Banking Current Affairs : 21st May 2024

Today’s Current Affairs: 21st May 2024 for SSC CGL, State SSC, RRB, Railways, Banking Exam & IBPS, etc

National Anti-Terrorism Day:

• National Anti-Terrorism Day, observed on May 21st, 2024, honors the victims of terrorism and acts as a powerful reminder of the collective vigilance needed to combat this global threat.
• This year’s observance takes on an even greater significance as we confront evolving forms of extremism and strive toward a safer, more peaceful world.

World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development:

• UNESCO leads the celebration of World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development highlighting not only the richness of the world’s cultures but also the essential role of intercultural dialogue for achieving peace and sustainable development.

Artara’24 Fine Arts Exhibition & Competition Makes Its Mark In Dubai:

• The Artara’24 Fine Arts Exhibition and Competition has made its mark in Dubai as a platform for discovering and nurturing emerging artistic talents from the country.
• The event aimed to discover hidden artistic gems, with a particular focus on the Indian talent residing in Dubai.

Ekta Bhyan Secures Gold Medal In Women’s F51 Club Throw Competition At World Para Athletic C’ships:

• India’s Ekta Bhyan secured a gold medal with a season-best throw of 20.12 meters in the women’s F51 club throws competition at the World Para Athletic Championships in Kobe, Japan.

Chief Risk Officer : Mahindra Finanace

• Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services on 21 May said it has appointed Mahesh Rajaraman as Chief Risk Officer (CRO) of the company with effect from August 1, 2024.
• In a regulatory filing, Mahindra Finance said Mallika Mittal tendered her resignation and ceased to be the CRO of the company with effect from May 17.

SBI General Insurance signs bancassurance partnership with Jana Small Finance Bank to increase insurance penetration:

• SBI General Insurance, one of India’s top general insurance firms, has signed a strategic bancassurance collaboration agreement with Jana Small Finance Bank, a leading financial institution in India, to facilitate the sale of non-life insurance products.
• Under this strategic relationship, SBI General Insurance will provide Jana Small Finance Bank customers with a comprehensive variety of general insurance products.

Indian Mixed Team Breaks National Record At Asian Athletic Relay Championships 2024:

• The Indian Mixed team broke the national record at the ongoing Asian Athletic Relay Championships 2024 Bangkok in Thailand.
• The team comprising Muhammad Ajmal, Jyothika Sri, Amoj Jacob, and Subha Venkatesan won gold in the 4x400m event.
• Sri Lanka and Vietnam won silver and bronze in the event.

India’s Deepthi Jeevanji Smashes World Record In Women’s 400 Metre Event:

• Twenty-year-old Deepthi Jeevanji smashed the world record in the women’s 400m T20 and grabbed her first gold at the World Para Athletics Championships in Kobe, Japan.
• Deepthi clocked 55.07 seconds, breaking American Breanna Clark’s earlier world record of 55.12 seconds, which she had set during last year’s edition of the championships in Paris.

Lunar Polar Exploration Mission : Scheduled Flight In Few Years

• The India-Japan partnership for their joint moon mission, Lunar Polar Exploration Mission (LUPEX), is likely to take flight in a few years, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said in an interview recently.
• Lunar Polar Exploration Mission (LUPEX) is a collaborative endeavor between Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

Project Astra:

• Google at the company’s annual developer conference, presented an early version of Project Astra.
• Project Astra is a new multimodal AI agent developed by Google.
• It is capable of answering real-time questions fed to it through text, video, images and speech by pulling up the relevant information.
• It can see the world, remember where one has left a thing and even answer if a computer code is correct by looking at it through the phone’s camera.

Bacterial Pathogens Priority List : World Health Organization List

• The World Health Organization (WHO) released its updated Bacterial Priority Pathogens List (BPPL) 2024.
• Bacterial Pathogens Priority List is an important tool in the global fight against antimicrobial resistance.
• In 2017, WHO developed the first BPPL to guide investment into the R&D of new antibacterials and it listed 13 bacterial pathogens (phenotypes).
• It was developed with the multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) method (15).

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has raised supervisory concerns regarding the functioning of asset reconstruction companies (ARCs):

• Asset Reconstruction Companies (ARCs) are financial institutions that acquire and manage stressed assets from banks and financial institutions.
• Registered under Section 3 of the SARFAESI Act, 2002, ARCs face several challenges, including issues like back-door entry of defaulting promoters, lengthy settlement processes, and non-transparent practices.

Centre Granted Citizenship Under CAA:

• The Union Government has granted citizenship certificates to over 300 people who applied under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), 2019.
• The Citizenship Amendment Rules, 2024, were notified by the Ministry of Home Affairs on 11th March 2024, that paved the way for the implementation of the CAA after 4 years since its passage by Parliament in December 2019.
• The CAA provides citizenship to undocumented migrants from 6 non-Muslim communities (Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, or Christian) from 3 neighboring countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan), who entered India on or before 31st December 2014.

Digital Arrest Scams : 

• The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has issued a warning about an increase in ‘digital arrest’ scams, where cybercriminals impersonate government officials to extort money from unsuspecting victims.
• The Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C), in collaboration with Microsoft, is actively combating this organised online economic crime.
• Scammers pose as personnel from various government agencies, including the police, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Narcotics Department, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), or Enforcement Directorate.

Pig Butchering Scam: Online Investment Fraud

• An online financial fraud called the Pig Butchering Scam is increasing across the globe, including in India.
• Pig Butchering Scam is also known as a “sha zhu pan” scam, which is a type of online investment fraud that involves scammers creating fake online personas to lure victims into fraudulent investment schemes.\
• The term “pig butchering” comes from the scammers’ practice of “fattening up” their victims by building trust over time before “slaughtering” them and stealing their money.

R21/Matrix-M Vaccine:

• Vaccines manufacturer Serum Institute of India (SII) recently said it has started exports of ‘R21/Matrix-M’ malaria vaccine to Africa as part of the global fight against the disease.
• R21/Matrix-M Vaccine is a new vaccine approved for the prevention of malaria in children.
• It is the second malaria vaccine recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO),following the RTS, S/AS01 vaccine, which received a WHO recommendation in 2021.

Copernicus Emergency Management Service (EMS) Programme:

• As part of a multi-agency effort to locate a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi that crashed in East Azerbaijan province recently, the European Union activated its Copernicus EMS rapid response mapping service at Iran’s request.
• Copernicus Emergency Management Service (EMS) Programme named after the renowned 15th-century scientist Nicolaus Copernicus, the programme is the earth observation component of the European Union’s (EU) space initiative.