Current Affairs 11th September 2017

Current Affairs 11th September 2017 - Important Points

• New species of edible fish found in Kerala in - Pampa river
• Sahara Forest Project launched by - Jordan
• Second Indian Workers’ Resource Center inaugurated in UAE on - 10th September 2017
•  Sloane Stephens beats Madison Keys to win US Open Women’s Singles on - 10th September 2017
•  Online facility for effective resolution of foreign trade-related issues set up by - Government
•  DRDO successfully test-fires 3rd Generation Anti Tank Guided Missile NAG on - 9th September 2017

Current Affairs 11th September 2017 - Details

New species of edible fish found in Kerala in - Pampa river

A group of researchers discovered a new species of edible freshwater fish while exploring the waters of the Pampa river at Pathanamthitta in Kerala. Researchers informed that the newly found fish could possibly be farmed on a commercial scale.
The two researchers, Mathews Plamoottil, Assistant Professor, Government College at Chavara in Kollam and Primoz Zupancic from the Dinaric Research Institute at Slovenia in Europe, have reported the discovery in their latest issue of an open access research journal Bioscience Discovery.

Important highlights

• This new species belongs to the Labeo genus named as Labeo filiferus.
• This name filiferus was taken from Latin and refers to the very long dorsal fin of the species.
• The Labeo filiferus was found to be very different from other species of the genus in its features including black colored body and fins, smaller eyes, prominent barbels, longer snout and elongated dorsal and anal fins.
• Their eyes are coloured brilliantly with orange tinge. The specimens were 20 centimeter to 40 centimeter long and weighed four to five kilograms.
• The fish has been collected from the stretch of the Pampa running through Edakadathy in Pathanamthitta.
• Labeo filiferus had been registered by the International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature and the holotype deposited at the museum of the Zoological Survey of India at Shillong as per Mathew.
• The fish in the Labeo genus are widely distributed in the inland waterbodies of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, tropical Africa and Syria etc.
• The fish in the Labeo genus are medium- sized elongate fishes with finged lips, round abdomen, swollen snout and a straight lateral line.
• There are approximately 31 species of Labeo are found in India, with L.rohita which are commonly known as Rohu and these are extensively used in aquaculture.
• The only other Labeo species reported is L.dussumieri from Kerala.

Sahara Forest Project launched by - Jordan

Jordan launched Sahara Forest Project to turn its sand dunes into farming land to produce food using sun and sea water in the first week of September 2017. Norway’s Crown Prince Haakon and King Abdullah II attended the ceremony to mark the official opening of the project near the southern port city of Aqaba.

Important highlights

• The Norway and the European Union have funded this project.
• The project is aiming to produce up to 130 tonnes of organic vegetables per year from an area the size of four football pitches in the first stage.
• The project will be using solar panels in order to provide power and include outdoor planting space, two saltwater-cooled greenhouses, a water desalination unit and salt ponds for the salt production.
• The project is expected to be expanded from three hectares to around 200 hectares of desert.

More about Sahara Forest Project

• The Sahara Forest Project is a scheme aiming to provide fresh water, food and renewable energy in hot, arid regions and re-vegetating areas of uninhabited desert.
•  The proposal combines saltwater-cooled greenhouses with solar power technologies, either directly using Photovoltaic or indirectly using concentrated solar power (CSP) and other technologies for desert revegetation. 
• It is claimed that these technologies together will be creating a sustainable and profitable source of energy, food, vegetation and water. 

Second Indian Workers’ Resource Center inaugurated in UAE on - 10th September 2017

To provide support and counseling to Indians in distress has opened the second Indian Workers’ Resource Centre (IWRC) in Sharjah, UAE India on 10th September 2017. Indian Ambassador in UAE Navdeep Singh Suri inaugurated the same , IWRC will be helping the overseas Indian community on legal, personal and financial matters, free of cost. The first IWRC was opened in 2010 in Dubai.
Important Highlights

• Indian Community members can call this centre from anywhere in UAE through a toll-free number 800 INDIA or 80046342.
• The helpline will be working 24x7 and will also have a multi lingual facility to help the Indian diaspora staying in UAE.

Key facilities available at IWRC

• IWRC will be providing support and guidance to any member of the Indian community in any distress situation.
• The IWRC with the help of the Indian Embassy and the Consulate in Dubai will also be conducting workers’ awareness Campaign in various Emirates across UAE.
• Besides liaising with the help groups, individuals, social workers and related bodies, it will also be helping in the verification of the genuineness of the job offers.
• The IWRC will be receiving, registering and monitoring grievance petitions and providing clarification to information seeking queries.

 Sloane Stephens beats Madison Keys to win US Open Women’s Singles on - 10th September 2017

Sloane Stephens won her first major, the 2017 US Open Women’s Singles title, in New York on 10th September 2017. Stephens defeated Madison Keys 6-3 6-0 by grabbing the prestigious title.
The unseeded Stephens now has the worldwide rank of 83.
More about Sloane Stephens

• Born on 20th March 1993, Sloane Stephens is an American tennis player.
• She has won five singles titles on the WTA Tour and one Grand Slam tournament title at US Open 2017.
• She rose to prominence upon reaching the 2013 semi-finals of the Australian Open,defeating Serena Williams en route notably.
• With this win, She has reached a worldwide career-high singles ranking of 11 and claimed her first WTA title at the 2015 Citi Open.

More about US Open Championships

• It is a hard court tennis tournament.
• Since 1987, it has been chronologically the fourth and final tennis major comprising the Grand Slam each year; the other three, in chronological order, are the the French Open, Australian Open and Wimbledon.
• It is held annually, starting on the last Monday in August and lasting for two weeks into September.
• The US Open is owned and organized by the United States Tennis Association (USTA), a non profit organization.
• It is the only Grand Slam that employs tiebreakers in every set of a match.
  Do you know?

Rafael Nadal won the Men’s Singles title of the 2017 US Open .

 Online facility for effective resolution of foreign trade-related issues set up by - Government

The Union government has set up an online service facility by the name Contact@DGFT, which can be used by importers and exporters to resolve all foreign trade-related issues.
The information was shared through an official statement issued on 8th September 2017.
According to the statement, the DGFT (directorate general of foreign trade), which comes under Ministry of Commerce, has asked all exporters and importers to use the system to resolve all their matters.

The facility, which has been activated on the DGFT website, will be enabling traders to raise all matters related to the Directorate or other agencies of the Centre and States.
The DGFT in a notice to all regional authorities, export promotion councils, commodity boards and members of trade and industry confirmed the  activation of the facility and said that best efforts will be made for an expeditious resolution.
In addition to that, in order to ensure systematic monitoring and effective resolution of issues, the trade body requested the exporters and importers not to send their queries through social media platforms like twitter or e-mail and use Contact@DGFT service instead.

 DRDO successfully test-fires 3rd Generation Anti Tank Guided Missile NAG on - 9th September 2017

The DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) successfully test fired 3rd generation Anti Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) 'Nag' on 9th September 2017. It was tested two times against two different targets in the range of Rajasthan and in both the attempts it successfully hit both the targets under different conditions with very high accuracy as expected. After this second missile test, the complete functionality of Nag missile along with launcher system NAMICA has also been established. In June 2017, the first successful flight test of NAG missile was carried out.

More about Nag Missile

• It is a third generation “fire and forget” anti-tank missile, can be launched from both air-based platforms and land.
• Its helicopter launched version is known as HELINA (Helicopter-Launched NAG) that can be fired from Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopter and HAL Rudra attack helicopter.
• The land-based version of the missile is available at present to integrate on the Nag missile carrier (NAMICA).
• It is equipped with highly advanced Imaging Infrared Radar seeker and has integrated avionics technology in its arsenal.
• It also has advanced passive homing guidance system and is mainly designed to destroy modern main battle tanks and other heavily armored targets.