International
Affairs
Today (12th September) is United
Nations Day for South-South Cooperation.
China and Russia have
started naval drills in the disputed South China Sea today.
China
claimed that the "routine" drills, which are expected to last eight days,
are only aimed at strengthening cooperation.
This
comes amid tensions in the contested waters after a UN court ruled that China
does not have "historic rights" over the region.
National Affairs
The government today approved the
Human Resource Development Ministry's proposal to set up a Higher
Education Financing Agency (HEFA) that will provide funds for
research-oriented infrastructure in premier institutions like IITs and
IIMs.
HEFA
is expected to raise up to ₹20,000 crore for funding world-class labs and mobilise CSR
funds for promoting research in these institutions on a grant basis.
After introducing 'Twitter Sewa' for
redressal of telecom and postal grievances, the government today launched a
toll-free number 1924 to register postal complaints.
It
will initially be operational for 12 hours on working days and has been started
in Hindi, Malayalam, and English.
Note : Department of Posts (DoP) is the 8th largest department in
terms of number of complaints.
To
ensure its involvement at every stage of defence manufacturing, the Indian Army
has set up the Army Design Bureau (ADB).
It
will be an interface between the Army and the DRDO, academia, defence PSUs, and
the private industry.
This
aims to achieve the Army's modernisation and indigenisation programme, in line
with the Centre's ‘Make in India’ plan.
Awards & Honors
HBO's TV series 'Game of Thrones'
has won nine Creative Arts Emmy Awardsincluding 'Outstanding Casting',
'Outstanding Costumes' and 'Outstanding Production Design'.
Science &
Technology
The Indian Space Research
Organization (ISRO) is going to launch a satellite developed by the
students of IIT Bombay.
Called
‘Pratham’, the satellite will measure the total electron count of the
ionosphere.
The satellite was conceptualised by
two students of the Aerospace Engineering department - Saptarshi Bandyopadhyay
and Shashank Tamaskar - in July 2007.
The
world’s first daily driverless bus service has started in Lyon,
France which will run in the city’s Confluence area.
The
driverless bus service includes two electric shuttles that will transport
passengers on a ten-minute route hosting five stops.
Places in News
According to a survey conducted by
Virtuoso, an international luxury travel network,Iceland is the best
adventure destination for luxury travel.
Galapagos in
Ecuador was ranked second while Costa Rica and Chile'sPatagonia tied
for the third spot.
China's Beipanjiang Bridge,
which is expected to be the world's highest bridgeupon completion, is
nearing the end of its construction. Measuring 565 metres (about 1,850 feet)
above the Beipan river.
It
will span a distance of over 1,000 metres to connect the Guizhou and Yunnan
provinces.
Note : The bridge is scheduled to open to public by the end of
2016.
The Hartsfield-Jackson
Atlanta International Airport in the United States has been named the busiest
passenger airport in the world for the 18th year in a row, according
to the 2015 World Airport Traffic Report.
The
airport, which saw over 101 million passengers last year, was followed by
theBeijing Airport (89.9 million passengers) and the Dubai Airport (78
million passengers).
Business &
Economy
The Union Cabinet today approved the
process, formation and functioning of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council.
The
council will consist of the Finance Minister and State Finance
Ministers.
It
will make recommendations on important issues related to GST, including items
and rates.
Note : The GST is a single indirect tax, which will subsume most
of the central and state taxes such as VAT, excise duty, service tax and
central sales tax.
The Union Finance Ministry has
issued fresh flexi-fund guidelines for the Centrally Sponsored
Schemes (CSS).
These
flexi-fund guidelines will give states more freedom in spending money under the
CSS to meet local developmental requirements. These guidelines were based
on the instructions issued by NITI Aayog for rationalisation of Centrally
Sponsored Schemes.
Note : These recommendations were based on instructions of the
sub-group of Chief Ministers of states and consultations with stakeholders
The Central Board of Direct
Taxes (CBDT) has launched ’e-nivaran’ (electronic resolution) facility
for online redressal of taxpayers’ grievances.
Its
link of this facility has been activated on the e-filing portal of the
department –https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in.
The Cabinet today approved the
Consumer Affairs Department's proposal onenhancing the buffer stock for pulses
up to 20 lakh tonnes.
The
buffer stock will be built through domestic procurement and imports of 10 lakh
tonnes each.
The
specific variety of pulses and their quantities and procurement will be based
on their price and availability positions, both domestically and globally.
Anil Ambani-led Reliance
Capital today announced it has received shareholders’ approval for the transfer
of its commercial finance unit with a loan portfolio of about ₹16,500
crore to a separate company.
Post
the transfer, Reliance Capital would be applying to the RBI for registering
itself as a Core Investment Company, which would also facilitate the
application of a banking licence.
Sports
Switzerland's Stanislas
Wawrinka defeated world number one and the defending champion Novak
Djokovic to win his maiden US Open title and third Grand Slam
overall.
Complete
Winners List of US Open 2016
Men's
Singles : Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland)
Women's
Singles : Angelique Kerber (Germany)
Men's
Doubles : Bruno Soares (Brazil) / Jamie Murray (United Kingdom)
Women's
Doubles : Bethanie Mattek-Sands (United States) / Lucie Šafářová
(Czech Republic)
Mixed
Doubles : Laura Siegemund (Germany) / Mate Pavić (Croatia)
India's
Test squad for the upcoming series against New Zealand has been
announced.
The
batting unit consists of Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat
Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul.
Wriddhiman Saha will keep wickets,
while Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma,
Mohammad Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yaadav form the bowling attack.
BCCI
(Board Of Control For Cricket In India) has put an age limit of 60
yearsfor the post of National Selectors and has also set September 14
as the deadline for applying for the posts.
As
per the new rules, a senior national selector should have represented India in
a Test or an ODI, or played over 50 first-class matches in India in a
BCCI-selected team.
India won 4 Golds, 1
Silver and 5 Bronze medals in the recently-concluded International
Table Tennis Federation Junior and Cadet Open Championships, to finish second
to Taipei in the medals tally.
Important Points to Note :
India’s
four golds included wins in the junior boys, girls and cadet girls singles,
besides the junior boys doubles title.
India’s
Manav Thakkar won himself two golds.
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