Current Affairs - September 13, 2019 Current Affairs

Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated the 'Pradhan Mantri Kisan Mandhan Yojana' to the nation from Ranchi, Jharkhand. He also inaugurated the new Jharkhand Assembly building in Ranchi and a multi-modal terminal at Sahibganj.

The centre has appointed defence Secretary Shri Sanjay Mitra to head a 3-member panel to look into assets, liabilities of Jammu and Kashmir(J&K) between two successor Union territories(UT) J&K and Ladakh, that comes into effect on October 31, 2019. The other members on the panel include, ArunGoyal- retired Indian Administrative Service(IAS) officer. Giriraj Prasad Gupta- Retired Indian Civil Accounts Service (ICAS) officer.

Saint Vincent and Grenadines became the 79th country to join the International Solar Alliance (ISA). It is an initiative by India aimed at combating the threats of climate change and global warming. The International Solar Alliance is a group of 121 solar resource-rich countries with headquarters in Gurugram, India.

Priyavratabecame the youngest person to pass the "Mahapariksha" at the age of 16. The Mahapariksha contains 14 levels and is conducted twice in a year at Tenali(Andhra Pradesh) for the students studying 'Shastras' (ancient scriptures).

Indian army will participate in a multilateral exercise "TSENTR 2019" to be held in Russia. Armies of Pakistan, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Russia will also participate in the exercise. This will be the first time that forces from India and Pakistan will participate in a multilateral exercise together since the Balakot airstrikes conducted by Indian forces. The exercise is a part of the annual series of large scale exercises that form part of the Russian Armed Forces' annual training cycle. The exercise rotates between the four main Russian operational strategic commands.

Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), laid the foundation stone for Indian Institute of Skills (IIS) at Mumbai. The objective of the institute is to provide skill training in highly-specialised areas to students who want to pursue technical education after completing Class X and XII. The IIS will be a tertiary care institute in the skills ecosystem and offer best of required courses in emerging and high demand areas such as deep technology, aerospace, among others. These institutes will be constructed and operated on a PPP (Public-Private Partnership) model. Tata Education Development Trust (TEDT) was selected as the private partner for setting up IIS at NSTI campus in Mumbai through a competitive bidding process.

India and Thailand will conduct the Joint Military Exercise MAITREE-2019 from 16-29 September 2019 at Foreign Training Node, Umroi, Meghalaya. Over 50 soldiers from each Navy will be participating in the exercise.

PM laid a foundation stone of Mega Food Park with Rs 179.75 crore project will be setup by Haryana State Co-operative Supply and Marketing Federation Limited (HAFED) at Industrial Model Township (IMT), Rohtak on National Highway-10, linking Delhi with Rohtak, Haryana. The Ministry of Food Processing Industries of the Government of India, will provide grant-in-aid of Rs 50 crore. 3 primary processing centers (PPCs) will also be set up in Districts Yamunanagar, Sonipat and Sirsa.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully flight-tested Man Portable Antitank Guided Missile (MPATGM), an indigenously developed low weight and fire and forget missile. The flight test was conducted in the ranges of Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh.

Mary Kom has been recommended for the Padma Vibhushan Award, India's second-highest civilian award, as per Sports Ministry sources. She is the first female athlete to be recommended for the Padma Vibhushan.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank Group, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Finance Industry Development Council (FIDC). FIDC is a representative body of asset and loan Financing Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFCs), to collaborate on the training of NBFCs in the country. According to the agreement, the training programs for NBFCs would be conducted on "Commercial Credit Reporting" aimed at building the capacity of NBFCs to enhanced reporting and enquiring on Commercial Credit Information Data from the Credit Bureaus.

The panel headed by Harsh Vardhan, senior advisor, Bain and Co., for the development of housing finance securitisation market has submitted its report to the governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Shaktikanta Das.The panel suggested that the National Housing Bank (NHB) should create an intermediary for standard-setting and market-making for the instruments. Intermediary could operate either directly through the NHB, the Indian Mortgage Guarantee Corporation (IMGC), or the RBI could set up a new organisation.

Madhya Pradesh Government recently announced to launch an online portal offering cows for adoption to those who want to adopt a cow and could provide shelter to them at gaushalas (cow shelters).

Water has been detected by scientists in the atmosphere of a potentially habitable super-Earth. The exoplanet, named K2-18b, is twice the size and eight times the mass of Earth. K2-18b is the first planet outside the solar system in the habitable zone of its star known to have water in its atmosphere.

India and Asian Development Bank signed 200 million dollar loan agreement. The agreement which will upgrade rural roads in 34 districts of Maharashtra to improve road safety. The project aims to improve the condition of about 2,100 km of rural roads to all-weather standards, with climate resilience and safety features. The main aim is to connect rural communities with productive agricultural areas and socio-economic centres.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc(Monaco) has won the 2019 Italian Grand Prix(formally known as Formula 1 Gran Premio Heineken d'Italia 2019) Formula 1(F1) race at Monza, Italy. This marks Ferrari's first Italian Grand Prix win in 9 years (last win 2010) and also Charles'ss second successive win in the F1 race after winning the maiden 2019 Belgian Grand Prix.

India has joined the Global Antimicrobial Resistance Research (AMR) and Development hub as a new member. AMR is the ability of a microbe to resist the effects of medication that once could successfully treat the microbe. India will be a member of the board of members of the hub from this year. India looks forward to working with all partners to leverage their existing capabilities, resources and collectively focus on new research to address drug-resistant infections. The hub supports global priority setting and evidence-based decision-making on the allocation of resources for AMR research and development through identification of gaps, overlaps and potential for cross-sectoral collaboration and leveraging.

The Defence Research Development Organization (DRDO) has handed over the second airborne warning plane, Netr-a, to the Indian Air Force. The Netra, an Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEWC) aircraft, it is useful for surveillance, tracking, identification and classification of airborne and sea surface targets and is useful in detecting incoming ballistic missile threats. The Netra had played a stellar role during the Balakot airstrikes that had been carried out by the IAF in February this year. It provided surveillance and radar coverage to the five Mirage jets that bombed terror launch pads in Balakot in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan.

Vietnam has inaugurated Southeast Asia's largest solar power farm which has the capacity to produce 688 million kWh of electricity annually. The Dau Tieng Solar Power Complex, a joint venture with the Thai industrial group B.Grimm Power Public Company, occupies 540 hectares in Tay Ninh province, Vietnam. The complex was constructed on the Dau Tieng Reservoir the largest artificial lake in Vietnam and is expected to generate 10 per cent of the country's solar energy to guarantee supply to 320,000 homes. It will also prevent the emission of 595,000 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year.