Current Affairs - September 16, 2020 Current Affairs

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of Sameer Kumar Khare as new Executive Director of Asian Development Bank (ADB), Manila. Khare is a 1989-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Assam cadre. He is currently serving as Additional Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs under Ministry of Finance. He has been appointed to the post for a tenure of three years with effect from the date of assumption of the charge of the post or until further orders, whichever is earlier.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Monday said it has appointed Takeo Konishi as its new Country Director for India. Konishi succeeds Kenichi Yokoyama who has taken over as Director General of ADB's South Asia Department and will be based at ADB headquarter in Manila, ADB said in a release.

India has been elected as a member of the United Nation's Commission on Status of Women, a body of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). India will be a member of United Nation's Commission on Status of Women for four years, 2021 to '25.

Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Rural Development and Pachayati Raj, Narendra Singh Tomar, said on Wednesday (8 September) that the government has set the target of covering 100 lakh hectares under micro-irrigation in five years' time.

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has approved establishment of a new All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at Darbhanga, Bihar. This will be established under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY). The approved AIIMS would be established at a total cost of Rs. 1264 crore and is likely to be completed within a period of 4 years from the date of the approval of Government of India.

PM Narendra Modi inaugurated the three petroleum sector projects in Bihar which cost more than Rs 900 crores. The projects include the Durgapur-Banka section of the Paradip-Haldia-Durgapur Pipeline Augmentation Project and two Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) Bottling Plants in Banka and Champaran, according to news agency PTI.

A 1988 batch IAS officer, Rajesh Khullar has been appointed as Executive Director at World Bank in Washington DC. The Appointment Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of Rajesh Khulla for a tenure of three years from the date of assumption of charge or till the date of his superannuation (August 23, 2023). Khullar is currently posted as principal secretary to chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar. He will join the World Bank in the first week of November.

Central Government has constituted an Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) to oversee the process of the corporatisation of the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB). Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is the chairman of this EGoM. As part of the "Aatmanirbhar Bharat" (self-reliant India) initiative, the government had announced on May 16 that it would improve the autonomy, accountability and efficiency in ordnance supplies by converting the OFB, which is a subordinate office of the defence ministry, into one or more government-owned corporate entities.

In the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha along with Union Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office Dr. Jitendra Singh and Union Minister of Youth and Sports Kiren Rijiju jointly laid the e-foundation stone of Arun Jaitley Memorial Sports Complex, Hiranagar on Saturday.

Recently Government of India released a notification outlawing the export of all kinds of onions. The ban is imposed three months after the central government made changes in the Essential Commodities Act, 1955.

International Day of Democracy is observed globally on 15th September every year. The International Day of Democracy provides an opportunity to review the state of democracy in the world. Democracy is as much a process as a goal, and only with the full participation of and support by the international community, national governing bodies, civil society and individuals, can the ideal of democracy be made into a reality to be enjoyed by everyone, everywhere.

The Disciple written and directed by Chaitanya Tamhane has won the Best Screenplay at the 77th Venice International Film Festival. Produced by Vivek Gomber, the award for the Marathi feature was revealed at the closing ceremony of the festival, a day after the International Critics' Prize awarded by FIPRESCI. This is a historic occasion for Indian Cinema as it marks the second time in six years that a film directed by Tamhane and produced by Gomber, has won two awards at the Venice Film Festival.

ICICI Lombard General Insurance said on Monday it has entered into a bancassurance tie-up with Yes Bank to make insurance more accessible to customers across 28 states and 8 union territories. Sanjeev Mantri, Executive Director of ICICI Lombard, said the company's continuous endeavour is to reach out to consumers and businesses for providing them effective risk management solutions.

Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday launched a state-wide campaign, 'My Family, My Responsibility', to tackle the coronavirus pandemic amid further relaxation of lockdown curbs. Thackeray said the crisis is likely to become more severe in the coming days as the state continues to be the worst-affected due to the viral disease with more than one million Covid-19 cases.

Engineer's Day 2020: The country celebrates Engineer's Day on September 15 to appreciate the contributions of eminent engineer Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya who was born on September 15, 1861 in a village called Muddenahalli in Karnataka.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshihide Suga has been elected as the new Chief of country's ruling, Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Prime Minister-designate of Japan. The 71-year-old will assume charge of the office from 16 September 2020.

Janata Dal (United) parliamentarian Harivansh Narayan Singh has been re-elected as the Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha. The upper house has cleared his name with a voice vote. The proposal to elect Harivansh as the deputy chairman of Rajya Sabha was moved by BJP President JP Nadda.

Interior designer, Gauri Khan has authored her first book titled "My Life In Design", which will be published by Penguin Random House India in 2021. It is a coffee-table book, in which Gauri has written about her journey as a designer.

TikTok has chosen Oracle to be its technology partner for its American operations. Microsoft was also in a bid to acquire TikTok in the United States but the Chinese owner of the video-sharing platform "TikTok" chose Oracle over Microsoft to be its technology partner for its American operations.

DP World and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have signed a long-term sponsorship agreement, making the Dubai government-owned ports and logistics firm the global logistics partner of the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchisee.