Current Affairs : 18th September 2013

Tony Abbott

1. Tony Abbott has been sworn-in as the new Prime Minister of Australia. 55 year-old Abbott took oath at the Government House in Canberra, in front of Governor-General Quentin Bryce.


2. Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan is likely to maintain his predecessor Duvvuri Subbarao’s “hawkish” policy and keep key rates on hold due to continued inflationary pressure and the volatility in rupee, analysts say.

3. ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has launched ICICI Pru Easy Retirement, a unit-linked plan that enables customers to build their retirement corpus. The plan provides customers the flexibility to choose their equity exposure according to their risk appetite.

4. Bhartiya Mahila Bank, the first nationalised bank for women expected to be operational from November, intends to recruit 115 officers initially.

5. Market regulator, SEBI has inked a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU with its counterpart in Argentina to promote mutual assistance and exchange information related to securities markets in both the countries.

6. New Zealand has opened its embassy in Myanmar, Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully announced Wednesday.

7. India’s impressive show at the World Wrestling Championships continued as Bajrang bagged a bronze medal in the 60kg freestyle category with an overwhelming 9-2 win over Mangolia’s Nyam-Ochir Enkhsaikhan in a match which was held in Budapest on Tuesday.

8. Tigmanshu Dhulia was presented the best director award for Paan Singh Tomar at the 11th Norway Bollywood Film Festival at a packed Loreskog cinema center in Oslo on Tuesday. While filmmaker Rahul Mittra bagged the Best Producer award for his last year’s hit Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster Returns, Jimmy Sheirgill got the best actor award for the same film.

9. Sebastiaan Bowier, a 23-year-old Dutch cyclist breaks the world land speed record record, hitting more than 133.78kph as he sped through a US desert, to become the planet’s fastest cyclist.
10. Himachal Pradesh government is all set to launch the Food Security programme in the state from 20th September.

11. P. Sudhakar took over as the Chairman & Managing Director of the Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) on 16 September 2013.

12. Rohan Kokane, a 12 year old Indian roller skating enthusiast, made it into the 2014 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records released on 12 September 2013. He is one of the youngest new record breakers to make it into the Guinness Book. He is from Belgaum in Karnataka.

13. Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teen shot by the Taliban for championing girls’ education, and US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden have been nominated for the European Parliament’s prestigious “Sakharov human rights prize” on 17 September 2013.

14. India continue to occupy the number one position in the latest International Cricket Council, ICC ODI rankings with 123 rating points followed by Australia with 115 and England with 111 points.

Current Affairs : 17th September 2013

1. Air India has tied up with SBI Cards to launch a co-branded travel credit card that seeks to add value to the travel experience of Indian customers. The offering from this tie-up comprises Platinum as well as a Signature card.

2. YES Bank has become the first bank to raise funds overseas using the swap loan facility provided by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) last week.

3. India and China on Monday agreed to initiate steps to include media co-operation as part of the 2014 celebrations being observed to commemorate ‘Friendly Exchanges’.

4. RTI applicants will no longer have to wait to get their applications processed as the Department of Posts is all set to bring out an RTI stamp for sale soon and also set up special counters, according to a senior officer.

5. National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) was awarded Indira Gandhi Official Language Award for propagation of Rajbhasha ( Official Language) in the company by the Union Government of India on Hindi Divas on 14 September 2013.

6. Datawind has entered into a strategic partnership with TES India, an online community for teachers, to provide a library of ready-to-use teaching material to its end-users.

7. Google has reportedly acquired file-sharing app developer Bump for undisclosed financial terms.

8. Indian Grandmasters Vidit Gujarathi and Sahaj Grover maintained a clean slate, defeating Tomas Laurusas of Lithuania and Vyacheslav Lozhnikov of Kazakhstan respectively in the second round of the World Junior Chess Championship in Kocaeli, Turkey.

9. Bollywood actor John Abraham was on Monday conferred the ‘Pride of the Nation’ award for his attempt to raise the sensitive issue of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination through his role as a RAW agent in “Madras Cafe”.

10. Leading IT security solutions provider Quick Heal Technologies today appointed Rajesh Ghonasgi as Chief Financial Officer.

11. India pushed import duty on gold jewellery up by half to 15 per cent, the Finance Ministry said on Tuesday, setting it higher than raw gold duty in a move aimed more at protecting the domestic jewellery industry than stemming bullion imports.

12. China opens the world’s highest airport in Daocheng. Yading airport in Daocheng county of Garzi Tibetan autonomous region of China stands at 4,411 metre above sea level. It pipped the Qamdo Bangda airport, which has an altitude of 4,334 metre, to become the highest airport in the world after its inauguration yesterday.

13. Global mining giant Vedanta Resources has appointed Tom Albanese, former Chief Executive of Rio Tinto, as chairman of its subsidiary Vedanta Resources Holdings Ltd. In this role, he will be actively involved in continuing to develop the company’s strategy, policies and growth objectives, as per Vedanta.

14. Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl who survived an assassination attempt by a Taliban gunman last year, has been named as the recipient of Amnesty International’shighest award. She will receive Amnesty International’sAmbassador of Conscience Award along with American singer and human rights activist Harry Belafonte at ceremony Tuesday evening in Dublin, Ireland.

15. Asian Champion Amit Kumar settled for silver after going down narrowly in the final of the 55kg category on the opening day of World Wrestling Championships on Monday.

16. India’s Ravindra Jadeja continues to jointly top the bowlers’ list, while Virat Kohli was the highest-ranked Indian batsman at 4th in the latest ICC ODI rankings issued today. Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni remains unchanged at 7th position in the batsmen’s list followed by Suresh Raina with 16th ranking. In the bowling chart, R Ashwin and Bhuvneshwar Kumar held on to their 18th and joint 20th position respectively.

Current Affairs : September 16th 2013

1. International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer was observed on 16 September 2013 across the world to bring awareness about the depletion of Ozone layer in the atmosphere. This event commemorates the date of the signing of the “Montreal Protocol” on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer in 1987. The theme for the year 2013 is “A healthy atmosphere, the Future We Want”.

2. 24-year-old Nina Davuluri became the first contestant of Indian heritage to win the Miss America pageant. Nina, who aspires to become a physician like her father, will earn at least 50,000 US Dollars in scholarships.

3. Private life insurer IndiaFirst Life has announced the availability of all its policies in dematerialised format after the formal launch of the insurance repository today. The insurance repository will provide policyholders the facility to keep insurance policies in electronic form and provide a single platform for making any changes in the same.

4. The Left-leaning All India Students Association (AISA) on Monday swept the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) election, bagging three of the four top posts by huge margins. Akbar Chaudhary was elected the president, Anubhuti Agnes the vice president, Sandeep Saurav the general secretary and Sarfaraz Hamid the joint secretary.

5. India’s wholesale price based inflation jumped to 6.1 percent in August as against 5.79 percent in the previous month.

6. South Korean businessmen crossed into North Korea on Monday as the joint Kaesong industrial zone reopened five months after it was closed by soaring military tensions and threats of war.

7. Abhinav Shiv Tiwari’s “OASS”, a movie on human trafficking, was named the best film at the second edition of the Ladakh International Film Festival (LIFF). It also won the best screenplay, and Divya Chhetri was awarded the best actress for the same movie.

8. Saudi Arabia, where cinemas are banned, is to compete for an Oscar for the first time next year with feminist film “Wadjda” directed by Haifaa al-Mansour, a Saudi official announced on Sunday.

9. The Indian duo of N. Sriram Balaji and Ranjeet Virali-Murugesan won the ITF Men’s Doubles Title at Sharam-Al-Sheikh, Egypt on 15 September 2013. In the title clash, the top seeded Indian duo defeated the fourth seeded Egyptian pair of Karim Hossam and Karim-Mohamed Maamoun, 6-4, 7-6.

10. Kanoon Lugat, an Urdu law dictionary, a first of its kind in the country was released on 15 September 2013 in Mumbai. The dictionary, encompassing 52000 legal terms, has been translated in Urdu for the first time. Supreme Court advocate Muhammad Irshad Hanif authored the translation of this dictionary. The Urdu legal dictionary has a foreword written by former Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir.

11. Serena Williams remained first in an unchanged top 10 of the women’s tennis rankings issued on Monday by the WTA.
WTA rankings as of September 16
(i) Serena Williams, United States
(ii) Victoria Azarenka, Belarus
(iii) Maria Sharapova, Russia,.
(iv) Agnieszka Radwanska, Poland,
(v) Sara Errani, Italy,
(vi) Li Na, China, .
(vii) Marion Bartoli, France, .
(viii) Caroline Wozniacki, Denmark, .
(ix) Angelique Kerber, Germany,
(x) Jelena Jankovic, Serbia.

12. Novak Djokovic slightly increased his lead over US Open Champion Rafael Nadal in the latest men’s tennis ranking released on Monday by the ATP.
ATP top 10 as of September 16
(i) Novak Djokovic, Serbia
(ii Rafael Nadal, Spain,
(iii) Andy Murray, Britain
(iv) David Ferrer, Spain,
(v) Tomas Berdych, Czech Republic,.
(vi) Roger Federer, Switzerland
(vii) Juan Martin del Potro, Argentina,
(viii) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, France,
(ix) Richard Gasquet, France,
(x) Stanislas Wawrinka, Switzerland,
13. Typhoon Man-yi hit central Japan today as officials issued a “special warning” of heavy rain, amid fears the storm could go on to hit the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.

Current Affairs : 15th September 2013

1. Engineer’s day is celebrated today (15th September) across the country. This day is celebrated in the honor of “Sir Dr. Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya” who was born on the same day in 1860.

2. Kerala: CM Oommen Chandy inaugurates week-long Onam festivities organised by Tourism Department in Thiruvananthapuram.

3. India holds Guinness World Record for both world’s tallest and shortest woman. Siddiqa Parveen was measured to be atleast 7 feet 3.5 inches. The doctor estimates her standing height to be atleast 7 feet 8 inches. Jyoti Amge’s standing height is 24.7 inches.

4. China is likely to achieve its growth target of 7.5 per cent this year despite planned structural reforms to re balance the world’s second largest economy, the World Bank president said.

5. The United Nations has formally accepted Syria’s application to join the chemical weapons convention, a spokesperson said. The UN welcomed Syria joining the Chemical Weapons Convention, after it received the formal instrument of accession to it by the Assad regime.

6. Syria’s opposition National Coalition on 14 September 2013 elected “Ahmad Toameh” as its interim Prime Minister to run the regions in the country under rebel control.

7. India on Sunday conducted a second test flight of its indigenously developed nuclear- capable ‘Agni-V’(surface to surface) long-range ballistic missile, which has a strike range of more than 5000 km, from the Wheeler Island off Odisha coast. The three stage, solid propellant missile was test-fired from a mobile launcher from the launch complex-4 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at about 8:50 AM, defence sources said on Sunday.

8. The move will leave the world’s third largest economy without atomic energy for the second time since the Fukushima crisis erupted in March 2011.

9. Japan to be nuclear free as last reactor switched off.

10. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on 14 September 2013 inaugurated the train service, built by the Indian Railways, to the Northern Province.

11. After low-cost tiffin centres, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Sunday launched a scheme to provide 1 litre mineral water at Rs. 10 a bottle, to ensure quality and affordable drinking water to the poor and middle class. She inaugurated the state-run ‘Amma Drinking Water’ plant with a daily capacity of three lakh litres at Gummidipoondy, about 50 km from Chennai.

12. Drugmakers from India, the biggest overseas source of medicines sold in the US, have got more than 100 generic drug approvals from the American health regulator FDA this year so far. This has taken India’s share in the Original Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) approvals to nearly 40 per cent in the US market so far in 2013.

13. Japan earned a berth in the Davis Cup World Group with a 3-2 win over Colombia.

14. Miss India 2012 finalist Purva Rana was crowned Vice-Queen at the Miss United Continent 2013 held in Guayaquil, Ecuador on September.

15. Yuvraj Singh staked his claim for national team selection as he struck a brutal 89-ball 123 to lead India ‘A’ to a thumping 77-run victory over West Indies ‘A’ in the first of the three-match one-day series on Sunday.

16. India has retained its third position in the latest ICC Test rankings after South Africa and England.

17. Taking note of some of its staffers wearing clothes “that did not bring any repute”, the Karnataka Government has prescribed a “decent” dress code for them — pant and shirt or ‘pyjama/kurta’ for men and saree or ’churidar’ for women.

Current Affairs 14th September 2013

Deep Ultra Violet Solid State Laser device Launched by CAS

DUV (Deep Ultra Violet) Solid State Laser devise was launched by CAS (Chinese Academy of Sciences). This type of technology was first launched by China itself. This was launched by Bai Chunli who is CAS President. The device marks world’s first ever output of 1064 nanometres with 6 harmonic frequency multiplications and shortening DPL (Diode Pumped solid state Laser) wave length to 177.3 nm.

RBI Offering Two day Funds to Banks

Reserve Bank of India is offering two day funds to banks. MSF (Marginal Standing Facility) Window opened on 14^th September between 5.00 PM to 5.30 PM.  Funds will be paid on Monday i.e. on 16^th September 2013 through MSF.

US Granted to Export Liquefied Natural Gas

US has granted conditional authorisation to the export of liquefied natural gas which are produced domestically. These exports to the countries which do not have Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with America. India’s GAIL has a major stake.

Charity Auction of Darjeeling Teas

Charity Auction of Darjeeling Teas conducted in Moscow. This was conducted jointly by Tea Board of India and Association of Tea and Coffee in Russia. Price received through this auction is $ 1384 per lot of 1.2 kg. Highest bid won by Goodricke’s Castleton Estate. Chamong Organic was offered $ 1076 and placed as second highest bid. Third highest bid was offered to teas from another Goodricke Tea Estate, Badamtam.

USFDA approved Ulcer Capsules of Sun Pharma

Generic Lansoprazole Capsules used for treating duodental Ulcer got approval from US health regulator. This capsules was manufactured by Sun Pharmaceuticals industries , a drug firm  belong to India. Approval has taken for delayed release of capsules. Sun Pharma has stated that annual sales of this drug in US are $ 430 million.

New CMD of PFC is MK Goel

Power Finance Corporation Limited (PFC) has appointed new Chairman and Managing Director, he is MK Goel. Currently Goel is acting as Commercial Director in PFC. At present this position is handling by Satnam Singh. He appointed on 1^st August 2008 as CMD of PFC. Goel joined in PFC Board on 27^th July 2007. He is having more than 35 years of experience in Power Sector.

ACC discussed the modalities of Asia Cup Tournament 2014

Top Member of ACC (Asian Cricket council) discussed Asia Cup Tournament Modalities 2014. This tournament will be hosted by Bangladesh for the 2^nd time continuously. In 2014,  tournament will be held from 24^th February to 8^th March. Tournament announced in April but modalities were discussed today.

25 Medals won by Indian lifters in Korea

In the ongoing Asian Inter Club Championships and Asian Cup, Indian weight lifters won 25 medals so far. These matches are conducting at Pyongyang, North Korea. India won 3 Silver and 9 Bronze medals in Asian Inter club Championships and in Asian Cup lifters have won 4 bronze and 9 silver medals. Silver Medal winners in Asian cup are RV Rahul, Achyutananda Sahoo, Apurba Chetia, Kopparthi Shireesha, and Manalisha Sonowal. Silver Medal winners in Asian Inter Club Championship are Manalisha Sonowal, Achyutananda Sahoo, and RV Rahul. Bronze Medal winners in Asian Inter Club Championship are Kopparthi Shireesha, Apurba Chetia.


New Rocket launched by Japan

New Rocket was launched by Japan. Mari Harada who is a spokeswomen at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has stated that after completing an hour after liftoff, its payload the Sprint – A, first space telescope designed to observe other planets was successfully kept into the orbit.       This is pencil shaped rocket. This is low cost Epsilon Rocket.

Agreement between United States and Russia on Chemical Weapons

An agreement was made between United States and Russia for swift elimination of Syria’s Stockpiles of Chemical Weapons. Course of action will handle by United Nations Security Council. Agreement is stating that Syrian Chemical Weapons has to be either removed or destroyed by the middle of 2014.

DMIC and Japanese Government Cleared 6 Projects

DMIC (Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor) and Japanese Government cleared six projects. Cost of these projects is Rs.1.1 lakh crores. Major projects include are New Railway line from Bhimnath to Dholera, integrated multi modal logistics, integrated industrial township at Greater Noida. Progress of these projects reviewed by Toshimitsu Motegi, Japanese representative and Anand Sharma, Commerce & Industries Minister.

Hindi Diwas Celebrated

Every year Hindi Diwas celebrates on 14^th September. This was started from 14^th September 1949 as per the rules of Constituent assembly. Hindi is one of the oldest languages. Celebrations held at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.

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.