Current Affairs 04th September 2015

Current Affairs 4th September 2015 - Important Points

• Where will the InSPA, global alliance of 107 sunshine countries will be launched - New Delhi

• Amendment in MPDA Act, 1981 ordinance have been approved by - Maharashtra government

• Llyod's City Risk Index 2015-2025 released

• Who is appointed as President of Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers - Vinod Dasari

• Union Government cancelled FCRA registration of NGO Greenpeace

• SEBI notified SEBI Regulations, 2015

• NASA and ISRO jointly working on - NISAR mission

• Skoch Order-of-Merit National award for implementing e-governance initiatives was won by - Haryana

• Andhra Pradesh Special Courts Bill, 2015 was passedd by - Andhra Pradesh Assembly

• Commemorative coins of Rs 125, Rs 10 released in honour of - Former President S Radhakrishna

Current Affairs 4th September 2015 - Details

Where will the InSPA, global alliance of 107 sunshine countries will be launched - New Delhi

Among the important International Current Affairs, In September 2015, Union Government is planning to launch the global alliance on solar energy in New Delhi.

The convention will be held in the third week of November 2015 ahead of the COP-21 of The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) in Paris.

InSPA is the abbreviation used for International Agency for Solar Policy & Application. 107 member countries that are located between tropic of cancer and tropic of capricorn including China and Australia will attend the launch event as expected.

The members of the grouping are also called as sunshine countries as they receive high solar energy round the year.

India’s leadership role in the launch of the grouping is concurred with the recent revision in the target of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM).

With an approximate investment of 6 lakh crore rupees, India is expected to reach the production of 1 GW or 1 lakh MW of solar energy by 2022 under the mission.

Amendment in MPDA Act, 1981 ordinance have been approved by - Maharashtra government

On 1st September 2015, ordinance for amending the Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities (MPDA) Act, 1981 was approved by the Maharashtra Government.

By the amendment o the act, the ordinance would enable the government to put sand mafias behind the bars without any bail for one year.

Features of the Ordinance

• Sand smuggling as well as smugglers will be included in the section II of the act.
• No bail will be given to the culprits till one year, arrested in illegal sand mining cases.

Llyod's City Risk Index 2015-2025 released

Among the important International Current Affairs, On 3rd September 2015, Llyod's City Risk Index 2015-2025 was released. It is the first index to quantify the expected loss to cities’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from various manmade and natural threats.

With 181 billion US dollar, Taipei topped the Index whereas with 47 billion US dollars potential loss, Mumbai is expected to face maximum risk in India.

About the Index

• GDP@Risk methodology is used to quantify the losses that took into account 18 major threats and 301 major cities across the globe for the 2015-2025.
• The three categories of the threats are : Emerging (Cyber attack & Plant epidemic), Manmade (Market crash & nuclear accident) and Natural (cyclones & earthquakes).

Highlights of the Index

• Out of 372.56 trillion US dollars a loss of 4.56 trillion US dollars is expected of total GDP during 2015-25 from 18 threats together in selected 301 countries together.
• Cities outside G8 will share around 72% in the total loss.
• Manmade threats, including Market crash, Cyber attack, Power outage and Nuclear accident is linked to nearly half of the Total GDP@Risk.
• Taipei, Tokyo, Seoul, New York, Hong Kong, Shanghai and London, have significant levels of economic exposure to catastrophic events.
• Market crash, human pandemic, windstorm, earthquake and flood in the decreasing order of their threat potential are the top 5 threats.

Who is appointed as President of Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers - Vinod Dasari

Among the important appointments, On 3rd September 2015, Vinod Dasari was appointed as President of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), an automobile industry body. He is the Managing Director of Ashok Leyland.

Other Appointments

• Arvind Saxena, President of General Motors India, was appointed as the Vice-President of the organisation.
• Kenichi Ayukawa, Maruti Suzuki India Managing Director and CEO, was appointed as the Treasurer of SIAM.

Union Government cancelled FCRA registration of NGO Greenpeace

On 3rd September 2015, registration of Greenpeace India under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), 2010 was cancelled by the Union Government. This decision of the government will make the NGO incompetent to receive funds from abroad, which means it may force it to close down its operations in India.

On 3rd September 2015, in an affidavit submitted to Delhi High Court, the Union Home Ministry said Greenpeace violated FCRA by mixing its foreign and domestic contributions.

Meanwhile, the NGO that has accused the Government of trying to shut it down and termed the action as an attempt to silence campaigns said it will not be deterred.

On 4th September 2015, the high court will hear Greenpeace plea challenging the suspension of its licence under FCRA apart from freezing of its bank accounts.

SEBI notified SEBI Regulations, 2015

Among the important National Current Affairs, On 2nd September 2015, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) notified SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 (Listing Regulations) after following the consultation process.

For the implementation of the Regulations, 90 days time period has been given. However, two provisions of the regulations are applicable with immediate effect which are facilitating in nature :

• passing of ordinary resolution instead of special resolution in case of all material related party transactions subject to related parties abstaining from voting on such resolutions, in line with the provisions of the companies Act, 2013
• re-classification of promoters as public shareholders under various circumstances.

The regulations have been sub-divided into two parts :

• substantive provisions incorporated in the main body of Regulations
• procedural requirements in the form of Schedules to the Regulations.

NASA and ISRO jointly working on - NISAR mission

Among the important International Current Affairs, On 21st July 2015, NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission first Joint Steering Group (JSG) meeting was held.

NISAR is a unwavering US and Indian InSAR mission, in partnership with ISRO, developed for studying hazards and global environmental change.

As a part of the mission, during the year 2021, NISAR satellite, which will be the first radar imaging satellite to use dual frequency and to observe and understand natural processes of the Earth, is expected to be launched.

About NISAR Mission

• The motive of the mission is to design, develop and launch a Dual frequency S Band (12-centimeter wavelength Polarimetric Synthetic Aperture) and L Band (24-centimeter wavelength Polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar) Radar Imaging Satellite.
• It will focus on exploring newer application areas using L and S band microwave data, especially in natural resources mapping & monitoring; assessing soil moisture; monitoring of floods and oil slicks; assessment of mangroves; surface deformation studies due to seismic activities; estimating agricultural biomass over full duration of crop cycle; coastal erosion, coastline changes and variation of winds in coastal waters etc.

Design & development of L-band SAR, 12m unfurlable antenna, GPS system and data recorder is the responsibility of JPL/NASA.

Whereas, design & development of S-band SAR, Spacecraft Bus, data transmission system, Spacecraft integration & testing, launch using GSLV and on-orbit operation is the responsibility of ISRO.

Skoch Order-of-Merit National award for implementing e-governance initiatives was won by - Haryana

Among the important National Current Affairs, On 3rd September 2015, the Skoch Order-of-Merit national award for implementation of six e-Governance and IT initiatives in the state was won by Haryana.

On the occasion of the 41st Skoch Summit - Transformative Governance, scheduled to be held on 22-23 September 2015 in New Delhi, the award will be presented to the state government.

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar in the state assembly on the second day of the monsoon session of Haryana Vidhan Sabha provided the information in regard to the award.

About Skoch Digital Inclusion Awards

Skoch Consultancy Services Private Limited, a strategy and management consulting firm founded in 1997 presents the Skoch Digital Inclusion Award.

It is an campaign to identify the e-Governance initiatives of the Central Government, State, Local Governments, their various departments and undertakings, and their technology and solution providers in both the corporate and government sector.

Andhra Pradesh Special Courts Bill, 2015 was passedd by - Andhra Pradesh Assembly

On 3rd September 2015, for the constitution of special courts to facilitate time bound disposal of corruption cases and attachment of assets, the Andhra Pradesh Special Courts Bill, 2015 was passed by the Andhra Pradesh Assembly.

With the help of this bill, the state can recover wealth collected by the corrupt public servants through exploitation of public property or in a anonymous manner.

A sum of 43000 crore rupees corruption money was involved in the 11 charge sheets filed against economic offences in the State and now under the Special Courts Bill, the state government will recover these properties.

Other Bills passed in the Assembly

• Andhra Pradesh Farmers' Management of Irrigation Systems (Amendment) Bill
• Andhra Pradesh Protection of Depositors of Financial Establishments (Amendment) Bill
• Andhra Pradesh (Telangana Area) Horse Racing and Betting Tax Regulation

Commemorative coins of Rs 125, Rs 10 released in honour of - Former President S Radhakrishna

On 4th September 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi released two commemorative coins of 125 rupees and 10 rupees in the memory of former President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.

At a function of his interaction with the central school students at Zorawar hall, Manekshaw Centre in New Delhi, Modi released the coins on the eve of Teachers Day, which is celebrated across India on 5th September every year.