Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 07 October 2020

SSC CGL Current Affairs

::NATIONAL::

The Centre will determine the jurisdictions of the Krishna and Godavari river management boards (KRMB and GRMB), Union Water Resources Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said on Tuesday.
He was speaking after convening an apex council meeting involving the Centre, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, the second since 2016. The meeting is primarily to resolve the conflict between the two States over executing irrigation projects and sharing water from the Krishna and Godavari rivers.
The key points on the agenda meeting which was convened via videoconference are: jurisdiction of the KRMB and GRMB, submission of Detailed Project Reports (DPR) of new projects by the two governments for appraisal and sanction by the apex council, establishing a mechanism to determine the share of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in the Krishna and Godavari waters, and shifting the headquarters of the Krishna River Management Board to Andhra Pradesh.
The headquarters of the KRMB would be located in Andhra Pradesh, headded.With regards to sharing of river waters, the Telangana Chief Minister agreed to withdraw the case filed in Supreme Court, to allow the Centre to refer water sharing issues to the Krishna Godavari tribunal.

A historic Memorandum of Understanding was signed today between Indian Sign Language Research and Training Center and NCERT to make education materials accessible for Deaf children in their preferred format of communication, Indian Sign Language.
This MoU was signed in the virtual presence of Social Justice and Empowerment Minister ThaawarchandGehlot and Education Minister Ramesh PokhriyalNishank.
Addressing on the occasion, Mr Gehlot said that the signing of this MoU is a historic step as availability of NCERT textbooks in Indian Sign Language will ensure that Hearing Impaired children can also now access educational resources in Indian Sign Language.
He said, it will be a useful and much needed resource for Hearing Impaired students, teachers, teacher educators and parents. The Minister said that this MoU is a step towards achieving common goal of fulfilling needs of Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 and New Education Policy, 2020.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Pokhriyal said that signing of MoU for converting NCERT educational materials in to Indian sign language ensures educational standardization of Indian Sign Language as mandated in the New Education Policy, 2020.

Fitch Ratings on Tuesday said Indian banks face a tough operating environment in the near term as stressed loans and write-offs increase due to the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Indian banks face a tough operating environment in the near term, as stressed loans and write-offs increase as a result of the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, but a swift economic recovery will be critical to limiting loan losses in what is likely to be a protracted period of weakness in the asset-quality cycle,” Fitch Ratings said.
“However, the exercise could leave the sector saddled with a high bad loan burden over the next few years if restructured loans do not perform according to agreed milestones,” it added. Fitch said the central bank’s data showed that Indian banks wrote off almost $85 billion over FY14-FY19.

Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister DharmendraPradhan today dedicated 42 CNG stations and three City Gate Stations of Torrent Gas to the service of the community through video conference.
Torrent Gas has the authorization to lay City Gas Distribution network in 32 Districts across 7 States and one Union Territory. These CNG stations are located across various states, including 14 in Uttar Pradesh, 8 in Maharashtra, 6 in Gujarat, 4 in Punjab and 5 each in Telangana and Rajasthan.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Pradhan said, Government has visualized that consumers, as per their purchasing capacity and their choice of fuel, should be able to buy any type of fuel from the retail outlet- be it petrol, diesel, CNG, LNG or electric charging. He also said that the Government wants to supply fuel through the mobile dispensers so that consumers can get the fuel at their doorstep, as per their convenience.
In the Solar energy sector, India has already become the role model. Mr Pradhan said that an investment of more than four lakh crore rupees is being made in the gas infrastructure which includes laying of pipelines, terminals and gas fields.

India and Myanmar have agreed to work towards the operationalization of the Sittwe port in the Rakhine state in the first quarter of 2021. The announcement came post conclusion of the two-day visit of Indian Army Chief General MM Naravane and Foreign Secretary Harsh VardhanShringla to Myanmar.
The Indian delegation also presented 3000 vials of Remdesivir to the State Counsellor Aung San SuuKyi, as a symbol of cooperation between the countries to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
Both sides agreed to further strengthen their partnership in borderd security connectivity projects, capacity building, power and energy.
They also discussed the progress in the ongoing Indian-assisted infrastructure projects such as the Trilateral Highway and the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project.

Two Americans and a Briton won the 2020 Nobel Prize for Medicine on Monday for identifying the Hepatitis C virus, in work spanning decades that has helped to limit the spread of the fatal disease and develop antiviral drugs to cure it.
The discoveries by scientists Harvey J. Alter, Charles M. Rice and Briton Michael Houghton meant there was now a chance of eradicating the Hepatitis C virus.
The three share the 10 million Swedish crowns ($1.1 million) award for discovering and proving that a blood-borne virus could cause Hepatitis C, which afflicts more than 70 million people and causes about 4,00,000 deaths each year.
This virus, belonging to the Flavivirus family, was named Hepatitis C.Its identification made it possible to develop tests to screen bloodbank supplies and greatly reduce the spread of the disease, which can cause cirrhosis and liver cancer.
The final piece of the jigsaw puzzle came when Dr. Rice, then at Washington University in St. Louis, was able to use genetic engineering to generate a version of the Hepatitis C virus and demonstrate that it alone could cause symptoms in a chimpanzee comparable to an infection in humans.

The IOC and local organisers are trying to “simplify” the postponed Tokyo Olympics, promising to save money.
The executive board of the International Olympic Committee is expected to review the proposed cuts on Wednesday. It includes about 50 changes to fringe areas that leave the number of athletes — 15,400 for the Olympics and Paralympics — and all sports events untouched for next year.