Current Affairs - September 2014

Miscellaneous 

• The revived Nalanda University, reopened and its academic classes commences on 1st September 2014. It is located in Rajgir of Bihar.
• The US Post Service has planned to release stamp on Indian Actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao. After releasing the stamp Akkineni Nageswara Rao will become the first Indian actor to be honored by US Post service.
• Books in News
• The Wonder That Was The Cylinder - by Amar Nath Sharma and Akriti Sharma
• Strictly Personal: Manmohan and Gursharan - by Daman Singh (Daughter of Former PM Manmohan Singh)
• Annihilation of Caste - by B.R. Ambedkar
• And Then one Day: A Memoir - by Nasseruddin Shah (Bollywood Actor)
• National Water Way 1
• Works began to develop the 1620 Km stretch water way between Allahabad and Haldia.
• IWAI  - Inland Waterways Authority of India is implementing the project.
• It passes through 4 states namely 1. UP 2. Bihar 3. Jharkhand and 4. West Bengal
• The Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared the flood in Jammu Kashmir as a National Disaster. Also announced the 1000 crore monetary assistance in addition to the already announced 1100 Crore through the state disaster relief fund.
• The head quarters of International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid-Tropics (ICRISAT) is located in Hyderabad.
• Important Days
• September 8th - International Literacy Day
• September 16th -  International Day for preservation of Ozone Layer
• September 29th - World Heart Day
• Awards
• R. Kamal Bawa won the MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity 2014
• Important Appointments
• Subash Chandra Garg, a senior IAS Officer was appointed as World bank Executive Director.
• Rizwan Akhtar was appointed as the new head of ISI, which is an intelligence agency of Pakistan. 
• Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai to become the new Afghan president.
• Voreqe Bainimarama became the  New Prime Minister of FIJI.
• John Key was reelected as the PM of New Zealand. This is his third term.
• T. Subbarami Reddy, former Union Minister, has been appointed as the Chairman of the Committee on Subordinate Legislation of the Rajya Sabha.
• L.K. Advani has been appointed as the chairman of the Ethics committee of Lok Sabha.
• Lalitha Kumaramangalam is appointed as the new chairman of the National Commission for Women.
• Chief minister of Maharashtra Prithviraj chauhan resigned. 
• G.K. Pillai was appointed as the new chairman of Tata International Ltd after the retirement of the former chairman B. Muthuraman
• Syed Muazzem Ali was appointed as the new Bangladesh high commissioner to India.
• Folk Dances of Gujarat
• Raas, Garba
• On 29th September 2014, centenary commemoration of the Komagata Maru incident was observed. 
• Sripad Naik, the Union minister of state for culture released the commemorative coins of Rs. 100 and Rs. 5 denominations to mark the centenary of the Komagata maru incident. 

Polity

• The recent amendment notified by the DoPT gave more autonomy to the Lokpal Search Panel to recommend names for the selection of Lokpal chairman and its members.
• Earlier the Lokpal search panel can only recommend the names from the list provided by the government. The amendment deleted this provision and now the Search panel can recommend names independently.
• Justice H.L. Dattu was appointed as the 42nd Chief Justice of India succeeding CJI R.M.Lodha.
• Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu announced, 'Vijayawada' as the new capital of the State
• The Supreme Court ordered the release of all undertrial prisoners who have already served half the maximum sentence provided for the offence for which he is charged should be released on personal bond. But this provision under 436A CrPC will not apply to those who are charged with offences which attract death sentence.
• Article 345: "the Legislature of a State may by law adopt any one or more of the languages in use in the State or Hindi as the language or languages to be used for all or any of the official purposes of that State".
• Supreme court halted the decision of Kerala Government to 'ban liquors in some bars giving exceptions to 5 Star hotels and toddy shops'. Also suggested if the government wants to ban liquor do it for everyone. 
• Supreme court allowed Italian marine Massimiliano Latorre, to travel to Italy and stay there for 4 months to recover after suffering a stroke. He was earlier accused of killing two Indian fishermen off the Kerala coast.
• Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu conducted the first ever paperless eCabinet meeting in Hyderabad. The ministers carried their iPads with the eCabinet app already installed in it.
• President's rule was imposed in Maharashtra. 

World

• Australian PM Tony Abbott's India tour
• Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Australian PM Abbott signed a civil nuclear cooperation agreement. 
• Abbott handed over two ancient idols of Hindu deities. These idols belongs to temples in Tamilnadu which was earlier stolen.
• India signed the FTA Free Trade Agreement for Services and Investment with ASEAN. The agreement is expected to be adopted during the upcoming India-ASEAN summit.
• Chinese president Xi Jinping's India tour
• PM Modi will receive Chinese president Xi in Ahmedabad. This is for the first time an Indian PM to receive a foreign dignitary outside the national capital delhi. 
• Indian President Pranab Mukherjee's Vietnam Visit
• Agreements on Oil Exploration and Air connectivity were signed between India and Vietnam.
• Memorandum of Understanding on air connectivity was signed to promote direct air services between the two nations under which India's Jet Airways and Vietnam Airlines will operate flights.
• Letter of Intent (LoI) was signed between ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) and Vietnam Oil for jointly exploring two more oil blocks.
• It also marks the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries. 
• Indian President met Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung. 
• In a period of less than 5 months the clocks have changed in Egypt for the fourth time.
• Yudh Abhyas - Indo - USA joint military exercise was held in Uttarakhand.

Environment & Health

• The Union Health Ministry targets eradication of Kala Azar by 2015.
• Kala Azar is fever caused by parasites mainly by Sandfly.
• It is the second largest parasitic killer after the Malaria.
• The insecticide Synthetic Pyrethroid  is to be used to control the Sandflies.
• The usage of plastics below 40 Microns was banned in Madurai City Limit.
• Madras High Court appointed U. Sagayam to inspect and submit the report within two months to court about the various kinds of illegal mining in the state.
• Swachh Vidyalaya (Clean School)
• It is a part of the initiative Swachh Bharat which means 'Clean India' by 2019
• Centre has decided to set up Swachh Bharat Kosh to fund the Swachh Vidyalaya (Clean School) which will be launced by HRD Ministry.
• Namma Metro 
• Mild tremors was experienced by the local residents which seems to be triggered by Namma Metro work at the Cubbon Park underground station (Minsk Square) Bangalore.
• Lambasingi
• A small village in Andhra pradesh which is also known as Kashmir of Andhra Pradesh.
• AP Tourism department has planned to develop into a tourism hotspot.
• Highest Number of Ebola Virus Infections
• Liberia ranks first in the list followed by Seirra leone and Guinea.

Science and Tech

• INS Sumitra
• An Off Shore Naval Patroll Vessal built by GSL Goa Shipyard Limited and to be commissioned on 4th Sept 2014.
• It is the fourth of the series the former Vessals are 1. INS Saryu 2. INS Sunayna 3. Sumedha.
• Rajasthan Atomic Power Station at Rawatbhatta 
• The 5th Unit of the Rajasthan Atomic Power Station at Rawatbhatta sets a record of 765 days continuous run at its full capacity of 220 Mwe.
• It is the second longest operating period only next to the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station in Canada (894 days).
• Solar Net Meters
• The domestic consumers of electricity can install these solar net meters at their premises if they generate electricity by installing the Solar panels.
• If the consumer generates more energy than he consumes the remaining excess energy will be sent to the Power grid. This is considered as export. If the export is greater than the import at the end of the cycle the amount will be credited to consumer.
• The consumer can also import energy when the production shortfalls his need. It will be considered as import. This will be billed by the Electricity Board.
• Agni - 1 
• Successfully test fired from the wheeler island of Odisha by the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) personnel.
• It is a Surface to surface nuclear capable ballistic missile powered by solid propellant. 
• Range: 700 Km 
• BIS - Bureau of Indian Standard has planned to release the revised standard for helmet, which will be applicable for the whole country.
• iPS Transplantation
• Japan became the first country to conduct the iPS stem cell transplantation. These induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS) cells have the potential to turn into any type of human cell in the body.
• Mars Orbiter Mission
• Commands to put the spacecraft into the martian orbit have been uploaded on 14th September. These commands will be used to fire the '440 newton engine' a liquid engine.
• On 24th September, MOM was successfully placed in the orbit around the Mars Planet.
• The objectives are to study the Mar's mineral composition, composition of methane etc..,
• With it's success, India became the first country in the world to successfully reach Mars in it's first attempt. 
• Also became the fourth country to reach it. The four countries are
1. Europe
2. USA
3. Russia
4. India
• NASA's MAVEN
• On 22nd September, NASA's MAVEN reached the Martian Orbit.
• The main Objective is to study the climate change and about the upper atmosphere of Mars.

• FASTag - ETC
• The ETC Electronic Toll Collection under the brand name 'FASTag' was launched by the Ministry of Road and highways to enhance cashless payment system to avoid the halt of the vehicles at the poll plazas.
• Under this, a unique RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tag will be fixed at the wind shied of the vehicles. Each time when the vehicle passes the dedicated ETC toll, the amount will be automatically deducted from the user's account.

Economy

• No Frills Airport to be set up in the following Districts
• Tezu in Arunachal Pradesh 
• Kishangarh in Rajasthan
• Jharsuguda in Odisha and 
• Hubli and Belgaum in Karnataka 
• The No Frills Airport will have all the basic safety and security features but value added services like food marks, shopping areas... will not be available to cut down the cost.
• T. Suvarna Raju to be appointed as the next Chairman of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. succeeding the present Chairman R. K. Tyagi.
• India contributed 12 Million US Dollar to UN to tackle Ebola in African continent.
• Finance secretary Arvind Mayaram announced that the total borrowing for the fiscal year has been revised to 5.92 lakh crore against the budget estimate of 6 Lakh crores.

Sports

• US Open 2014
• Mixed Doubles
• Sania Mirza (India) and Bruno Soares (Brazil) won the title beating Abigail Spears (USA) and Santiago Gonzalez (Mexico)
• USA won the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2014 by defeating Serbia in the final which was held at Madrid, Spain.
• Edward Mawthoh (India - Meghalaya) has won the bronze medal at the World Kickboxing Championships 2014 held at Italy in the 48kg category of the Under-16.
• 17th Asean Games
• The opening ceremony of the 17th Asian Games 2014 was held at Incheon in South Korea.
• The Indian team was led by Sardar Singh, captain the Men's Hockey Team in the opening ceremony.
• The Next 18th Asian Games 2018 will be hosted by Indonesia. 
• Li Na
• Tennis Player from china and two time grand slam champion announced her retirement recently.
• WTA Toray Pacific Open tournament 2014 (Tokyo)
• Sania Mirza (India) and Cara Black (Zimbabwe) won the women's doubles title by defeating Garbine Muguruza (Spain) and Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain).

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