Current Affairs Update - 20 September 2016

Updated on : 20:55, 24 September 2016

— NATIONAL —

NTPC Entered into a Pact with EESL

• State-run NTPC has entered into a pact with Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL).
• The pact aims to implement energy efficient LED lighting solutions for all its projects, stations and offices across the country.
• The objective of the MoU is to enable EESL to provide end-to-end latest energy efficient LED lighting.
• EESL is a joint venture company of PSUs of Power Ministry,

Yes Bank Partners Fintech Startup NiYO

• Yes Bank has partnered with the Fintech startup NiYO to revolutionise the Employee Benefits ecosystem in India.
• Under this partnership,Yes Bank along with NiYO has rolled out the Yes Bank NiYO Benefits Card.
• It will make it easy for organizations to give employee benefits & for employees to claim the benefits.
• Yes Bank said there are 30 million salaried employees who can benefit from this app.

Govt appointed panel recommends for MSP of gram to Rs 4,000 a quintal

• A government appointed committee has recommended for Minimum Support Price, MSP of gram to 4,000 rupees a quintal for Rabi season 2016 and 6,000 rupees a quintal for both urad and tur for kharif season 2017.
• The committee headed by Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian had been set up to to review the MSPs and related policies to incentivize the cultivation of pulses.

Govt to build one crore houses by 2019 under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna

• Union Rural Development Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has said that the Centre has set a target of providing housing to all by 2022. Participating in a conference in Guwahati yesterday, Mr. Tomar said one crore houses will be constructed by 2019 under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna.
• The minister also emphasized on timely submission of Utilization Certificate to avoid delay in releasing funds for various schemes. He said that Prime Minister has given much thrust for the development of the North East region.
• Mr.Tomar also urged states to work to achieve the target of making the country open defecation free by 2019.

Govt to announce next set of 27 smart cities today

• Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu will announce the next set of 27 cities for financing under the Government flagship Smart City Mission today. As per the Mission guidelines, as many as 40 cities have to be announced during this financial year. As the government had already announced 13 cities in May.
• Each city will receive Central assistance of Rs 200 crore in the first year and Rs 100 crore over the three subsequent financial years.
• State governments and respective urban local bodies will also match the Centre’s contribution. The Government aims to transform about 100 cities by 2019-20, with the Centre providing financial support of Rs 48,000 crore over five years.

HRD Minister inaugurates Super Computer PARAM-ISHAN at IIT Guwahati

• Today, Union Human Resource Development minister Prakash Javadekar has inaugurated the super computer PARAM ISHAN at IIT Guwahati campus.
• PARAM ISHAN is the fastest and most powerful computer in North East, Eastern and Southern region.
• PARAM ISHAN has been jointly developed by IIT Guwahati and Centre for Development of Advanced Computing(C -DAC).

Railways launches Yatri Mitra Sewa for elderly, differently-abled

• In a move to make rail travel comfortable for elderly, differently-abled and ailing travelers, Railways has launched ‘Yatri Mitra Sewa’ to facilitate access to wheelchairs, battery operated cars and porter services.
• ‘Yatri Mitra’ or ‘Passenger Friend’ can be a “Sahayak (assistant)” or any other person nominated for the purpose. The service will be available at major railway stations across the country.
• The service can be availed at the time of online booking of tickets, calling or messaging ‘139’, accessing an app to be developed by the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS), or by simply dialling a dedicated mobile phone number to be activated for the purpose.

Three-day international seafood show in Vizag

• The Marine Products Export Development Authority under the Union Commerce Ministry is organizing the event in association with the Seafood Exporters Association of India.
• They will discuss technological advances and sustainable practices followed in fisheries capture and culture to ensure quality of seafood for both domestic and export markets.
• A 3-day international seafood show will be held in Visakhapatnam from Friday. Themed ‘Safe and Sustainable Indian Aquaculture’, the event will have participation of 2,000 delegates from India and 200 from abroad.
• Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu will inaugurate the event. Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu and Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitaraman will also take part in the event.

Sand artist pays tribute to Uri’s slain soldiers

• Noted Indian sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik has paid his tribute to the slain soldiers of Jammu and Kashmir’s Uri terror attack by creating a sand art at Puri Beach in Odisha.
• The sand sculpture made by the Padma Shri awardee also stated, “We Salute Our Heroes” and “Life of each of our martyrs is PRICELESS”

40th edition of Soorya Festival has started in Thiruvananthpuram (Kerala).

• Organized with the support of Directorate of Film Festivals in New Delhi, the film festival will have a slice of regional movies including Tamil, Kannada, Bodo, Bengali and Marathi besides Malayalam films.
• Over 2000 artistes, including eminent singers and dancers from all parts of the country and abroad are parcipating in it.
• A non-profit, non-commercial voluntary organization, ‘Soorya’, functioning with its headquarters at Thiruvananthpuram, has its chapters in 36 countries.

 

— INTERNATIONAL —

World leaders adopt breakthrough declaration on refugees at UN

• Leaders from 193 countries have adopted a declaration to save lives of over 65 million refugees and migrants and share the responsibility.
• The ‘New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants’ was adopted last night at United Nations General Assembly’s first-ever summit on the crisis.
• The declaration is not legally binding but calls on countries to protect refugees’ human rights, boost humanitarian aid and work on their resettlement.
• UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, the summit represents a breakthrough in the collective efforts to address the challenges of human mobility

North Korea hails successful test of new rocket engine

• North Korea has successfully tested a high-power rocket engine, which will enable Pyongyang to enhance its capabilities at space exploration, local media reported today.
• According to the Korean Central News Agency, the engine will provide Pyongyang with a capability to launch different kinds of satellites, including the Earth observation satellite at a global level.
• On September 9th, Pyongyang carried out a nuclear test at its northeastern nuclear test site. The nuclear experiment is believed to be the fifth and the largest since North Korea started pursuing nuclear and ballistic missile programs, drawing condemnation from the international community.

Thousands evacuated as typhoon Malakas makes landfall in Japan

• In Japan, hundreds of thousands of people are being evacuated as Typhoon Malakas has made landfall in the Wakayama Prefecture. The authorities have ordered more than 500,000 people to evacuate their homes in parts of western and southern parts of the country.
• More than 110 domestic flights have been cancelled, mainly to and from airports in the regions. Officials in neighboring Miyazaki Prefecture said, there are reports of flooding and damage.

 

— BANKING —

Bangladesh’s Junaid Ahmad new World Bank head in India

• Junaid Ahmad has become the World Bank’s Country Director for India, replacing Onno Ruhl who served a four-year term based out of the national capital.
• Hailing from Bangladesh, Ahmad was Chief of Staff to the World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim before being elevated to the current position.
• “An economist by training, Ahmad brings with him broad development experience. After joining the World Bank in 1991 as a young professional, he worked on infrastructure development in Africa and Eastern Europe,” a World Bank release said

IDFC issues commercial papers of Rs 700 crore.

• Infrastructure Development Finance Company(IDFC) Limited has issued commercial Papers of Rs.700 crore.
• CPs are unsecured, short-term debt instrument issued by a corporation, typically for the financing of accounts receivable, inventories and meeting short-term liabilities.

Vijaya Bank Rolls out 3 New Apps

• Vijaya Bank has launched three innovative information technology (IT) products.
• The new IT products are VPAYQWIK, Vijaya *99# and V-eConnect+.
• VPAYQWIK, a complete mobile payment wallet for shopping, quick mobile recharge & a lot more *99# is a non-internet-based app. It uses the USSD channel for completing transaction.
• V-eConnect+ is an app that aggregates various e-products of the bank

 

— BUSINESS AND ECONOMY —

Sale of government stocks worth INR 14k crore announced

• The Centre has announced the sale (re-issue) of government stocks having various maturity periods and interest rates for a total notified amount of INR14,000 crore through a price-based auction.
• The rates offered are 6.84% for stocks maturing in 2022, 6.97% for 2026, 7.73% for 2034, and 8.13% for 2045. The auctions will be conducted by the RBI on September 23.

India’s GDP to grow by 8% over next few yrs: S&P

• Standard & Poor’s (S&P) Global Ratings has forecasted a “relatively high quality [and] steroid-free” GDP growth of 8% for India over the next few years.
• This would be backed by a broadening consumption base, the agency stated. However, inflation remains a risk, given the large weights on food, fuel, and other volatile items in the RBI’s target basket, S&P added.

 

— APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGN—

Lt Gen Surinder takes over as Western Command GOC-in-C

• Lt Gen Surinder Singh today took over as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Command.
• He is the successor of Lt Gen KJ Singh who retired on July 31,2016.
• Prior to this, he was on attachment to the Deputy Chief of Army Staff’s Branch at the Army Headquarters in New Delhi after having completed his tenure as the GOC, 33 Corps at Siliguri in August.

Monika Kapil Mohta appointed Indian envoy to Sweden

• Monika Kapil Mohta has been appointed as the next envoy of India to Sweden.
• Mohta is an 1985 batch Indian Foreign Services officer and As of September 2015, Mohta serves as Additional Secretary (South) in the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi, and looks after India’s relations with a large part of the Asia-Pacific region. She is charged with all political and bilateral matters relating to Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor.

Anandi Ramalingam assumed charge as Bharat Electronics Limited’s first woman director

• Anandi Ramalingam has assumed charge as Director Marketing. It is the first time that a woman has been appointed as the Director of the company.
• Earlier, Ramalingam served as the General Manager heading the Military Communication Strategic Business Unit (SBU) at BEL’s Bangalore Complex.
• Ramalingam had joined BEL-Bengaluru in March 1985 after completing her BE in Electronics and Communication engineering from the PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore.

PV Bharathi is now Canara Bank ED

• Canara Bank appointed P V Bharathi as Executive Director with effect from September 15.
• Currently she was working as the General Manager of Canara Bank.

Biocon Appointed Suresh Subramanian as the Head

• Biotechnology company Biocon has appointed Suresh Subramanian as the Head of the company’s branded formulations (India) business.
• Suresh has over 30 years of experience in the pharmaceuticals market, having worked in India and Thailand for MNCs such as GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, AstraZeneca and Pfizer.
• Biocon’s Branded Formulations (India) business is a biologics-led, specialty pharma business focused on the chronic therapy areas of diabetes, cancer and autoimmune conditions.

Glaxo Smith Kline has appointed Emma Walmsley as its new chief executive.

• Walmsley will replace Andrew Witty who had previously announced his decision to retire on March 31, 2017.
• Her appointment is likely to be seen as a signal that GSK will retain the consumer business as a core part of its operations

 

— AWARDS AND HONOURS —

Himachal Wins Better Project Award

• Himachal Pradesh has won the ‘2015 Better Performing Project Award’ for development of infrastructure in the state.
• The department of tourism has been executing 580 crore tourism infrastructure project in the state under which various sub projects were under execution at almost all the important tourist destinations in the state.
• The award was given for development of infrastructure in the state by tourism department under the ADB Funded Project.
• The award was based on the overall performance in contract award, disbursement, execution, monitoring and quality maintenance.

 

— SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY —

India successfully test fires long range surface-to-air Barak-8 missile off Odisha coast

• India today successfully test-fired the most advanced surface-to-air missile ‘Barak-8’ off the Odisha coast. The long-range nuclear capable ballistic missile, developed jointly with Israel, was launched at 10:13 AM from a mobile launcher at the Integrated Test Range in Chandipur in Balasore district.
• The 4.5-meter missile weighs around 3 tonnes and can carry a payload of 70 kilograms. The system also includes a Multi-Functional Surveillance and Threat Alert Radar for detection, tracking and guidance of the missile.

 

— SPORTS —

Shuttlers Srikanth, Kashyap to begin campaign in Japan Open

• Rio Olympics quarter-finalist K Srikanth will be back on the court leading the Indian challenge at the Japan Super Series badminton tournament. The event starts with the qualifiers in Tokyo today. Eighth seeded K Srikanth will open his campaign against a qualifier at the Metropolitan Gymnasium in Tokyo tomorrow.
• Commonwealth Games champion P Kashyap will take on Austria’s David Obernosterer in the opening round while Tanvi Lad will face Japan’s Chisato Hoshi in women’s singles qualifiers.
• In the main draw, World No. 18 Ajay Jayaram will face Indonesia’s Sony Dwi Kuncoro, B Sai Praneeth will take on Hong Kong’s Ng Ka Long Angus and HS Prannoy will meet Malaysia’s Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin. There is no Indian in the women’s singles main draw or any of the doubles events.

 

— BOOKS & AUTHORS —

Malaysian envoy releases translated book on Sai Baba

• The Consul General of Malaysia in India Eldeen Husaini Muhammad Hashim has released the translated version of ‘Sai Charitra Granth’, a book on the life of Sai Baba.
• The book is translated into Malay by a social outfit called ‘I love Sai’.

 

— OBITUARY —

Odisha’s 1st ever referee passes away aged 100

• Odisha’s first ever football referee, centenarian Narottam Mohanty passed away in his hometown of Baripada, Odisha
• The 100-year-old earned the distinction of becoming the first qualified football referee of Odisha in the pre-independence era. ii. Mohanty was also considered as the oldest citizen of Baripada town.