Current Affairs Daily Updates: 01 September 2017

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Current Affairs Daily Updates: 01 September 2017
APPOINTMENTS
Rajiv Kumar appointed as new DFS Secretary and Anita Karwal as CBSE Chairperson
  • Senior bureaucrat Rajiv Kumar appointed Secretary in the Department of Financial Services (DFS) while Anita Karwal is the next Chairperson of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).
  • Anita Karwal, a Gujarat-cadre IAS officer who is Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Human Resources Development named chairperson of CBSE.
  • Rajesh Kumar Chaturvedi moved to National Skill Development Agency as Director General.
Rajiv Mehrishi appointed as Comptroller and Auditor General of India
  • Senior IAS officer Rajiv Mehrishi appointed as the next Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India.
  • He succeeds Shashi Kant Sharma.
  • Mehrishi is IAS Officer of 1978 batch and belonged to Rajasthan cadre.
  • He has a degree in business administration from Strathclyde Business School, Glasgow. He also did BA (History) and MA (History) from St Stephen’s College, Delhi.
Sunil Arora appointed as Election Commissioner of India
  • The Union Government appointed former Information and Broadcasting secretary Sunil Arora (61) as Election Commissioner.
  • He will have a tenure of four years in the Election Commission.
  • His appointment comes after former CEC Nasim Zaidi’s retirement in July 2017.
AWARDS AND HONOURS
Excellence Awards given in Delhi Book Fair
  • Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State (Independent charge) for Culture and Tourism gave away awards for excellence in book production in various categories at the Delhi Book Fair.
  • Federation of Indian Publishers (FIP) gives these awards every year during the Delhi Book Fair.
  • Publications Division under Ministry of Information and Broadcasting bagged 11 Awards & two Certificates of Merit in various categories in Hindi, English & Regional languages.
  • DPD’s journal Kurukshetra has won first prize while children books on swachhta: Swachh Jungle Ki Kahani – Dadi ki Jubani in Hindi & Assamese & Buddhopadesha in Kannada have won second prize.
CSIR ranked 9th Public Research Institution of the World
  • India's largest autonomous public organization Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) ranked ninth in the world.
  • The institute has been ranked ninth amongst a total of 1,207 government institutions, according to the Scimago Institutions ranking World Report 2017.
  • It is the only Indian organization which has found a place amongst the Top 100 Global Institutions.
  • The ranking was topped by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
BANKING AFFAIRS
99 per cent of demonetised notes returned: RBI report
  • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has released the Status of the Return of SBNs- Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Annual Report 2016-17.
  • The report states that around 99 per cent of the demonetised notes that is Rs 15.28 lakh crore have been returned to the bank.
  • The high value currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 were banned by Union Government in November 2016 as a means to combat counterfeiting, black money and the financing of terrorist activities.
  • RBI was under intense scrutiny since January 2017 after the window for depositing the withdrawn Rs 500 and Rs 1000 banknotes was closed.
BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC AFFAIRS
Samsung gains permit to test self-driving cars in California
  • Samsung Electronics joined the self-driving car race in California with a permit from the state to test the technology on the home turf of Tesla, Google, and Apple.
  • Last year announced a deal to buy the US auto parts maker Harman International Industries for $8 billion in a bid to enter the growing market for automotive technology to produce “connected” cars.
IMPORTANT DAYS OBSERVED
National Nutrition Week: 1st to 7th September
  • The National Nutrition Week will be observed throughout the country from 1st to 7th September. The theme of the National Nutrition Week for 2017 is "Optimal Infant & Young Child Feeding Practices: Better Child Health".
  • The basic objective of this annual event is to intensify awareness generation on the importance of nutrition for health which has an impact on development, productivity, economic growth and ultimately National development.
  • The Food and Nutrition Board of Ministry of Women & Child Development, through its 43 Community Food and Nutrition Extension Units (CFNEUs) located in 30 States/UTs, will coordinate with concerned Department of the State/UT Governments, National Institutions, NGOs and organize State/UT Level Workshops, Orientation Training of Fields Functionaries, Awareness Generation Camps, Community meetings during the week on the specified theme.
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
Lebanon gets first animal protection law
  • Lebanese President Michel Aoun has signed the country’s first animal welfare bill into law, guaranteeing that domestic and wild animals will be legally protected from abuse.
  • The bill is the culmination of years of lobbying for the protection of animals in the Mediterranean country.
  • The law, passed by parliament on August 16, outlines requirements for keeping domestic pets, regulations for zoos and pet shops, and penalties for violations – including jail time and fines.
India and China submitted proposal to WHO for elimination of trade-distorting farm subsidies
  • India and China jointly submitted a proposal to World Trade Organisation (WTO) calling for the elimination of most trade-distorting farm subsidies by developed countries.
  • These farm subsidies are known as known as Aggregate Measurement of Support (AMS) or ‘Amber Box’ support.
  • The proposal assumes importance in view for consideration of other reforms in domestic support negotiations in view of ongoing negotiations for upcoming 11th Ministerial Conference (MC) of WTO to be held in Buenos Aires (Argentina) in December 2017.
India and Switzerland sign two MoUs in the field of Railways
  • India and Switzerland have signed two Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) for exchanging technical cooperation in the field of Railways.
  • They were signed after delegation level talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting President of Swiss Confederation Doris Leuthard in New Delhi.
  • FDI is a big part of the Indo-Swiss cooperation.Both countries are working on a new bilateral investment treaty. India thanked Switzerland for support for its bid for MTCR and Nuclear Suppliers Group membership.
NATIONAL AFFAIRS
Chandrababu Naidu announces Rs. 1 crore to Archer Vennam Jyoti Surekha
  • Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister ‘N Chandrababu Naidu’ has announced a reward of one crore rupees to Arjuna awardee archer Vennam Jyoti Surekha.
  • He also announced a 500- sq yd house site in Vijayawada and a government job for her.
  • The Chief Minister also announced 10 lakh rupees reward for Devisri Prasad (10-year) of Tirupati on setting the Guinness World Record in skating.
  • Prasad achieved the feat by skating under 60 cars, covering a distance of 115 meters.
Smt Harsimrat Kaur Badal launches Common Food Processing Incubation Center for Shallots
  • Union Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal has inaugurated a unit to process small onions in Perambalur district in Tamil Nadu.
  • The farmers in Perambalur District are producing 70000 tons of shallots per year in a cultivation area of 8000 hectares in spite of the increasing difficulty in cultivation due to increase in prices of inputs, unpredictable weather, disease outbreak and not getting adequate prices in the market.
  • Mission Banana was implemented in the previous year and this year it is Mission Onion.
President Ram Nath Kovind to visit Gujarat on September 4 to launch projects
  • President Ram Nath Kovind visit Jasdan town of Rajkot district on September 4 to launch some projects and attend various programs.
  • This is for the first time when our country’s president is coming to Rajkot to attend a government program.
  • He will lay the foundation stone for the second phase of work for the link-4 of the SAUNI project at a place near the temple.
Union minister Nitin Gadkari announced 13 new railway bridges to be built in Pune district
  • The Union ministry for road transport, highways and shipping  Nitin Gadkari finally given a green signal for the construction of 13 new Railway Over Bridges (ROB) in Pune district.
  • The ROBs will come up at Khadki, Pimpri, and Talegaon along the old Mumbai-Pune highway.
  • The estimated cost is about 6000 crores for the project.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inaugurate annual conference 'Rajaswa Gyan Sangam'
  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurate the annual conference Rajaswa Gyan Sangam, 2017 in New Delhi.
  • The objective of the Conference is to enable a two-way communication between the policy-makers and the senior officers in the field offices with a view to increase revenue collection and facilitate effective implementation of law and policies in key result areas.
  • Apart from the joint sessions, separate technical sessions of each Board will be held during the two-day Conference.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY / DEFENCE AFFAIRS
Launch of navigation satellite IRNSS-1H unsuccessful: ISRO
  • The launch of IRSO’s eight navigation satellite IRNSS-1H onbaord of PSLV-C39 from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh was unsuccessful.
  • The heat shield did not separate as a result of which satellite did not complete the 4th stage.
  • The IRNSS-1H was being sent to space to back up and replace the functions of India’s first navigation satellite IRNSS-1A (launched in July 2013) as its three rubidium atomic clocks on board had stopped functioning.
  • The rubidium atomic clocks on board of IRNSS-1A that stopped working were imported from European aerospace manufacturer Astrium. The atomic clocks are used to find satellite’s position with an accuracy of 0.5 metre.
SPORTS AFFAIRS
FIFA Under-17 World Cup trophy reaches Kolkata
  • The FIFA Under-17 World Cup trophy arrived in Kolkata from Guwahati and will stay there till 3rd September, after which it will travel to Mumbai.
  • Thousands have looked at the trophy for which 24 countries will vie for in 52 games from 6th to 28th October.
  • The three-day 'trophy experience' will conclude at the Eco Park, a popular tourist spot where fans will have the opportunity to come up close and take the selfie with the silverware.
  • The trophy will cover 9,000km across six cities in a span of 40 days.
Gaurav Bidhuri wins bronze medal in 2017 World Boxing Championships
  • Wildcard entrant India's 'Gaurav Bidhuri' (24-year) has won the bronze medal at the 2017 World Boxing Championships in Hamburg, Germany.
  • He lost his semi-final bantamweight (56kg) category clash to Duke Ragan (America).
  • There were only three Indians who have managed it on this stage before the 2017 edition, Shiva Thapa ( 2015), Vikas Krishan(2011) and Vijender Singh(2009).