Current Affairs Today – September 22 2015

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• Current Affairs September 2015
• Current Affairs September Quiz 2015

Indian Affairs 

• “Committee” to tackle child pornography and online abuse
• Gov Cleared $2.5B Deal for Military Helicopters”Apache & Chinook”
• Coast Guard commissions ICGS Apoorva and C421
• Rajasthan 5th State to pass Vexatious Litigation (Prevention) Bill, 2015

Haryana government to develop Gurgaon as Smart City

• Haryana government will develop Gurgaon as a Smart City with its own resources.
• According to the NDA government’s Smart City Scheme, States will get 500 crores for five years to develop Smart City.
• Haryana Chief Minister, Manohar Lal Khattar told that the state would arrange that Rs 500 crore for Gurgaon.
• The central government has also announced a list of 98 cities and towns selected for development as Smart Cities. Out of 98, two cities Faridabad and Karnal were selected from Haryana. Now the state will get three smart cities including Gurgaon.
• The State will also convert all data that includes birth certificate, pension and also land records into digital format and the state will introduce biometric attendance system in schools for both students and teachers.

Central approves Rs 1575.38 Crore Highway Project in Odisha

• GOI has approved Rs 1,575.38-crore highway project in Odisha under its National Highways Development Project (NHDP) to reduce time and cost of the travel in Cuttack-Angul Section of NH-42.
• This highway project was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• CCEA has approved the development of four-laning of Cuttack-Angul Section of National Highway NH-42 in Odisha at the total cost of Rs 1575.38 crore.

First Naval exercise between India and Australia concludes

• AusIndex-2015, the first ever naval exercise between India and Australia was concluded that focused on anti-submarine warfare
• The exercise brought together ships and aircraft from both countries to strengthen defence co-operation under the Framework for Security Cooperation as announced by the Prime Ministers of both India and Australia.
• Australian ships namely Sirius, Arunta and Sheean successfully trained with Indian Navy ships Shivalik, Ranvijayi and Shakti, along with P-8I Maritime Patrol Aircraft during the exercise.
• This Naval exercise AusIndex will be held for every two years.

Nagaland CMO launches official website

• The Nagaland Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) has launched its official website, namely www.chiefministernagaland.in to make the office people-friendly.
• The website www.chiefministernagaland.in was launched by Chief Minister T.R. Zeliang.
• The website includes important speeches of the chief minister and details of all the past chief ministers of Nagaland.
• It also includes an interactive page where the people can interact with the Chief Minister’s office in which people can express their views and thoughts on major issues.

Brigade Commander level flag meeting held at Chakkan-Da-Bagh LoC

• The Brigade Commander level flag meeting was held at Chakkan-Da-Bagh LoC (Line of Control) Crossing point in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan.
• Brigadier H.S. Sareen , representative from Indian Army and Brigadier Osman representative from Pakistan Army headed the meeting for about an hour.
• The representatives of the both nations discussed a lot of issues that includes ongoing ceasefire violations, targeting of civilians and sniping action on the LoC.
• The previous Brigade Commander-level meeting was held on September 2014.

NABARD grants Rs 1,134.74 crore RIDF assistance to Odisha

• National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has sanctioned Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) assistance of Rs 1,134.74 crore to Odisha.
• The sanctioned amount includes Rs 1,040.96 crore for two important mega projects namely drinking water supply and lift irrigation projects.
• The drinking water supply project, aims to supply 100 litre per capita per day of drinking water to 1.20 lakh families in flouride-affected blocks of Boden, Komna, Khariar Naupada and Sinapali.
• NABARD has also granted RIDF assistance to19 mega lift projects which will improve Kharif irrigation to nearly 24,000 hectares of agriculture uplands in Bargarh, Balangir Jharsuguda and Sambalpur.

International Affairs 

• Indian Diaspora “Mission 2022” launched
• 9th Regional Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas (RPBD) to be held in Los Angeles

Mahan Air to operate first flights between Denmark and Iran

• Iranian airline Mahan Air to operate its first flights between the capitals of the two countries, Denmark and Iran which will start in March 2016.
• Mahan Air ends 8 year suspension of direct flights between the capitals of two countries. It will operate the first flights between the Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport of Iran and Kastrup or Copenhagen Airport of Denmark.
• Mahan Air is a private airline operates international flights to the Middle East, Central Asia, and Europe.
• Chairman & CEO of Mahan Air – Hamid Arabnejad.
• Headquarters – Aryashahr, Tehran, Iran.

Banking & Finance 

• HDFC Bank’s nano second disburse loan scheme

Awards

• Indra Nooyi, Shobhana Bhartia bagged USIBC Global Leadership Award

Appointments 

• Cisco’s John Chambers replaced Ajay Banga as USIBC chairman

Government appoints CVCFL to implement EDF

• Government of India (GOI) has appointed CANBANK Venture Capital Fund Ltd (CVCFL) in order to implement the Electronics Development Fund (EDF). 
• The EDF is set up as a ‘Fund of Funds’ to participate in ‘Daughter Funds’ which will provide risk capital to companies that develops new technologies in the electronics field, Nano-Electronics and Information Technology (IT).
• The EDF would take minority participation in seed funds, angel funds as well as in venture funds. 
  
• Electronics Development Fund (EDF) will invite requests from the private and public funds for its participation. 
  

Smita Purushottam appointed as the Ambassador of Liechtenstein

• Ms Smita Purushottam, Ambassador of lndia to Switzerland has been appointed as the next Ambassador of lndia to the Liechtenstein in Europe that lies between Switzerland and Austria.
• Ms Smita Purushottam is a 1980 batch IFS officer. She will take over the position shortly.

About Liechtenstein:

Liechtenstein has the 3rd highest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per person and has lower unemployment rates at 1.5%

• Capital: Vaduz
• Largest City: Schaan
• Currency: Swiss Franc
• Prime Minister: Adrian Hasler

Rahul Chhabra, next Ambassador of lndia to the Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Rahul Chhabra currently Ambassador of lndia to Hungary, has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
• He is a 1987 batch IFS officer and expected to take up his assignment shortly.

Bosnia and Herzegovina:

• Bosnia-Herzegovina or Bosnia, located on the Balkan Peninsula in Southeastern Europe.
• Capital: Sarajevo
• Currency: Convertible mark
• Prime Minister: Denis Zvizdic

S.N Subrahmanyan promoted as deputy MD and President of L&T

• L & T has elevated S.N Subrahmanyan as the deputy managing director and president of the company. 
• S.N Subrahmanyan, is currently a board member and senior executive vice president (Infrastructure and Construction). He will take over the new challenge on October. 
• The board has also approved the appointment of D.K Sen as the whole-time director of the company.
• He will succeed K.V. Venkataraman who will retire at the end of this month.

Vikram Pawah appointed as MD of Harley Davidson India

• US based Harley Davidson appointed Vikram Pawah as Managing Director (MD) of its Indian operations.
• Mr. Vikram Pawah will succeed Anoop Prakash who has moved on as the Managing Director of Harley Davidson Canada.
• Pawah has totally 24 years of experience in which 21 years with Honda in India and in Canada.
• He will manage sales, marketing, service, and dealer network management in the country.

Acquisitions & Mergers

ABCL acquires Chlor-Alkali Division of Jayshree Chemicals

• Aditya Birla Chemicals Ltd (ABCL) has completed the acquisition of the Jayashree Chemicals Ltd’s chlor-alkali division.
• Last year, Aditya Birla Chemicals Ltd (ABCL) had signed an agreement with Jayshree Chemicals for the acquisition of Chlor-Alkali Division for 212 crore.
• Jayshree chemicals’s chlor-alkali division includes caustic soda manufacturing facility at Ganjam in Odisha and salt manufacturing unit at Pundi in Andhra Pradesh.
• That Ganjam Manufacturing facility has been renamed as Aditya Birla Chemicals (India) Ltd – Ganjam Chemical Division.

Sports

• Indian wushu team wins 12 medals in Int’l Wushu Cup

Richie Richardson inducted in Elite Panel of ICC

• Former West Indies cricket captain Richie Richardson was inducted in to the Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
• He will replace Sri Lanka’s Roshan Mahanama who stepped down from the post in last week.
• Richie Richardson will take over the position at the end of his current assignment as the West Indies cricket team manager which will end with the Sydney Test Series against Australia.
• Other members of Elite Panel ICC Match Referees include David Boon, Chris Broad, Jeff Crowe, Ranjan Madugalle, Andy Pycroft, Richie Richardson, Javagal Srinath.

Yannick Noah named as Davis Cup captain

• Yannick Noah appointed as new Davis Cup captain who is the last Frenchman to win a grand slam title.
• Yannick Noah will succeed Arnaud Clement, who was fired last week following a disappointing campaign and growing tension between him and the players.
• The French tennis federation announced that Yannick Noah will be in charge of the Davis Cup for the 2016 campaign.
• France last won the Davis Cup in 2001 and finished runner-up three times since, in 2002, 2010 and 2014.