Current Affairs - September 22, 2017 Current Affairs

The Rajkummar Rao starrer black comedy bollywood film 'Newton' has been selected as India's official entry in the Best Foreign Language Film category at Oscars 20. The Film Federation Of India (FFI) confirmed this nomination.

The Indian Army has organized Operation Sadbhavana for National Integration. These operations are carried out by Indian Army in Jammu & Kashmir and North East states respectively. It has been organized on 21st of Sept. 2017. The Sadbhavana tour was organised by the 109 Infantry Brigade of the Indian Army. Its main aim is to develop trust among and reignite the minds of youth towards national integration.

India and Sri Lanka signed a MoU to upgrade Thondaman Vocational Training Centre in Sri Lanka. The MoU was signed by Taranjit Singh Sandhu, High Commissioner of India in Sri Lanka and Mrs. R. Nadarasapillai, Secretary, Ministry of Hill Country New Villages, Infrastructure and Community Development. Government of India would provide LKR 199 million to upgrade the training facility.

Hong Kong-based AIA Group has agreed to buy the life insurance unit of Australia's largest bank, "Commonwealth Bank of Australia", for $3 billion. This acquisition would make AIA the biggest life insurer in Australia and New Zealand, with 13 million customers.

Panasonic India introduced its first Dual camera phone, the Eluga Ray 500 which lets the user switch between the 120 degree ultra-wide 8MP and 13 MP rear camera for the perfect shot. Eluga Ray 500 features a 5 inch HD IPS Display with a sleek 2.5D curved design.

Himachal Pradesh became the first state in India to introduce electric buses. With this initiative Himachal becomes first in the world to ply electric buses at an altitude of 13 thousand feet. The Transport Minister GS Bali flagged off India's first electric bus on the 51 kms long Manali-Rohtang Pass.

US-based electric vehicles manufacturer Proterra's Catalyst E2 Max electric bus has set a world record by driving 1,771 km (1,101 miles) on a single charge, at the Navistar Proving Grounds in Indiana. E2 Max bus is 40 feet long and has a battery with 660 kWh capacity.

Qatar Airways has put double beds in the business class sections of aeroplanes from London to Doha in Qatar. Such cabins, called Qsuites will be rolled out next in flights from Paris and New York.

Google has acquired a part of electronics company HTC Corporation's engineering and design teams for $1.1 billion. The deal, which includes employees that have worked on the Pixel smartphone, also comes with a non-exclusive licensing agreement for HTC intellectual property. About 2,000 engineers will be transferred to Google. The staff are "primarily focused on research and development.

Fino Payments Bank has launched its mobile banking app called BPay. It will help develop the fintech ecosystem in India. Fino is the company which aims to make banking easy for millions of underbanked people in India.

HDFC Bank surpassed Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to become the country's second most valued firm on BSE in terms of market valuation to a 53 per cent jump in the shares of former this year on quarter-after-quarter strong results. HDFC Bank has a pre-eminent presence in the retail banking segment (50 per cent of loan book) and has been able to maintain strong and consistent loan book growth, gradually gaining market share.

Andhra Pradesh CM N. Chandrababu Naidu launched 'People First' mobile application for grievance redressal in Vijayawada. People of Andhra Pradesh can dial 1100 to register complaints about government services and schemes. The app will keep the citizens updated with the latest schemes and services of the government and the users will also be able to use the app for registering their complaints. The registered complaints will be addressed as soon as possible and selected complaints will be directly monitored by the chief minister himself.