About Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (Honored with Indira Gandhi Peace Prize)

Indian President Pranab Mukherjee conferred the Indira Gandhi peace prize on Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in recognition of her inspiring efforts for ensuring the return of peace, democracy, development, security and order in Liberia and for her strong interest in the consolidation and betterment of relations between both the countries.

About Ellen Johnson Sirleaf:

• Current President of Liberia.
• Earlier, served as Minister of Finance under President William Tolbert from 1979 until the 1980 coup d’état, after which she left Liberia and held senior positions at various financial institutions.
• Won the 2005 presidential election and took office on 16 January 2006, and she was a successful candidate for re-election in 2011.
• First democratically elected women Head of State of any African country.
• Awarded 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, jointly with Leymah Gbowee of Liberia and Tawakel Karman of Yemen.

Current Affairs 12 & 13 September 2013

1. Karur Vysya Bank has won Best Banker Growth-Mid Sized award in the second edition of The Sunday Standard Best Bankers’ Awards 2013.

 

2. Mauritius today said it has invited Indian authorities for a fresh round of dialogue to sort out the issues related to their bilateral tax treaty and discussions are expected to be held later this month or in early October.

3. The Indian economy is likely to grow at 5.2 per cent in 2013 calendar year on the back of rising domestic demand, says a report by UN agency UNCTAD.

4. The two-day forum will focus on constructing an environment for sustainable human rights development. Over 100 officials, diplomats and human rights experts from the UN and 33 countries are taking part in the sixth Beijing Forum on Human Rights that began on Thursday.

5. ICICI Bank Ltd, India’s largest private sector bank, has launched ICICI Bank Carbon in partnership with Visa. The ICICI Bank Carbon will be offered to select ICICI Bank credit card members only. It is available at an inaugural one-time fee

6. Central Bank of India and Suvidhaa today launched a prepaid card for retailers that will enable people to pay their utility bills, taxes and book tickets by going to the nearest Suvidhaa outlets.

7. People belonging to weaker sections in the country can also open zero balance accounts in foreign banks such as HSBC, Citibank and Standard Chartered Bank and avail free ATM-cum-debit card facility.

8. Afghanistan prevailed to emerge Champions of the 2013 SAFF Championship at the Dasrath Stadium in Kathmandu.
The Afghans, who won their maiden SAFF trophy exacted a sweet revenge for their humiliating 0-4 loss against the same opponents in New Delhi two years back.

9. Puneet Talwar, an Indo American was nominated as the Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs by the US President Barack Obama on 11 September 2013.

10. India and Japan have agreed to enhance cooperation in the areas of media content industry. The two sides also agreed to encourage and promote cooperation among the film and animation industries of Japan and India through its film festivals, co-production and other collaborative efforts.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : 13th SEPTEMBER 2013
 

 1. 13th SCO summit begins in Kyrgyzstan today

i. The 13th Summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization opens in the Kyrgyz city of Bishkek today (Friday) to discuss ways and means to enhance cooperation in diverse fields among the member-nations. ii. Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev being Chairman of the SCO will open the Summit. iii. The SCO's objectives include promoting peace and stability in the region through building stronger and more productive relationship among the member countries.

Note: i. Advisor to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs and National Security‚ Sartaj Aziz will represent Pakistan at the Summit. Pakistan is an observer in the SCO and is seeking a full membership status of the Organization.

India’s participation at the SCO i. India participated in the 2005 SCO Summit at the level of Hon’ble External Affairs Minister (EAM) and has since participated in subsequent Summits at the Ministerial or lower levels; except for the Yekaterinburg (Russia) Summit in 2009, which was attended by Hon’ble Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. ii. Since 2005, India has also been actively participating in all SCO fora open to Observers. This has included meetings of SCO Ministers for Trade, Transport, Culture, Interior/Home and Emergency Situations; SCO Business Forums; SCO ‘Energy Club’, etc. In particular, India has been cooperating in the field of counter-terrorism with SCO’s Regional Counter/Anti-Terrorism Structure (RCTS/RATS), based in Tashkent.

2. Delhi gangrape: All four accused sentenced to death i. Four convicts in the December 16 gangrape-cum-murder case were on Friday awarded death penalty by a Delhi court which said the gravity of the offence cannot be tolerated. ii. “Death to all,” Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna said while delivering the verdict in the case that had evoked nationwide outrage and led the government to bring in a stringent anti-rape law. iii. The offence committed by Mukesh (26), Akshay Thakur (28), Pawan Gupta (19) and Vinay Sharma (20) falls under the rarest of rare category warranting capital punishment, the judge said. iv. The four were convicted by the court on September 10 for the gangrape and murder of a 23-year-old paramedic student. v. “Court cannot turn a blind eye to such a gruesome act,” the judge said, while handing down the maximum punishment. vi. He said, “When crime against women is rising on day-to-day basis, so, at this point in time court cannot keep its eye shut.” vii. He said, “When crime against women is rising on day-to-day basis, so, at this point in time court cannot keep its eye shut.” viii. “’Halak mein saans atki thi, jo ab bahar nikli hai. Mein dhanywaad karti hu desh ke logon ka aur media ka’ (We were waiting with bated breath, now we are relieved. I thank the people of my country and the media),” she said. ix. Besides her, the victim’s father and two brothers were also present in the jam-packed court room when the sentence was pronounced. x. Sixth convict was a juvenile at the time of the incident and has been given a maximum of three years sentence in a reformation home.

3. Delhi is the richest state in the country: govt statistical data
i. Delhi is the richest state in country with the per capita income of 2,01,083 rupees during 2012-13.

ii. It has increased by 27397 rupees as compared to 2011-12. This was revealed in the Delhi Statistical Hand Book-2013 released by Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit in New Delhi on Thursday. iii. Briefing reporters, Ms. Dikshit said that the total literacy rate in the national capital has reached 86.20 per cent. She said, 41.45 lakh children were enrolled at different levels in schools during 2011-12. iv. The Chief Minister said that the health infrastructure has expanded substantially and there are 940 hospitals with 43,643 beds in the city.

4. PMEAC lowers growth projection for 2013-14 to 5.3 pc

i. Prime Minister's key economic advisor C Rangarajan on Friday lowered the growth forecast for the current fiscal to 5.3 per cent from 6.4 per cent projected earlier and listed out host of measures including further liberalisation of FDI norms to improve economic condition. ii. "Economy will grow at 5.3 per cent in 2013-14," Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) Chairman Rangarajan said on Friday while releasing the Economic Outlook for 2013-14. iii. The PMEAC had in April projected 6.4 per cent growth for Indian economy for current financial year. The GDP grew by 5 per cent in 2012-13. iv. Referring to the external sector, Rangarajan expressed hope that the Current Account Deficit (CAD) in 2013-14 will come down to USD 70 billion or 3.8 per cent of GDP, from USD 88.2 billion or 4.8 per cent a year ago.

Note: i. RBI too had earlier lowered its growth projection for this fiscal to 5.5 per cent from 5.7 per cent.

5. India to buy $4.3 billion worth of World Bank bonds

i. The government on Thursday announced it decision to invest $4.3 billion (Rs 27,000 crore) the World Bank's special private placement bonds (SPPBs) so that the country could remain eligible for the global lender's low-cost funding for various domestic infrastructure projects. ii. The investment will allow India to borrow $4.3 billion from the World Bank, over & above the single borrower limit of $17.5 billion. iii. The government said that the additional borrowing space would help it complete its planned infrastructure projects with the assistance of the International Bank for Reconstruction & Development (IBRD). iv. Economist Dharmakirti Joshi, from ratings agency Crisil, said, "This is a confidence-enhancing measure. Keeping all funding sources accessible at a time when government finances are tight is a good move." v. Joshi added that the move would increase supply of dollars and help in alleviating funding constraints for large investment projects. vi. To fund the government's proposed huge investment; the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will use the country's foreign exchange (forex) reserves, which stood at $275 billion at the end of August this year.

6. Poonam Khetrapal Singh, first woman regional director of WHO
i. The World Health Organisation is set to get its first woman Regional Director, South-East Asia region, in Poonam Khetrapal Singh. ii. Having worked with the World Health Organisation for 15 years, Khetrapal Singh has been nominated as regional head of the WHO’s South-East Asia region. iii. She was nominated to the post of Regional Director for five years, by the 11 member states of the region, a WHO note said. iv. The 32-member Executive Board of WHO will officially appoint Khetrapal Singh as Regional Director in January 2014 in Geneva. She is expected to take office as the regional director in India on February 1, 2014. v. Khetrapal Singh started her WHO career in 1998 as a member of Gro Harlem Brundland’s Cabinet, the then WHO Director-General. She served as the Executive Director for sustainable development and healthy environment in Geneva. vi. Khetrapal Singh is a senior civil servant, having held the post of Secretary and Joint Secretary, Health and Family Welfare.

7. India-Chile to Enhance Cooperation in Renewable Energy i. India and Chile on 13 September 2013 agreed to enhance their cooperation in the field of Renewable Energy at Ankara during India’s Minister of New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah's visit to Chile. ii. India plans to add over 30 GW of renewable energy to its energy mix in the next 5 years alone. iii. Chile is almost entirely dependent on imports for its energy needs and is therefore extremely keen to diversify its energy mix by introducing a large component of renewables.

8. Ray Dolby, the pioneer of Noise Reduction in Audio Recordings died

i. Ray Dolby, the American Engineer and the pioneer of noise reduction in audio recordings died on 12 September 2013. ii. He was the founder of Dolby Laboratories. The 80 year aged Ray Dolby in his end days suffered from Alzheimer disease. iii. His works in noise reduction and surround sound has been appreciated across the world and have won recognitions too.

About Ray Dolby i. Ray Dolby was born in Portland, Oregon in 1933 and grew up in San Francisco. ii. He started his career working in Ampex Corporation, when he was a student. He helped in the early development of videotape recording systems iii. Ray served as chairman of Dolby’s Board of Directors from 1965 until 2009, and retired from the board in 2011. iv. He holds more than 50 US patents, and has written papers on videotape recording, long-wavelength X-ray analysis, and noise reduction.

9. Sreesanth gets life ban

i. Ankeet Chavan, Amit Singh banned for five years, while Siddharth Trivedi gets one year ban ii. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Friday has handed cricketer Sreesanth a life ban for spot-fixing. Ankeet Chavan has been banned for 5 years. iii. The fate of the cricketers implicated in the IPL spot-fixing scandal was taken up for discussion by the BCCI’s disciplinary committee which deliberated on Anti-Corruption Unit chief Ravi Sawani’s report on the scam that shamed the Twenty20 league. iv. Mr Sawani has found the players embroiled in the scam guilty and has recommended bans ranging from five years to a lifetime. v. All the cricketers played for the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL but their contracts were terminated by the franchise after the scandal broke out.

10. Robert R. Taylor passes away at 77

i. Robert R. Taylor, who revolutionized hand soap by making liquid hand-wash soap, has died at the age of 77 in Newport Beach. ii. Taylor's family said Thursday the entrepreneur died of cancer on 29 August, 2013. iii. He created and sold more than a dozen businesses during his lifetime form toothpaste, shampoos, various kinds of soap and popular fragrances including Calvin Klein's Obsession.

iv. Taylor's reputation as a businessman rose with the invention of what he called, SoftSoap. He got a Master of Business Administration degree from Stanford University in 1959. He worked as a salesman for Johnson & Johnson for a few years and then formed a marketing company with his college friend.

Quadricycle to hit country’s roads from Oct 2013

The government has issued a draft notification that intends to classify the quadricycle as a commercial vehicle under the Central Motor Vehicles Rules. It will facilitate introduction of quadricycle to Indian roads.

What is a Quadricycle?

Quadricycle is a four-wheeled vehicle that is bigger than an auto-rickshaw but smaller than a compact car and will be used for commercial purpose – transporting passengers and goods on non-highway stretches in cities and villages.

What does the draft notification on Quadricycle say?

As per the notification:

• The use of quadricycles for transporting passengers as well as goods on non-highways will be allowed.
• The vehicle must have a fully-enclosed body with a steering wheel, and that an empty quadricycle must not weigh more than 450 kg if used for transporting passengers and 550 kg if it’s is made for carrying cargo.
• A passenger quadricycle will have the maximum seating capacity for 3 passengers and a driver, while the goods variant will be allowed to carry only one passenger along with the driver.
• Materials such as rexin, cloth and plastic cannot be used to cover the sides or the top of a quadricycle.
• Maximum length of the passenger variant at 3 metre, effectively disqualifying all compact cars from being used as quadricycles.
• For a goods quadricycle, the maximum length has been set at 3.7 metre. The overall width of these vehicles must not exceed 1.5 metre.
• The vehicles will have to comply with the emission norms stipulated for auto rickshaws, which are less rigorous than norms such as Bharat Stage III and IV that are mandatory for passenger cars.

Why Government supporting the idea of Quadricycle?

As per the government, the policy on quadricycles will provide a natural upgrade to the old three-wheeler auto rickshaws and will serve as a better form of transport with improved stability and modern features needed for intra-city transport.

Why there is opposition to the idea of Quadricycle?

Many auto manufacturers in the country including Tata Motors, TVS Motors, Maruti Suzuki and Mahindra & Mahindra are against the idea, debating that quadricycles will take the Indian automotive industry back by many years. Currently, Bajaj Motors is the only automaker in India that has developed a four-wheeled passenger carrier, the RE60, and plans to launch it by the end of this fiscal.

CURRENT AFFAIRS - 11 September, 2013

1.The much-anticipated shortlist for the Man Booker Prize 2013 is out and the Indian-born U.S.-based author Jhumpa Lahiri’s book "The Lowland" finds a place on it. She is one of six writers whose books have made it to the shortlist. 

2. India on Wednesday extended a US$ 144 million line of credit to Liberia for development of power transmission and distribution projects to reduce the gap of power shortage in Liberia.

3. Indonesia on Saturday said the final of Miss World, later this month, would take place on the Hindu-majority holiday island of Bali instead of near the capital, after days of Muslim hard-line protests.

4. Thomas Bach of Germany was elected as the ninth President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). He is the successor of Jacques Rogge of Belgium.

5. India has recorded the largest increase in its Ultra-High Net worth Individual (HNIW) club among the BRICS nations in the last one year, with a total of 7,850 super rich people in the country, a report says. India has also the highest number of female millionaires in the world as the country boasts of over 1,250 UHNW women with a combined fortune of $95 billion.

6. Vocalist Bombay Jayashri has been picked for this year's Indira Sivasailam endowment medal and concert.

7. The country's largest software services firm Tata Consultancy Services said it has bagged a five-year multi-million euros deal from SAS Scandinavian Airlines to help transform and optimise its IT infrastructure.

8. Russia lifted the ban on import of non-basmati rice from India on 10 September 2013, which will eventually lead to an increase in the export of non-basmati rise from India. Russia also lifted the ban on the oilseeds apart from non-basmati rice.

9. Italy and the Netherlands became the first European nations to clinch qualification for the 2014 World Cup finals with victories on a busy night of action on Tuesday.

10. A fast track court in New Delhi fixed September 13 for pronouncing the quantum of sentence to be awarded to four convicted persons in the December 16 gangrape case.

11. The World Economic Forum’s “summer Davos” opened in the north-eastern Chinese city of Dalian on Wednesday with a focus on “meeting the innovation imperative” in Asia.

12.The 7th India-Lao Joint Commission Meeting on bilateral cooperation was held in Vientiane on 9 September 2013.

13. Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan was the guest of honour at a reception hosted by British Prime Minister David Cameron’s wife, Samantha Cameron at their official residence for acharity initiative for diabetes.

14. The Vice President of India M. Hamid Ansari presented the First Sree Narayan Guru Global Secular & Peace Award 2013 to Dr. Shashi Tharoor, Minister of State for Human Resources Development, Government of India at a function in Thiruvananthpuram, Kerala on 10 September 2013.

15. Sunila Abeysekera, the Sri Lankan activist who spent over 20 years documenting human rights violations in Sri Lanka, passed away in Colombo on 9 September 2013 due to long illness. She was 61 years of age.

16. One third of the food produced worldwide is wasted, costing the global economy around $750 billion a year, a new report by the UN food agency said today.

17. SBI not to give car loan if annual income less than Rs 6 lakh.

18. Aditya Birla Group to acquire Gujarat cement for Rs 3,800 crore.

Current Affairs 10 September 2013

1. AIR to provide latest news through SMS. People willing to subscribe to the service can simply SMS ‘AIRNEWS their name to 08082080820. They can also give a missed call to the number to subscribe to the service. Along with news headlines, a small message regarding public utility schemes of the government will be tagged.

2. India is hosting the 31st meeting of Ministers of Health of countries of the WHO South-East Asia Region and 66th session of the WHO Regional Committee for South-East Asia at New Delhi from September 10 to 13.

3. The country’s first ‘Wagah in the East’ post, along the Indo-Bangla border, will be thrown open to the public this Gandhi Jayanti when Home Ministers of both the countries will witness a historic cultural extravaganza between the two neighbours. The first retreat ceremony between the two countries will be held on the lines of what happens everyday between India and Pakistan along the Wagah post in Punjab.

4. Sensex zooms over 500 points; Rupee strengthens 99 paise to 64.25 against the dollar.

5. India is among the five nations, who have placed their bids before the International Hockey Federation (FIH) to host the 2018 Hockey World Cup.

6. World Number Two, Rafael Nadal of Spain has lifted the Men’s Singles trophy of the US Open Tennis tournament, the fourth and final Grand Slam of the season, at New York.

7. The government has decided to extend coverage of the Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG (DBTL) Scheme to include 289 districts, almost half of the country by January next year.

8. India on Tuesday supported a Russian proposal for Syria to put its chemical weapons for destruction, saying any move towards Indian position regarding complete destruction of these weapons was a positive development.

9. India’s launch preparations for the ambitious Rs 450 crore Mars orbiter mission achieved a major milestone with the successful thermo-vacuum test of the spacecraft with its payloads (scientific instruments).

10. India’s exports rose for the second straight month in August, while the trade deficit narrowed as gold imports fell. Exports climbed 12.97 per cent to USD 26.14 billion last month and imports declined 0.68 per cent to USD 37.05 billion. India FDI jumped by 6% to $10.87 billion in six months of 2013.

11. K N Shanth Kumar and Mahendra Mohan Gupta, two eminent media personalities, were today elected Chairman and Vice Chairman respectively of the Press Trust of India (PTI).

12. China and Sri Lanka have agreed to boost bilateral economic and trade cooperation with Beijing encouraging its entrepreneurs to invest in Sri Lanka and to help deepen mutual exchanges and cooperation in education, culture, tourism, media and other areas.

13. The West Bengal Government on Monday decided to set up a holding company to bring all state corporations marketing different products under the MSME sector under a single umbrella.The state cabinet took the decision to set up the company which would be named, Brand Bengal Marketing Corporation.

14. In Uttarakhand, prayers to begin tomorrow at the calamity-hit Kedarnath shrine, after flashfloods that left hundreds of people dead.

15. WHO today lauded India’s efforts in eradicating polio and said the country has not reported a single case of polio in the last 30 months.

16. Indian-American Manju Goel has announced her bid to seek Republican party nomination to run for a seat in the US Congress, focussing on divisive issues like “Obamacare” and the growing national debt.

17. Britain’s Andy Murray joined world number one Novak Djokovic and newly-crowned U.S. Open champion Rafa Nadal as definite qualifiers for the ATP World Tour finals on Tuesday but Roger Federer faces a battle to make the eight-man field.

Current Affairs - September 9, 2013

1.Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday released a commemorative stamp in memory of freedom fighter and veteran journalist Lala Jagat Narain.

2. India’s northeastern state of Tripura achieved the first position in literacy with 94.65 percent, beating Kerala (93.91 percent), Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar announced in Agartala on Sunday.

3. Chhattisgarh has been selected for this year’s prestigious National Literacy Award for the first time since its formation in November 2000. The award was presented on the International Literacy Day celebrated on September eight.

4. The 10-day festival of Ganesh Chaturthi, also known as Ganeshotsav begins today. People of Maharashtra especially Mumbaikars are all set to welcome their favourite Lord Ganesh.

5. Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail’ (VVPAT) with Electronic Voting Machines for the by-elections to Noksen Assembly Constituency. VVPAT is a device attached with EVMs which leave a verifiable paper trail of votes cast in an election.

6. Foreign direct investment (FDI) into India increased by 6 percent year-on-year to USD 10.87 billion during the first six months of this year/ According to data from the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), the country had received USD 10.27 billion of FDI in January-June, 2012. Most of the inflows came from Singapore, Mauritius, the Netherlands and the US.

7. Retirement fund body EPFO is likely to announce an interest rate of 8.5 percent on provident fund deposits for 2013-14 to its over five crore subscribers, the same as provided for last fiscal.

8. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Monday announced a huge bonanza for mobile operators with a 50-60 per cent reduction in the reserve price for various spectrum bands.

9. Government will soon launch Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) to make the country Slum Free. Addressing a Press conference in New Delhi today, Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Dr. Girija Vyas said that the implementation phase of the Scheme will be run on a mission mode during 2013-2022.

10. North-East Frontier Railway will bring Agartala in the country’s broad gauge rail network by 2016.

11. BSP has demanded President’s rule in Uttar Pradesh and dismissal of the state government in view of communal violence in Muzaffarnagar.

12. Commissioner and DIG of Saharanpur range transferred following group clashes in Muzaffarnagar district ofUttar Pradesh; Death toll rises to 28.

13. Italian director Gianfranco Rosi’s documentary “Holy GRA”, which looks into everyday life off a Rome ring road, won the Golden Lion for best movie at the Venice film festival on Saturday. The best actor prize went to Greece’s Themis Panou for his role as father to a family which harbours a deep secret in Alexandros Avranas’s “Miss Violence”.

14. Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek win US Open Men’s Doubles title winning 6-1, 6-3 in the final. Leander Paes won his eighth men’s doubles Grand Slam title, and 14th overall.

15. World number one Novak Djokovic to clash with Rafael Nadal in the men’s singles final of the US Open Tennis tournament.

Current Affairs - September 8, 2013

1. September 8 was proclaimed International Literacy Day by UNESCO on November 17, 1965. It was first celebrated in 1966. Its aim is to highlight the importance of literacy to individuals, communities and societies.

2. Tokyo has won the race to host the 2020 Olympic Games after the Japanese prime minister flew in to personally reassure voters that radioactive leaks from the Fukushima power plant would not create a health risk.

3. At least 10 more people were killed in spiralling violence in Muzaffarnagar on Sunday, taking the toll to 21 in the western UP district where the Army staged flag march and thousands of anti-riot police personnel were deployed to restore law and order.

4. The UPA government is staring at yet another massive scandal that has resulted in the state exchequer losing thousands of crores. A test audit by the comptroller and auditor general (CAG) of the railway's dual policy for transportation of iron ore has confirmed widespread suspicion that exporters have been blatantly misusing the policy.

5. The 63rd edition of the Miss World pageant opened on Sunday after protests by conservative Islamic groups confined the event to Indonesia’s resort island of Bali.

6. NASA has joined the world of Instagram - and has already attracted an incredible 56,374 followers within hours of posting its first pictures on the social media site.

7. Australia's incoming conservative government promised to re-boot a stalled mining boom and revive an appetite for investment on Sunday after leader Tony Abbott swept into office on a platform to scrap a mining tax and run a stable administration.

8. Recognising the risk of economic slowdown and weakening trade posed by protectionism, the G-20 has decided to extend until the end of 2016 its standstill commitment to further progress in removing barriers and impediments to global trade and investment.

9. India's foreign exchange reserves declined by a huge $2.23 billion to $275.49 billion on a sharp dip in the foreign currency assets.

10. A research team from the Space Applications Centre (SAC) of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in Ahmedabad, led by Satadru Bhattacharya, has found evidence of water of volcanic origin — water that has originated from deep within the Moon’s interior — rather than water-bearing igneous surface lunar material detected hitherto by different lunar missions including Chandrayaan-1.