Current Affairs Today – September 5 2015

Dear Readers, We cover some important news in Current Affairs Today Section, which are not covered in Daily Detailed News, More Current Affairs coverage will help you to Score Good Marks in Competitive Exam.

• Current Affairs September 2015
• Current Affairs September Quiz 2015

Indian Affairs 

• Government Announces One Rank One Pension Scheme for Ex-Servicemen

Modi attends International Buddhist conclave in Gaya to participate in 3-day Concluding Ceremony

• The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi reached Bodh Gaya with tight security to participate in the  concluding ceremony of the 3-day International Buddhist Conclave concluding ceremony.
• Modi offered a prayer at Mahabodhi temple along with the Bihar governor.
• Delegates from 47 countries, including Chandrika Kumaratunga, the former president of Sri Lanka were also attended the ceremony.
• PM Modi sat beneath the Holy Buddhist tree for meditation along with foreign delegates.

Government to develop Bodh Gaya as spiritual capital

• PM Modi is the third prime minister to visit Bodh Gaya, after Jawaharlal Nehru and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He visited the Bodh Gaya  on Janmashtami, the birthday of Lord Krishna.
• On this Occasion, Modi said that the government is going to develop the site as the spiritual capital.
• As, it would serve as a civilization bond between India and Buddhist world.
• Modi described Bodh Gaya as a land of enlightenment and Buddha as the crown jewel of India.
• He even expressed his views regarding developing Bodh Gaya and how it is going to be admired by Buddhists all over the world.
• He drew the comparison between Lord Krishna and Gautama Buddha by saying that both of them were gave priceless lessons of life through Karma Yoga and eight-fold path and the Panchsheel.

INS Trikand to Participate in Exercise ‘Konkan 2015’

• Indian Navy has sent its guided missile frigate INS Trikand to take part in Exercise KONKAN 2015.
• In order to strengthen ties between the United Kingdom and India, INS Trikand is visiting Devonport, Portsmouth and London.
• The scheduled visits will conclude on September 18.

Odisha government names Wheeler Island as Abdul Kalam Island

• In a fitting tribute to former President of India APJ Abdul Kalam, the Odisha government on Friday announced to rename the Wheeler Island as Abdul Kalam Island.
• The development came a day after the New Delhi Municipal authorities renamed Aurangzeb Road in New Delhi as APJ Abdul Kalam Road.
• “Renaming the island as Abdul Kalam Island will inspire our youngsters to work dedicatedly for scientific research. It is a humble tribute to the People’s President,” said chief minister Naveen Patnaik while announcing renaming of the island.

About Wheeler Island

• The Wheeler Island is located approximately 10 kilometres off the Odisha coast on the Bay of Bengal. The Island, which is about 2 kilometres in length and 390 acres, is considered as country’s most advanced missile testing site.
• The missiles which were launched from the Wheeler Island include Akash, Agni, Astra, BrahMos, Nirbhay, Prahaar, Prithvi, Shaurya and Advanced Air Defence, and Prithvi Air Defence.

International Affairs 

• G20, OECD issue new corporate governance code

Rajavarothiam Sampanthan becomes first Tamil politician to be chosen as the Sri Lankan leader of opposition in 32 years

• Rajavarothiam Sampanthan is the leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) which emerged as the third largest party in the recent elections, with 16 seats in the 225-member assembly. It is a Tamil ethnic minority party in the Sinhalese majority country.
• This is the first time in 32 years since 1983, when an ethnic minority lawmaker was elected as a leader of opposition. The opposition had resigned en masse in 1983 to protest against a new statute that compelled them to denounce separatism.
• An alliance government headed by Ranil Wikremesinghe was formed by the two Sinhalese parties United National Party (UNP) and United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA). Rajapakse refused to join the coalition and remains in the opposition.

Awards

Maharaj Sayyajirao Bhasha Samman introduced by Bank of Baroda

• The award will be conferred on a personality every year that has made a significant contribution for creating awareness and spreading Hindi among the public at large.
• Maharaj Sayyajirao Gaekwad III, the founder of the bank, had played a vital role in economic growth of the country and propagating the use of Hindi.
• The award will consist of cash amounting to Rs 1.01 lakh and a citation or a memento. It will be awarded on Hindi Diwas every year.
• Hindi Diwas is celebrated on 14 September in Hindi speaking regions of India and other countries where Hindi speaking population is there.

Bastar district selected for National Literacy Award

• The  National Literacy Award is given to three districts and three gram panchayats for implementation  of the Total Literacy Campaign (TLC), Post Literacy Programme (PLP) and Continuing Education Programme (CEP) every year on National Literacy Day on 8^th September every year by the President of India.
• The Maoist affected district of Bastar, Chhattisgarh and the Gram Panchayat of Girod, Raipur have been selected for this year’s award.
• Under the National Literacy Mission programme in Chhatisgarh, Public Education Centre’s were opened in 327 gram panchayats since 2011. Till date, around one lakh people have been educated.
• Apart from Bastar, Haveri in Karnataka and Dharampuri in Tamil Nadu, have been selected in the district category.
• The National Literacy Awards have been instituted in the memory of Satyen Maitra, an eminent educationist, in 1996 with a purpose to literate people in the age group of 15 years and above.

Appointments 

Saina signed as Brand Ambassador of Edelweiss Group

• Edelweiss Financial Services has roped in World No. 1 shuttler, Saina Nehwal as the brand ambassador in a multiyear-multi-crore deal.
• The Edelweiss brand logo will appear on her jersey domestic and international tournaments that she will be participating in.
• Edelweiss Group, with a Rs. 27,000 crore asset base is amongst the top 200 companies in India in terms of profitability.
• Edelweiss is expanding its presence pan India with the Insurance, housing finance and credit businesses. 

Smita Purushottam appointed as the new Indian Ambassador to Holy See

• She is currently the Indian Ambassador to Switzerland.
• India had established diplomatic relations with Switzerland, right after independence.
• It is a tradition that the India’s Ambassador in Berne, Switzerland is also accredited to Holy See.
• Holy See maintains a Nunciature (Embassy) in New Delhi, headed by a Nuncio (Ambassador).

Holy See

• Holy See is the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome. Holy See is accepted as a sovereign state the world over, having a centralized government called the Roman Curia.
• It has a Secretary of State as its chief administrator and has various government departments comparable to ministries and executive departments.
• Vatican City is its sovereign territory.

Sports

Marvan Atapattu resigned as Head Coach of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) team, Jerome Jayaratna is the interim national coach

• Following the Test series defeat to Pakistan and India, Marvan Atapattu resigned as SLC’s head coach.
• Jerome Jayaratne, 49, is a former under 19 international and will be heading the team for the West Indies tour.
• SLC plans to recruit either South African Graham Ford or Sri Lankan Chandika Hathurusinghe as future heads.

Marvan Atapattu

• The 44-year-old Atapattu has played 90 Test matches and 268 ODIs for Sri Lanka scoring 5502 and 8529 runs respectively, being Sri Lanka’s batting mainstay during his playing days
• He had held the position of chief coach from September 2014 and had also been the batting coach in 2011.

Apurvi Chandela,an Indian Shooter bagged silver at WC final

• Apurvi Chandela(age 22),Indian shooter  secured the silver medal in women’s 10 meters air rifle event at ISSF (International Shooting Sport Federation) World Cup final.
• Apurvi scored 416.4 to get an entry into finals.
• She displayed an outstanding performance in finals and succeeded to clinch the silver by scoring 206.9 just 0.6 behind Ahmadi Elaheh of Iran, gold medalist with a tally of 207.5
• Apurvi is a gold medalist in the Commonwealth games-2014 ,Glasgow-Scotland

Gagan Narang Achieves No.1 spot in Asian Rankings,Jitu No.2

• Gagan Narang, An Indian shooter and Olympic medalist has rediscovered his old form by achieving the No.1 spot in Men’s 50m Rifle prone shooting category in Asia with 971 points.
• While Jitu Rai(well known as Pistol King) hit the second place with 1929 points in Men’s 50m Pistol shooting and Jongoh Jin who belongs to Korea secured the 1st place in this category.
• Likewise Abhinav Bindra, The Gold medalist of Beijing Olympics, got 5th rank in 10 metres air rifle shooting, through Rio Olympics.

Thus India booked a quota in next year’s Rio olympics by bagging the bronze medal in the 50m Rifle prone event of the ISSF(International Shooting Sport Federation) World Cup,which was held at Fort Benning, USA, in May this year.

Snehal Mane won Mauritius Open ITF Juniors title

• Snehal Mane,The 16-year old Maharashtra tennis player won her 2nd ITF(International Tennis Federation) girl’s single title in Mauritius on 5th September by winning the Mauritius Open ITF junior championships.
• She has been playing a grade 5 event at The National Tennis Center Petit Camp- Phoenix in Mauritius. It is her second title in a row.
• She has also won the singles title last week in the Petit camp cup Under-18 grade 4 ITF championship.
• At present her rank is 648.

Obituary

World’s shortest man Chandra Bahadur Dangi passes away

• Chandra Bahadur Dangi, of Nepali origin, held the Guinnes World Record for the shortest man on Earth, with a height of 21.5 inches (54.6 cms) or 1ft and 9.5 inches.
• Born on 30^th November, 1939, came under the spotlight of the media after he was spotted by a local woodcutter, in a remote village in Nepal.
• He was also a performer in Mumbai’s Rambo Circus.
• He passed away in the island of American Samoa in the Pacific, where he was currently staying.

Music Composer Aadesh Srivastava passes away

• Music composer Aadesh Shrivastava (51), who was battling a cancer relapse, passed away at Kokilaben Hospital.
• He has the music of a 100 of films such as Chalte Chalte, Baabul, Baghban, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, Rajneeti and others to his credit.
• He had also directed a short film Sanaa whose story was based on child prostitution.
• He was undergoing cancer treatment in Mumbai.

Books & Authors 

Vice President Released 5 Volume Set Of Books ‘Khirman’ Compiled By Famous lyricist Javed Akhtar

• M. Hamid Ansari,The Vice president of India released 5 volume set of books entitled ‘Khirman’ formed on the collection of Late Shri Muztar Khairabadi’s  verses, at a function.
• These verses were compiled by  grandson  of Muztar khairabadi – Shri.Javed Akhtar,popular lyricist and also a  Member of Parliament.
• On this occasion, the vice president said that the 5 volume set of books were written by the well-known Urdu poet  Late Muztar Khairabadi named ‘Khirman’ is a precious collection.

Important Days

• National Teachers Day – September 5th

International Day of Charity – September 5th

• Every year, charities all over the world help to save and improve people’s lives, fighting disease, protecting children, and giving hope to many thousands of people.
• To honour the important work that these many charities do, in 2012 the United Nations decided to nominate an annual International Day of Charity as an official day of recognition and celebration.
• The reason the date was chosen is because it is the anniversary of the death of Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
• This choice commemorates the tireless work that Mother Teresa did by devoting her whole life to charity work.
• To celebrate this special day every year, the work of different charities all over the word is publicised and celebrated, and people are encouraged to donate money and time, to carry out charitable works, and also to educate people and raise awareness about the many charitable issues worldwide. Education and giving are the essence of this special day.