Current Affairs Update - 09 September 2016

Updated on : 20:55, 13 September 2016

— NATIONAL —

– NSSO sanitation survey: Sikkim is top

• The results of the survey carried out last year by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) was released by Union Rural Development Minister Narendra Singh Tomar .  Following Sikkim come Kerala, Mizoram, Himachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Haryana, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Meghalaya among the top 10 States.
• Sikkim scored 98.2 per cent on a scale of 100. Kerala scored 96.4 while neighbouring Tamil Nadu notched up just 39.2.
• The NSSO conducted the survey in May-June 2015 covering 73,176 households in 3,788 villages across the country. The ranking given on the basis of percentage of households having access to sanitary toilets and using them (either household or community toilets).
• Sikkim has been adjudged the cleanest State while Jharkhand comes last in the list on the condition of sanitation in rural areas of 26 states. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home State, Gujarat is ranked 14th.

– Pranab Mukherjee begins two-day visit to Tamil Nadu

• President Pranab Mukherjee will start his two-day visit to Tamil Nadu on Friday. On the first day, he will visit the Defence Services Staff College at Wellington,
• On the second day, Mukherjee will review the passing out parade at Officers Training Academy, Chennai. He will also attend the centenary celebrations of the Karur Vysya Bank

– Mehbooba launches ‘CM scooty scheme’ for girls in J&K

• J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti on Friday launched ‘CM scooty scheme’ in the state under which 300 girls of two colleges were distributed scooters.
• Eligibility for a scooter was based on  a minimum percentage of 65% and an annual family income of Rs 4 lakh. This comes after a poster had appeared in Srinagar that warned girls not to ride two-wheelers.

– First State to Roll Out ‘Twitter Seva”: Uttar Pradesh

• The Uttar Pradesh govt has rolled out 122 Twitter handles and service would help the UP police to strengthen its primary relationship with the citizens. UP DGP Javeed Ahmad added this service would be integrated with the “Dial-100” project which is slated to be launched in October.
• The idea behind the service was to “provide the UP police, among other things, strengthening of its primary relationship with the citizens by providing fast, efficient and real time response to complaints and SoS’s raised by the 220 plus million population in the state”.

– Over 15cr LED Distributed Under UJALA

• Centre has said, over 15 crore LED bulbs have been distributed under Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs (UJALA). UJALA is the world’s largest LED programme for the residential sector. The LED bulbs distributed under the UJALA scheme is one third the market price. The scheme is presently operational in 18 states & 4 U.T.s. The scheme aims at replacing all the 77 crore inefficient bulbs with LEDs.

– The Centre has announced a financial package for Andhra Pradesh.

• It includes full funding of Pollavaram irrigation project, tax concessions and a special assistance. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, the funding of Pollavaram project would be met by the Centre from 1st of April 2014, the date when it was declared as a national project.
• Mr Jaitley also announced tax incentives and grants.

– Railways to implement Flexi Fare system in Rajdhani, Shatabdi & Duronto trains:

• Indian Railways have decided to implement Flexi Fare system in Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto trains. Under the scheme, the base fares will increase by 10% with every ten percent of berth sold, subject to a prescribed ceiling limit.
• Supplementary charges like reservation charges, Superfast charge, Catering charges and Service tax will be levied separately. There will be no change in the existing fare for 1AC and Executive class of travel in these trains.

– DoT unveils new norms on SIM upgradation:

• The Department of Telecom (DoT) has come out with new guidelines on SIM upgradation from 2G to 3G or 4G. It can be done with a clear go-ahead from mobile users and on their request. The new guidelines have already come into effect.
• Now, the subscriber will have to generate a request customer care or online or point of sale of the company. Once the request is received, the operator will issue a new SIM card to the subscriber

– Gujarat CM dedicates 2 Mbps connectivity to 6,000 villages:

• Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has dedicated 2 Mbps download and 512 kbps upload digital connectivity to 6,000 villages at a ceremony in Gandhinagar. Now 6,000 villages out of 14,000 are given 2 Mbps connectivity through BSNL network.
• As these villages are out of the V-SAT platform, the rest of the villages served by V-SAT will also get faster connectivity. Gujarat Government has set the target to achieve 100 percent village connectivity through optical fiber network 2nd October next year.
• The 28th and the 29th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit concluded on 8 September 2016 at Vientiane, Laos. The theme for the 2016 summit was Turning Vision into Reality for a Dynamic ASEAN Community.
• H.E. Thongloun Sisoulith, Prime Minister of the Lao PDR, was the Chairperson of the summit that was held from 6 September 2016 to 8 September 2016.
• The Summit was attended by the leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations. They are Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei Darussalam, Viet Nam, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Cambodia.

– Dutch assistance to clean the Yamuna

• Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IIT-D) and The Energy Resources Institute (TERI) are teaming up with their peers from the Delft University of Technology, Wageningten University and the Vrije Unversiteit in the Netherlands to set up a network of sewage treatment plants that will clean wastewater in Delhi’s Barapullah drain, which is reportedly responsible for 30 per cent of the pollution of the Yamuna.
• Funded by Dutch government and industry and India’s Department of Biotechnology, the Rs. 21 crore project is unique according to those involved as it will use filtration membranes developed by Indian scientists and employ a new anaerobic sewage treatment process.

 

— INTERNATIONAL —

– ASEAN Summit 2016 concludes in Vientiane, Laos

• The 28th and the 29th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit concluded on 8 September 2016 at Vientiane, Laos. The theme for the 2016 summit was Turning Vision into Reality for a Dynamic ASEAN Community.
• H.E. Thongloun Sisoulith, Prime Minister of the Lao PDR, was the Chairperson of the summit that was held from 6 September 2016 to 8 September 2016.
• The Summit was attended by the leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations. They are Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei Darussalam, Viet Nam, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Cambodia.

– Wells Fargo fined $190 mn over fake accounts

• The US’ largest bank by valuation, Wells Fargo, was ordered to pay $185 million in penalties and $5 million to customers by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Thursday. Of this, it has to pay $100 million to CFPB, the largest fine ever levied by the regulator.
• Notably, Wells Fargo had been accused of opening over 2 million unauthorized accounts.

 

— BANKING —

– RBI Cancels Reg Certificate of 5 NBFCs

• The RBI has cancelled the registration certificates of five non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) while two surrendered their certificate.
• The entities whose certificates were cancelled are Simco Consultants, Lunkad Securities, Rajvir Marketing and Investment, Crystal Investments & Shri Jaya Investments Agency.
• The NBFCs which surrendered the certificate are Texas Resources & Vivek Vyapar

– State Bank of India Raises Rs.2100 crore

• The country’s largest lender SBI has raised Rs 2,100 crore by allotting Basel-III compliant perpetual bonds to YES Bank.This is part of the bank’s Rs 11,100-crore fund raising plan.
• These are additional tier-I (AT1) non-convertible, perpetual, subordinated, unsecured debt instruments in the form of debentures. Perpetual bonds carry no maturity date, so they may be treated as equity, not as debt.

– Syndicate Bank Appoints Jayant Purushottam Gokhale as a  Director

• Jayant Purushottam Gokhale has been appointed director of Syndicate Bank. The Centre has nominated Gokhale as part-time non-official director under the chartered accountants category for a period of three years.
• His appointment is subject to his resignation from the board of LIC Nomura Mutual Fund Asset Management Company, before joining the bank’s board.

– ‘Software Robotics’  launched by ICICI Bank

• The country’s largest private lender ICICI Bank has announced the deployment of ‘Software Robotics’ in over 200 business processes across various functions of the bank. This move will enable the banks employees to focus more on value-added functions. The software robots will reduce the response time to customers by up to 60%.
• ICICI Bank is an Indian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, with its registered office in Vadodara. Chanda Kochhar is the managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of ICICI Bank.

– Trupay Launches UPI Mobile Payment App

• Trupay has started offering mobile payment services under the Unified Payment Interface (UPI). It is among the first private sector companies in the country, apart from banks, to offer a mobile payment application based on UPI.
• Trupay enables users to send & receive money from their bank accounts with only a phone number. Currently, customers of 21 banks will be able to make payments on Trupay.

– SBI, Tata Housing Enter into Pact

• SBI & Tata Housing have entered into a partnership that would enable easier financing & purchase of homes. The MoU were signed by Rajnish Kumar, MD (NBG), SBI & Brotin Banerjee, MD & CEO, Tata Housing. The MOU is valid for 3 years & the two partners will roll out multiple offers.
• The collaboration will facilitate Indian middle class to be able to realise the most important goal of owning a house.

– Yes Bank Launches its UPI Services

• Yes Bank has commenced first of its kind Unified Payments Interface (UPI) services by partnering with 50 businesses. The UPI framework was developed by national payments corporation of India (NPCI) with the RBI.
• The UPI framework will make transactions instant, secure and interoperable. The bank aims to replace cash on delivery (CoD) with digital payments for Flipkart, Myntra and Jabong.

 

— BUSINESS AND ECONOMY —

– Ananya Birla launches luxury e-commerce startup’CuroCarte’,

• Ananya Birla, daughter of Aditya Birla Group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, on Thursday launched ‘CuroCarte’, a luxury e-commerce platform which will go live on September 11. CuroCarte will offer products priced at INR 7,000-12,000 curated from nine countries including Spain, Thailand, Morocco and France. Birla’s first venture was a micro-finance institution aimed at empowering women in rural areas.

– Google invites startups for launchpad program

• Google has invited late-stage app startups from India, Brazil, Indonesia and Mexico to apply for the third class of its Launchpad Accelerator program. Under the program, startups will work closely with Google for six months, including a two-week all-expense-paid training at Google headquarters in Silicon Valley. Startups can apply for the program by October 24, 2016.

– Banks can accept tax dues in cash under IDS: RBI

• The RBI on Thursday directed banks to accept tax dues in cash under the domestic black money declaration scheme which closes on September 30. BANK accept cash, irrespective of amount… from all declarants… including deposits under the Scheme,” it said.
• The government had informed RBI, “banks are hesitant” in allowing large cash deposits under the Income Declaration Scheme (IDS).

 

— APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGN—

– Om Prakash Kohli sworn in as Madhya Pradesh Governor

• Kohli, who is the Gujarat Governor, has been given the additional charge of Madhya Pradesh after Ram Naresh Yadav’s tenure in office got over on 7th sepetmber.
• Kohli is the 26th Governor of Madhya Pradesh Acting Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court Rajendra Menon administered the oath.

– Government appoints J. Satyanarayana as the chairperson of UIDAIU:

• The Union Govt. has chosen a retired IAS officer and former DEITY Secretary J. Satyanarayana as the Chairperson of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAIU).
• He succeeds former Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani (first Chairman of the UIDAI) and had stepped down from the post in 2014.

 

— AWARDS AND HONOURS —

– Canara Bank Gets D&B Award

• Canara Bank has been conferred with the Dun & Bradstreet Banking Awards 2016. It has been awarded for being the Best Bank under priority sector lending & Best Retail Growth performer amongst public sector banks.
• The award was received by Harideesh Kumar B, (ED), Canara Bank, from Vinod Rai, Chairman of Banks Board Bureau. Canara Bank is an Indian state-owned bank headquartered in Bangalore,

– Guinness World Record for Bearded Woman

• Harnaam Kaur with six-inch long facial hair has become the youngest woman in the world to have a full beard, according to the Guinness World Records.
• She is an Indian-origin woman in the UK. She has polycystic ovary syndrome, a hormonal condition that can result in the growth of excess facial hair. In March 2016 she became the first female with a beard to walk the runway at London Fashion Week.

– Pankaj Recommended for Padma Bhushan

• Billiards and Snooker Federation of India (BSFI) has once again recommended Pankaj Advani for the Padma Bhushan award.
• Advani is a 15-time world champion in billiards and snooker. He was also recommended for the honour last year before being overlooked for the award.
• The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in India, after the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan.

– Pawan Singh Awarded ISSF Medal

• Pawan Singh, a former shooting coach of the national shooting team, was awarded by International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) in Delhi.
• He was awarded for his exceptional contribution to the field of shooting. The award comprises a bronze medal and a certificate. He is the youngest Indian to have been honored by ISSF after almost 70 years.

 

— SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY —

– Toxic Particles Discovered in Brain

• Scientists have for the first time discovered tiny magnetic particles from air pollution lodged in human brains. Researchers at Lancaster University found abundant magnetite nano particles in the brain tissue from 37 individuals aged three to 92-years-old.
• Particles smaller than 200nm enter the brain directly through the olfactory nerve after breathing air pollution through the nose.

– Asteroid-Analysing Explorer Launched

• The US space agency NASA has launched a mission to retrieve a rock sample from a 500m-wide asteroid called Bennu. Scientists hope the material will reveal details about the formation of the planets.
• The probe, dubbed Osiris-Rex, blasted away from Florida on an Atlas rocket. The Japanese brought back a tiny amount of dust from asteroid Itokawa in 2010.

– North  Korea Claims Success in Nuclear Test

• North Korea says it has successfully carried out its fifth nuclear test. The announcement on state media came hours after a seismic event was detected near its nuclear test site.
• South Korea believes it is the North’s biggest ever test, raising fears the state has made real nuclear advances. The latest test, with an estimated yield of 10 kilotons, is the largest-ever staged by Pyongyang.

– LIGO Lab to Come Up In Maharashtra

• The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) project that was given approval by the Union Cabinet may come up in Maharashtra’s Hingoli district. Aundh in Hingoli district is a preferred site for the Ligo project.
• It would be third such laboratory in the world, first outside the United States. The existing laboratories are located in Hanford, Washington & in Livingston, Louisiana.