14 September 2017 Current Affairs
3 India-born scientists to be awarded by US’ Marconi Society
Bengaluru-born 28-year-old Google research scientist Ananda Theertha Suresh in New York has won the Paul Baran Young Scholar award for 2017. Kailath, 82, from Pune and a former professor at Stanford, is the Hitachi American Professor in Engineering Emeritus at the reputed university. He was also conferred with the Padma Bhushan, India’s third highest civilian award, in 2009. Netravalli, 71, a native of Ankola on Karnataka’s west coast, studied at Mumbai’s Elphinstone College and graduated in electrical engineering from IIT-Bombay before migrating to the US in 1967 for his post-graduation and doctorate from Houston’s Rice University.
Nation-wide Hackathon #OpenGovDataHack launched
Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad launched a nation-wide hackathon #OpenGovDataHack. As part of the Startup Eco-system Development program, NIC and IAMAI have collaborated to conduct Nation wide Hackathon #OpenGovDataHack across seven states of India. It aims to Support & Showcase potentially great Ideas./ Talent from Inner India. It is to enable them making their ideas developed into Apps/ Infographicvs primarily by use of Open Government Data around the themes of Drinking Water & Sanitation, Transport, Education, Crime and Health.
14 September: National Hindi Day
Hindi Day is being celebrated across the country on 14 September 2017. It was on this day in 1949 that the Constituent Assembly adopted Hindi written in Devanagari script as the official language of the country. On this occasion, President Ram Nath Kovin gives away Rajbhasha awards for the year 2016-17 at a function in New Delhi. The Rajbhasha awards were instituted by the Department of Official Language of Home Ministry to recognize the excellent contribution of Ministries, Departments and Nationalized Banks in the field of Hindi.
World Economic Forum released Human Capital Report 2017
The World Economic Forum (WEF) has released the Global Human Capital Report 2017. The Global Human Capital Report 2017 proposes a new benchmark for leaders to build the workforces of the future. The index provides a means of measuring the quantifiable elements of the world’s talent potential so that greater attention can be focused on delivering it. The Global Human Capital Index aims to provide a holistic assessment of a country’s human capital-both current and expected-across its population.
Govt launches Operation Insaniyat to help Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh
The Ministry of External Affairs has started Operation Insaniyat to provided assistance to Bangladesh in response to humanitarian crisis being faced by it due to large influx of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar. Under this operation, India will provide relief material consisting of items including rice, sugar, salt, pulses, cooking oil, biscuits and mosquito nets to the affected people. The relief material will be delivered in multiple consignments. The first tranche will be brought to Chittagong by an Indian Air Force (IAF) plane. Rohingya are stateless ethnic minority (mostly Muslim) from Rakhine province of Buddhist-majority Myanmar, who are forced leave their country due to communal violence and repeated military operations.
INDRA 2017: India-Russian to conduct first tri-services military exercise
India and Russia have begun discussions to work out modalities for conducting their first tri-service military exercise INDRA 2017 in October 2017 in Russia. It will be India’s first bilateral military exercise with any country involving all three services. The Final Planning Conference (FPC) of exercise will be held from September 2017 in Russia to finalise all logistical issues and modalities.
Chennai-Vladivostok sea route: India’s effort to counter China’s OBOR
India is planning to launch major connectivity initiative, connecting Chennai with key Russian port Vladivostok via sea route with an aim to harness natural resources from Northeast Asia and Western Pacific region. The Chennai-Vladivostok sea route will enable to transfer cargo between Chennai and Vladivostok in 24 days in comparison to over 40 days currently taken to transport goods from India to Far East Russia via Europe.
NITI Aayog’s Rajiv Kumar resigns from DHFL board
NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar has reigned from his post of independent director in the board of Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (DHFL), the third largest home loan & housing finance company in India. The move came after Kumar got the top post at NITI Aayog, the government think tank.
Constituional law expert Pavani Parameswara Rao dies
Senior Supreme Court lawyer Pavani Parameswara Rao passed away after suffering a cardiac arrest in New Delhi. He wa 84. Widely considered a doyen of Constitutional Law, Rao argued a number of landmark cases before the Supreme Court. He had helped develop the argument against the legal challenge to President’s Rule in four Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh, after demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992.
Goa to host 36th National Games
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) formally awarded the rights to host the 36th National Games to Goa in November 2017. The announcement was made by the state sports minister Manohar Ajgaonkar. The National Games of India comprises various disciplines in which sportsmen from the different states of India participate against each other. The National Games were formally known as the Indian Olmpic Games.
Mahendra Pratap Mall Appointed IRCTC CMD
Mahendra Pratap Mall was appointed as Chairman and Managing Director of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) Ltd. He is at present director (finance) in the same organisation. The appointments committee of the Union cabinet has approved his appointment to the post for a period of five years, as per the order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).
M Nagaraja Sarma is the new CMD of United India Insurance
M. Nagaraja Sarma appointed the chairman-cum-managing director (CMD) of the United India Insurance Co. Ltd. He is at present the general manager, Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd. He is appointed for five years.
74th Venice Film Festival Awards 2017
The 74th annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 30 August to 9 September 2017. The most important award is the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale and considered one of the most prestigious film awards, like the Golden Palm in Cannes and the Golden Bear of Berlin.
The awards are listed below:
- Best Film – Nico, 1988, directed by Susanna Nicchiarelli
- Best Director – Vahid Jalilvand, No Date, No Signature
- Special Jury Prize – Caniba, directed by Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel
- Best Actress – Lyna Khoudri, Les Bienheureux
- Best Actor – Navid Mohammadzadeh, No Date, No Signature
- Best Screenplay – Los Versos Del Olvido, directed by Alireza Khatami
- Best Short Film – Gros Chagrin, directed by Céline Devaux
- Lion of the Future – “Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film Jusqu’à la Garde, directed by Xavier Legrand.
Force Motors, Rolls-Royce Power Tie up
Pune-based auto firm Force Motors Ltd has entered into a non-binding joint venture agreement with Rolls-Royce Power Systems AG to produce engines for power generation and rail application and complete power generation systems, including spare parts, for Indian and global markets. The joint venture with Rolls-Royce will be the company’s first step towards diversifying into the non-auto segment. In the joint venture, Force Motors will hold a 51% stake and Rolls-Royce the rest.
Karnataka, 1st Indian State to approve e-vehicle Policy
Karnataka is the first state to roll out an Electric Vehicle and Energy Storage Policy that looks not only at boosting sales of Electrical Vehicles, but also setting up charging infrastructure and special manufacturing zones. Karnataka is looking to attract investments to the tune of Rs 31,000 crore from companies looking at R&D and manufacturing of electric vehicles in the state.
PM Narendra Modi, Japanese PM Shinzo Abe lay foundation stone for bullet train
Foundation stone of India’s first high-speed rail project (bullet train) project was jointly laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe at Sabarmati Station ground in Ahmedabad. The 508km-long Mumbai to Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) Project will be built at cost of Rs 1.10 lakh crore. It is expected to be completed by 2022. (It was recently advanced by year from earlier deadline of 2023).