VINTAGE

IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF SEPTEMPER 15^th , 2019

              IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF SEPTEMBER 15^th, 2019

1.      International Day of Democracy, an annual United Nations initiative, is being observed today.

a.       Theme of International Day of Democracy 2019 : 'Participation'.

2.      The 2019 edition of Maitree, the joint military exercise between India and Thailand will be conducted from tomorrow (16th September 2019) at Foreign Training Node, Umroi, in Meghalaya.

a.       The joint military exercise is being conducted between armies of India and Thailand since 2006. 

b.       This annual training event is held alternatively in Thailand and India.

c.       Aim : To share experience gained during various counter-terrorism operations.

d.       The exercise will conclude on 29th September 2019.  

3.      India will conduct a 2-week special training programme for Maldivian civil servants from tomorrow in Delhi and Mussoorie.

a.       This training is part of a bilateral MoU on Training and Capacity Building Programme between the National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG) and the Maldives Civil Service Commission (CSC). 

b.       A 32-member delegation from the Maldives reached the NCGG campus in Mussoorie.

4.      (15th September 2019) is 52nd Engineer's Day. 

a.       This day is celebrated every year in India since 1967 to commemorate the birthday of the legendary engineer Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya. 

5.      The state government of Rajasthan launched ‘Jan Soochna Portal’, a portal for quick access to information on government departments. 

a.       It has been launched under Rajasthan Innovation Vision (RAJIV) campaign.

b.       The portal is a step of state government towards making Rajasthan a model state for good governance and accountability in administration.

c.       Note : Rajasthan has now become 1st state in country to provide information about a dozen departments on a single platform.

6.      The Survey of India (SoI) with support from Department of Science & Technology (DST) will be digitally mapping the length and breadth of the country over the next two years. 

a.       The work has already begun in three states — Maharashtra, Karnataka and Haryana. 

b.       The mapping would be drone-based, but this would be validated by ground-based information.

7.      United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has decided to translate and publish an anthology of writings of Baba Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikhism (and also 1st of 10 Sikh Guru) in world languages to commemorate his 550th birth anniversary.

a.       Also, National Book Trust (NBT) will publish Gurbani (various compositions by Sikh Gurus and other writers of Guru Granth Sahib) in different Indian Languages.

8.      The exercise codenamed as ‘HimVijay’ is scheduled to be carried out by Indian Armed Forces (IAF) in October 2019 in Arunachal Pradesh, close to borders with China. 

a.       In these upcoming war games, the Indian Armed Forces plan to deploy their latest American weapons systems such as M777 ultra-light howitzers and Chinook heavy-lift helicopters.

9.      Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today announced that the government will relax rules for lending to priority sectors, which could lead to banks providing up to an extra ₹68,000 crore of export credit. 

a.       urther, the Export Credit Guarantee Corporation will expand the scope of Export Credit Insurance Scheme and offer higher insurance cover to banks lending to exporters.

10. To check malpractices in GST, the GST Network has decided to make Aadhaar authentication or physical verification mandatory for new dealers from January next year.

11. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has constituted a Committee to study issues related to non-personal data and to come up with related data governance framework. 

a.       The 8-member committee will be headed by Kris Gopalakrishnan (Infosys Co-Founder). 

b.       Important Note : This panel was formed based on the recommendations of the Justice BN Srikrishna committee on protection of personal data.

12. US President Donald Trump confirmed today that Hamza bin Laden, the son of al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden, was killed in a US counterterrorism operation in the Afghanistan/Pakistan region.

13. Union Ministry of Railways signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) for facilitation of green initiatives in Indian Railways. The MoU would carry forward some major Green initiatives undertaken by Indian Railways as part of India’s contribution towards mitigation of global warming and combating climate change.

14. India's World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev is set to be the 1st Chancellor of Haryana's Sports University.

a.       Note : The university will be India's 3rd sports university established by a state government.

15. India clinched the Under-19 Asia Cup title by defeating Bangladesh in final at Colombo today.

16. Indian Badminton player Sourabh Verma clinched the Vietnam Open Super 100 title by defeating Sun Fei Xiang (China) in a thrilling Men's Singles summit clash at the Ho Chi Minh City today.

a.       This victory marks Verma's second Super 100 win in the ongoing calendar year. 

b.       He had won the Hyderabad Open earlier in August.

17. Rising Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen defeated Svendsen of Denmark in straight games to clinch Men's singles title at the Belgian International Challenge yesterday.

18. Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju today flagged off Great Ganga Run-2019 at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi.

a.       This run was organized to create awareness about the river Ganga.