Daily Current Affairs Update September 30 -2017 Part-2

1. State Bank of India (SBI) has launched the FTSE SBI Bond Index series in partnership with global index provider FTSE 100, which will give tools to investors from India, the UK and globally to analyse India’s government bond market, and drive growth in this market.

2. Samsung’s Bixby Voice now works in India.

Bixby takes some initial setting up, requiring users to input their voice, reading commands and sentences and trying out a few tasks. 

3. State Bank of India (SBI) is India’s most trusted and most popular bank according to a survey conducted by Brand Finance, a business valuation and strategic consultancy headquartered in London.

4. Multilateral funding agency ADB has sanctioned a USD 300 million loan facility for carrying forward fiscal reforms in West Bengal. The board of Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved a loan of USD 300 million to continue a comprehensive series of fiscal reforms in West Bengal.

5. President Ram Nath Kovind will make his first foreign trip as head of state to the strategically-significant African continent in the first week of October. The President will visit to Ethiopia and Djibouti.

6. Asian Development Bank (ADB) has downgraded India’s growth projection to 7 percent for the current fiscal while lowering its forecast for the next financial year as well

7. Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) has signed a contract with Research Centre Imarat (RCI) for  the supply of Medium Range Surface-to-Air Missiles (MRSAM) to Indian Army.

8. Reigning Asian champion Govindan Lakshmanan of Services cruised to victory in the men’s 5000-metre race on the opening day of the 57th National Open Athletics Championships at the Nehru Stadium in Chennai.

9. Angola swore in Joao Lourenco as the country's President, making him the first new President of the country in 38 years.

10. Shri Ram Vilas Paswan, Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution launched the Web Portal of Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority (WDRA) & “Electronic Negotiable Warehouse Receipt (e-NWR) System” in New Delhi.

11. Twitter Announces Test Project Allowing Tweets to be Expanded From 140 to 280 Characters.

12. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) registered National E-Governance Services Limited (NeSL) as an Information Utility (IU) under the IBBI (Information Utilities) Regulations, 2017. With this NeSL has become the first IU registered by the IBBI and the registration is valid for five years from the date of registration.

13. Madhya Pradesh has won the ‘Best Tourism State’ national award for the third consecutive year. President Ram Nath Kovind handed over the award, named as ‘Hall of Fame Award’, to Minister of State for Tourism Surendra Patwa at a ceremony held at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.

14. Telecom equipment and solutions provider VNL has signed an MoU with BSNL to provide solutions for disaster management. The 'Relief 123' service will restore connectivity at disaster sites, help locate the affected and integrate information across platforms to enable informed decision-making for quick relief.

15. Air India has tied up with public sector lender PNB and private lender IndusInd Bank to secure loans to the tune of over Rs 3,000 crore for meeting working capital requirements.

16. Defence Ministry has rolled out ARPAN 3.0 (Army Record Office Process Automation 3.0), a new automation software for Defence Security Corps personnel to ease personal documentation and all issues related to their progression.

17. The National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog in partnership with US Government is going to host 8th annual Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES 2017) in Hyderabad (Telangana) from November 28 to 30, 2017. 

 The theme for this year is “Women First, Prosperity for All

18. 

The third India International Science Festival (IISF-2017) will be held in Chennai, Tamil Nadu from October 13-16, 2017. It will be organised by Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) and  Vijnana Bharati (VIBHA).

19. The world’s largest all-composite airplane Stratolaunch in terms of wingspan successfully completed its initial engine tests. It is designed for launching for sending satellite-carrying rockets into low-Earth orbit.

The plane hasbiggest wingspan ever built, measuring 118 m from one end to the other, longer than a professional football field. It weighs about 227,000 kg.

20. Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) invited Australia to compete at Asiad (Asian Games) in 2022, for the first time.

21. Qatar Airways has launched double beds in the business class sections of aeroplanes from London to Doha in Qatar.

22. China bans use of anti-Islam words on social media

23. Telangana govt releases music video on 9 day Bathukamma festival

24. Tihar Jail, largest jail in India got its first open air gymnasium

25. UP Govt to release 100 prisoners on birth centenary of Pt Deendayal Upadhyaya

26. After remaining non-functional for the last 3 years the Janakpur-Jayanagar Railway line connecting Nepal and India is expected to become functional by 2018.

27. Russia has launched the world’s largest and most powerful icebreaker ship, designed to transport cargo via the Northern Sea Route in the Arctic Ocean.

28. Sebi chief Ajay Tyagi named among world’s top 10 regulators

29. The Union Minister of Women and Child Development, Smt. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi inaugurated the 3rd annual ‘Women of India Organic Festival’ at Dilli Haat (INA).

30. Shri Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi inaugurates “Hunar Haat” in Puducherry.

31. Ria Sharma was 21 when she set out to make a film on acid attack survivors.

The Delhiite became only Indian to get the UN’s Goalkeepers Global Goals Awards. Priyanka Chopra handed her the award.

32. Kochi will host the fifth edition of the ‘Coastal Shipping and Inland Water Transportation Business Summit 2017’ at Hotel Crowne Plaza.