Current Affairs 28th September 2017

Current Affairs 28th September 2017 - Important Points

• World Tourism Day 2017 observed across the world on - 27th September 2017
• World Rabies Day observed on - 28th September 2017
• National Disaster Management Authority celebrated 13th Formation Day on - 28th September 2017
• MoU between India and Belarus in oil and gas sector approved by - Cabinet
• French anti-doping laboratory suspended by WADA in - September 2017
•  Gravitational waves detected for fourth time by scientists on -  27th September 2017
• Umbrella scheme of Modernisation of Police Forces approved by - Cabinet

Current Affairs 28th September 2017 - Details

World Tourism Day 2017 observed across the world on - 27th September 2017

The World Tourism Day was observed across the world on 27th September 2017 with the theme of
Sustainable Tourism - a Tool for Development. The major events were organised in Doha, Qatar for the day.

The celebration of World Tourism Day focuses on how sustainable tourism can contribute for the
development of world. Sustainable tourism is considered as tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts.

Moreover, the year 2017 in itself is being celebrated as 'International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development' following the proclamation by UN General Assembly on 22nd December 2015. The year 2017 was chosen to ensure the positive impact of well-managed tourism on inclusive and sustainable development, peace and equitable growth.

World Rabies Day observed on - 28th September 2017

World Rabies Day was observed on 28th September 2017 with the theme Zero by 30 which means the goal of reaching zero human deaths from canine rabies by the year 2030. The day is celebrated annually to raise awareness about rabies prevention and to highlight progress to defeat the disease.

In addition to that 28th September also marks the anniversary of Louis Pasteur's death who was the French chemist and microbiologist and developed the first rabies vaccine.
Today, safe and efficacious animal and human vaccines are among the important tools existing to eliminate human deaths from rabies while awareness is the key driver for success of communities to engage in effective rabies prevention.

Rabies is a zoonotic disease, caused by the rabies virus, of the Lyssavirus genus, within the family Rhabdoviridae.  Domestic dogs are the most common reservoir of this virus, and more than 95% of human deaths caused by dog-mediated rabies. The virus is transmitted through the rabid animals saliva and generally enters the body via infiltration of virus-laden saliva from a rabid animal into a wound or by direct exposure of mucosal surfaces to saliva from an infected animal. The virus cannot infiltrate intact skin.

National Disaster Management Authority celebrated 13th Formation Day on - 28th September 2017

The 13th Formation Day of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was celebrated on 28th September 2017 in New Delhi with the theme called ‘School Safety’. The Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh inaugurated this event.
The event saw attendance of NDMA members and officials, district collectors, senior officials from HRD Ministry, NDRF, NIDM, officials from Central and state governments, Municipal commissioners and representatives from NGOs, NCERT and educational institutions.
The discussions at the event aimed to increase awareness and ensure better implementation of the Safety guidelines of the Schools.

MoU between India and Belarus in oil and gas sector approved by - Cabinet

The Union Cabinet led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 27th September 2017 gave its ex-post facto approval for a Memorandum of Understanding signed between India and Belarus in the oil and gas sector. The agreement was signed on 12th September 2017 following delegation-level talks between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Belarus President Aleksander Grigoryevich Lukashenko in New Delhi.
The MoU is one among the ten agreements signed between both the nations.
M/o Petroleum & Natural Gas of the Republic of India and Belarusian State Concern of Oil and Chemistry signed this MoU.

Important Objectives

• The agreement will mainly be promoting bilateral relationship between India and Belarus.
• It is envisaged to increase the economic and commercial cooperation between both the sides in oil and natural gas sector.
• It will be enabling both sides to work towards establishing cooperation in the areas of upstream and downstream activities, capacity building, enhanced oil recovery, technology transfer and development of mature fields in India.
• The agreement will be remaining in force for three years from the day of its signing.

 French anti-doping laboratory suspended by WADA in - September 2017

The French anti-doping laboratory of Chatenay-Malabry was provisionally suspended by the WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) in September 2017 due to analytical issues self-reported by the laboratory to WADA.

The provisional suspension, which took effect on 24th September 2017, prohibits the Paris Laboratory from carrying out any anti-doping activities, including all urine and blood samples analyses.
The suspension will be remaining in place pending disciplinary proceedings being carried out by an independent Disciplinary Committee.

More about World Anti-Doping Agency

• It is a foundation initiated by the International Olympic Committee to coordinate, promote and monitor the fight against drugs in sports.
• The agency's key activities include education, scientific research, development of anti-doping capacities, and monitoring of the World Anti-Doping Code, whose provisions are enforced by the UNESCO International Convention against Sport Doping.
• The agency was set up on 10th November 1999 in Lausanne, Switzerland, as a result of what was called the "Declaration of Lausanne."
• The organization's headquarters are located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada since 2002.

 Gravitational waves detected for fourth time by scientists on -  27th September 2017

Scientists announced that they have detected a fourth gravitational wave signal coming from the merger of two black holes on 27th September 2017.
It is the first time that this phenomenon has been measured by both Italy-based Virgo detectors and the US-based LIGO simultaneously. The detection was described in a paper and is soon be published in Physical Review Letters.

Important highlights

• It is the first gravitational wave signal recorded by the Virgo detector made on 14th August 2017.
  LIGO's two detectors, located in Livingston, Louisiana, and Hanford, Washington, later on detected two other similar events.
• The detected gravitational waves were emitted during the final moments of the merger of two black holes with masses about 31 and 25 times the Sun mass and located about 1.8 billion light-years away.
• The newly produced spinning black hole is about 53 times the mass of our Sun, which means that about three solar masses were converted into gravitational-wave energy during that coalescence.

Umbrella scheme of Modernisation of Police Forces approved by - Cabinet

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi led Union Cabinet has given its nod for implementation of umbrella scheme of "Modernisation of Police Forces (MPF)" for years 2017-18 and 2019-20.

The total budget outlay for the Modernisation of Police Forces scheme is Rs.25,060 crore over the three year’s period, in which the Central Government will be contributing Rs.18,636 crore and the States will be contributing Rs.6,424 crore.

Important features of this scheme:

• There are provisions made under the Scheme for law & order, accessibility of modern weapons, internal security, women security, versatility of police powers, logistic support, helicopters procuring, police wireless upgradation, National Satellite Network, CCTNS venture, E-prison project and so forth.
• Under this scheme, budget outlay of Rs.10,132 crore by central government has been earmarked for internal security  related expenditure for North Eastern States, Jammu & Kashmir, and left wing extremism affected States.
• The outlay of Rs.3,000 crore for the Scheme of Special Central Assistance for worst LWE affected districts (35) has been introduced to tackle the issue of non-development in these districts.
• A budget of Rs.100 crore has been earmarked in the North Eastern States (North Eastern states) for police training institutes, infrastructure upgradation, investigation facilities etc.
• Implementation of this Modernisation of Police Forces scheme would be boosting the Government's ability to address challenges faced in different areas affected by some sort of instability like Jammu and Kashmir, LWE, and North East effectively and undertake the development initiations which will bolster the quality of life in these areas and help combat these issues effectively at the same time.
• The umbrella scheme also makes a way to upgrade Sardar Patel Global Centre for Security, Counter Terrorism and Anti Insurgency in Jaipur and setting up of a State-of Art forensic science laboratory in Amravati, Andhra Pradesh and and Gujarat Forensic Science University in Gandhi Nagar.