Current Affairs of 1 to 30 September 2014

The commencement of the yearlong celebration commemorating the completion of 100 years after the Komagata Maru incident was undertaken by the Ministry of Culture in New Delhi.
Inaugural Function
Three granddaughters of Baba Gurdit Singh, the hero of the incident, were honored at the function inaugurating the beginning of the celebrations. A set of commemorative coins of Rs. 5 and Rs. 100 denominations were also released.
Celebrations
A National Implementation Committee has been constituted by the central government to finalise and decide on the programmes to be undertaken in the one year span. The programmes are believed to include national and international conference, publications, development of digital archives, making of movies and documentaries etc. An International Seminar titled ‘Komagata Maru: Context, Significance and Legacy’ is one of the proposals being considered. A week long function in Vancouver is also being planned. Efforts are being made to honour the descendants of the Indians involved in the incident and the Canadians who helped the cause financially or legally.

Second seeded Mirza and Myneni beat the top seeded Hsien Yin Peng and Hao Ching Chan of Chinese Taipei to win the gold in Mixed Doubles in tennis at the Asian Games in Incheon.
Three year streak
This is the third consecutive year that Sania has won in the mixed doubles category at the Asian Games. In the 2006 edition of the games, she won a gold with Leander Paes and in 2010, she won a silver paired with Vishnu Vardhan. Significantly this is Sania’s eighth Asian Games medal.
Maiden appearance
Myneni, on the other hand, made his maiden appearance at the Asian Games. Other than the gold with Sania, he also won the silver medal with Sanam Singh in the Men’s doubles category.

Former SBI Managing Director, Hemant Contractor, has been chosen to head the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA). The position of Chairman has been vacant for almost a year after the previous Chairman Yogesh Aggarwal resigned over differences with the Finance Ministry regarding the appointment of a member to PFRDA. R.V.Verma, the Finance member, was filling in as Acting Chairman. PFRDA Interim PFRDA was established by the government through a bill for the same introduced in Parliament in 2003. Its goal was to promote, develop and regulate pension sector in India. The Pension Fund Regulatory & Development Authority Act was passed in 2013. PFRDA is authorized by Ministry of Finance, Department of Financial Services. PFRDA must consist of a Chairperson and maximum of five members, out of which a maximum of three can be full time members. Members are appointed by the central government. One of the major roles of the PFRDA today is to oversee NPS (National Pension System). NPS is a pension scheme run by the Government of India. It has been mandatory for central government employees from 2004 and voluntary for unorganized sector workers since 2009.

31 year old Seema Punia, won India its first gold in the track and field events when she defeated her two Chinese rivals to come first in discus throw. Her best throw was 61.03m in the women’s discus throw event. She had also won a silver medal in the Commonwealth Games held this year at Glasgow. The national record for discus throw in women is held by Seema Antil with 64.84m and Krishna Poonia with 64.76m. Krishna Poonia was also competing in the Asian Games but her performance was disappointing at 55.57m. She finished fourth.

M C Mary Kom became the first Indian woman boxer to clinch a gold medal at the Asian Games after she came from behind to beat Kazakhstan’s Zhaina Shekerbekova in the flyweight (51KG) summit clash. The lone Indian boxer in action on Tuesday, Mary Kom defeated Shekerbekova 2-0 in a evenly-contested battle in which the Kazakh had the initial advantage. The five-time world champion and Olympic bronze-medallist, who had won a bronze when women boxers made their debut at the 2010 Asiad, shifted gears with ease to come out triumphant in the final analysis.

In his address to the UNGA, Prime Minister Modi called for celebration of International Yoga Day on 21 June every year. He stated by ‘changing lifestyle’ and ‘creating consciousness’, one can deal with climate change. He claimed that the ancient practice that has been passed on through the ages is a gift of India’s tradition to the world. India’s neighbours, namely, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh have already expressed to PM Modi their support for his initiative, with Sri Lanka having given its support in writing.

Indian Tennis Player Leander Paes and Polish Marcin Matkowski defeated second seeded Jamie Murray and John Peers to win the doubles title at the Malaysian Open held in Kuala Lumpur. They beat their opponents 3-6, 7-6(5), 10-5 in 90 minutes. While this was Matkowski’s second Malaysian Open win, it was Paes’ 54th ATP title of his career. Paes’ last win was in the 2013 US Open with Radek Stepanek as his partner. Paes has had 98 different partners in his career.

IRNSS 1C, the next satellite in India’s IRNSS (Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System) series, is set to be launched on October 9 by ISRO. IRNSS 1C will be launched on a PSLV C26 from Sriharikota. The satellite is similar to, and follows the IRNSS 1A and 1B which were launched in April 2013 and July 2014 respectively. IRNSS is a navigation system that will cover India, and also extend 1,500 kms from its boundaries. It will provide accurate position information to users in India and will also be used for terrestrial and marine navigation, disaster management, fleet management and for vehicle tracking. However, to be able to use the IRNSS satellites, ISRO will have to launch at least four of the seven planned IRNSS satellites. IRNSS is similar to other satellite navigation service providers like USA’s GPS (Global Positioning System), Russia’s Glonass, Europe’s Galileo, Japan’s Quasi Zenith and China’s Beidou.

In the the 17th Asian Games , at Incheon, South Korera, the 31 year old Yogeshwar Dutt came first place to win the gold medal in wrestling. He defeated Zalimkhan Yusupov of Tajikistan to win the gold. He is the first Indian to win a gold in wrestling after 28 years. The native of Haryana, bettered his own bronze winning performance in the 2006 edition of the Asian Games. Dutt, who became a Padma Shri awardee in 2013, also won a bronze medal in freestyle wrestling at the 2012 Olympics, and a gold in the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Chinese President, Xi Jinping, had called for Taiwan’s merger with mainland China and formation of a ‘one country, two systems’ government. The Taiwanese Government’s Mainland Affairs Council has, however, rejected the plan. Taiwan was a part of China till the Civil War of 1949, when it split from the mainland and opted for its own form of government. Taiwan is a self governed democracy. The Chinese, however, still consider Taiwan a part of China and have stopped it from exercising its sovereignty in the international arena. Significantly, Taiwan is a major buyer of arms from USA

On 28 September 2014, President’s rule has been imposed in Maharashtra by the President in accordance with a move by the Union Cabinet calling for the same. The state assembly has been kept under suspended animation. The Cabinet made this recommendation, after the Maharashtra CM, Prithviraj Chavan, submitted his resignation to the Governor, C.V.Rao. Mr.Chavan was put in a position where he had to resign after the NCP Congress alliance in the state crumbled. Assembly elections are scheduled to commence from October 15 in Maharashtra.

The 18 year long corruption case against former CM of TN (Tamil Nadu), J. Jayalalitha, reached its conclusion when a special court in Bangalore presided by Special Judge John D’Cunha convicted her under the Prevention of Corruption Act. She was sentenced to four years imprisonment and levied a fine of Rs. 100 cr. The charge against her was of holding assets of Rs. 66.65 cr that were disproportionate to her known sources of income. This verdict marks the first ever conviction of a serving Chief Minister. Two aides of Jayalalitha and her now disowned foster son were also convicted in this case.

In his address to the UNGA, Prime Minister Modi called for celebration of International Yoga Day on 21 June every year. He stated by ‘changing lifestyle’ and ‘creating consciousness’, one can deal with climate change. He claimed that the ancient practice that has been passed on through the ages is a gift of India’s tradition to the world. India’s neighbours, namely, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh have already expressed to PM Modi their support for his initiative, with Sri Lanka having given its support in writing.

Fgk-pillaiormer Home Secretary G.K.Pillai has been named the Chairman of Tata International Ltd., which is the global trading and distribution arm of the Tata group of enterprises. Mr.Pillai is set to replace B.Muthuraman as Chairman from September 26. Tata International has a presence in over 40 countries across the globe. It has a turnover upwards of $1.5 bn and employs 10,000 people.

The winners of the 2014 edition of the annual Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar Award were announced by CSIR (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) at its 72nd Foundation Day celebrations on 26 September 2014. The 10 awardees have been chosen from various prestigious research institutions in India. The list of awardees of this year’s prize are as follows:- Biological Sciences Roop Mallik Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Mumbai Chemical Sciences Kavirayani Ramakrishna Prasad Indian Institute of Science Bengaluru. Souvik Maiti Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB) New Delhi. Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean and Planetary Sciences Sachchida Nand Tripathi Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. Engineering Sciences S Venkata Mohan Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (CSIR-IICT) Hyderabad. Soumen Chakrabarti Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai. Mathematical Sciences Kaushal Kumar Verma Indian Institute of Science Bengaluru. Medical Sciences Anurag Agrawal Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB) New Delhi. Physical Sciences Pratap Raychaudhuri Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Mumbai. Sadiqali Abbas Rangwala Raman Research Institute Bengaluru.

The global rating agency S&P has raised India’s sovereign rating outlook to stable from the earlier negative. The rating improvement makes India a more viable and safer investment avenue for foreign investors. With this move, all three credit rating agencies now predict a stable outlook for India, even though it still has the lowest investment grade rating. The sovereign rating remains constant at BBB- for long term and A3 for short term.Standard-Poors-logo The change is believed to have been caused by the strong political mandate given by the Indian populace to the current Central Government and the improvement in India’s external account. The new government’s move to emphasize fiscal discipline while promoting greater economic growth has inspired confidence. However, S&P has warned that failure to implement proposed reforms or deterioration in the economic scenario could trigger a downgrade.

Rival Palestinian factions, Fatah and Hamas have agreed to a unified government in Gaza that is set to assume power immediately. The government will be headed by Mahmoud Abbas, as agreed upon by the two sides in talks held in Egypt. The two sides agreed to the unity government along with the UN controlling the Gaza border crossings. Also, a decision has been made to constitute a joint committee than will oversee implementation of previous reconciliation agreements between the two factions. The deal will see Hamas, which is considered a terrorist organization by some countries, cede power in the Gaza strip which has been under its control since 2007 when it won elections there. Since gaining power, Hamas has fought three wars with Israel. Its recent conflict with Israel also ended in a ceasefire deal which stipulated that Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority must control the civil administration of Gaza.

Pakistan conducted a successful test fire of its surface to surface missile Hatf IX (Nasr). The missile was tested with four successive launches from a multi tube launcher. With a maximum range of 60 kms, the missile falls under the category of short range missiles. Its othere features include in-flight manoeurve capability designed for quick response, and shoot and scoot attributes. It is also believed to have nuclear capabilities. The missile builds Pakistan’s deterrence capabilities.

The Minister of Railways has launched a trial run of its e-catering service on six trains without pantries that run in the Delhi-Amritsar section. The trial run will be carried out by IRCTC which will serve food at five nominated stations. Depending on the success of the trial run, a decision will be made whether to launch them on a large scale or not. Passenger with confirmed PNR number will be able to place an order through a phone call or SMS to the dedicated number. The food will be served from the IRCTC food plazas or catering units at select stations. Passengers will have to pay for the service only on delivery of the food.

Cyberabad, the IT (information technology) corridor that houses some of the biggest IT companies, will have a police station staffed entirely by women. The police station will be opene in 10 days in an effort to ensure security of women employed in the thriving IT and ITeS (IT enabled services) sector in Andhra Pradesh. Women are believed to constitute approximately 25% of the 3.5 lakh persons employed in the IT/ITeS sector.

Former CAG Vinod Rai has stressed that there is a need for selection of CAG under a collegium system on the lines of the selection process employed for Election Commissioners, Information Commissioners and Vigilance Commissioners. This will ensure transparency in the selection process, according to him. He also stated that the powers of the CAG are substantial and sufficient for performance of vinod-raiduties. The current system for selecting the CAG is opaque. It is an entirely internal process, where some names reach the Prime Minister, who chooses one amongst them and recommends it to the President, who makes the appointment. There is no prescribed process for selection or fixed job description or necessary criteria to determine eligibility.

The Himachal Pradesh State Tourism Department has launched an Apple Festival to showcase and promote locally produced apples and apple made products among tourist. appleThe Tourism Departments also plans to take the tourists to the apple orchards itself so that they may have a more hands-on experience of the plucking, packaging and marketing processes involved. The department also conducted a competition for farmers growing exotic varieties of apples. Various local hotels and food chains have also set up stalls selling apple based products.

Kaushik Basu, Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of World Bank, has been appointed as president-elect of the association by the International Economic Association (IEA). Meanwhile, Basu will continue serving as Senior Vice President and World Bank Chief Economist. A World Bank Chief Economist is appointed for a 4 year term and Basu started his Job as Senior Vice President and World Bank Chief Economist on October 1, 2012. The International Economic Association (IEA) is one of the key organizations of professional economists, and has been significant in determining global economic policy and research. Amongst the past presidents of IEA were the Nobel laureates Robert Solow, Amartya Sen and Joseph Stiglitz. Thus, Kaushik Basu will be the 2nd Indian to head IEA.

Indian scientist Kamal Bawa, an eminent professor of biology at the University of Massachusetts in Boston, won the Midori Prize (2014) in Biodiversity for his research, including in climate change in the Himalayas. Kamal Bawa, founder president of the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) in Bangalore, will accept the prize with a cash award of $100,000 during the Oct 16-17, 2014 Conference of Parties (COP-12) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in South Korea. India, the at present the chair of the COP-11 and India will pass the baton to Korea at the COP-12 in South Korea. The theme of this year’s COP-12 meeting is ‘Biodiversity for Sustainable Development’.

Government has permitted the launching of National Ayush Mission (NAM) to attend to the gaps in health services in vulnerable and far-flung parts of the country. The judgment to launch the NAM was taken in a meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Via the AYUSH Mission (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy), the Govt. is looking forward to address gaps in health services by backing the attempts of state governments for delivering Ayush health services and education in the country, mainly in vulnerable and remote areas. The Mission will assist in improving the Ayush education via improvement in the number of advanced educational institutions and deliver improved access to Ayush services via growth in number of Ayush hospitals and dispensaries. The mission will also assist sustained accessibility of quality raw material for Ayush systems of medicine and advance accessibility of quality drugs via growth in number of pharmacies and drug laboratories.

Finance Ministry is in the final stages of the course to double the commission to banks at 2% of the quantum of funds they transmit to individual beneficiaries under the government’s Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme. The current rate of commission is 1% per for every transaction under the DBT. The government transfers money to the bank account of consumers of kerosene, LPG, etc. via its DBT scheme in order to do away with the loopholes and ascertain corruption free delivery. Now, the Finance Ministry plans that for all accounts, whether under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana or otherwise, if subsidy is routed via the DBT scheme, 2% of the total amount will be given to banks as administration cost. This money will not be cut from the consumer’s account but the government will spend extra 2%. Example, if in a year, a bank transfers Rs 10 crore as DBT payments, then the government will transfer Rs 10.2 crore to that bank.

The government has devised a training programme for IAS, IPS and Forest Service officers on dealing with problem of Naxalism. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has written to Chief Secretaries of 8 states requesting nomination of at least 3 officers each from Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and Indian Forest Service (IFoS) for the course. The nominated officers will be coached by armed forces personnel at the Chhattisgarh Academy of Administration (Raipur) during October 15-17, 2014. The programme is being held for the first time on Naxalism.

Hindi Diwas is celebrated today across the country to commemorate adoption of Hindi as an official language by the Constituent Assembly. The constituent assembly decided to acknowledge Hindi as the official language on this day in 1949 and the Constitution of India adopted Hindi in Devanagri Script as the official language of the Union government in 1950.

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of 3% quota for disabled persons in all government jobs. A bench headed by Chief Justice R M Lodha ruled that the disabled people have not got their due in the last 19 years despite the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act was passed in 1995.

Famous educationist Kireet Joshi passed away in Puducherry today. He was 83. He was education advisor to the Government of India in 1976.

This information was revealed in the UNICEF report titled “Improving Children’s Lives, Transforming the Future – 25 years of child rights in South Asia”. According to the report, highest rate of child marriage is in Bangladesh (where two out of every three girls marry before age 18), followed by India, Nepal and Afghanistan. In India, 43% of women aged 20-24 were first married by the age of 18 between 2005 and 2013. At 71 million, India had the largest number of children under the age of five whose births were not registered between 2000 and 2012.

Apotex Corporation is the largest producer of generic drugs in Canada, with sales exceeding $1 billion a year. It has a plant in Bangalore that produces and exports generic drugs to North America. In its latest report USFDA observed that Apotex employees at Bangalore facility did not report undesirable test results and doctored bacterial growth test records. The furore over sub-standard drugs making their way into the Canadian market comes in the wake of multiple import bans issued by the FDA against Indian generics firms, the most notable case among which was that of Ranbaxy.

BISAG is a State level agency of the government of Gujarat to facilitate services and solutions in implementing map-based GeoSpatial Information Systems. It implements geo-spatial technologies for the planning and developmental activities pertaining to agriculture, land and water resource management, wasteland/watershed development, forestry, disaster management, infrastructure and education. BISAG’s integration with BSF will provide BSF with a dedicated and encrypted channel to be used for its varied applications and requirements.

The two Italian marines are accused of shooting two fishermen off the Kerala coast in February 2012 while they were assigned to protect an Italian-flagged oil tanker from pirates.

ASCI is a non-profit self-regulatory voluntary organization of the advertising industry which was founded in 1985. Its primary objective is to maintain and enhance the public’s confidence in advertising.

he High Court of Himachal Pradesh on 1 September banned animal sacrifice to appease deities. It ruled that no person throughout the state shall sacrifice any animal in any place of public religious worship. As per the order the banned area also includes all lands and building near such places of religious worship that are ordinarily connected for religious purposes or in any ceremony/Yagya/congregation or procession connected with any religious worship in a public street.

Renowned Kathak dancer Maya Rao, who helped the dance form gain popularity in South India, died in Bangalore. She was 86. She had set up the Natya Institute of Dance and Choreography in 1987 at Malleswaram. Some of her dance ballets such as Amir Khusro, Krishnadevaraya, Vijayanagara Vaibhava, and Masti’s Kaamana Billu are regarded as her masterpiece productions in dance. She initiated National Performing Arts Festivals at heritage monuments such as Somanathpura, Pattadakkal and Halebid during her tenure as the chairperson of the Karnataka Sangeet Nritya Academy from 1987 to 1990. Maya Rao was a recipient of the prestigious Karnataka Rajyotsava awards (1986) and Shantala Awards(2000).