Daily Current Affairs Updates–22nd September 2016:
Daily Current affairs News Updates about the National and International events were listed here. Candidates those who are preparing for IBPS/SBI/PO/Clerk exam and all other competitive exams can use this.
NATIONAL
Thaaliku Thangam Scheme of TN
i. Tamil Nadu government has allotted Rs 204 crore for ‘Thaaliku Thangam’ (Gold for Mangalsutra) scheme for the year 2016-17 to benefit 12,500 women.
ii. The scheme involves providing marriage assistance and gold for daughters of poor
parents and widows among others to make ‘thaali.’
parents and widows among others to make ‘thaali.’
iii. Assistance of Rs 25,000 for beneficiaries who have passed Class X and Rs 50,000 to those with an undergraduate degree or diploma is also given as part of the scheme.
Adani Group launches world’s largest solar power plant in Tamil Nadu
i. The 'world's largest solar power plant' with an installed capacity of 648MW was commissioned at Kamudhi in Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu Set up by Adani Group, the plant was formally commissioned by chief minister J Jayalalithaa.
ii. It was connected to the grid through a sub-station.The plant was set up on an area of around 5,000 acres at a total cost of Rs 4,550 crore. The company sourced equipment and machinery from various parts of the world to set up the plant in eight months.
iii. The plant comprises 3.8 lakh foundations, 25 lakh solar modules, 27,000m of structure, 576 inverters, 154 transformers and 6,000km length of cables.
Harsh Vardhan adopts village under 'Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana
i. Union Science and Technology Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan has adopted 'Dheerpur Village' and 'Ghoga' the last village under the North Delhi under the 'Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana', which is one of the major and flagship schemes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana is a rural development programme broadly focusing upon the development in the villages which includes social development, cultural development and spread motivation among the people on social mobilization of the village community.
ii. The programme was launched by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi on the birth anniversary of Jayaprakash Narayan, on 11 October 2014
The ‘Ksheer Tester’ Launched
i. Union Minister of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences Dr. Harsh Vardhan on the occasion of the 64th Foundation Day Celebrations of Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-CEERI) in Pilani launched the ‘Ksheer Tester’.
ii. It is a newly developed handheld GPS-enabled version of the recently launched Ksheer Scanner technology to check adulteration in milk.
iii. The device, developed by the CSIR-CEERI, would enable any person to track the location of the tested sample and receive the test results through SMS on the device.
iv. The Ksheer Tester will empower the common man with a technology to tackle a national level health hazard due to adulteration in milk.
NHAI, PFC Allowed to Raise 31,300cr
i. Union Cabinet has given its approval for raising a total of Rs 31,300 crore in the financial year 2016-17 and to service the principal and interest against the Extra Budgetary Resources (EBR) of Rs 16,300 crore by Government of India to augment infrastructure spending.
ii. Out of the EBR of Rs 31,300 crore, it is proposed to finance the funds to be raised by Power Finance Corporation (PFC), Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA), Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) by Government of India.
iii. This implies that the principal and the interest in respect of the EBR of Rs 16,300 crore to be raised by PFC, IREDA, IWAI, and NABARD shall be financed by Government of India by making suitable budget provisions in the Demand of respective Ministries/Departments.
Incredible India Tourism Summit
i. Arun Jaitley, Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs inaugurated the “Incredible India Tourism Investors Summit (IITIS)-2016” organized by Ministry of Tourism at Delhi.
IITIS is a platform for domestic and international investors to meet project owners from across Indian states and the private sector. Highlights of this summit are State Presentations encompassing all investible Properties, Session on Why Invest in India, MSME in tourism sector, Panel discussions on core infrastructure for tourism, Session on Start-ups, digital India, Investing into Swadesh Darshan, PRASAD, MICE and Niche Tourism Products, B2B meetings and signing of MoUs.
ii. It has dedicated space for Seminars, Business to Business meetings and Roundtables around focus themes. Over 1800 delegates from – Private sector Project Owners; Banks and Financial Institutions; Business Developers are participating in the Summit.
INTERNATIONAL
Global Innovation Conference 2017 in Turkey
i. Istanbul in Turkey will host the 2017 global conference of the International Association of Science Parks and Areas of Innovation (IASP).
ii. The Spain-headquartered IASP is the largest worldwide network of science parks and areas of innovation, uniting technology parks, business incubators and institutions, and it has a Special Consultative Status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
iii. The Russian capital Moscow this year hosted the four-day IASP Conference for the first time, following its selection as the venue after a global competition. China hosted the conference in 2015.
iv. The IASP’s mandate is to contribute to global economic development through innovation, entrepreneurship, and the transfer of knowledge and technology.
L&T Bags $100m Order from Vietnam
i. Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has signed the principle contract with Vietnam Border Guard for design and construction of high speed patrol vessels in India as well as transfer of design and technology along with supply of equipment and material kits for construction of follow-on-vessels at a Vietnam shipyard.
ii. Constructed of aluminum alloy, the vessels are about 35 metres long and can clock a speed of 35 knots with a state-of -the-art navigation and surveillance equipment and self-defence capabilities on board. The value of the order is $99.7 million (around Rs 660 crore).
China Foreign Expenditure Takes Lead
ii. Overseas direct investment soared more than 18 percent to an all-time high of over USD145 billion last year, exceeding the USD 135.6 billion of foreign direct investment.
Reasons:
Ø It was a result of the enhancement of China’s strategy of encouraging Chinese firms to “go abroad” in search of growth.
Ø China’s economy grew at its slowest pace in a quarter of a century last year, and has decelerated further.
Ø Among these are manufacturing overcapacity, insufficient domestic demand and increasing energy and resources consumption.
BANKING NEWS
Kotak Mahindra Bank launches app to open accounts
i. Private lender Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB) has launched an application 'Kotak Now' that would allow new customers to open an account in a more simpler and cost-effective manner.
ii. This is for the first time that a domestic lender has come up with such facility where a customer can open a bank account using its application. 'Kotak Now' is in sync with Prime Minister's vision of 'Digital India'.
Pakistan Bank Opens Branch in China
i. Pakistan’s Habib Bank has opened a branch in Urumqi, capital of northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
ii. Habib Bank is the first foreign bank of Pakistan on the Silk Road Economic Belt to establish a branch in China.
iii. Established in 1947, Habib Bank is Pakistan’s biggest commercial bank, accounting for more than 40 per cent of the country’s bank market.
iv. Habib Bank also signed a $500 million cooperation deal with China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation at the expo.
BUSINESS NEWS
Mukesh Tops Forbes Richest Indians List
i. Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani has topped the Forbes’ ‘100 Richest Indians’ list with a net worth of $22.7 billion. This is the ninth year in a row that Ambani has topped the list.
Ø Dilip Shanghvi is at number two with a net worth of $16.9 billion.
Ø Third spot is bagged by the Hinduja brothers with a net worth of $15.2 billion.
Ø Azim Premji is on number four on the list with a net worth of $15 billion.
Ø Pallonji Mistry takes the fifth spot with net worth of $13.9 billion.
Vodafone Invests Rs 47,700 crore
i. Vodafone India has received an equity infusion of Rs 47,700 crore from Vodafone Group in the first half of the current fiscal.
This equity infusion of Rs 47,700 crore will enable Vodafone India to continue its investments in spectrum and expansion of networks across various technology layers delivering the best of experience to our hundreds of million customers.
ii. Vodafone India is a 100 per cent fully owned subsidiary of the Vodafone Group.
iii. The telecom service provider has around 200 million customers in the country. Over half of its customers (107 million) come from rural India.The company has around 22.5 per cent revenue market share.
Sunil Sood: MD and CEO, Vodafone India.
AGREEMENTS &MoUs
Maharashtra Partners With Oracle
i. Leveraging Oracle Cloud solutions, Oracle and the Government of Maharashtra will develop the State’s smart city program, with the goal of making the State’s urban landscape more livable and inclusive, while driving economic growth.
ii. According to the MoU, Oracle and the Maharashtra Government will create a Center of Excellence (CoE) to help accelerate its smart city program and modernize the Government’s technology solutions.
iii. The CoE, housed in Mumbai, will serve as a research platform to design, develop and test new capabilities that will deliver better government-to-citizen (G2C) and government-to-business (G2B) services.
APPOINTMENTS
New Indian Ambassador to USA
i. Navtej Singh Sarna 1980 batch IFS Officer has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the United State of America.
He is presently, India’s High Commissioner to Britain.
ii. Before moving to London, Sarna was Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs where he oversaw the successful hosting last October of the India-Africa Forum Summit that was attended by a record number of 53 African countries.
Monetary Policy Committee Gets Members
i. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet announced the names of Monetary Policy Committee members, who will hold office for a period of four years.
This includes:
1. Chetan Ghate, Associate professor – Economics & Planning Unit, Indian Statistical Institute;
2. Pami Dua, Professor and Head of department at Delhi School of economics;
3. Ravindra Dholakia, economics professor at IIT, Ahmadabad.
The committee will also include the Reserve Bank Governor Urjit Patel and the deputy governor and an executive director.
Manipur HC Gets Chief Justice
i. Justice Rakesh Ranjan Prashad sworn in as the new Chief Justice of the Manipur High Court. Governor Najma Heptullah administered the oath of office and secrecy to Justice Prashad.
ii. Prashad is the third Chief Justice of the Manipur High Court, which became a full fledged high court from March 13, 2013.
AWARDS
Visaaranai is India's official entry to Oscars 2017
i. Tamil film 'Visaaranai' is India's official entry to Academy Awards 2017 in the Foreign Language Film category. Featuring Dinesh, Anandhi and Aadukalam Murugadoss in the lead roles, the film focuses on corruption and police brutality.
Directed by Vetrimaaran and produced by Dhanush, 'Visaaranai' won three National Awards this year, including the best Tamil film award.
1st Jesse Owens Award to be given to Muhammad Ali
i. The first Jesse Owens Olympic Spirit Award will be posthumously awarded to Muhammad Ali. Ali's widow, Lonnie, will receive the award from Owens' granddaughter, Marlene Dortch at the Best of the Games awards.
ii. The Owens Award, awarded to recognize people serving as an inspiration in society, started this year, the 80th anniversary of Owens' four-gold-medal performance at the Berlin Olympics
Shubha Mudgal will be honoured with the annual 'LalitArpan Samman' this year
i. Hindustani classical singer Shubha Mudgal will be honoured with the annual 'LalitArpan Samman' this year. Mudgal, a Padma Shri recipient, was born in Allahabad and is known for her singing in genres of Khayal, Thumri and Dadra.
ii. She has also given her voice to many popular Indie-pop numbers. The 15th edition of LalitArpan festival will also acknowledge artist couple Paramjit and Arpita Singh.
iii. The two-day festival, dedicated to the "Nayikas of Vidyapati"- a Maithili poet and a Sanskrit writer, will witness dance performances by esteemed dancers like Padma awardees.
Last year, the LalitArpan Samman was conferred upon literary figure Namwar Singh, painter Krishen Khanna, photographer Raghu Rai and Bharatanatyam dancer Yamini Krishnamurthy.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Reliance Defence Gets Naval Warship Order
i. Reliance Defence has got a contract for the refit of three naval warships at its facility at Pipavav in Gujarat.
ii. The refit of the three warships –INS Jamuna, INS Deepak and INS Savitri — is expected to be completed by April next year.
The first refit will get completed shortly. The value of the order is pegged at Rs 300 crore. Anil Ambani Group company bagged a Rs 920-crore contract for building 14 fast patrol vessels for the Indian Coast Guard.
SPORTS NEWS
Dhoni named captain of Wisden's all-time India Test XI
i. India's celebrated skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was named the captain of reputed cricket magazine Wisden's all-time India Test XI.
ii. The team, which was announced to mark India's 500th Test match starting on Thursday against New Zealand in Kanpur, includes former Test skipper Sunil Gavaskar and Virender Sehwag as openers, according to a release by Wisden India.
Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman make up the middle-order with Dravid being the No 3 batsman, followed by Tendulkar and Laxman.
Misbah-ul-Haq receives ICC Test Championship mace in Lahore
i. Misbah-ul-Haq received the prestigious ICC Test Championship mace for inspiring Pakistan to the top of the ICC Test Team Rankings for the first time since the current rankings system was introduced in 2003.
ii. ICC Chief Executive David Richardson presented the mace to Misbah at the home of Pakistan cricket at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore and Pakistan captain Misbah said it was befitting that the mace presentation was taking place there.
OBITUARY
Oscar-winning writer and director Curtis Hanson dies
i. Filmmaker-writer Curtis Hanson has died in his home in the Hollywood hills. He is known for his work in films like Kevin Spacey-starrer LA Confidential, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle and The River Wild.
ii. Hanson, who won an Oscar for the screenplay with Brian Helgeland but was denied best director and producer by the huge success of Titanic at the 1998 Academy Awards.
No comments:
Post a Comment