Current Affairs Update - 13 September 2016

Updated on : 20:55, 17 September 2016

— NATIONAL —

– Uttrakhand CM launches dengue awareness campaign

• With the rising dengue cases inUttarakhand, CM Harish Rawat on Monday launched an awareness campaign in Dehradun and joined the state police in a clean-up drive clearing choked drains.
• He also sprinkled kerosene in the drains and requested people to do the same at regular intervals. Uttarakhand has reported 756 dengue cases so far, 709 of these in Dehradun.

– Direct Selling Guidelines 2016 framework by Ram Vilas Paswan

• The Union Government issued model guidelines for states to regulate direct selling and multi-level marketing businesses while prohibiting pyramid structures as well as money circulation schemes. The guidelines were issued to protect consumers from Ponzi frauds.
• The Direct Selling Guidelines 2016 framework was released by the Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan. They have been sent to the states and Union Territories for adoption.

– ‘Central Sector Scheme’ with total project outlay of Rs. 3600 crore : CCEA & TEQIP

• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) and approved the proposal for initiation of the 3rd Phase of Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQIP).
• The project will be implemented as a ‘Central Sector Scheme’ with total project outlay of INR 3600 crore. However, the project would be initiated with a cost of INR 2660 crore, with the possibility of additional financing of INR 940 crore at later stage.
• iiOut of the INR 2660 crore, the Central share will be INR 1330 crore and external assistance from the World Bank through International Development Association (IDA) Credit of INR1330 crore .

– Govt inaugurates national fair in Bengaluru

• Union Minister of State for Ayush (Independent Charge) Shri ShripadYessoNaik and Union minister for Fertilisers and Chemicals and Parliamentary Affairs Shri Ananth Kumar inaugurated the National Fair on comprehensive Indian Medicine system (AROGYA) in Bengaluru.
• The two days BRICS Wellness Workshop and AROGYA fair is being organized by the Ministry of AYUSH, in collaboration with Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS).

– MP, Maha, Jharkhand CMs meet over GaribKalyan Agenda

• Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Monday held a discussion on BJP’s ‘GaribKalyan Agenda’ with his Maharashtra and Jharkhand counterparts.
• “Several states are running various schemes for poverty alleviation and we were given the task of…bringing parity among them,”Chouhan said. After the Chief Ministers submit their report, the party will finalise an agenda on the issue.

– Aadhaar to be compulsory to book rail tickets

• According to a new IRCTC directive, Aadhaar cards would soon become mandatory for booking rail tickets. Aadhaar cards would be compulsory for both reserved and unreserved categories, for online as well as counter tickets, it added. The directive would reportedly be effective starting December 2016. Notably, 96% Indians already have an Aadhaar Card.

– Extradition Treaty between India and Afghanistan

• The treaty would provide a legal framework for seeking extradition of terrorists, economic offenders and other criminals from and to the Afghanistan.
• The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri NarendraModi, has approved the signing and ratification of the Extradition Treaty between India and Afghanistan.

– Bilateral Technical Arrangement between India and Switzerland

• The Union Cabinet under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister Shri NarendraModi has given its approval for signing of the Technical Arrangement between IndiaandSwitzerlandon the identification and return of Swiss and Indian Nationals and its implementation.

– Extension of contract between India and the International Seabed Authority.

• The contract exists between the Ministry of Earth Sciences and the ISA. The present contract for exploration of poly-metallic nodules has been further extended for a period of five years (2017-22).
• The Union Cabinet on Monday approved the extension of a contract between India and the International Seabed Authority (ISA) for exploration of poly-metallic nodules.

– MoU between India and Kenya on cooperation in the field of National Housing Policy

• The Union Cabinet under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister Shri NarendraModi has given itsexpost-facto approval for the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Kenya on cooperation in the field of National Housing Policy Development and Management (NHPDM). The MoU was signed on 11th July, 2016 at Nairobi during the visit of the Prime Minister of India.

– India, South Africa in ICT cooperation pact

• India and South Africa have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for promoting bilateral cooperation in the field of Information and Communication Technologies.
• The MoU will help to establish inter-institutional cooperation and relations between the two parties in order to promote cooperation in the field of ICT

 

— INTERNATIONAL —

– India takes US to WTO over renewable energy row

• The World Trade Organization (WTO) on Monday said that India has complained to the international trade regulator regarding the support given to the renewable energy industry in eight US states.
• In this regard, India told the WTO that the US’ subsidies and domestic content requirements are inconsistent with WTO norms as they favour domestic products over imported goods.

– US designates India as major illicit drug producer

• India, and 21 other countries have been designated as ‘Major Illicit Drug Producing Countries’ by US President Barack Obama. Other countries in the list include Pakistan, Bahamas, Afghanistan, and Mexico, among others.
• A country’s presence in the list is not a reflection of its government’s counter-narcotic efforts or level of cooperation with the US, Obama added.

– Goa to host Vintage Bike and Car Festival in Oct

• The Goa Tourism department is organising its first Vintage Bike and Car Festival on October 1, with over 50 vintage vehicles slated to drive down the city during the day-long event.
• The Tourism department spokesperson said the vehicles would be dated from 1933 to 1970 and include cars such as “Chevrolet, Mercedes, Volkswagen and bikes like Norton, BSA and BMW.”

 

— BOOKS & AUTHORS —

– Patanjali CEO Acharya Balkrishna becomes a billionaire

• Acharya Balkrishna, the CEO of Patanjali, has become a billionaire with a net worth of INR25,600crore (around $3.8 billion), according to the Hurun India Rich List 2016.
• This gain is primarily due to the increasing popularity of Patanjali products. While Baba Ramdev is the face of Patanjali, around 94% of Patanjali is owned by the 44-year-old Balkrishna

 

— BUSINESS AND ECONOMY —

 – Reliance Jio, BSNL sign intra-circle roaming pact

• State-owned telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Reliance Jio on Monday signed an intra-circle roaming agreement for 2G and 4G services.
• This will allow the subscribers of the two companies to utilize their networks across India and offer a better quality of services for both voice calls and data. Earlier, Vodafone had signed a similar pact with BSNL.

 

— APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGN—

– ShanmuganathanTake additional charge of Arunachal Pradesh governor

• The V. Shanmuganathan, Governor of Meghalaya has been given the charge of Arunachal Pradesh by President Pranab Mukherjee. Because, Governor of Arunachal Pradesh Jyoti Prasad  Rajkhowa was removed from the post of Arunachal Pradesh Governor.
• President Pranab Mukherjee has directed that Shri J.P. Rajkhowa to put his papers from the post of Governor of Arunachal Pradesh.

– VidyaBalan Brand Ambassador of Samajwadi Pension Yojana

• Bollywood actress VidyaBalan appointed as brand ambassador of the ambitious Samajwadi Pension Yojana by Uttar Pradesh government.
• The actor who had earlier been associated with the “ghar-gharshauchalya” campaign of the Union government will be seen campaigning about the scheme in the coming months.
• The main Objective of the scheme to encourage savings among people living below the poverty line and provide them financial assistance.

 

— AWARDS AND HONOURS —

– The shortlisted candidates for 2016 Man Booker prize

• Paul Beatty (US) The Sellout (One world)
• Deborah Levy (UK) Hot Milk (Hamish Hamilton)
• Graeme Macrae Burnet (UK) His Bloody Project (Contraband)
• OttessaMoshfegh (US) Eileen (Jonathan Cape)
• David Szalay (Canada-UK) All That Man Is (Jonathan Cape)
• Madeleine Thien (Canada) Do Not Say We Have Nothing (Granta Books)

– Deepa was oldest recipient of Arjuna award in 2012

• Deepa Malik, who won the silver medal in shot put at the Paralympics, was the oldest ever recipient of the Arjuna award in 2012 at 42 years of age. She belongs to Haryana.
• She is an accomplished swimmer, adventure sports player, and biker. Moreover, she has 54 national gold medals and 13 international medals in various sports including swimming, javelin throw and shot put

– The Woman Who Left wins best picture at the world’s oldest film festival

• A revenge drama Ang Babaeng Humayo (The Woman Who Left) on 10 September 2016 won the Golden Lion for Best Film Award at the 73 Venice Film Festival.
• On the other hand, Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky and Mexican film director Amat Escalante shared Silver Lion for Best Direction for their respective films Paradise and The Untamed.

– Priyanka named Hollywood royalty by W magazine

• Priyanka Chopra has featured in ‘The New Royals’ list of American fashion magazine ‘W’. The actress has also featured on the cover of the magazine.
• As per the magazine, the list is chosen based on achievement and not on birthright. Other celebrities who have featured in the list of ‘Hollywood royals’ include Chris Evans, Halle Berry and Kit Harington.

– New York’s Metropolitan Museum named world’s best

• The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has been ranked the best museum in the world in a TripAdvisor survey. The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago city and the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg have come second and third respectively.
• The Musee d’Orsay in Paris and the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico complete the top five.

 

— SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY —

– NASA using aircrafts to measure greenhouse gases

• US space agency NASA is conducting low-level aircraft flights to measure greenhouse gas concentrations over the mid-Atlantic region through September. The flights will carry out the ‘Carbon Airborne Flux Experiment’ to measure the exchange of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide between Earth and atmosphere.
• The measurements would help analyses the performance of existing atmospheric models.

– UK’s 1st robotic kidney transplant performed

• Robots have been used to perform kidney transplants for the first time in the UK. One of the patients, who had previously undergone a kidney transplant by traditional open surgery, reported significantly less pain with the robotic method.
• Another patient reported a faster post-operative recovery time. Both the patients were reportedly able to recover using only paracetamol rather than morphine.

– LinkedIn to launch 4 times faster mobile site in India

• Professional social network LinkedIn has announced ‘LinkedIn Lite’, a four times faster version of its mobile website for Indian users, expected to be launched in the country in the next few weeks.
• The company also announced to launch an online test for the users called ‘LinkedIn Placements’, results of which will be matched with jobs being advertised on the website.

 

— SPORTS —

– India’s medals in ITTF junior championships

• India has won four golds, one silver and five bronze medals in the International Table Tennis Federation Junior and Cadet Open Championships (ITTF)-2016 at Indore(Madhya Pradesh).Taipei topped the table claiming five Gold.

– India won three singles gold medals through VaruniJaiswal, Manav Thakkar and Ishhita Gupta.

• India has won the Junior Boys doubles gold when AnanthDevarajan and Manav Thakkar combined to outwit Taipei’s Lai Chi-Chien and Tai Ming-Wei

– Deepa Malik became the first Indian woman to bag a medal at the Paralympics

• Indian athlete Deepa Malik became the first Indian woman to bag a medal at the Paralympics. Malik clinched a silver medal in the shot-put F-53 event. Her throw of 4.61m was the best in her six attempts.
• With the win, she confirmed India’s third medal from the Rio Paralympics. Fatema Nedham of Bahrain won the gold medal with the best throw of 4.76m.

– Greece’s Dimitra Korokida bagged the bronze medal with a throw of 4.28m.

– Deepa Malik has 4 Limca Adventure Records to her name

• Deepa Malik, the first Indian woman to win a medal at Paralympics, has four Limca Adventure Records to her name.
• This includes crossing a 1km stretch of the Yamuna River against the current, riding 58km on a special bike, doing the longest pan-India drive by a paraplegic woman, and driving across nine high altitude passes in nine days in Ladakh.

– Sushmita wins bronze at World Martial Arts Masterships

• Indian kickboxer Sushmita Rai won the bronze medal at the World Martial Arts Masterships 2016, held at Cheongju, Chungcheongbuk-do of South Korea.
• The competition, which is considered by many as the equivalent of Olympics for the martial arts, wasattended by 2,073 participants from 87 countries. Rai was a part of the 12-member Indian contingent participating in the week-long event.

– Mariyappan India’s flag bearer for Paralympics closing

• Thangavelu Mariyappan, who became only the third Indian ever to clinch a gold medal in the Paralympics, will be the country’s flag-bearer at the closing ceremony of the Rio Games on September 18.
• Mariyappan, who was five-years-old when his right leg was crushed by a speeding bus, won the yellow metal in the T-42 High Jump event.

– Wrestler Sakshi Malik enters world top-5

• India’s bronze medal winner at the Rio Olympics, Sakshi Malik entered the top 5 of the 58 kg women’s wrestling world rankings at the fourth place on Monday.
• She is now the only Indian wrestler to be ranked in the top 10 of the United World Wrestling rankings, after becoming the country’s first female Olympic medalist in the sport.

– Kiwi blade runner breaks Oscar Pistorius’ record

• New Zealand sprinter Liam Malone broke the men’s 200-metre T44 Paralympic Games record held by South Africa’s Oscar Pistorius. The 22-year-old, who won gold in the event, registered a timing of 21.06 seconds, beating Pistorius’ record by 0.24 seconds.
• This was Malone’s second Paralympic medal after having won the silver medal in the 100-metre sprint on Friday

 

— OBITUARY —

– Veteran Journalist Ramsewak Shrivastava Passes Away

• Ramsewak Shrivastava Veteran journalist Ramsewak Shrivastava (84) passed away in New Delhi due to age-related ailments He had worked with weekly ‘Dinmaan’, DainikJagran, Navbharat Times and Times group