Current Affair September 2015

International

World Rhino Day observed across the world

The World Rhino Day was observed on 22 September 2015. The all five species of rhino and they are Black, White, Greater one-horned, Sumatran and Javan rhinos.

The World Rhino Day was first announced by WWF-South Africa in 2010.

In India, the day was observed with all-day awareness programmes at Kaziranga National Park (Assam), Manas National Park (Assam) and Laokhowa Burachapori (Assam).

There are around 29000 rhinoceros left in the world according to a report.

National

Two Bills on Reservations to Specially & Economically Backward Classes passed in Rajasthan Assembly

Rajasthan Legislative Assembly passed the two separate bills namely Specially Backward Classes (SBC) and Economically Backward Classes (EBC)which will provide 5 percent and 14 percent reservation to to ensure advancement of backward communities and financially weaker sections

The beneficiaries under the SBC quota are- Banjara/Baldiya/Labana, Gadiya Lohar/Gadoliya, Gujar/Gurjar, Raika/Rebari/Debasi and Gadariya/Gadri/Gayari.

Korea Caravan 2015 organised by Korea-Andhra Pradesh Friendship Forum held in Vishakhapatnam

Korea-Andhra Pradesh Friendship Forum organised the Korea Caravan 2015 in Vishakhapatnam. Every year Caravan was held in New Delhi.

The Andhra Pradesh government declared to setup a Korea Desk to deliver important clearances and give swift response to investors.

Union Government released National Health Profile 2015

The Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare JP Nadda released the 11th edition of NHP 2015 prepared by the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence (CBHI).

It covers demographic, socio-economic, health status and health finance indicators, along with comprehensive information on health infrastructure and human resources in health. NHP 2015 for the first time also included the health data from ESIC and Railways.

Haryana Government to develop Gurgaon as Smart City

Haryana government announced that it will creaate Gurgaon as a smart city. It was declared that the state will arrange 500 crore rupees of its own for Gurgaon for the first phase which will be spent over a time span of 5 years.

Union Cabinet approved setting up of Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre

The Union Cabinet approved setting up of Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre (ISLRTC).

The aim is to provide increased accessibility in education, workplace and other activities of life to 5 million hearing-impaired people.

Appointments

Zayn Khan elected as President of Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India

Zayn Khan was elected as the President of the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI). After the death of R Bharath Raj, who was serving as President, Zayn Khan took over as the President.

PV Chandran elected President of Indian Newspaper Society for 2015-16

PV Chandran was appointed as President of the Indian Newspaper Society (INS) for the year 2015-16 replacing Kiran B.

Cisco’s Executive Chairman John T Chambers elected Chairman of US-India Business Council

John T Chambers, the Executive Chairman of Cisco elected as the next Chairman of US-India Business Council’s (USIBC) by the Council’s Board of Directors replacing Ajay Banga.

He will take the charge on 1 January 2016.

Mukesh Aghi is the president of USIBC

Business/Economy

ADB lowered India’s Growth Forecast for 2016 from 7.8% to 7.4%

Asian Development Bank (ADB) declined India’s gross domestic (GDP) growth projections for the fiscal year (FY) 2016 to 7.4 percent from 7.8 percent.

For FY2015, Indian economy growth is forecasted at 7.8 percent which is lower than the earlier forecast of 8.2 percent.

The causes for the lowering is the economic slowdown in industrial countries, weak monsoon, and stalled action of some key structural reforms.

Indian Diaspora in the US launched Mission 2022

The Indian Diaspora in the United States (US) released Mission 2022 together with the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) to make US-India partnership a defining partnership of the 21st century.

The emerging Indian-American Diaspora can help grow the US & India’s mutual growth story.

The Mission was launched during a reception hosted by CII and Indian Diaspora.

9th Regional Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas (RPBD) to be held in Los Angeles

The 9th Regional Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas (RPBD) will be held at Los Angeles, California, USA from 14 November to 15 November 2015.

The Theme for RPBD Los Angeles will be – The Indian Diaspora: Defining a New Paradigm in India-US Relationship, capturing the ethos of ongoing relationship between India and USA and the important role being played by Diaspora in this regard.

Regional Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas (RPBD)
RPBDs are important Diaspora engagement meets conducted annually by the Union Government outside the country as part of a comprehensive programme to reach out to the growing Indian Diaspora community globally.

The 8th RPBD 2014 was held in London, the UK.

Awards and Honours

Indra Nooyi, Shobhana Bhartia awarded with 2015 Global Leadership Award of USIBC

Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo Chairman & Hindustan Times Group chairperson Shobhana Bharatia were given with the Global Leadership Award 2015 of the USIBC (US-India Business Council) for their roles as top women leaders in the Business world and their commitment to drive a more inclusive global economy.

Natvar Bhavsar, Indian-American artist was awarded with the Artistic Achievement Award for his abstract expressionism and colour-field painting.

24th Vyaas Samman conferred on eminent Hindi writer Dr Kamal Kishore Goenka

Dr Kamal Kishore Goenka, Hindi writer was conferred with 24th Vyaas Samman for the year 2014 for his work ‘Premchand ki Kahaniyon ka Kaal Kramanusaar Adhyayan’.

The Vyas Samman Award:-
• Instituted in 1991 by the KK Birla Foundation.
• The award is presented for literary work in Hindi published during the last 10 years.
• Ram Vilas Sharma was the first person to receive the award.
• Vishwanath Tripathi received the award for the year 2013 for his memoir ‘Vyomkesh Darvesh’ that is a biography of the noted Hindi scholar Acharya Hazari Prasad Dwivedi.

Lalita Prasida Sripada Srisai of Odisha won Community Impact Award at Google Science Fair

Lalita Prasida Sripada Srisai(9th class student) won Community Impact Award at the fifth Google Science Fair held in California.

She received the award for developing a low-cost bio-absorbent based water purifier. The aim of the water purifier is to clean waste water by flowing through difference layers of corn cobs.