Weekly Current Affairs 22nd To 30th September 2019

National News

3 Citizen-Centric Services of the Chandigarh Police launched

• The ‘E-Beat Book’ is a web and mobile application to facilitate police a real-time updation of crime/criminal data by linking it to the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS).
• Emergency Response Support System (ERSS - Dial 112): is an emergency response service which is operationalized to strengthen proactive community policing by providing computer-aided dispatch of field resources to the location of distress.

New Standard Operating Procedure by Transport Ministry

• Central Motor Vehicles Rules are amended to the let the person produce the documents in electronic form.
• Under the rule, the hard copy of relevant documents is not necessary but the documents must be available on DigiLocker or mParivahan app.

Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare launched two Mobile Apps

• The CHC Farm Machinery App will help the farmers to get the machinery required at the rates feasible for them from the Custom Hiring Centres (CHC) located in the radius of 50 Kms.
• The Krishi Kisan App will provide information about the best demonstration of high-yielding crops and seeds in the nearby area of the farmers.

‘TB Harega Desh Jeetega’ Campaign

• The ministry also released the TB India Report (2019) and an all-oral regimen kit (which does not include painful injections) for multi-drug resistant TB patients.
• A partnership with the World Bank was announced which is providing a $400 million credit for accelerating TB response in 9 states through private sector engagement and other critical interventions.

First Indigenous Fuel Cell System launched

• President Ram Nath Kovind unveiled the first Indigenous High Temperature Fuel Cell System on the occasion of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Foundation Day.
• The cell amounts to greater than 70% efficiency, which may not be possible by other energy sources.

Aadi Mahotsav Inaugurated in Noida

• The event will provide a platform to the tribal artisans from different states to feature exhibition-cum-sale of tribal handicrafts, art, paintings fabric, jewellery.
• It is jointly organized by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs & Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED).

‘Sardar Patel National Unity Award’

• The government has constituted ‘Sardar Patel National Unity Award’ as the highest civilian award, in the name of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
• The award consists of a medal and a citation and without any monetary grant or cash. And only 3 awards would be given in a year.

Central Government Banned Export of Onions

• Imposed stock limits on onion traders (limit of 100 quintals on retail traders and 500 quintals on wholesale traders) to facilitate the release of stocks in the market.
• Banned export of onions with immediate effect till further orders (on 13th September 2019, the Minimum Export Price of US$ 850 F.O.B. per metric ton was imposed).

Delhi-Meerut Package-3 inaugurated

• The Delhi-Meerut Expressway (82 kilometre-long) connects Delhi with Meerut in western Uttar Pradesh.
• The project will help in decongesting National Capital Region and a considerable reduction in pollution level.

Capacity Development Programme for Women Entrepreneurs launched

• The initiative is for capacity development of women entrepreneurs in the country and was launched under Startup India, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).
• Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) and Lets Venture have been given the responsibility to run this programme across the southern states of Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala.

Banking

Scope of the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) Expanded

• BBPS is an interoperable medium to facilitate customers to pay bills such as direct-to-home (DTH), telephone, water, gas and electricity at a single location either physical or electronic.
• After the expansion of the payment facility, municipal taxes, insurance premiums, school fees and other recurring payments can also be paid via BBPS.

Government amended CSR Spending Norms

• The government has amended the corporate social responsibility (CSR) spending norms to allow the corporates to spend on research and development (R&D) activities.
• The Companies Act requires firms with 1) net worth of Rs 500 crore 2) turnover of Rs 1,000 crore or net profit of Rs 5 crore or more to set aside 2% of their average net profit over the last 3 years towards ‘approved’ CSR activities.

SEBI tighten Mutual Fund Norms

• SEBI has tightened the norms for mutual funds by making it mandatory to hold at least 20% liquid assets in liquid schemes.
• The parking of funds in short term deposits of scheduled commercial banks won’t be charged investment management and advisory fees by the asset management company (AMC).

RBI has placed PMC Bank under Directions

• As per the Directions, the depositors of the Mumbai based PMC Bank are not allowed to withdraw amount exceeding Rs 1,000 of the total balance in a savings account/current account or deposit account.
• The directions are to remain in force for 6 months from the close of business of the bank.

RBI modified directions to PMC Bank

• The modifications of rules are done after police complaints were filed against the top officials of the PMC bank and Housing Development and Infrastructure Limited (HDIL) for allegedly looting 3,000 crore rupees of the depositors.
• A written complaint was filed alleging that money of at least 9.12 lakh PMC Bank depositors was looted by its top management and real estate firm HDIL.

RBI Put Lakshmi Vilas Bank under PCA Norms

• Due to high bad loans and insufficient capital, RBI has put the Tamil Nadu based Lakshmi Vilas Bank under prompt corrective action framework.
• RBI helps the bank by taking a corrective course of action when the bank has a weak financial performance for a sustained period on parameters of capital ratios, asset quality and profitability.

Index and Ranking

Index of Core Industries

• The Eight Core Industries comprise 40.27 % of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).
• The combined Index of Eight Core Industries declined by 0.5% as compared to the index of August 2018 and stood at 128.2 in August 2019.

Appointments

Name of the Person	Designation
Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria	Chief of the Indian Air Force

Awards and Honours

Award	Awardee
Best State Award for overall growth in the tourism category	Andhra Pradesh
Adventure Tourism category	Goa and Madhya Pradesh
Best Film Promotion Friendly State	Uttarakhand
Best State in the Innovative use of IT category	Telangana

Government Schemes

Margadarshan and Margdarshak Scheme

• These institutions are also provided funding up to Rs. 50 lakhs per institution over a period of 3 years in instalments for carrying out various activities like training, workshops, conferences and travel.
• Under the Margdarshak Scheme, mentors/teachers (Margdarshaks) who are serving or superannuated and willing to devote adequate time to make required visits to these Institutions are identified.

‘UMMID’ initiative Launched by the Government

• Genetic disorders are the third most common cause of mortality in new-borns among the urban areas of India and due to high birth rate, large population and consanguineous marriage in many communities, these diseases are very common among them.
• NIDAN (National Inherited Diseases Administration) Kendra has .also been inaugurated by the ministry to provide help related to genetic diseases at one place.

Defence

Kargil to Kohima (K2K) “Glory Run”

• Kohima and Kargil are the two forward most outposts of India in the East and in the North where two of the fiercest battles were fought in 1944 and 1999 respectively.
• A team of 25 IAF members will cover a distance of 4500 Km in 45 days by running an average of 100 Km per day.

Indian Coast Guard Ship ‘Varaha’

• The ICGS Varaha is the 4th in the series of seven 98-m Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPV) of the Indian Coast Guard (ICG).
• The ship has been designed and built indigenously by Larsen & Toubro (L&T) at its Katupalli shipbuilding yard in North Chennai.

23rd Edition of MALABAR Exercise 2019

• Indigenously designed and built ships of Indian Navy, multipurpose guided-missile frigate Sahyadri and ASW Corvette Kiltan will participate in the exercise.
• The MALABAR exercise began originally in 1992 between India and the United States, and Japan joined the exercise in 2015.

INS Khanderi Commissioned into Indian Navy

• INS Khanderi is built under the ‘Make in India’ initiative at state-run Mazgaon Dock Limited and was under sea-trials for over two and a half years.
• The submarine is built under the project 75, which is being carried out at Mazagon Docks Ltd in collaboration with the French submarine builder Naval Group (formerly DCNS).

INS ‘Nilgiri’: Navy's 1st New Stealth Frigate Launched

• 70% of India’s trade by value and 95% by volume is taking place through the sea route and the strategic effort to safeguard the route is been made through INS Nilgiri.
• Project 17A frigates has much more advanced stealth features from its design derivative of the Shivalik class stealth frigates.

Sports

Deepak Punia Named World No.1 Wrestler in 86kg Category

• Wrestler Deepak Punia has been named number one in 86 kilogram category in the latest ranking issued by the International Wrestling Federation.
• Bajrang Punia was earlier ranked number one but dropped to number two spot after managing a bronze in the World Championship.

Summits and Conferences

WAWE Summit 2019

• The WAWE summit is an initiative to promote women entrepreneurs to work towards waste management and providing alternatives to single-use plastic carry bags.
• It will be jointly organized by the Institute of Waste Management (IIWM) and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) at Jaipur.

2nd Edition of India Tourism Mart (ITM) 2019 Inaugurated

• The mart has been jointly organized by the Ministry of Tourism and the Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism and Hospitality (FAITH).
• FAITH is the apex organization of important trade and hospitality associations of India and has the objective of positioning the products of the country and tourism destinations in international markets.

7th High Level Joint Task Force on Investments Meeting

• The 7th High Level Joint Task Force on Investments meeting between UAE-India took place on 22nd September 2019 in Abu Dhabi.
• Both the countries reviewed the functioning of ‘UAE PLUS’ special desk and the ‘Fast Track Mechanism’ established at the 6th HLTFI for facilitating UAE investment into India.

16th Global SME Business Summit 2019

• The Summit is organized every year by the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and Confederation of Indian Industries (CII).
• It focuses on measures to be taken by the government to increase MSME’s present share of 29% of GDP to 50% in the next 5 years and raise its export contribution from 49 % to 60 %.

6th India Water Week – 2019

• The campaign is to take place at Vigyan Bhawan with various rounds of Brainstorming Sessions (4 nos,), Panel Discussions (12 nos.), Seminars (15 nos.), and Special Session (6 nos.).
• The theme of this year’s IWW is “Water cooperation: Coping with 21st Century Challenges”.

Singapore India Hackathon 2019

• The Singapore India Hackathon 2019 is an initiative of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and is the 1st joint International hackathon between India and any other country.
• All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), MHRD’s Innovation Cell (MIC) along with Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore and NTU active Pte Ltd are co-organizing the Hackathon.

IPCC Meet on Climate Change

• The IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) meeting of Working Group III Sixth Assessment Report has begun from 30th September 2019 in New Delhi.
• The Working Group III meeting will produce a report that will emphasize what can be done in the near term to mitigate climate change and strategies for its implementation.