Current Affairs Daily Updates: 09 – September – 2017
APPOINTMENTS
Sjoerd
Mrijne appointed as new Chief Coach of India mens Hockey team, Harendra Singh
for womens team
- Sjoerd
Marijne appointed as the new Chief Coach of India Men's Senior Hockey
team, replacing the sacked Roelant Oltmans.
- World
Cup-winning Junior team coach Harendra Singh was appointed High
Performance Specialist coach of the senior women's team.
UIDAI
CEO A.B. Pandey appointed as interim Chairman of GSTN
- The
Unique Identification Authority of India’s (UIDAI) chief executive officer
(CEO) A.B. Pandey was appointed interim chairman of the Goods and Services
Tax Network (GSTN).
- GSTN’s
first chairman Navin Kumar.
- GSTN
is a section 8 non-government, private limited company, providing
information technology (IT) backbone and portal for registration and tax
returns under the GST regime.
AWARDS AND HONOURS
Karnataka
tops in manufacturing excellence according to ASSOCHAM
- 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.
- Kerala
ranks second.
University
of Oxford ranks top in 2018 World University Rankings, In India IISc Bangalore
ranks first
- 2018
World University Rankings which was published by the Times Higher
Education (THE) are:
- 1.
University of Oxford
- 2. University of Cambridge
- 3.
Caltech, Stanford University.
- IISc,
Bangalore has been named the top university in India. The other top Indian
Universities are:
- 2.
IIT-Bombay
- 3.
IIT-Delhi
- 4.
IIT-Kanpur
- 5.
IIT-Kharagpur
BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC AFFAIRS
Fiscal
deficit touches 92.4% of budget estimates at July-end
- India’s
fiscal deficit at July- end touched 92.4 % of the budget mainly because of
front loading of expenditure by various government departments.
- In
absolute terms, the fiscal deficit- difference between expenditure and
revenue - was Rs 5.04 lakh crore during April- July 2017-18, according to
the data of Controller General of Accounts (CGA).
- During
the same period of last financial year, 2016-17, it was 73.7 % of the
target. For 2017-18, the government aims to bring down the fiscal deficit
to 3.2 % of the GDP. Last fiscal, it had met the deficit target of 3.5 %
of the GDP.
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
Pakistan
PM opens China backed 5th nuclear power plant for 340 MW electricity generation
- Pakistani
Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi inaugurated the country’s fifth
nuclear power plant (C-4 plant) located at Chashma in Mianwali district of
the Punjab province.
- This
340 MW Chasma - IV (C - 4) nuclear power plant is developed in
collaboration between the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) and
China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC).
India
imposes countervailing duty on some Chinese steel products for 5 years
- The
Union Finance Ministry has imposed 18.95% countervailing duty (CVD) on
certain Chinese flat steel products for period of five years to protect
domestic players from cheap subsidised imports.
- The
decision to impose CVD was taken by finance ministry based on the
recommendation of Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties
(DGAD).This is first case of imposition of CVD on any steel product in
India.
Nobel
Peace Prize awarded to Aung San Suu Kyi in 1991 cannot be revoked
- Myanmar's
Suu Kyi received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for "her non-violent
struggle for democracy and human rights'' while standing up against
military rulers.
- An
online petition signed by more than 386,000 people on Change.org is
calling for her prize's removal over the persecution of Myanmar's Rohingya
Muslims.
- The
Norwegian Nobel Institute announced that prize awarded to Myanmar's Aung
Sang Suu Kyi cannot be revoked.
Earthquake
of magnitude 8 struck southern Mexico
- Magnitude
8 powerful earthquake hit offshore 120 kilometres southwest of the town of
Tres Picos in the state of Chiapas, southern Mexico.
- US
Geological Survey (USGS) issued a tsunami warning.
NATIONAL AFFAIRS
Biodiversity-rich
Uninhabited Parali I island of Lakshadweep vanished
- R M
Hidayathulla in his research work stated that "Parali I" island,
part of Bangaram atoll, which was 0.032 sq. km in 1968 has been vanished,
during 1968-2003 period due to coastal erosion.
- Hidayathulla
was awarded PhD in July 2017 by Calicut University in Kerala for his work
"Studies on Coastal Erosion in Selected Uninhabited Islands of
Lakshadweep Archipelago with Special Reference to Biodiversity
Conservation."
- Also,
Erosion was higher in the other islands, such as:
- Parali
II – 80 %
- Thinnakara
– 14.38 %
- Parali
III – 11.42 %
- Bangaram
– 9.968
Assam
Govt signs MoU with Google to increase digital literacy across 26,000 villages
- Assam
Government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Google India,
to provide Internet connection to 26,000 villages and 1,500 tea garden
areas in Assam to increase digital literacy.
- Information
Technology Secretary Nitin Khare and Google India Country Head (Policy)
Chetan Krishnaswami signed the Memorandum of Understanding in the presence
of Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal.
In
Hyderabad, First water ATM inaugurated at Nalgonda X Roads
- Telangana
State Home Minister Naini Narasimha Reddy has inaugurated ‘Any Time Water’
kiosk, known as water ATM near Nalgonda X Roads which is joint initiative
of Safe Water Network, an international NGO and Greater Hyderabad
Municipal Corporation (GHMC).
- Purified
water will be made available at a payment of ₹ 2 per litre and ₹ 20 per 20
litres of water.
- A
total of 200 ATMs will be set up to reach a targetted 150,000 people. In
the first phase 50 water ATMs will be operationalised by 2018.
Union
Govt to launch School Chalo Abhiyan to enrol 80 lakh kids
- Government
will undertake a programme known as ‘school chalo abhiyan’ from 2018 to
enrol “70-80 lakh” students in India who are out of schools.
- Union
Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar announced it at the
celebration of 51st International Literacy Day-2017.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY / DEFENCE AFFAIRS
Scientists
make cheap and clean fuel from air
- Scientists
from Cardiff University, UK have discovered a new way to produce methanol
from methane using oxygen from the air. Methanol is an important chemical
often used as fuel in vehicles.
- The
discovery has major implications for cleaner, greener industrial processes
worldwide. The new technique uses freely available air, inexpensive
chemicals and an energy efficient methanol production process.
New
species of edible fish found in Pampa river in Kerala
- A
group of researchers discovered a new species of edible freshwater fish
while exploring the waters of the Pampa river in Pathanamthitta in Kerala.
As per the researchers, the newly found fish could possibly be farmed on a
commercial scale.
- The
two researchers, Mathews Plamoottil, Assistant Professor, government
colege, Chavara, Kollam, and Primoz Zupancic from the Dinaric Research
Institute, Solvenia, Europe, have reported the discovery in the latest
issue of an open access research journal Bioscience Discovery.
SPORTS AFFAIRS
James
Anderson becomes first England bowler, overall third pacer to take 500 Test
wickets
- James
Anderson (35-year-old) became the third pacer, sixth bowler overall and
first Englishman to take 500 Test wickets when he clean bowled West
Indies’ Kraigg Brathwaite for four on Day 2 of the third Test at Lord’s.
- Windies'
pacer Courtney Walsh was the first fast bowler to achieve the feat,
followed by Australia's Glenn McGrath.
Worlds
First Dividing Retractable Football pitch at new stadium of Tottenham
- Tottenham's
new stadium will include the world's first retractable pitch, which is due
to open in 2018, allowing the venue to hold both football and NFL matches.
- Sheffield
engineering company SCX have been recruited to build the retractable
pitch.
- Note:
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, referred simply as Tottenham or
Spurs, is an English football club located in Tottenham, Haringey, London.
