Current Affairs 12th September 2017

Current Affairs 12th September 2017 - Important Details

• Two Pluto Mountains after mountaineers who first scaled Mount Everest named by - IAU
•  Committee to be formed to examine Supreme Court’s verdict on Triple Talaq on - 10th September 2017
• Currency Verification & Processing Machine for processing currency notes used by - RBI
•  Tahir Mahmood awarded with N R Madhava Menon Best Law Teacher Award on - 9th September 2017
• Online platform FoSCoRIS for food inspection launched by - FSSAI
• Commerce Ministry organised state startup conference on - 12th September 2017
• International Day for South-South Cooperation 2017 observed on - 12th September 2017
• 2 US scientists, Indian economist among 2017 Balzan Prize awardees on - 11th September 2017
• United Nations Security Council adopts new North Korea sanctions on - 11th September 2017
• Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman flags-off Navika Sagar Parikrama from Panaji on - 10th September 2017

Current Affairs 12th September 2017 - Details

Two Pluto Mountains after mountaineers who first scaled Mount Everest named by - IAU

The IAU (International Astronomical Union) has approved naming of two mountain ranges on Pluto after the first two people known to have scaled the world’s highest mountain peak naming Mount Everest.
Tenzing Montes and Hillary Montes are two mountain ranges that honour Indian/Nepali Sherpa Tenzing Norgay (between 1914 and 1986) and New Zealand mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary ( between 1919 and 2008), the first-ever mountaineers confirmed to reach the summit of Mount Everest on 29th
May 1953 and return safely. Led by John Hunt, they were part of the ninth British expedition to Everest, led by John Hunt.

Important Facts

• The two assigned names are the first set among 14 others that got an official go ahead from IAU to name 14 geological features which were identified on the icy dwarf planet.
• The names were officially approved by the Working Group for the Planetary System Nomenclature of IAU which is the internationally recognised authority to name celestial bodies and their surface features.
• All the approved names recognize and pay homage to pioneer space missions, historic pioneers, the underworld mythology who crossed new horizons in exploration and scientists and engineers associated with the Kuiper Belt and Pluto.
• Some names were suggested by members of the public during the 'Our Pluto' campaign, which was launched as a partnership between the IAU, the New Horizons project and the SETI (search for extraterrestrial intelligence) Institute.
• Other names had been used informally by the New Horizons science team to describe the regions, plains, valleys and craters discovered on Pluto during the close flyby by the New Horizons spacecraft in July 2015 that gave the first close-up look at the planet surfaces and its largest moon, Charon.
• Chairperson of the IAU Working Group for the Planetary System Nomenclature in the Netherlands, the names highlight the importance of  pushing to the frontiers of discovery according to Rita Schulz.

 Committee to be formed to examine Supreme Court’s verdict on Triple Talaq on - 10th September 2017

The AIMPLB (All India Muslim Personal Law Board) decided to constitute a committee comprising of experts that would look into the method and process to undertake large scale community reform program within the Islamic Sharia (Islamic law) on 10th September 2017.

In this connection, the board passed a resolution in its one-day-long marathon meeting, held in Bhopal to discuss the way forward after Supreme Court of India recently adjudged the popular Islamic divorce practice of instant triple talaq as un-constitutional. The committee would also be required to check the order of the apex court and identify if there are any inconsistencies in the order with sharia.
The board would decide their future course of action on whether or not to challenge the court’s verdict through a review petition on the basis of the committee’s report.
The Muslim Personal Board was of the opinion that even though instant triple Talaq is viewed as a sin, it is still taken as valid. The board claimed that it has taken steps to discourage the practice through community reform programs for quite a long time. The board had even issued a Model Form of Nikahnama about two decades before and called for a social boycott of those who divorced their wives in a single sitting before the Supreme Court’s judgment.

The board had also filed an affidavit to discourage the practice on the ground by advising all Qazis,
Imams and Maulvis to urge bridegrooms not to pronounce three divorces in one sitting only.
However, The board expressed its displeasure on the submissions of the central government before the apex court in the case.

It categorically stated that the Government had laid bare its intention in the form of the Attorney General's submissions in the Supreme Court that all forms of divorce without court's intervention should be declared as unconstitutional. The board considers the central government’s stand as an attack on the personal law of Muslims and contrary to the protection guaranteed by the Indian Constitution.

 Currency Verification & Processing Machine for processing currency notes used by - RBI

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) stated that it uses sophisticated Currency Verification & Processing (CVPS) Machines for checking numerical accuracy and genuineness of the currency notes including Specified Bank Notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 instead of counting machines on 10th September 2017.

The Currency Verification & Processing (CVPS) machines are way superior to the note counting machines as per RBI. RBI uses these machines in two shifts and has also been using other machines  that are temporarily drawn from commercial banks after suitable modifications, with a view to augment the processing capacity.  Other than that, RBI is also exploring other options to augment processing capacity even further.  Tahir Mahmood awarded with N R Madhava Menon Best Law Teacher Award on - 9th September 2017

Tahir Mahmood, Eminent jurist was awarded with the prestigious N R Madhava Menon Best Law Teacher Award 2017  for his distinguished services to legal education and legal profession on the occasion of Law Teachers' Day celebrations on 9th September 2017. The Society of Indian Law Firms (SILF) and Menon Institute of Legal Advocacy Training (MILAT) organised the function. The awards are given yearly to honour the most deserved law teachers and institutions all across the SAARC region and in India.

Online platform FoSCoRIS for food inspection launched by - FSSAI

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India launched ‘FoSCoRIS’, an online platform to bring in transparency in food safety inspection and sampling on 11th September 2017. 
FoSCoRIS platform will be helping to eliminate discrepancy and will be making food safety officers accountable for their inspection.

Important Highlights of the FoSCoRIS Platform

• It will be helping in verifying compliance of food safety and hygiene standards by food businesses as per the government norms.
• It will be bringing together all key stakeholders including food businesses, food safety officers, designated officers, state food safety commissioners.
• It will be helping in sharing data related to inspection, sampling and test result by all officials seamlessly.
• It will be making the process of sample collection easier by making it transparent and traceable and by controlling the quality of compliances.
• To use this platform, Food Safety Officers (FSOs) require a hand-held device with internet connectivity.
• FSSAI has asked all the states to provide such devices to FSOs and urged to appoint a nodal officer for this purpose and send the details of the officers to integrate them with FoSCoRIS.
• In the initial phase, FSSAI will be bearing the cost of rental plans of the hand-held devices for first three months to a maximum of Rs 500 per connection per month to first ten states and UTs.
• FSSAI is a nodal agency which is responsible to protect and promote public health in India through regulation and supervision of food safety.

Commerce Ministry organised state startup conference on - 12th September 2017

The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Government of India has organised the second State Startup Conference on 12th September 2017 in New Delhi. The Minister of State, C.R. Choudhary inaugurated the conference, the event witnessed in attendance several senior dignitaries from states, funding agencies, Union Territories, incubators,  accelerators, VCs, angel investors and startups.
The conference was held mainly to deliberate on issues including incubation facilities and to make regulations easier for the budding entrepreneurs.

International Day for South-South Cooperation 2017 observed on - 12th September 2017

The International Day for South-South Cooperation was observed on 12th September 2017 by United Nations (UN). It celebrates the economic, social and political developments made by regions and countries in the south in recent years. It also highlights efforts of UN to work on technical cooperation among developing countries.

South-South cooperation is a broad framework of collaboration among countries of the South in the political, economic, social, environmental and technical domains etc.

This year, Turkey will be hosting the Global South-South Development Expo 2017 and will be taking place in Antalya from 27th to 30th November 2017 with the theme 'South-South Cooperation in the Era of Economic, Social and Environmental Transformation: Road to the 40th Anniversary of the Adoption of the Buenos Aires Plan of Action (BAPA+40)'.

2 US scientists, Indian economist among 2017 Balzan Prize awardees on - 11th September 2017

The International Balzan Foundation announced the winners of the 2017 Balzan Prize on 11th September 2017. In the current year, Indian economist Bina Agarwal was recognised among other awardees for her work on women's contributions in agriculture in India.

 United Nations Security Council adopts new North Korea sanctions on - 11th September 2017

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) unanimously adopted a set of new sanctions on North Korea over its recent nuclear test in violation of previous Security Council resolutions on 11th September 2017. The fresh resolution curtails the country's oil supply by almost 30 percent and bans all its textile exports worthing USD 800 million.
It has also taken steps to stop North Koreans working abroad from sending their earnings back to the country and providing new tools to combat smuggling of prohibited products by sea.
The US mission to the UN described this resolution as “strongest sanctions ever imposed on North Korea”.
As per a statement given by the US mission to the UN, the resolution “sends a very clear message to North Korea that the Security Council is united to condemn North Korea’s violations and demanding North Korea to give up its prohibited nuclear and ballistic missile programs.”

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman flags-off Navika Sagar Parikrama from Panaji on - 10th September 2017

Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Defence Minister flagged-off the Navika Sagar Parikrama from Panaji on 10th September 2017. The Navika Sagar Parikrama is a project wherein a team of women officers of the Indian Navy will be going around the globe on an Indian-built sail boat Indian Naval Sailing Vessel Tarini (INSV Tarini). It is the first-ever Indian circum navigation of the globe by an all-women crew.
The crew is expected to return to Goa in April 2018 after completion of their voyage.

Important highlights

• The Navika Sagar Parikrama will be covered in five steps, with stop-overs at 4 ports.
• These ports are Fremantle in Australia, Port Stanley in Falklands,Lyttleton in New Zealand and Cape Town in South Africa.
• The crew would be monitoring and report marine pollution on the high seas, as also interact extensively with local PIOs during various port halts in order to promote Ocean sailing during the voyage.
• The crew would be collating and updating Meteorological and Ocean and Wave data on a regular basis for accurate weather forecast by India Meteorological Department and subsequent analysis by research and development organisations.
• The expedition is expected to promote Ocean Sailing activities in the Navy and depicting Union Government's thrust for Nari Shakti.
• The Navika Sagar Parikrama aims to showcase the ‘Make in India’ initiative by sailing onboard the indigenously built INSV Tarini.