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Current Affairs Today – October 3 2016

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INDIAN AFFAIRS

Mahesh Sharma inaugurated the 5th International Buddhist Conclave in Varanasi-Sarnath
i. Union Tourism and Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma inaugurated the 5th International Buddhist Conclave in Varanasi-Sarnath.
ii. With a view to showcase and project the Buddhist heritage and pilgrim sites of India, the Ministry of Tourism is organising the ”5th International Buddhist Conclave” (from October 2 to 6) in collaboration with the State Governments of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
iii. Over 285 participants from 39 counties are participating in the fifth edition of the event.
iv. 2016 International Buddhist Conclave is very special as ASEAN is a Guest of Honor partner and a large participation is expected from ASEAN Countries which are also major source markets for India in general and the Buddhist Heritage sites in particular.

Assam CM Sonowal releases report on human development
i. Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal released the “Assam Human Development Report 2014” and the Vision and Strategic Architecture Document on SDGs, namely, “Assam 2030: Our Dream, Our Commitment”
ii. Assam has witnessed a “steady and continuous improvement” in human development with its latest Human Development Index (HDI) estimated at 0.557 against the national average of 0.586
iii. This is the second Human Development Report for the state, the first was published a decade back in 2003.The present Report is based on a survey of 39,998 households and 1,87,511 individuals from 27 districts of the state.

Abu Dhabi Crowned Prince to be Chief Guest on 2017 Republic Day
i. This is the first time that a leader of the United Arab Emirates crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan would be honored with the invitation of being the Chief Guest at India‘s Republic Day parade.
ii. The announcement was made the by Union Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesman Vikas Swarup in New Delhi after the crown prince accepted invitation.
iii. 2016- Francois Hollande (French President), 2015- Barack Obama (US President), 2014- Shinzo Abe (Japanese Prime Minister)Chief Guest at Republic Day 2016
iv. UAE is India’s third largest trading partner after China and the United States. Bilateral trade between UAE and India is around 60 billion dollars.
UAE:
♦ Capital: Abu Dhabi.
♦ Currency: UAE Dirham.

Supreme Court imposed Rs 25,000 cost on Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain
i. The Supreme Court charged a cost of Rs.25,000 on Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain for failing to file an affidavit naming the officials allegedly not cooperating in checking the menace of dengue and chikungunya in the national capital.
ii .Apparently unhappy over the plea by the Delhi government’s lawyer seeking time to file the affidavit, a bench of Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice DY Chandrachud observed that People were dying you didn’t need 24 hours to file an affidavit.
iii. Jain, in the affidavit, told that officials were not taking responsibility and all files pertaining to diseases like dengue and chikungunya were being sent to LG for clearance.
iv. The Centre had told the apex court that it was the duty of Delhi government to ensure that the national capital remained clean and free from diseases like chikungunya and dengue.
v. The court imposed the cost in the course of the hearing of suomotu matter it had taken up in 2015 when the parents of a child committed suicide after he died as he was not treated at a hospital

New prohibition law in force in Bihar from October 2, 2016
i. Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016 has come into force from October 2 in the state.
ii. This new Act has strict provisions. As per one of the provision, every adult of a family would be pretended to be aware of the offence if alcohol is consumed, manufactured, sold or distributed in premises one occupies.
iii. This Act has also provision for setting up special courts to deal with the prohibition law.

Nitish cabinet launched student credit card
i. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar launched Student credit card scheme for the students passing Class 12th exam on Oct 2, 2016
ii. It will fecilaitate to get an interest free loan of Rs four lakh for pursuing higher studies.
iii. The programme forms an important component of the CM’s ‘seven resolves’ which has been adopted by the grand secular alliance government as its policy of governance.
Bihar :
♦ Bihar has become first non-BJP ruled state to give its consent to the GST Bill on 16th August 2016.
♦ The Bihar plain is split by the river Ganges which flows from west to east

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

Colombian voters rejected FARC peace plan in a referendum
i. Colombian voters appeared to have shocked their government by blasting away its hopes for a historic peace deal with communist FARC rebels near-complete referendum results showed.
ii. With votes more than 99 per cent of vote polling stations counted, 50.2 per cent opposed the accord while 49.8 per cent supported it – a difference of less than 63000 votes out of 13 million ballots.
iii. The formal peace talked for the deal were started three years ago, in October 2012, in the Cuban capital. Core area of Peace Talks
iv. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia—People’s Army (FARC-EP) is a left wing militant organization established in 1964.
v. It is Colombia’s largest rebel group and Latin America’s oldest left-wing insurgency. It is active in Colombia, Venezuela, Panama and Ecuador.

BUSINESS

Reliance tied up with Dassault to execute Rafale offsets
i. Dassault Aviation of France had entered into a partnership with Reliance group to execute offsets for the recently concluded deal for 36 Rafale fighter jets.This is the largest offset contract to be executed by any defence company in India till date.
ii. As per the contract, Dassault Aviation prepared  to invest 50 % of its revenue, up to Rs.300 billion ($4.51 billion), in the Indian defence industry to boost technological innovation and capacity building.
Defence Dealiii. According to the offset contract, 30 per cent of Dassault’s revenue would be invested in India’s aerospace industry, and the remaining 20 per cent had been set aside for manufacturing spare parts for Rafale fighter jets.
iv. The joint venture would focus on areas such as aerostructures, electronics and engines. Reliance would establish a manufacturing facility in Nagpur to keep up with Dassault’s supply chain, which would be part of Dassault’s global supply chain.

AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS

Japanese cell biologist Yoshinori Ohsumi won Nobel Prize in medicine
i. The Nobel Prize in medicine has been awarded to a Japanese cell biologist Yoshinori Ohsumi, for discoveries on how cells break down and recycle their own components.
ii. Yoshinori Ohsumi, a 71-year-old biologist at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, used baker’s yeast cells to shed light on a cellular process called autophagy (Greek for “self-eating”).
iii. In a series of experiments conducted at the University of Tokyo in the late 1980s, Ohsumi identified 15 genes that oversee cells’ elimination of damaged proteins and worn-out organelles by moving them into a specialized cellular compartment and breaking them down to provide the cell with nutrients.
iv. Autophagy is the body’s internal recycling programme – scrap cell components are captured and the useful parts are stripped out to generate energy or build new cells.

KTR Gets Global Champion Of Digital Literacy Award
i. Telangana IT Minister K T Rama Rao (KTR) was awarded with the Global Champion of Digital Literacy Award by Certiport. Certiport found the work done by Rao deserving of a Global Champion of Digital Literacy Award.
ii. The award recognizes people who are making a difference in preparing students to be digitally literate and competitive in an ever-competitive job market besides creating the infrastructure for growth of IT in their state or country and movement towards providing better governance using technology.
iii. Certiport recognises government leaders around the world who work tirelessly to help more students become digitally literate and competitive in an always increasingly competitive job market.

Prineet Grewal crowned Mrs India Earth 2016
i. The 29 year old Prineet Grewal from Pune was crowned with Mrs India Earth 2016 at a gala ceremony amid members of the fashion industry in Dwarka.
ii. Runners: Paris Keswani and Roshini HassanPrineet Grewal crowned Mrs India Earth 2016
iii. Motto : ‘Beauty with Cause’.
iv. Mrs India Earth pageant celebrates the spirit of womanhood and gives a platform to married women.
v. The event gave every contestant selected environmental tasks, and over 15,000 saplings were planted in the country and abroad this year.

Bengali/Kashmiri worked share best documentary award at SiGNS
i. The tenth edition of the SiGNS digital video festival, which would be remembered for recording the highest-ever participation, concluded.
ii. Randu Kurippukal (Two Notes, 2015), a Malayalam short film directed by Gireesh Kumar K, took home the SiGNS 2016 award for Best Short Fiction. 
iii. The award for best documentary in competition was shared by Bengali entry Tender is the Sight helmed by Torsha Bannerjee and Vanishing Glaciers, a production in Kashmiri by Raja Shabir Khan.
iv.TheJohn Abraham Award for Best Malayalam Feature Film 2015 was awarded to P.S. Manu’sMunroeThuruth. Special Mention awards for S. Sunil’s Marubhagam and Sanal KumarSasidharan’s Ozhivudivasathe Kali were also handed out.

APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNS

Trafficked Girl Anoyara Khatun Became International Child Rights Activist
i. An 18-year-old girl Anoyara Khatun, who was trafficked from the remote islands of Sundarbans in West Bengal, is an international child rights crusader and has been invited twice to speak at the United Nations. 
trafficked-girl-became-international-child-rights-activistii. Having met UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, Bill Gates and Melinda Gates, Anoyara Khatun is now a hero in her Sande shkhali village in North 24 Parganas district.
iii. Telling the stories from her village before an international audience and listening to stories from all over the world had made her more strong as an activist stated by Khatun, who was once trafficked as a child domestic worker due to poverty.
iv. As a youth leader guided by international NGO ‘Save the Children,’ she is now leading 80 groups of children, each having about 10-20 members who are fighting against evils like child marriage, trafficking, child labour, besides other issues related to health and education
v. She had  meeting with Nadia Murad, a 23-year-old Yazidi woman from Iraq, who is now the UN Goodwill Ambassador for dignity of survivors of human trafficking, reduced her into tears.

Reliance Communications CEO Vinod Sawhny steps down 
i. Reliance Communications Ltd’s chief executive Vinod Sawhny has stepped down from his post and William (Bill) Barney and Gurdeep Singh would take over responsibilities and function as co-CEOs with immediate effect from September 30, 2016.
ii. The announcement comes two weeks after RCom announced the merger of its wireless business with Aircel Ltd.
Reliance :
♦ Reliance Communications Ltd. is an Indian Internet access and telecommunications company headquartered in Navi Mumbai.
♦  Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group parent company of Reliance.

M. Sevala Naik concurrently accredited as the High Commissioner of India to the Commonwealth of The Bahamas
i. M.Sevala Naik was concurrently accredited as the High Commissioner of India to the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, with residence in Kingston (Jamaica).
ii. He is currently working as the High Commissioner of India to Jamaica.
Commonwealth of The Bahamas  :
♦ The Bahamas is a coral-based archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean
♦ Capital: Nassau
♦ Currency: Bahamian dollar

Ashish Vohra Appointed CEO Of Reliance Nippon Life Insurance
i. Ashish Vohra has been appointed as the CEO of largest life insurance companies in the world Reliance Nippon Life Insurance with effect from October 3, 2016.
ii. Prior to this he has been working as Senior Director and Chief Distribution Officer in Max Life Insurance.
iii. He has over 25 years of experience working with companies like Fullerton India Credit, Citibank and Eicher Motors

Rajeev Sharma takes over as Power Finance CMD
i. Rajeev Sharma has taken over as the Chairman and Managing Director of state-run Power Finance Corporation (PFC). He is the succeedor of M K Goel who retired on rajeev-sharma-takes-over-as-power-finance-cmdSeptember 30, 2016.
ii. Prior to this he was the CMD of Rural Electrification Corporation (REC).
iii. He is considered the architect of Government’s flagship schemes like Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY).
iv. He has more than 30 years of experience and has served in various positions in Central Electricity Authority (CEA), Power Grid Corporation & PFC (as Director, Projects).

SPORTS

ICC Test rankings: India backed to No 1 after beating New Zealand at Eden Gardens 
i. In the middle of a 12-match unbeaten streak at home, Indian cricket team would be aiming to reclaim the No 1 spot in ICC rankings when it takes on an unsettled New Zealand in the second Test.
ii. Points gained from victories in the Kanpur and Kolkata Tests saw Virat Kohli’s team move past Pakistan and back to the top spot..
iii. Pakistan are now at second place, followed by Australia, England, South Africa, New Zealand, West Indies, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.
iv. Ashwin and Jadeja combined to take six Kiwi wickets in the second innings, while pacers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami took four wickets together.
ICCI :
Founded : 1909.
Headquarters: Dubai, UAE.
Chairman: Dave Richardson.

Daniel Ricciardo wins 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix
i. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo won the 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix held at the Sepang International Circuit in Selangor, Malaysia.

ii. Daniel Ricciardo, an Australian racing driver who is currently competing in Formula One for Red Bull Racing.
iii. After Mark Webber announced his retirement from Formula One, Ricciardo was confirmed as his replacement at Red Bull Racing for 2014
iv. Ricciardo finished third in the championship with his first three Formula One wins, in Canada, Hungary and Belgium.
Malaysian Grandprix Winners:
1st – Daniel Ricciardo
2nd – Max Verstappen
3rd – Nico Rosberg

Indian golfer Gaganjeet Bhullar won Korea Open
Indian golfer Gaganjeet Bhullar won Korea Openi. Indian golfer Gaganjeet Bhullar fired an impressive 67 for a four-day total of 269 at the Bears Best Cheongna Golf Club, winning the 2016 million-won ($196,000) cash prize
ii. The five-time Asian Tour champion had set his sights on regaining his former glory after suffering a wrist injury in October 2014 that required surgery
iii. Bhullar scored seven birdies on holes 2, 6,7, 10, 12, 13 and 14 to maintain  his victory. Gaganjeet Singh Bhullar was born on  27 April 1988.
iv. He is an Indian professional golfer who plays on the Asian Tour. He was awarded Arjuna Award in 2013.

IMPORTANT DAYS

World Habitat Day – First Monday of October
i. World Habitat Day is observed every year on the first Monday of October throughout the world.
ii. It was officially designated by the United Nations and first celebrated in 1986. 
iii. Purpose: To reflect on the state of our cities and towns and the basic human right to adequate shelter.
iv. 2016 Theme: Housing at the Centre
v. 2016 World Habitat Day campaign: To raise awareness about the need for affordable housing for all in urban areas, towns and cities.
vi. Union Minister for Urban development Venkaiah Naidu has released ‘India Habitat III-National Report’, on the occasion of World Habitat Day at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi.