16th September Current Affairs: Special Days 1. World Ozone Day • The International Day for the preservation of the Ozone Layer was observed on 16 September 2014. • The day marks the commemoration of the date of signing of the Montreal Protocol in 1987 on substances that deplete the Ozone layer. • The theme for 2014 is “Ozone Layer Protection: The Mission Goes On”. Appointments 1. The International Economic Association (IEA) has appointed Kaushik Basu, who is Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of World Bank, as president-elect of the association. • The International Economic Association (IEA) has appointed Professor Kaushik Basu as president-elect of the Association beginning September 2014. • He will continue serving as Senior Vice President and World Bank Chief Economist, a job he started on October 1, 2012, Basus Senior Communication officer Merrell J Tuck-Primdahl said in a statement. Awards 1. Sachin Tendulkar Named for Giants International Awards • Sachin Tendulkar will get the award for lifetime achievement in sports while Bollywood legend Helen Salim Khan will be honoured for her lifetime contribution to films. • The awards shall be given away by the Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah at a function. • Giants International Executive World Chairperson Shaina NC, the organisation has 600 branches in India and abroad in countries like the US, Britain, Africa, Ukraine and Mauritius. Banking 1. Indias export growth slips to 2.35 % at 26.95 billion dollars in Aug • Indias export growth slipped to 2.35 percent at 26.95 billion dollars in August, pushing up trade deficit to 10.83 billion dollars. • Gold imports jumped to 2.03 billion dollars in August compared to 738.7 million dollars in the same month last year. • According to the Ministry of Commerce and Industrys data, overall imports grew 2.08 percent to 37.79 billion dollars. Books - Writers 1. “Not just an account” written by Vinod roy • Former Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Vinod Rais recent interviews, given in the run-up to the release of his book (Not Just An Accountant: The Diary of the Nations Conscience-Keeper), offers us a perfect example of how principal-agent issues play out in the political arena. Serious misalignments in the interests of the principal and the agent sometimes lead to perverse results - and often scams. • This book talks about various issues observed during his 2008-2013 tenure as CAG including, Ex pm Manmohan Singh’s role at times like 2G and coal block allocation. Deaths 1. ISIS(Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) beheaded British Citizen, David Haines died • The British aid worker, David Haines was in news as he was beheaded by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants. • He was kept as a hostage by the militant group in Syria and his beheading was confirmed after the group released a video of beheading Haines. • The British aid worker, David Haines was in news as he was beheaded by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants. 2. Former Nepal Minister Bogati dies • Post Bahadur Bogati, vice-chairman of Nepal`s Unified Communist Party of Nepal (UPCN) (Maoist) died. • Bogati died due to heart attack as well as brain haemorrhage. • Bogati had been an active member of Nepal`s UCPN (Maoist) party since its inception. • Bogati also held positions as the minister for information and communications, culture, tourism and civil aviation. • Though the UCPN (Maoist) is yet to declare his death formally, the party`s senior leader, Baburam Bhattari, has announced his death through Twitter. International 1. India is all set to get its first overseas port with the Union Cabinet expected to clear the long-delayed Chabahar project in Iran within the next fortnight. • Union Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari expected the Cabinet to clear it in the “next 10-15 days.” Not only would it allow India easier access to Afghanistan and Central Asia without having to depend on Pakistan, it is also being touted as India’s answer to Chinese control over Pakistan’s Gwadar port, just 76 km from Chabahar • Located along the Makran coast in the Gulf of Oman, Chabahar is in close proximity to the Strait of Hormuz which facilitates about 40 per cent of the world’s oil trade, and hence has significant strategic implications for India. 2. As nations mount an offensive against the Islamic State militants that have gained a stronghold in Iraq and Syria, the U.N. Human Rights Council emphasised that the Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government has committed the bulk of atrocities in the civil war. • The head of the commission, Brazilian diplomat and scholar Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, told the U.N.’s top human rights body that the government’s killing of civilians often through the use of ubiquitous checkpoints exceeds the crimes against civilians perpetrated by the militants and other anti-government armed groups. National 1. Hero Moto Corp Limited has entered into an agreement with the Andhra Pradesh Government for setting up a green field two-wheeler manufacturing plant in Chittoor district. • The company has been allotted 600 acres located adjacent to Sri City multi-use project. • Hero is expected to invest about Rs. 1,600 crore on the project which will have a capacity to produce up to 1.8 million units in a phased manner. Ancillary units will invest another Rs. 1,500 crore close to the plant, which will employ about 3,000 people. 2. NTPC Ltd has drawn up plans to set up a 4,000-MW ultra mega power project at Pudimadaka near Visakhapatnam wherein it has been allotted 1,200 acres by the Andhra Pradesh Government. • The thermal power project has been in pipeline for the past several years. With both the Central and the State Governments keen to provide necessary support for the project, NTPC has decided to initiate the project which entails an outlay of Rs. 20,000 crore. • After the signing-in ceremony of allotment of land to NTPC in the presence of Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal, AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and NTPC Chairman and Managing Director Arup Roy Choudhury, the Union Power Minister said that the project would be completed by 2019. 3. A major relief, the Jammu-Sringar National Highway reopened for traffic on after remaining closed for 13 days, a development that will give a boost to relief efforts in the flood-ravaged Kashmir Valley. • The extent of damage caused by floods in Kashmir is still unfolding as people who had left their marooned houses or were evacuated are now going back to their homes to check the damage as water level is receding and dewatering has gained momentum. 4. The Minister for Mines, Steel, Labour and Employment, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, handed over cheques worth Rs. 15 crore for the Prime Ministers National Relief Fund, to the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. • This amount has been donated by Public Sector Undertakings from the Steel and Mining sectors. Persons in News 1. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) named flamboyant all-rounder Shahid Afridi as its new national Twenty20 captain until the 2016 World T20 while Misbah ul Haq was retained as the Test and ODI skipper until the 2015 ODI World Cup. • In his first message after being given the responsibility by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) till the 2016 World T20, Afridi, who has played 381 ODIs and 74 T20 internationals, told reporters here that he was up for the challenge. Science & Technology 1. Buoyed by the initial response to Android One smartphones, chip maker MediaTek said it expects as many as two million handsets to be sold in 2014 in India, the worlds second largest market for mobile phones. • The Taiwan-headquartered company has partnered with US-based tech giant Google on Android One, an initiative to provide a family of high-quality, yet affordable Android devices for consumers in emerging markets like India. Seminars – Meetings 1. Sri Lanka and China agreed to deepen strategic and defence cooperation, following talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the Presidential Secretariat. • Sri Lanka signed nearly 30 agreements with China, including one launching negotiations on a free trade agreement. • The leaders authorised the $1.4-billion port city development project, Beijing’s latest investment in Sri Lanka, and cleared the decks for several infrastructure projects besides launching the final phase of a power plant in Noracholai, located in Sri Lanka’s North Western Province. Sports 1. Meghalayas Edward Mawthoh wins bronze in World Kickboxing Championship • Meghalayas Edward Mawthoh has bagged a bronze medal at the World Kickboxing Championships 2014 held in Italy. • Mawthoh competed in the 48kg category of the Under-16 full contact sports, which was held from September 6 to 14 at Rimini. • Mawthoh lost to Roman Synyaev of Russia who went on to bag gold at the championship. State 1. A.P. in comfort zone on power front • The Andhra Pradesh Energy department which kept its fingers crossed over the power scenario post bifurcation appears to be placed in a comfort zone, ahead of the launch of the ambitious power for all programmes on October 2 coinciding with the Gandhi Jayanti. • From an acute shortage that crossed 25 million units a day during the early monsoon months, the department has reached a position where it could avert load relief (power cuts) to all sections of consumers, including the industrial sector. • The department which faced a shortage in excess of 500 MW after bifurcation is much relieved ever since the trial run of the 800 MW Krishnapatnam thermal projects was successfully completed as also the enhanced prospects of harnessing solar energy close to 1,000 MW. Surveys 1. Reliance Industries (RIL) Chairman Mukesh Ambani has again topped the list of richest Indian while Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani has made it to the 10th spot. • As per the Hurun India Rich List for 2014, Mukesh Ambanis wealth has risen 37 percent to Rs 1.65 lakh crore this year. • RIL posted posted a 13.7 percent jump in its April-June quarter net profit to almost USD 1 billion, the highest quarterly profit by a private firm, on the back of higher refining margins, better petrochem earnings and surge in US shale gas business. • Founder and managing director of Sun Pharmaceuticals Dilip Shangvi has shot into the second position, piping LN Mittal of Arcelormittal. Economy 1. India to receive $63.3 million loan from ADB • India signed a $63.3 million loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for improving urban services in North Karnataka. • The agreement is for the fourth project under the overall facility of $270 million for the North Karnataka Urban Sector Investment Program. Objective of Loan: • To upgrade infrastructure, including expansion of the potable water systems to provide continuous water supply (24X7) with private sector participation in 12 towns. • And aims to improve basic urban services for at least 4.3 million people living in 25 North Karnataka towns by providing them with improved water supply, cleaner environmental conditions, safer and faster urban transportation, and other public facilities. 2. India may become fifth-largest exporter by 2030, says HSBC report. • Indias Trade Confidence Index increased from 126 in the second half of 2013 to 137 in the first half of 2014. • In the near term, respondents see Europe as the most promising trading destination, pushing Asia into second position. • The UAE is likely to remain top export destination for the country till 2030, and China is forecast to emerge as the second largest export market, displacing the US. • Current(2014) Exports & Imports table of India Exports Imports Goods (top goods traded) software, petrochemicals, agriculture products, jewellery, engineering goods, pharmaceuticals, textiles crude oil, gold and precious stones, electronics, engineering goods, chemicals, plastics, coal Main partners European Union USA, UAE China European Union UAE 3. Govt clears 21 FDI projects, rejects Sistema Shyams proposal. • Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) cleared FDI 21 proposals including that of Bharati Shipyard, but turned down Sistema Shyams request to raise foreign holding. • The FIPB, headed by Finance Secretary Arvind Mayaram, at its meeting considered 35 proposals. • The proposal of Bharti Shipyard-an Indian company in ship building sector which has existing FDI through FIIs and NRIs-to undertake defence activities was cleared, sources said. • Besides, the proposal of Verizon Communications India which sought approval to increase foreign equity participation by its foreign parent from 74 per cent to 100 per cent was also approved by the FIPB.
Posted on: Wed, 17 Sep 2014 15:21:43 +0000
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