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.

• 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.

• 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 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.

• 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.

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 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.

• 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 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

Regards

Team ExamPundit

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