Current Affairs Update – 28th September, 2015

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs of 28th September, 2015. These are very Important for the upcoming IBPS PO V Mains Exam.

Finance/Industry
Qualcomm Announced
Investment of 150 Million US Dollars for Indian Start-Ups
  • Silicon Valley based chip-maker Qualcomm on 27 September
    2015 announced that it will invest 150 million US dollars for Indian start-ups.
    The investment will come through a venture fund.
  • The announcement was made after the company’s executive
    chairman Paul E Jacobs met the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the
    Digital Economy event in San Jose. The venture fund was in support of Indian
    Government’s Digital India and Make in India initiatives.
  • Qualcomm will provide local innovative start-ups the support
    required to help country’s Mobile and Internet of Everything (IOE) ecosystem
    grow. The company is also set to extend its support to the start-ups in
    financial, marketing and technology fields.
  • Qualcomm has been investing in Indian start-ups since 2007.

Seven MoUs signed to
boost start-ups in India

  • Aimed at giving a big boost to start-ups in India, as many
    as seven MoUs have been signed between various organisations of India and the
    US.
  • The MoUs were signed as Prime Minister Narendra Modi
    attended the India-US Start-up Konnect 2015 in San Jose.
  • The first MoU between Centre for Cellular and Molecular
    Platforms and the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences is to
    develop Indo-US Life Science Sister Innovation Hub so as to enhance
    science-based entrepreneurship, research, academia and businesses by leveraging
    each other’s ecosystems.
  • Department of Biotechnology and Prakash Lab, Stanford
    University signed another MoU on Foldscope — a frugal science innovation that
    has emerged from a lab of an Indian with majority of Indians working in this
    laboratory.
  • This lab will work with DBT to further develop and deploy
    the products from this lab.
  • National Association of Software and Service Companies
    (NASSCOM) and the Indus Entrepreneurs signed a MoU to collaborate in a mutually
    satisfactory form and manner in order to support the creation of a vibrant
    ecosystem to foster technology entrepreneurship in India and Silicon Valley.
  • IIM Ahmedabad’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
    (CIIE) and Lester Centre for Entrepreneurship of the Haas Business School of
    the University of California, signed a MoU to collaborate on mutual incubation,
    and support each other’s activities of mutual interest.
  • CIIE also signed a MoU with Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator
    to extend NGIN Membership benefits to CIIE.

Reliance Defence
& EDIC sign MoU to manufacture defence equipment
  • Reliance Defence Limited (RDL), a wholly owned subsidiary of
    Reliance Infrastructure Limited, has signed a strategic Memorandum of
    Understanding (MOU) with Emirates Defence Industries Co (EDIC) for
    manufacturing, servicing, knowledge transfer and technology development from
    the UAE. They have agreed to jointly explore the opportunity for manufacturing
    and building capabilities in defense vehicles, aviation and associated areas,
    defence equipment and armament manufacturing, defence electronics, commercial and
    naval ships and MRO of Military Equipment / Platforms.
  • The partnership will explore the opportunity in the UAE
    defense industry where the costs for setting up facilities, recruiting and
    developing scientists and engineers are high. The partnership will aim to build
    synergy, bring down operational costs and leverage each others’ capabilities.
  • RDL is pursuing partnerships in the Defence and Aerospace
    segment with the leading international OEM’s and raise equity stake in existing
    companies within the country as also globally to meet solutions for the defence
    sector.

India
India’s 1st dedicated
satellite for astronomy research ASTROSAT launched

  • Indian Space Research Orgnaisation (ISRO) on 28 September
    2015 launched India’s first dedicated satellite for astronomy research, named
    ASTROSAT.
  • The satellite was launched from the first launch pad of
    Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh at 10 am by Polar
    Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C30). PSLV-C30 is the tenth flight of PSLV in
    its ‘XL’ Configuration.
  • It was launched after the end of its 50-hour long countdown
    for its launch which began on 26 September 2015 at 8am.

Scientific
objectives of ASTROSAT
  1. To understand high energy processes in binary star systems
    containing neutron stars and black holes.
  2. Estimate magnetic fields of neutron stars.
  3. Study star birth regions and high energy processes in star
    systems lying beyond our galaxy.
  4. Detect new briefly bright X-ray sources in the sky.
  5. Perform a limited deep field survey of the Universe in the
    Ultraviolet region.

  • It was for the first time that India launched US
    satellites–four in all–belonging to a San Francisco-based company, under an
    agreement signed with Antrix Corporation Ltd, the commercial arm of Indian
    Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
  • With a lift-off mass of about 1,513 kg, ASTROSAT was first
    injected into a 650 km orbit by PSLV-C30, followed by the other six satellites
    in the space of about three minutes.
  • International customer satellites that piggybacked the polr
    rocket were the LAPAN-A2 of Indonesia meant for maritime surveillance using
    Automatic Identification System (AIS), and maritime monitoring nanosatellite
    from Canada, NLS-14 (Ev9), which uses ‘next generation’ AIS.

Union Government
formed B S Baswan committee to revisit civil services examination pattern
  • Union Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions
    in the fourth week of September revealed that an expert committee was
    constituted to revisit the civil services examination pattern.
  • The seven member committee was constituted on 12 August 2015
    and is headed by B S Baswan. Also, the committee was mandated to submit report
    within six months from the date of its constitution.

Terms of reference
of the expert committee
  • To evaluate the effectiveness of the existing scheme of the
    civil services examination in selecting suitable candidates keeping in view
    various factors such as inclusiveness, fair mix of candidates from different
    disciplines, etc.
  • To examine the plan of the examination and suggest suitable
    changes to all the three stages of the examination viz., preliminary, mains and
    interview.
  • To examine the time frame in which the examination is
    conducted and suggest suitable changes to reduce the time taken for selection
    of candidates by utilizing information and communication technologies, etc.

India Signs Deal with
Boeing, US for Apache, Chinook Copters

  • India today signed a nearly USD 3 billion deal for purchase
    of 22 Apache attack helicopters and 15 Chinook heavy-lift choppers with
    American aviation giant Boeing and the US government.
  • The first helicopter is likely to be handed over to India in
    the next three to four years.
  • “The contract for purchase of 22 Apache and 15 Chinook
    helicopters were signed here today,” Defence Ministry spokesperson
    Sitanshu Kar said.
  • The contract has a clause to place follow-on orders for 11
    more Apaches and seven extra Chinooks.
  • The helicopter deal has survived over 10 price validity
    extensions from the American side with the last one being for a month as
    desired by India.
  • While the Chinook helicopter deal is a direct one with the
    US firm, the one for Apache is a hybrid.
  • A part of the Apache deal was signed with Boeing for the
    helicopter and the other with the US government, under Foreign Military Sales
    route, for its weapons, radars and electronic warfare suites.
  • Sources said the total cost of the contract will be around
    USD 3 billion.

World
Evidence of
summertime water flows on Mars: study

  • Scientists have found the first evidence that briny water
    may flow on the surface of Mars during the planet’s summer months, a paper
    published on Monday showed.
  • Although the source and the chemistry of the water is
    unknown, the discovery could affect thinking about whether the planet that is
    most like Earth in the solar system could support present day microbial life.
  • Scientists developed a new technique to analyze chemical
    maps of the Martian surface obtained by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
    spacecraft.
  • They found telltale fingerprints of salts that form only in
    the presence of water in narrow channels cut into cliff walls throughout the
    planet’s equatorial region.
  • The slopes, first reported in 2011, appear during the warm
    summer months on Mars, then vanish when the temperatures drop.
  • Scientists suspected the streaks, known as recurring slope
    lineae, or RSL, were cut by flowing water, but had previously been unable to
    make the measurements.

Awards
& Honors –
Mathematician Jacob
Tsimerman won 2015 SASTRA Ramanujan Prize
  • Mathematician Jacob Tsimerman of the University of Toronto,
    Canada on 28 September 2015 was chosen for the prestigious 2015 SASTRA
    Ramanujan Prize.
  • Tsimerman is currently working as an Assistant Professor in
    the University of Toronto. He primarily conducts research in Number Theory.
  • He will be conferred with the prize during the International
    Conference on Number Theory at SASTRA University in Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu
    where the prize is given annually.
  • About SASTRA Ramanujan Prize
  • Founded by Shanmugha Arts, Science, Technology &
    Research Academy (SASTRA) University in 2005 after the name of the genius
    mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan, the SASTRA Ramanujan Prize is awarded every
    year to a young mathematician.

Lucknow-based
CSIR-CIMAP won CSIR Award for S&T Innovations for Rural Development, 2014
  • Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Central
    Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CSIR-CIMAP), Lucknow on 26
    September 2015 won the CSIR Award for S&T Innovations for Rural Development
    (CAIRD) 2014.
  • CSIR-CIMAP was awarded for enhancing incomes of farm
    communities through Vetiver based Technological Interventions.
  • The award was announced on the occasion of CSIR Foundation
    Day by the DG, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Dr. Girish Sahni.

Reports
World Bank released
report entitled Leveraging Urbanisation in South Asia

  • World Bank on 24 September 2015 released a report entitled
    Leveraging Urbanisation in South Asia: Managing Spatial Transformation for
    Prosperity and Livability.
  • The report provided original empirical and diagnostic analysis
    of urbanization and related economic trends in the South Asia region.
  • Also, it also discussed in detail the key policy areas, the
    most fundamental being urban governance and finance, where actions must be
    taken to make cities more prosperous and livable.

Highlights of the
report
  • South Asia’s urban population grew by 130 million between
    2001 and 2011-it is more than the entire population of Japan- and is poised to
    grow by almost 250 million by 2030.
  • Manufacturing and services account for more than 80 percent
    of the region’s GDP.

Report with
respect to India
  • 13.7 percent of urban population or 1 in 7 in urban areas
    live below the poverty line in the country compared to 13.1 percent in
    Pakistan.
  • Among the very poorest, under 5 mortality rate is higher in
    urban than in rural settings.
  • Delhi’s air pollution (PM 2.5 concentration) is almost three
    times higher than in Beijing giving it the dubious distinction of being the
    world’s most polluted city.
  • For the 12 largest Indian cities the proportion of built-up
    area outside a city’s official boundaries exceeds that within its boundaries.

Days
World Tourism Day
observed with theme One Billion Tourists, One Billion Opportunities

  • World Tourism Day was observed across the world on 27
    September 2015. The theme of the World Tourism Day 2015 is One Billion Tourists,
    One Billion Opportunities.
  • The theme wants you to talk Tourism and help to raise
    awareness of its impact on countries and communities around the world. It talks
    about its potential as a force for good and creating a better world for all.
  • Burkina Faso will host the Official Celebration 2015.

Current
developments and forecasts
  • International tourist arrivals grew by 4.3 percent in 2014
    to 1.133 billion.
  • In 2014, international tourism generated 1.5 trillion US
    dollars in export earnings.
  • UNWTO forecasts a growth in international tourist arrivals
    of between 3 percent and 4 percent in 2015.

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