AWARDS AND HONOURS

APPOINTMENTS 

INDIAN AFFAIRS

• Consumers in India can now dial 14401 and get an update from their respective power distribution companies about outages in their area through the ‘UrjaMitra Helpline’.
• The Health Ministry launched a two-week-long massive campaign to eradicate leprosy by focusing on 149 endemic districts across the country.
• President Pranab Mukherjee has signed the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill, paving way for it to become law.
• India officially received certificates from World Health Organisation (WHO), declaring the country YAWS and maternal and neonatal tetanus free.
• Air pollution costs the world trillions of dollars a year and severely impedes development in many countries, according to the World Bank.
• The Railways introduced the surge pricing system on the Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi trains.
• Government has issued fresh flexi-fund guidelines that will give more freedom to states in spending money under the Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) to meet local developmental requirements.
• CBDT has launched the ambitious e-nivaran facility for online redressal of taxpayers grievances related to refunds, ITRs and PAN among others as part of its initiative to reduce instances of harassment of the public.
• The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the creation of the Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) to give a major push for creation of high quality infrastructure in premier educational institutions.
• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs met and approved the proposal for initiation of the Third Phase of Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQIP).
• India has declared itself free from avian influenza (H5N1), commonly known as bird flu. The Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries has declared India free from avian influenza.
• Hindi Diwas is being celebrated throughout the country today. President Pranab Mukherjee will present the Rajbhasha awards at RashtrapatiBhawan.

CABINET APPROVALS

• Cabinet approves signing of the Extradition Treaty between India and Afghanistan.
• Cabinet approves Cadre Review of Group ‘A’ Executive Officers of Border Security Force.
• Cabinet approves extension of contract between India and the International Seabed Authority for exploration of Polymetallic Nodules.
• Cabinet approves Bilateral Technical Arrangement between India and Switzerland on the identification and return of Swiss and Indian Nationals.
• Cabinet approves Exchange of Tariff concessions under the Fourth Round of Negotiations APTA.
• Cabinet approves establishment of Higher Education Financing Agency for creating capital assets in higher educational institutions.
• Cabinet approves MoU between India and Kenya on cooperation in the field of National Housing Policy Development and Management.
• Cabinet approves creation of GST Council and its Secretariat.
• Cabinet apprised of the MoU between India and Mozambique on cooperation in the field of Youth Affairs.
• Cabinet apprised of the MoU between India and South Africa in the field of Information and Communication Technologies.
• Cabinet approves initiation of the Third Phase of Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQIP).
• Cabinet approves enhancing the buffer stock of pulses up to 20 lakh tonnes.

SNIPPETS FROM THE STATES

• Meghalaya celebrated Mother Teresa’s sainthood with a four day Mother Teresa International Film Festival (MTIFF) 2016.
• Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh commissioned the offshore patrolling (OPV) vessel, Sarathi, at Goa Shipyard Ltd (GSL),the defence shipyard in south Goa.
• India got its first river island district when Assam’s Majuli was upgraded from a sub-division to the state’s 35th district. Majuli is also the world’s largest sweet water island.
• The fifth edition of Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF) will begin on November 3 in the mountain town of McLeod Ganj, Dharamshala.
• The government has approved projects worth about Rs.450 crore under ‘SwadeshDarshan’ scheme for five states for development of various circuits in Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim and Tamil Nadu.
• Rajasthan government has signed a MoU with an education under which the firm will adopt 50 Adarsh and UtkarshVidyalayas in the state and try to fill the infrastructure gap.
• The 44th edition of the annual New DelhiWorld Book Fair (NDWBF) will be held from January 7-15 2017 at PragatiMaidan National Book Trust (NBT) has announced.
• Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti launched the “Scooty for College Girls” Scheme.
• Uttar Pradesh has become the first state in the country to roll out the ambitious “Twitter Seva” project, and in one go 122 Twitter handles were unveiled in the state capital.
• Yoga guru Ramdev-promoted Patanjali Ayurveda launched its mega food park on a 230-acre land at an industrial hub in Nagpur.
• Arunachal Pradesh governor Jyoti Prasad Rajkhowa was removed from his post. A communiqué from Meghalaya governor V Shanmuganathan will take over the additional duties as Arunachal governor.
• The third edition of BRICS Urbanisation Forum Meet with the Theme ‘Urban Transition in BRICS’ has begun in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.

BANKING AND FINANCE

• ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company has received markets regulator SEBI’s approval to raise an estimated Rs.5,000crore through an initial public offering.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has re-allocated the portfolios of its executive directors (EDs)

o   B Mahapatra-charge of banking operations and development and department of government and bank accounts.

o   P VijayaBhasker-charge of the department of banking supervision and the department of non-banking supervision, apart from the central security cell.

• India’s largest private bank ICICI announced the deployment of ‘software robotics’ in over 200 business processes across various functions of the bank.
• State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, IDFC Bank and the digital wallet PayTM will also start issuing the tags, which are required for electronic toll collection, National Highways Authority (NHAI) chairman Raghav Chandra.

MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

• Communications Berhad (MCB) for the merger of wireless businesses of Aircel Limited with itself, making it the largest-ever consolidation in the Indian telecom sector.
• HP Inc. an American technology company, has agreed to buy Samsung’s printer business for $1.05 billion (£788 million) in an attempt to “disrupt” the $55bn photocopying industry. 

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

• Dell Inc has completed its $67-billion deal to acquire EMC Corp, creating the world’s largest privately-controlled technology company.
• The 11th G20 Summit 2016 began at the Chinese city of Hangzhou. Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with various world leaders.
• North Korea confirmed it has conducted its fifth test of a nuclear weapon.The North claimed was a hydrogen bomb, which led to wide condemnation and tougher international sanctions. Pyongyang previously tested at Punggye-ri in 2006, 2009 and 2013.
• The world gears up to celebrate International Literacy Day on 8 September. The theme for 2016 is Reading the Past, Writing the Future.
• Robots have been used to perform kidney transplants for the first time in the UK.

FOREIGN RELATIONS

• Himachal Pradesh government signed a preliminary MoU with Singapore government for developing a smart integrated township in Jathiadevi near Shimla airport.
• As part of the ongoing Indo-US defence cooperation, a joint military training ‘Exercise YUDH ABHYAS-2016′ would be conducted in the foothills of Himalayas at Chaubattia in Uttarakhand.
• The Union Cabinet under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its expost-facto approval for the MoU between India and Kenya on cooperation in the field of National Housing.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

• India has launched its advanced weather satellite INSAT-3DR onboard GSLV-F05from the spaceport in Sriharikota.
• A team of Indian Scientists has developed a genetically modified (GM) mustard variety of cotton. This is the country’s first GM food crop.
• Eyes may be a reservoir for Zika virus, say scientists, including one of Indian origin, who found evidence of the virus in eyes and tears of infected mice, a discovery that raises the possibility that the infection may spread through tears.
• Toxic nanoparticles from air pollution have been discovered in human brains in “abundant” quantities, a newly published study reveals.

SPORTS 

 IMPORTANT DAYS