Daily Current Affairs Update September-11 2017

1. Assam passed the Industrial Disputes (Assam Amendment) Bill, 2017, regarding lay off of employees, in Guwahati.
The law enables employers to lay off up to 300 employees without prior permission from the government.

2. Minister of State in the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Jitendra Singh will inaugurate the “North East Calling” festival in New Delhi on 9th of Sept. 2017.

3. Union Human Resource Development Minister Mr.Prakash Javadekar announced that Government would implement ‘School Chalo Abhiyan’ scheme in 2018, in New Delhi
This scheme has been introduced in order to enroll students who have dropped out from school
The scheme aims to enroll 70 to 80 lakh students around the country.

4. Union Water Resources Minister Mr.Nitin Gadkari and Chief Minister of Maharashtra Mr.Devendra Fadnavis announced a project to link rivers in Maharashtra, in Mumbai.

Two major river linking projects in Maharashtra – Par-Tapi-Narmada and Damanganga-Pinjal worth Rs.20,000 crore are about to start.

Central Government is to allocate funds of Rs.60,000 crore altogether for all the river linking projects in Maharashtra for the next two years under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY).

5. The Indian Navy’s woman team has embarked on a circumnavigation of the globe, with Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

The minister flagged off the first such expedition by the Indian Navy, ‘Navika Sagar Parikrama’, at a ceremony at the INS Mandovi naval training base, Panaji Goa.

The six-member women crew will circumnavigate the globe on an India-built sail boat, INSV Tarini, which is being captained by Lt Commander Vartika Joshi.

6. The Centre has issued a notice, stating that all the SIM cards have to be linked to Aadhaar before February 2018 to avoid deactivation of the phone numbers.

7. Jordan launched a project to grow crops from seawater, in Aqaba, port city of Jordan.

Jordan’s King Mr.Abdullah II and Norway’s Crown Prince Mr.Haakon inaugurated the project.

About Jordan:

1. Capital – Amman
2. King – Mr.Abdullah II
3. Prime Minister – Hani Al Mulki
4. Currency – Jordanian Dinar
5. Official language – Arabic

8. Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI) announced usage of OTP (One Time Password) for opening e-Insurance Account (eIA) as an alternative to electronic signature, in New Delhi.

9. Tahir Mahmood has received the prestigious Prof N R Madhava Menon Best Law Teacher Award as part of the Law Teachers’ Day celebrations.

10.The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully flight tested India’s indigenously developed third generation Anti Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) ‘Nag.

11. SpaceX launches US Air Force’s super-secret mini-shuttle

12. CEO of SpaceX Billionaire Elon Musk shared a picture of his space exploration startup SpaceX’s first full-body spacesuit on Instagram.

13. The BCCI player’s handbook is titled ‘100 things every professional cricketer must know’.

HQ: Wankhede Stadium
President: Vinod Rai

14. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has launched his first book named Hit Refresh.

15. Harinder Pal Sandhu has won the Malaysian Squash Tour. This is his 21st consecutive international match to win in a row.

16. India won the Second South Asian Basketball, SABA, Under – 16 Championship, in Kathmandu, Nepal.

17. On 10th September 2017, World Suicide Prevention Day is observed throughout the world.

This year’s theme is ‘Take a minute, change a life.’

18. Himalayan Day will be observed across the country on 9th September and the main programme will be held in Dehradun.

19.  21st meeting of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council was held at Hyderabad International Convention Centre, in Hyderabad

20. Anupriya Patel was inaugurating the 10th Medical Technology Conference organized by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in New Delhi

21. In accordance with the India’s ‘Act East Policy’, two Indian Naval Ships departed for deployment to East and South-East Asia.

INS Satpura and INS Kadmatt departed from Visakhapatnam on 8th of Sept. 2017 to visit 12 ports.

The deployment aims to strengthen existing bonds between India and the regional countries.

22. The Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh has inaugurated the new HQs building of Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D), Ministry of Home Affairs on 8th of Sept. 2017 in New Delhi.

23. The first National Canine Seminar organized by National Security Guard (NSG) in NSG Campus, Manesar (Gurugram), Haryana

The theme of the two days National Canine Seminar is ”Canine as Tactical Weapon in Fight against Terrorism”.

24. The Airbus Perlan 2 aircraft has set a new altitude world record for a glider, climbing to 52,172 feet on 3rdSept. in El Calafate, Argentina.

The Perlan 2 is a composite-intensive, engineless glider designed to fly at the edge of space using stratospheric mountain waves.

25. Punjab National Bank and BSNL has joined hands to roll out open mobile wallet Speedpay across 10 states in the country 

26. On 8th September 2017, it was officially announced that Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) would be granted Maharatna Status soon, in New Delhi.

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) would be the 8thPublic Sector Enterprise to obtain the Maharatna Status.

About BPCL:

1. Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited
2. Oil& Gas Company
3. Headquarters – Mumbai
4. Chairman& MD – Mr.D.Rajkumar

27. Ajay Bhushan Pandey, the chief executive of the Unique Identification Authority of India will take over as the chairman of the Goods and Services Tax Network 

28. scientists of Cardiff University, successfully created a fuel ‘methanol’ from methane and oxygen obtained from the free air, in the United Kingdom.

29. The new species of edible freshwater fish has been discovered in Pampa River in Pathanamthitta district of Kerala.

New species of edible fish named as Labeo filiferus

30. Tottenham have announced plans for the world’s first dividing retractable football pitch at their new stadium 

The fully retractable grass surface will be used for football matches while the artificial pitch will be used for NFL matches.

31. Veteran Kannada actor RN Sudarshan had passed away in Bengaluru. He was 78.

32. Ministry of Civil Aviation introduced new rules for the formation of a national No – Fly list that bans unruly passengers from travelling in airplanes.

The No – Fly list has been introduced to ensure on-board safety of passengers, cabin crew and the airlines.

33. Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), Ministry of Water Resources entered into a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore for development of ground water flow models and preparation of aquifer management plans for Karnataka, in New Delhi.

34. Joint Parliamentary Committee under Bhupender Yadav on the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill, 2017

35. First water ATM has been inaugurated by Telangana State Home Minister N Narasimha Reddy at Nalgonda X Roads

A total of 200 ATMs will be set up to reach a targeted 150,000 people. In the first phase 50 water ATMs will be operationalised by 2018.

36. Centre allows import of raw sugar through southern ports of India at 25% Import duty

37. Assam government has signed a MoU with Google India Pvt. Ltd. to increase digital literacy and takeInternet connectivity to the remotest part of the north-eastern state.

Under this MoU the government would work to provide Internet connections to 26,000 villages and 1,500 tea garden areas in Assam.

38. Hockey India has named Sjoerd Mrijne as the new chief coach of the India men’s senior hockey team

39. Fiscal deficit touches 92.4% of budget estimates at July-end.

40. Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu laid the foundation stone for Ranchi Smart City coming up on the Heavy Engineering Corporation (HEC) land. According to the Urban Development Minister CP Singh, this would be the country’s first ‘green-field’ smart city.

41. Prince Charles, the heir to Britain’s throne, became the longest-serving Prince of Wales in history.

Prince Charles was created Prince of Wales when he was nine years old on July 26, 1958. He has now held the title for more than 59 years.

42. Private sector lender IndusInd Bank and India's second largest Microfinance company Bharat Financial Inclusion have signed a confidentiality agreement for the proposed merger between them.

The Hinduja Group controlled bank has informed the exchanges about an ‘exclusivity agreement’ with the micro lender to explore merger or expansion plans

43. Indian Ambassador in UAE Navdeep Singh Suri inaugurated the second Indian Workers’ Resource Centre (IWRC) in UAE to provide support and counseling to Indians in distress.

44. The air forces of China and Pakistan began a joint training exercise named "Shaheen VI" and deployed their latest fighter jets and AWACS aircraft.

45. India has finished fifth in the medals tally with one gold and two silver medals at the Moscow Shotgun World Championships

46. Unseeded American Sloane Stephens lifted the US Open women's singles title. Sloane ranked 83rd completed a spectacular return from injury to beat 15th seed Keys 6-3, 6-0 in the finals. 

47. The second edition of India-Afghanistan Strategic Partnership Council was held in New Delhi. The meeting was co-chaired by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani.

48. The Union Finance Ministry is planning to launch ‘Project Insight’ from October 2017 to monitor high value transactions and detect tax evaders using technology with a view to curbing circulation of black money.

To implement the project government has signed contract with Information Technogolgy major L&T Infotect Ltd.

49. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has named two mountain ranges on icy dwarf planet Pluto as Tenzing Montes and Hillary Montes after Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary.

50 World number one Rafael Nadal (Spain) won the 2017 US Open title in men’s single category.

51. The Union Ministry of Commerce and Industries has set up [email protected], an online service facility for effective resolution of foreign trade-related issues of importers and exporters.

52. Jordan, a water-poor country that is 90% desert, has launched Sahara Forest Project near the southern port city of Aqaba to turn desert land into farming land to produce food using sun and sea water.

53. The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) has decided to constitute a committee comprising experts that would look into the method and process for undertaking large scale community reform program within the Islamic Sharia (Islamic Law).

54. The Assam government would be providing skill development training to around 30,000 surrendered militants.

55. An eight feet bronze statue of Indian freedom struggle leader Subhash Chandra Bose was unveiled at the Naval base INS Netaji Subhash at Kolkata.

56. Saudi Arabia says it has suspended dialogue with Qatar, shortly after a phone call between the Qatari leader and the Saudi crown prince

57. India won 37 medals, including 23 Gold, in the just-concluded Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships in Gold coast Australia.

58. Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry announced a Smart Cities Awards Contest with a total prize money of 50 lakhs to recognise and reward cities and innovative ideas that promote mission's goals

59. According to a study titled "Manufacturing Excellence and Emergence in India: The state level analysis" which was conducted by ASSOCHAM's Economic Research Bureau, Karnataka stands at top among the Indian states in terms of manufacturing excellence.

60. A Bengaluru firm has become India’s first to receive the international CARB-X grant to develop antibiotics to treat hospital-acquired infections.

61. The Hyderabad-based transwoman activist, who holds two post-graduate degrees, did not despair. Instead, she decided to launch the first YouTube channel Transvision in India conceptualised and actualised by transgender individuals.

62.  Kishore Kharat, MD and CEO, Indian Bank and Kalavathi S M, CGM, Bharat Sanchar Nigam signed an MoU to Upgrade the bandwidth of Indian Bank‘s branches to 2mbps.The upgradation would be in line with the bank’s policy of promoting digital channels

63. LIC has formally launched a new single premium plan, Jeevan Utkarsh, which offers a combination of protection and savings wherein the risk cover is ten times of tabular single premium from date of commencement of risk.

64. England fast bowler James Anderson climbed to top spot in ICC Test Player Rankings. Anderson became the first English and the sixth bowler in the world to pick 500 Test wickets.

65. RBI uses Currency Verification & Processing Machine for processing currency notes.