Current Affairs - September 2, 2019 Current Affairs

State-run oil refiner Indian Oil Corporation Ltd will set up a 1 Giga Watt (GW) plant to make batteries used for running electric vehicles (EVs) in partnership with an overseas start-up using a non-lithium ion raw material. The move fits well with the government's strategy to facilitate the adoption of EVs in the country's energy basket, and cut the fuel import bill. It also supports a key element of the EVs industry batteries and their recharge.

Vivek Kumar (V.K) Johri, a 1984-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre took charge as the 25th Director General (DG) of the country's primary border defence organization, BSF (Border Security Force). He succeeds Rajni Kant Misra, who retired on August 31, 2019.

The ministry is headed by the Cabinet Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Dr M M Kutty is the Secretary of the Ministry.

Indian shooter Yashaswini Singh Deswal won gold in the women's 10meter Air Pistol event at the ISSF World Cup at Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. she has also secured an Olympic quota for India. This is India's 9th quota in shooting for 2020 Tokyo Games.

An Area of Darkness is a book written by V. S. Naipaul in 1964. It is a travelogue detailing Naipaul's trip through India in the early sixties. It was the first of Naipaul's acclaimed Indian trilogy which includes India: A Wounded Civilization and India: A Million Mutinies Now.

Punjab National Bank will absorb Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank of India to form the nation's second-largest state-owned lender with combined business of Rs 17.94 lakh crore, overtaking Bank of Baroda with Rs 16.13 lakh crore. SBI leads state-owned banks with business of Rs 52.05 lakh crore.

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, USA, have developed the biggest-ever computer chip using carbon nanotubes (CNT)- RV16XNano. This was published in the journal Nature.RV16X-Nano is a 16-bit processor that contains 14,000 transistors - electronic switches. These switches are made up of CNT - tiny cylinders made of rolled-up, atom-thick sheets of graphene.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully performed the fifth and the final lunar bound orbit manoeuvre for Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft on 1 September. The 5th lunar bound orbit manoeuvre was done using the onboard propulsion system. The orbit manoeuvre took approximately 52 seconds to complete. The orbit was achieved at 119 km x 127 km.s

The Election Commission of India will host the 4th General Assembly of Association of World Election Bodies at Bengaluru. India will also take over as A-WEB's Chair for the 2019-21 term. Over 50 countries across the globe will be participating in the meeting. The A-WEB is the largest association of Election Management Bodies worldwide. The Election Commission will also host International Conference on "Initiatives and Challenges of Social Media and Information Technology in Elections".

Health minister has announced that Central Government Health Scheme's services would be available to 100 cities by 2022. He announced it during the inauguration of state-of-the-art CGHS Bhawan in New Delhi. The minister also launched the new scheme "Annual Health Check-up" of CGHS beneficiaries for pensioners of the age of 75 years and above.

The Ghaznavi (Urdu:?????; official codename: Hatf-III Ghaznavi), is a hypersonic surface to surface short range ballistic missile designed and developed by the National Development Complex, with the first version in service with the Pakistan Army's strategic command since 2004.

Except Anil Kumble, all of them have taken hattrick in test cricket.

Gagan Narang and Pawan Singh have been honoured with the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar for their Gagan Narang Sports Promotion Foundation (GNSPF) at the Arjuna Awards ceremony in Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi. The award recognizes their contribution in the growth of their favourite sport and a reward for sacrifices they have made to realize their dream. In 2011, Narang and co-founder Pawan Singh founded GNSPF to nurture budding talent and provide them training in a systematic and structured and also education to help carve out future champions. The Gun For Glory Shooting Academy - formed under the aegis of GNSPF - has 16 centres spread across India and has over 50 shooters getting international level coaching. The academy shooters have won over 165 international medals and many of them are a regular feature in the national team.

The India Under-15 team has defeated Nepal with 7-0 score in the final of the SAFF (South Asian Football Federation) U-15 Championship 2019 held in Kalyani Stadium, West Bengal from August 21 - 31, 2019. This victory means that India has now become the most successful team in the history of the tournament as it won the title for the 3rd time. Earlier, India won the trophy in 2013 and 2017 in Nepal.

Indonesia's president announced that the country's capital will move from overcrowded, sinking and polluted Jakarta to a site in sparsely populated East Kalimantan province on Borneo island.

India's ICICI Bank declared to be the first bank in the country to deploy industrial robotic arms to count currency notes. As per Bank's statement, it has deployed 14 machines in 12 cities to help sort more than six million notes on a typical day at its various currency chests. The main aim is to brings in a frictionless and completely mechanized process of note-sorting, leading to higher accuracy and flexibility to handle large volumes continuously.

In a unique initiative, the Ambikapur municipal corporation of Chhattisgarh will open a first-of-its-kind 'Garbage Cafe'. This initiative is a step towards making the city plastic-free. In this unique Cafe' poor people and rag pickers will get free food in exchange for one kilogram of plastic, while breakfast will be provided if half a kilogram of plastic is brought to the cafe. The collected garbage will be sold at Solid-Liquid Resources Management Centre. The collected plastic waste would further be turned into granules and will then be used in the construction of roads in the city. Ambikapur is Chhattisgarh's first dustbin-free city.

To boost tourism and give and an all new experience to visitors, India's first-ever sky cycling park will soon open at Gulaba area near Manali in Himachal Pradesh. It is 350m long & is located at a height of 9000 Feet above sea level. Forest Department and Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports have jointly developed an eco-friendly park. The adventure sport will give a fillip to tourism in Manali and visitors will get an enriching experience of adventure sports at this park. It will also help provide employment to locals.

In the 46th meeting of the Central Approval and Monitoring Committee (CSMC) for the year 2019, which was chaired by Shri Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs in New Delhi, approved 865 proposals from 10 States for the construction of 2.99 lakh houses with an overall investment of Rs. 15,109 cr. The Central assistance will be Rs. 4,482 crore.

Canara Bank will absorb Syndicate Bank, giving it a combined business of Rs 15.2 lakh crore and ranking it at fourth, while Union Bank of India will amalgamate with Andhra BankNSE 7.65 % and Corporation Bank (Rs 14.59 lakh crore, fifth).

The Bangladesh government has signed an agreement with Reliance Power of India. As per the agreement, they will set up a 750 MW gas based power plant in Meghnahat near Dhaka. The construction of the plant will be completed by 2022. Reliance Power has also signed an MoU with Petro Bangla to set up 500 mmscfd (Million standard cubic feet per day) LNG terminal at Kutubdia Island near Chittagong in Bangladesh.

Haldiram's is a major potato chips and Indian sweets and snacks manufacturer based out of Delhi and Nagpur.

The Nitish Kumar government banned 12 pan masala brands in Bihar for a period of one year for containing magnesium carbonate which causes health problems

The Department of Revenue notified that 2% tax deduction at source (TDS) on cash withdrawals of over Rs 1 crore will come into effect from September 1, 2019. The government had made this provision in the Union Budget 2019-20 with an aim to discourage cash transactions and move towards less cash economy.

Veteran comedian and four-time Emmy winner Valerie Harper, aged 80, passed away in Los Angeles, United States. She was suffering from different health issues over the years. She was born on August 22, 1939 in Suffern, New York.

In a bid to redress the grievances of start-ups and reduce their tax-related issues, The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has constituted a 5-member special cell, 'Startup Cell' led by the member (Income Tax and Computerisation) of CBDT, which will towards the issues with relation to angel tax and others in case of Start-up entities with respect to administration of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

Emmanuel Bonne, Diplomatic Adviser and G7 Sherpa to French President Emmanuel Macron, arrived in New Delhi, India for the biannual Indo-French Strategic Dialogue 2019.

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma has launched Walk to Work on Wednesdays (WWW) campaign in the state. The campaign is a part of the nationwide Fit India Movement, which has been launched in the country by the Prime Minister. The idea of 'walk to work' will have multiple benefits like cost cutting of fuel including reduction of CO2 emission, reduction in congestion in the city and the most important "health and fitness" for the citizens.