Current Affairs Update – 20 Sept, 2014

• ·        
  Gearing up for the mega launch of ‘Make in
  India’ campaign on September 25, the DIPP has set up an 8-member expert panel
  for quick redressal of grievances and queries of global and domestic investors.
• ·        
  The team, which has members from private
  sector, is attached to ‘Invest India’, a joint venture between the Department
  of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) and industry body Ficci.
• ·        
  “The team would try to resolve issues
  within 48 hours. And in case they are unable to resolve within the time frame,
  it would go to the nodal officer of the respective department who would try to
  fix that within 72 hours and in the extreme cases, the query would go to the
  Secretary,” a senior official said.
• ·        
  The initiative is one of the several steps
  which the government has announced in order to improve ease of doing business
  in India and attract investments to boost manufacturing in the country.
• ·        
  The official said that there is an urgent
  need to boost manufacturing sector on a sustainable basis for long time in
  order to create jobs and boost economic growth.

• ·        
  The Reserve Bank has cancelled the licence of
  Ajmer Urban Cooperative Bank following financial irregularities and heavy
  debts.
• ·        
  The licence of the bank was cancelled
  yesterday.
• ·        
  “There are over 20,000 accounts with
  around Rs 85 crore in savings from the customers,” the bank’s Special Auditor
  Vinod Sharma said today.
• ·        
  He said the bank has the arrangement of Rs 65
  crore and is falling short of more than Rs 20 crore to pay to the account
  holders.
• ·        
  The RBI had restricted transition by the bank
  in 2011 after several financial irregularities came to light and gave it time
  for recovery of loans.
• ·        
  Sharma informed that a liquidator will be
  appointed by the Registrar of Cooperatives department, state government for
  settlement with the depositors.

• ·        
  Public broadcaster Doordarshan plans to start
  broadcasting directly a bouquet of 20 free-to-air channels in partnership with
  private media houses on mobile phones from next year.
• ·        
  Doordarshan will use DVB-T2 Lite technology
  which can be accessed through a dongle at present.
• ·        
  DVB-T (Digital Video Broadcast-Terrestrial)
  will transmit signal from TV towers and will not consume mobile Internet for TV
  viewing. The transmission will be facilitated through an application which will
  act as a switch to on TV service on mobile phones.

• ·        
  India and China on 18 September 2014 agreed
  to establish a Joint Working Group to promote facilitation in the film sector.
  The group will meet for the first time in November 2014 on the sidelines of the
  International Film Festival India 2014 at Goa.
• ·        
  The decision of formation of the Joint
  Working Group was taken in New Delhi at the meet between the Union Information
  and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar and his Chinese counterpart,
  Minister for State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television
  (SAPPRFT) Cai Fuchao.
• ·        
  As per the plan, the proposed meet will
  involve the stakeholders from both the countries to concretize cooperation in
  the film sector with specific proposals and projects. The meet will be an
  important step towards identifying key deliverables and a common road-map to
  strengthen bilateral cooperation in the areas of films and audio-visual
  production.

• ·        
  A 28-year-old Indian architect has been named
  ‘young leader of tomorrow’ by Time magazine for his pioneering work in
  designing affordable flood-proof houses for slum-dwellers.
• ·        
  Alok Shetty is among “leaders of tomorrow”
  who are “working hard to change their worlds today’’, Time said as it named six
  inspirational young persons in its first class of “next generation leaders’’.
• ·        
  Time said Shetty is “building hope in India”
  as an architect who is “finding simple solutions to complex problems’’.
• ·        
  Shetty, working with the Bangalore-based
  non-profit Parinaam Foundation, is designing homes for hundreds of
  slum-dwellers whose makeshift houses flood during the heavy rains and become
  breeding grounds for diseases like malaria.
• ·        
  He has been working in Bangalore’s LRDE slum,
  which lies next to one of the southern Indian city’s sprawling technology parks
  and is home to some 2,000 people.

• ·        
  Coca-Cola on Friday expanded its product
  portfolio in India with the launch of sugar-free soft drink Coca-Cola Zero. It
  is being sold exclusively on Amazon.in for two weeks. The product got 1,700
  online bookings in four hours on Friday.
• ·        
  The brand is now available in all the top six
  markets of the company, the others being the US, Mexico, China, Brazil and
  Japan.
• ·        
  Venkatesh Kini, president, Coca-Cola India
  and South West Asia, said, “As we move towards the halfway mark of the
  decade, it is important we add offerings to our portfolio even as we nurture
  the existing brands.” After October 5, Coca-Cola Zero will be available across
  the top 100 towns in India in 180,000 outlets.
• ·        
  Initially, the new product will be available
  in modern retail outlets, starting with Reliance Retail chain. Besides, it
  would be first made available to various partners like low cost carrier IndiGo,
  quick service restaurant chain Subway and INOX Leisure.

• ·        
  US Senate on 19 September 2014 passed a
  bipartisan resolution declaring 30 September 2014 as US-India Partnership Day.
  The resolution recognizes the importance of India and the US to one another and
  their relationship in defining the 21st century.
• ·        
  The resolution was introduced by senators
  Mark Warner of Democratic Party and John Cornyn from Republican on 17 September
  2014. Warner and Cornyn are co-chairmen of the 42-member Senate India Caucus
  which is the only country specific caucus in the Senate.
• ·        
  The resolution said that the relationship
  between India and the US is a special and permanent bond. It further praised
  the way General Elections 2014 were conducted which was the largest in the
  Indian history and reflected that democracy in India is as strong as it is
  encompassing of its religious, ethnic, socioeconomic and cultural diversity.
• ·        
  Besides, it also recognized that the US and
  India are the two largest democracies in the world and both countries share
  multi-faceted relationship.
• ·        
  The declaration came few days before the
  Prime Minister Narendra Modi scheduled visit to the US on 29 September and 30
  September 2014 where he will have talks with President of US Barack Obama.

• ·        
  Prime Minister John Key has won an emphatic
  victory in New Zealand’s general election to return for a third term in office.
• ·        
  Labour Party leader David Cunliffe said in a
  concession speech on Saturday night that he called Mr. Key to congratulate him
  on his victory.
• ·        
  The result will be seen as an endorsement of
  the way Mr. Key’s National Party has handed the economy.
• ·        
  With most votes counted, Mr. Key’s party had
  48 per cent of the vote. The Labour Party, its closest rival, had just 25 per
  cent.
• ·        
  The result showed a swing to conservative
  parties, with liberal parties Labour and the Green Party losing ground.

• ·        
  Maintaining her rich vein of form in the
  current season, Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza and her Zimbabwean partner Cara
  Black on Saturday bagged the women’s doubles title at the WTA Toray Pacific
  Open with a 6-2 7-5 victory over Spain’s Garbine Muguruza and Carla Suarez
  Navarro.
• ·        
  With the win, Sania and Cara have
  successfully defended their Tokyo Open title, which is a USD 1 million event.
• ·        
  For Sania, it will be icing on the cake after
  her US Open mixed doubles triumph with Brazilian partner Bruno Soares.
• ·        
  She would now spearhead the nation’s
  challenge at the Incheon Asian Games in what will be a depleted tennis
  contingent in the absence of Leander Paes, Rohan Bopanna and Somdev Devvarman.
• ·        
  Sania, will either pair with left-handed
  Divij Sharan or big-serving Saketh Myneni in the mixed doubles event, where
  India have a genuine chance of winning a medal.

• ·        
  North Korea’s Om Yun Chol has set a world
  record in the clean and jerk, lifting 170 kilograms in the men’s 56-kilogram
  class at the Asian Games.
• ·        
  Om, the 2012 Olympic champion and 2013 world
  champion, beat his own world record on Saturday by one kilogram to win North
  Korea’s first gold medal at the games, a regional version of the Olympics.
• ·        
  Om also had a combined total of 298 kilograms
  to mark an Asian Games record after lifting 128 kilograms in the snatch.

• ·        
  Hockey India (HI) on 19 September 2014
  inducted Hockey Village India (HVI) as an Academy Member to reach out to
  underprivileged children who are keen to make a career in the sport.
• ·        
  At present, Hockey India has 26 permanent
  Members, 23 associate Members, one Member through State Olympic Associations,
  eight Academy Members and one Hoc-Key Member.
• ·        
  Hockey India has always strived to reach the
  underprivileged children those who in spite of having the talent cannot reach
  the big platform. Now the HVI on board will strengthen work towards reaching
  out and identifying the talent.

• ·        
  Sardar Singh on 19 September 2014 became
  India’s flag bearer at 17th Asian Games opening. Sardar Singh is the captain of
  Indian Hockey team.
• ·        
  Sardar singh lead the Indian Contingent of
  130 Indian athletes as the organizers had put the limitations of 130 persons
  from any country to be participated in the opening ceremony.
• ·        
  The strength of Indian contingent was 679,
  which included 516 athletes.
• ·        
  Sardar Singh is an Indian professional field
  hockey player. He is the current captain of the Indian national team.
• ·        
  He usually played the center half position.
  He became the youngest player to captain the Indian team when he led the side
  at the 2008 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup.

• ·        
  Pistol shooter Shweta Chaudhry defied odds, a
  travel-weary schedule and absence of her regular weapon to provide India with
  their first medal, a bronze, in the 17th Asian Games here today.
• ·        
  The Faridabad-born Shweta had to eliminate a
  rival through a shoot-off to ensure the bronze in the women’s 10M Air Pistol
  event with a total tally of 176.4 at the Ongnyeon shooting range here.
• ·        
  China’s Zhang Mengyan won the gold with
  202.2, while host country South Korea’s Jung Jee-Hae secured the silver with
  201.3.
• ·        
  Having qualified for the 8-woman finals with
  a total score of 383 even as her more fancied teammate Heena Sidhu got
  eliminated after notching up 378, Shweta, 28, showed exemplary poise to fight
  her way back in the finals.

• ·        
  Ace Indian shooter Jitu Rai clinched a
  historic gold in the 50m Pistol event on the opening day of the 17th Asian
  Games at the Ongnyeon International Shooting Range here today.
• ·        
  Fresh from his 50m Pistol silver in the World
  Championships, the Lucknow-based shooter completed a grand double as he had won
  a gold in the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow earlier this year.
• ·        
  The shooter, who serves the Gurkha regiment,
  was on target from the word go after moving into the finals even as compatriot
  Omkar Singh failed to cross the qualification hurdle.
• ·        
  In the finals though, Rai was tested by
  Vietnam’s Nguyen Hoang Phuong, who had to settle for silver and bronze
  medallist Wang Zhiwei of China.

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