Current Affairs Update - 2 Oct, 2014

• ·         Regulator SEBI has barred Sword-Edge Commercials Ltd and 26 other entities from the capital markets for five years or violating various securities norms. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), in its order, said: "Rotam Commercials Ltd or RCL (presently known as Sword-Edge Commercials Ltd) is prohibited from raising any further capital from the securities market, in any manner whatsoever for a period of five years."
• ·         Also, the regulator barred 26 others including various Malani group entities, Shamanjwali Metals, Krupa Sanay Soni and Sanjay Soni, from buying, selling or dealing in the securities market for five years.
• ·         These entities have violated regulations related to Listing Agreement, PFTUP (Prohibition of Fraudulent Trade Practices) and Takeover norms.
• ·         According to Sebi, RCL did not appoint any director on its board or in the audit committee till September 2010 violating Listing greement. Besides, certain Malani Group entities did not make disclosures as required under Sebi regulations. "The Malani group entities and Krupa Soni group entities had acted in a manner highly detrimental to the interests of securities market and the investor therein...The violation of law observed with respect to Malani and Krupa group entities, have to be dealt with sternly so that it acts as an effective deterrent to future violations.
• ·         "Failure to make proper disclosures under the PIT regualtions by the Malani group entities deprived the investors of valuable information," Sebi said in its yesterday's order.

• ·         Wielding the broom, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today launched the country’s biggest-ever cleanliness drive that is expected to cost over Rs. 62,000 crore, asserting that the “Swachh Bharat” mission is “beyond politics” and inspired by patriotism.
• ·         Debunking criticism that his Government has been taking credit for every achievement, the Prime Minister acknowledged the efforts of all previous governments to make India clean.
• ·         Administering a pledge to people to make India clean, he said that this task is not the responsibility only of safai karamcharis or the government but of all the 125 crore Indians.
• ·         He said that today’s campaign should not be seen as a mere photo opportunity.
• ·         In an event marked by fervour and symbolism, the Prime Minister earlier wielded a broom and swept pavement in Valmiki Basti, a colony of sanitation workers here.
• ·         The Prime Minister said that he is aware that the criticism of this programme will begin in just a few days but said he is prepared for this exuding confidence that the countrymen will not let him down.
• ·         The urban component of the Mission is proposed to be implemented over 5 years starting from October 2, 2014 in all 4,041 statutory towns. The total expected cost of the programme is Rs. 62,009 crore, out of which the proposed central assistance will be of Rs. 14,623 crore.
• ·         The Cabinet had last month decided to merge the ‘Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan’, a campaign for rural sanitation with Swachh Bharat Mission.

• ·         The nation today remembered Mahatma Gandhi on his 145th birth anniversary with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders paying floral tributes at his memorial here.
• ·         Vice President Hamid Ansari, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh were among those who also paid homage to the Father of the Nation.
• ·         Naidu was the first to arrive at Rajghat, Mahatma Gandhi’s ‘samadhi’, followed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi who was accompanied by former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.
• ·         After a while, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived at Rajghat and paid floral tributes.
• ·         Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a brief visit to the memorial. Clad in a light blue kurta and a white Nehru jacket, Modi arrived at Rajghat around 7:40 a.m. where he was received by Venkaiah Naidu.
• ·         He went straight to the ‘samadhi’ where after offering floral tributes, Modi bowed his head. Manmohan Singh and Modi greeted each other with folded hands when the latter approached the sitting area.

• ·         A documentary on Mahatma Gandhi containing “rarest of the rare” video footages, including Bapu’s first interview to a foreign journalist, has been digitised and will be available for public viewing soon.
• ·         “Mahatma Gandhi — 20th Century Prophet”, an 1941 documentary made by travelogue writer and journalist A K Chettiar has been digitised with the help of the National Gandhi Museum here.
• ·         The Museum plans to screen the 81-minute long film across various media platforms.
• ·         “The film first screened on August 15, 1947 reportedly went “untraceable” in 1959,” says A Annamalai, Director National Gandhi Museum.
• ·         The film, however was available in its original 15-mm format at a few places but could not be screened often because technical specifications had became outdated says Annamalai.
• ·         Chettiar had travelled more than one lakh kilometres within India and across countries to collect all the video archives and pictures of Gandhi to create the original documentary. The effort took him over three years.
• ·         The documentary was first screened as a film, with due permissions by the Censor Board in 1940 at Chennai’s Roxy theatre with voiceovers in Tamil. It was later dubbed into Telugu and subsequently in Hindi.
• ·         The documentary was also screened on August 15, 1947 in New Delhi which was attended by country’s first president Rajendra Prasad.

• ·         Noted industrialist and three-time MLA, ‘Pollachi’ Dr N Mahalingam died here on Thursday following cardiac arrest suffered at a function.
• ·         A staunch Gandhian, educationist and philanthropist, 91-year-old Mahalingam’s end came on the Gandhi Jayanthi Day.
• ·         Chairman of the over Rs. 5,000-crore Sakthi Group of Companies and Anamallais Bus Transport Ltd (ABT Services), he was participating in a lecture when he suddenly collapsed. He was rushed to a private hospital but declared brought dead, family sources said.
• ·         He is survived by wife, three sons - M Manickam, M Balasubramaniam and M Srinivasan - and a daughter. He had published Mahatma Gandhi’s works in Tamil in 20 volumes.
• ·         Born on March 21, 1923 in Pollachi in Coimbatore district in an agricultural family, Mahalingam was an alumnus of Loyola College in Chennai. He also secured a Diploma from the College of Engineering, Anna University, and was also awarded Honorary Doctorate by Bharathiar University, Coimbatore.
• ·         A receipient of several awards including the ‘Padma Bhushan’ in 2007, he was elected to the state assembly from Pollachi constituency in 1952, 1957 and 1962 polls on Congress ticket. He had played a key role in development projects, including the Parambikulam-Aliyar water project.

• ·         Former two-term Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg started work on Wednesday as NATO’s Secretary-General, the 13th in the trans-Atlantic organisation’s 65-year existence.
• ·         And the key question is whether his consensus-building style will be more effective in tamping down the Ukraine conflict and other flashpoints than the hard talk of his predecessor, Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
• ·         Mr. Stoltenberg (55) was unanimously chosen as by NATO’s policy-making North Atlantic Council in March, a pick that won swift if tentative approval from Mr. Putin, who had dealt with him when he headed a left-of-centre government in Norway.
• ·         At a time of daunting geopolitical crises, NATO is undergoing its own version of regime change, with the arrival of a new chief official who has the blessing, at least temporarily, of one of the West’s biggest adversaries — Russian President Vladimir Putin.

• ·         Underscoring its commitment to the United Nations' body on gender equality and women empowerment, India has contributed $1 million to the organisation for the current financial year.
• ·         External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj handed over the cheque as India’s contribution to the core voluntary budget of UN Women (United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women) to Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka on Thursday for the 2014-2015 financial year.
• ·         The contribution constituted the fifth installment of India’s multi-year pledge to provide core predictable funding to UN Women’s resources and takes India’s existing total contribution to $5 million to the UN body.
• ·         Ms. Swaraj reaffirmed the Indian government’s steadfast commitment to the goals of UN Women, including gender equality, gender mainstreaming and highlighted the important role played by UN Women in the formulation of the post-2015 Development Agenda, including the use of information and communication technology for development, according to a statement issued by the Permanent Mission of India to the UN.
• ·         India is one of the founding members of the Executive Board of the UN Women, and is presently serving on the UN Women’s Executive Board.

• ·         A spirited Indian men's hockey team defeated arch-rivals and defending champions Pakistan 4-2 in a nerve-wracking shoot-out to end its 16-year gold medal draught in the Asian Games and earn a direct berth to the 2016 Rio Olympics, in Incheon on Thursday.
• ·         It turned out to be a humdinger of a contest between the two sub-continental foes as both India and Pakistan refused to give an inch to each other in the entire 60 minutes of a keenly contested tussle.
• ·         It took a shoot-out to determine the winner as both the teanm were locked 1-1 in the regulation time of the summit clash at the Seonhak Hockey Stadium.
• ·         Pakistan started brightly and broke the deadlock as early as the third minute of the match through Muhammad Rizwan Sr before Kothajit Singh (27th) equalised for India in the second quarter. The two teams continued their battle after change of ends but failed to breach the rival citadels inspite of creating numerous scoring chances, forcing the match into the shoot-off.
• ·         Muhammad Waqas and Shafqat Rasool scored the goals for Pakistan.
• ·         By virtue of the coveted gold medal here, India have earned a direct qualification to Rio Olympics, while Pakistan will have to go through the qualifiers.
• ·         The last time India won the gold medal was in the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok.

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