Daily CURRENT AFFAIRS

Daily Current Affair - UPSC/KAS Exams - 13th April 2022

NEWS

RBI has announced cardless cash withdrawals at ATMs across the country.

DETAILS

HOW WILL THIS SYSTEM WORK

• Cardless cash withdrawals are to be authenticated via UPI
• ATMs are expected to show an option for withdrawing cash using UPI
• Once a user selects this option, they can input the amount to be withdrawn and a QR code will be generated on the ATM screen
• Users will then need to scan that code via their UPI app, and enter the password to withdraw cash from the ATM

BENEFITS

• Enhance security of cash withdrawal transactions
• Prevent frauds like card skimming and card cloning
• Enable users to take cash from any and all ATMs

LIMITATIONS AND CHALLENGES

• Currently, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank and SBI allow cardless cash withdrawals.The cardless feature at these banks work with each specific bank’s app.
• Feature is cumbersome as it has certain withdrawal limits, and the transaction is charged
• In cardless withdrawal, the security vulnerability of a card is minimised, but the risk will soon transfer to a mobile-enabled feature

NEWS

The Supreme Court has directed the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) not to exclude candidates suffering from colour blindness from its courses on film making and editing and asked it to make changes to its curriculum insteadWhat is colour blindness?

COLOUR BLINDNESS

• Also known as colour deficiency
• Inability to see colours in the normal way
• Individuals often cannot distinguish between certain colours — usually greens and reds, and sometimes blues as well

PROCESS –

• Two types of cells in the retina detect light — the “rods”, which distinguish between light and dark, and the “cones” that detect colour
• There are three types of cones that see colour — red, green, and blue — and our brains use the information from these cells to perceive colour.

REASON

• Absence of one or more of cone cells, or their failure to work properly
• In a situation where all three cone cells are present but one of them is malfunctioning, mild colour blindness may occur

NEWS

India has successfully flight-tested Helina, an Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM), in Pokhran

DETAILS

• Developed by the Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), Hyderabad under the Missiles and Strategic Systems (MSS) cluster of the DRDO
• Maximum range of seven kilometers and has been designed and developed for integration on the weaponized version of the ALH (Advanced Light Helicopter)
• Has all-weather, day, and night capability and can defeat battle tanks with conventional armour as well as explosive reactive armour
• Developed for integration with choppers in both the Army and the Air Force
• The Air Force version of Helina is sometimes referred to as Dhruvastra
• Can engage targets both in direct hit mode as well as top attack mode
• Top Attack Mode: In this mode, the missile is required to climb sharply after launch and travel at a certain altitude, and then plunge on the top of the target.
• Direct Hit Mode: The missile travels at a lower altitude, directly striking the target.

NEWS

103 years of Jallianwala Bagh massacre observed

ON THE DAY

• Thousands of people had gathered at Jallianwala Bagh to celebrate Baisakhi and to protest peacefully against the arrest of two leaders, Saifuddin Kitchlew, and Satyapal.
• But at that time processions and public meetings were banned in India and the villagers were unaware of it
• Dyer entered the venue with his troops and blocked the only entrance. Then he passed the order of shooting at the unarmed civilians
• After the incident, Dyer stated that his act was not to disperse the meeting but to punish the Indians who were present at the venue for disobedience
• According to the official figures provided by the British government, 379 people were killed with thousands severely injured
• As per the Congress, more than 1,000 Indians lost their lives that day

THE AFTERMATH OF THE INCIDENT

• Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore condemned this unjust attack on the peaceful protestors and renounced their Kaiser-i-Hind medal and British Knighthood respectively
• There were protests across the country against the incident. The actions of Dyer were criticized by many including former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. After this incident, the Hunter commission was set up to investigate the incident, and Dyer was removed from duty after the commission submitted its report
• Dyer passed away on 23rd July 1927 due to a cerebral haemorrhage. This incident is referred to by some historians as the beginning of the end of British rule in India. Till now Britain has never formally apologised for the massacre but in 2019 they expressed “deep regret.”

NEWS

Recently, Archaeologists have identified 65 large sandstone jars (Megaliths) believed to be used for ritual burials across four sites in Hasao district, Assam

DETAILS

WHAT ARE FOUND

• Some jars are tall and cylindrical, while others are partly or fully buried in the ground.
• Some of them spanned up to three metres high and two metres wide. Some of the jars feature decorative carvings, while others are plain.

BACKGROUND

• The jars of Assam were first sighted in 1929 by British civil servants James Philip Mills and John Henry Hutton, who recorded their presence in six sites in Dima Hasao: Derebore (now Hojai Dobongling), Kobak, Kartong, Molongpa (now Melange Puram), Ndunglo and Bolasan (now Nuchubunglo).
• Two sites were discovered in 2016. In 2020, four more sites were discovered by the History and Archaeology Department at North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, Meghalaya.
• At one site, Nuchubunglo, as many as 546 jars were found which was the largest such site in the world.

SIGNIFICANCE

• Links could be drawn with the stone jars found in Laos and Indonesia.
• No reported parallel anywhere else in India, apart from the northeast – this points to the fact that once upon a time a group of people having similar kind of cultural practice occupied the same geography between Laos and Northeast India
• Dating done at the Laos site suggests that jars were positioned at the sites as early as the late second millennium BC.