled to be held between January 25-29, 2021. The main objective behind the publishing of the report is to enable better preparation by Government & other International Communities during the times of crisis.

• The Top 3 Risks by Likelihood (Very Likely to happen in the next 10 years) are Extreme Weather, Climate Action Failure & Human Environmental Damage.

• The Top 3 Risks by Impact (amount of impact they are expected to create) are Infectious diseases, Climate Action Failure & Weapons of mass destruction.

BANKING AND ECONOMY

RBI slaps penalty of Rs 2 crore on Standard Chartered Bank

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 2 crore on Standard Chartered Bank–India for delays in reporting of frauds.  The penalty has been imposed on the bank for non-compliance with certain directions issued by it contained in the ‘Reserve Bank of India (Frauds – Classification and Reporting by commercial banks and select FIs) Directions 2016’.

• The notice was issued to the bank advising it to show cause as to why penalty should not be imposed on it for such non-compliance with the directions. After considering the bank’s reply to the notice and oral submissions made in the personal hearing, the RBI concluded that the charge of non-compliance with the aforesaid RBI directions was substantiated and warranted imposition of monetary penalty.

SBI, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank remain as (D-SIBs)

• The RBI state-owned SBI, along with private-sector lenders ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank continue to be Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs) or institutions which are ‘too big to fail’. SBI, ICICI Bank, and HDFC Bank continue to be identified as Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs), under the same bucketing structure as in the 2018 list of D-SIBs.

• SIBs are subjected to higher levels of supervision so as to prevent disruption in financial services in the event of any failure.

• The Reserve Bank had issued the framework for dealing with D-SIBs in July 2014.

• The D-SIB framework requires the central to disclose the names of banks designated as D-SIBs starting from 2015 and place these lenders in appropriate buckets depending upon their Systemic Importance Scores (SISs).

• SIBs are seen as ‘too big to fail (TBTF)’, creating the expectation of government support for them in times of financial distress. These banks also enjoy certain advantages in funding markets.

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