Current Affairs Update – 18th September, 2015

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi today launched here the Rs
  45,000-crore Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS) which will strengthen
  distribution networks and ensure 24X7 power supply to all by 2022.
• “In the entire country, about Rs 45,000 crore will be
  spent under IPDS. This scheme will address many issues, including fraud,
  related to the power sector especially in the urban areas,” Modi said
  after launching the scheme.
• He further said that one of the important tasks of the
  government is to provide 24X7 power supply to all by 2022 and this scheme is an
  effort in that direction.
• The IPDS will cover works relating to strengthening
  sub-transmission and distribution system, including provisioning of solar
  panels, metering of distribution transformers/feeders/consumer in urban areas
  and IT enablement of distribution sector.
• Modi said, “Power supply is available for four to six
  hours in some remote areas of the country. It is our target to provide 24X7
  power supply to all by 2022, even in remote areas. This is a tall order but
  there is no other ways but to strengthen power distribution networks.”
• The Prime Minister said he used to see dangling electricity
  wires everywhere in the city during his earlier visits to Varanasi. This scheme
  will be one of the efforts to make Kashi a smart city.

• Sixty-four secret files relating to Netaji Subhas Chandra
  Bose that could help throw light on his mysterious disappearance – an enduring
  enigma for seven decades – were today released by West Bengal government with
  Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee asking the Centre to follow suit.
• Fulfilling a long-standing demand, Banerjee described as
  “historic” the declassification of the closely guarded files on one of the
  country’s foremost nationalist leaders and said people should know the truth.
  The Centre has 130 files.
• Hidden in police and government lockers for years, the 64
  files containing 12,744 pages were declassified here in the presence of Bose’s
  family members who have been demanding that information on the leader of the
  Azad Hind Fauj (Indian National Army-INA) be made public.
• The files displayed in glass cascades in Kolkata Police
  Museum would be made accessible to the public from Monday, City Police
  Commissioner Surajit Kar Purakayastha said.
• Of the 64 files, 55 were with Kolkata Police while another
  nine were with the state police.
• Purakayastha handed over a DVD containing the files in
  digitised format to the family members of Netaji who welcomed its release.

• To provide various services and teaching-related work to
  teacher in a simple and easy way, Madhya Pradesh Government in September 2015
  launched M-Shiksha-Mitra mobile app. With this, Madhya Pradesh became the first
  state to develop such mobile app for teachers.
• The app developed by NIC that carries several facilities can
  be downloaded from Google Play Store in android mobile phone.

• An Expert Group on tackling cyber crimes submitted its
  report to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on 15 September 2015.
• The report was titled Roadmap for Effectively Tackling Cyber
  Crimes in the Country and was prepared after examining the global practices on
  cyber crime prevention.

1. It will monitor, analyze and counter cyber crimes and
   facilitate online reporting of cyber offences.
2. It will have real-time analytics of various categories of
   cyber crimes along with their place of origin and incidence of occurrence.
3. It will facilitate India’s cooperation from global internet
   giants like Google, Facebook, etc that having servers abroad in tackling crimes
   such as child pornography and fake identity.

• India and the United States (US) on 17 September 2015
  jointly created a Joint Challenge Coin to symbolise their unique partnership in
  creating a next-generation aircraft carrier for the Indian Navy.
• One side of the coin reads Forward Together We Go and Chale
  Saath Saath in Hindi, which is the vision statement of US President Barack
  Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• The other side of this coin which is golden in colour has
  the flags of India and the United States and an aircraft carrier floating on
  blue water.

Awards & Honors –

• The Union Minister of Labour and Employment Bandaru
  Dattatreya on 17 September 2015 presented the Vishwakarma Rashtriya Puraskar
  (VRP) and National Safety Awards (NSA) for the Performance Year 2013.
• This year, 28 Vishwakarma Rashtriya Puraskar were shared by
  132 individuals. These winners were selected out of a total of 193 applications
  received from different industries for the Performance Year 2013.
• For the Performance year 2013, the total number of NSA Award
  Winners and Runners-up in the ten schemes adds up to 98 (53 winners and 42
  runners-up). They were selected out of 199 applications received under various
  schemes.

• Senior journalist Shekhar Gupta was presented the annual ‘V
  Krishnamurthy award for excellence’ by Tamil Nadu Governor K Rosaiah here
  today.
• The award was instituted by the Centre for Organisation
  Development (COD).
• The function was attended by Wockhardt Group
  founder-chairman and Chairman of the Board of Governors, COD, Habil F
  Khorakiwala, a release stated.
• Gupta, chairperson, Mediascape, delivered the oration
  lecture.
• The ‘award for excellence’ was established by the Centre for
  Organisation Development in 2000 to honour individuals who have set high
  standards of achievement in pursuit of excellence in their respective
  professions, according to the release.

• Veteran Test cricketer of West Indies Shivnarine Chanderpaul
  was on 12 September 2015 honoured with the Icon Award by the Indo-Caribbean
  Alliance.
• The 41-year-old left-handed batsman was given the award in
  New York along with three others, namely television personality Lakshmee Singh,
  New York City council member Eric Ulrich and businessman Dave Kadernauth.
• Icon Award is the highest award given by the New York
  City-based Indo-Caribbean Alliance.

Books & Authors –

• The book titled Two Years Eight Months and Twenty Eight
  Nights authored by the British Indian novelist Salman Rushdie was released on 8
  September 2015.
• The book can be easily called as an update to Rushdie’s
  ancient eastern classic, A Thousand and One Nights and is a work of fiction,
  blends history, mythology, and a timeless love story.
• The book opens in the 12th century Spain. The story revolves
  around the great Spanish-Muslim philosopher Ibn Rushd, languishing in exile for
  his enlightened views, and an evil genie in disguise Dunia. The story jumps to
  New York City where Ibn Rushd and Dunia’s distant descendants discover that
  they have special powers.

• Mahesh Rangarajan on 17 September 2015 resigned as the
  Director of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML).
• He was appointed as the Director of NMML in June 2014 by the
  then UPA government headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
• Rangarajan is a teacher, author and historian with a special
  interest in environmental history and colonial history of British and
  contemporary India.

• In a significant change in Hindustan Zinc, Sunil Duggal, the
  current Deputy CEO will take over as CEO and Whole-time-Director of Hindustan
  Zinc from October 1. 2015 and the current CEO Akhilesh Joshi will take over as
  President – Global Zinc Business.
• This decision was taken at Hindustan Zinc’s Board of
  Directors meeting held today.
• Sunil Duggal, an alumni of IMD, Lausanne, Switzerland and
  IIM, Kolkata brings with him 32 years of rich manufacturing industry experience
  in project management, operations, HR and Supply chain.
• Sunil Duggal joined Hindustan Zinc in 2010 as Executive
  Director and became COO in 2012. In the year 2014, Sunil Duggal was designated
  as Deputy CEO of Hindustan Zinc.

• Sachidananda Mohanty, a noted academician and present
  Vice-Chancellor of the Central University of Orissa has been nominated as a
  member for Commission on Education for UNESCO by the President of India.
• The tenure of the membership is for four years. Set up in
  1949, the functions of the Commission is to promote understanding the objects
  and purposes of UNESCO among the Republic of India, to serve as liaison agency
  between the Govt. of India and the institutions concerned with the working for
  the advancement of education, science and culture.
• Mohanty, who has been at the faculty of English, University
  of Hyderabad for over two decades has been nominated to as an individual member
  with other notable educationist of India.

• The 8th edition Global Innovation Index (GII) 2015 was
  released on 17 September 2015 jointly by Cornell University, INSEAD and the
  World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The GII 2015 was based on the
  theme of Effective Innovation Policies for Development.
• The index shows the new ways through which emerging-economy
  policymakers can boost innovation and spur growth by building on local
  strengths and ensuring the development of a sound national innovation
  environment.
• The index is topped by Switzerland for being the most
  innovative nation. Countries like China, Malaysia, Viet Nam, India, Jordan,
  Kenya and Uganda are among a group of countries outperforming their economic
  peers as per the GII 2015.
• Although India’s ranking has slipped further to 81 in the
  list, compared to 76 in 2014, but it remained at the top of the regional
  ranking of Central and Southern Asia.

• The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations
  Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on 17 September 2015 jointly released the Achieving
  the malaria MDG target report.
• The report concluded that the malaria Millennium Development
  Goal (MDG) target to stop and reverse the incidence of malaria by 2015 was
  achieved.
• India stood at the third place after Nigeria and Democratic
  Republic of Congo in terms of number of cases and number of deaths due to
  malaria.

• Pakistan set to itself a target of generating 40000 MW
  nuclear energy. It will be achieved as part of the Nuclear Energy Vision 2050.
• An announcement in this regard was made by the Chairman of
  the PAEA on 17 September 2015 at the 59th IAEA General Conference at Vienna in
  Austria.
• While PAEA stands for Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission,
  IAEA stands for the International Atomic Energy Agency.

• The world’s largest bicycle manufacturer by volume, Hero
  Cycles, on 17 September 2015 announced the acquisition of Firefox Bikes Pvt.
  Ltd. for an undisclosed sum in an all-cash deal.
• As per the deal, Hero Cycles acquired 100% stake in Firefox.
  Both the companies also mutually agreed that Firefox Bikes will continue to
  remain a separate business entity post the acquisition.
• The deal includes the Firefox brand of bicycles, accessories
  and spares along with exclusive distribution rights of Trek and other global
  brands.
• Hero Cycles also announced that it will setup a Hero
  Innovation Centre to upgrade its line of cycles.

• The pioneer of cricket commentary in Marathi who made the
  game more popular in Maharashtrian households, Bal Pandit has passed away after
  a prolonged illness.
• The 86-year-old commentator breathed his last at a city
  hospital last night.
• Described as an encyclopedia of Marathi synonyms for
  original cricketing parlance in English, Pandit endeared himself with fans of
  the game with his lucid live commentary of both international and domestic
  matches on All India Radio for over four decades, before the advent of 24X7
  television channels.
• He had also played a lone Ranji Trophy match representing
  Maharashtra against Gujarat in 1959-60.
• A prolific cricket writer, Bal wrote about 30 books and also
  penned newspaper and magazine articles on the subject, enhancing common man’s
  knowledge of the game.

Regards

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