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  • Current Affairs 8th September 2018

    Updated : 08-Sep-2018

    Current Affairs 8th September 2018 -Important Points

    • ISRO unveils space suit, crew model for Gaganyaan Mission on - 6th September 2018
    • India, France sign implementation agreement on ‘Mobilise Your City’ on - 6th September 2018
    • India's first Global Mobility Summit inaugurated by - PM Narendra Modi
    • Former RBI governor Bimal Jalan to head panel to select new Chief Economic Advisor by - The Union Government

     Current Affairs 8th September 2018 - Details

    ISRO unveils space suit, crew model for Gaganyaan Mission on - 6th September 2018

    The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) unveiled the space suit and crew model for Gaganyaan Mission, providing the first sneak peek into its upcoming manned mission to space at the 6th Bengaluru Space Expo on 6th September 2018.

    The Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his 72nd Independence Day speech announced this Gaganyaan mission. PM Modi announced that this manned space mission will be taking Indian astronauts to space on board 'Gaganyaan' by 2022.

    Key Highlights

    • The orange-coloured prototype space suit was developed by the ISRO from the past two years at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram.
    • This suit can also hold one oxygen cylinder, allowing an astronaut to breathe in space for 1 hour.
    • ISRO has developed two suits and will be creating one more suit as three astronauts will be part of mission to send Indians into space on an Indian spacecraft by 2022.

    India, France sign implementation agreement on ‘Mobilise Your City’ on - 6th September 2018

    India and France signed an implementation agreement on ‘Mobilise Your City’ (MYC) in New Delhi on 6th September 2018 to support three Indian cities in their efforts to reduce Green House Gas emissions.

    The MYC agreement was signed by Mukund Kumar Sinha, OSD & Ex-Officio Joint Secretary in the Urban Affairs Ministry and the Regional Director of Agence Française de Développement (AfD), Nicolas Fornage.
    It was signed in the presence of Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State (I/C) and Alexander Ziegler,  Ambassador of France in India.

    Key Objective

    • The MYC is aiming to support three Indian cities on a pilot basis -Kochi, Nagpur and Ahmedabad - in their efforts to reduce Green House Gas emissions related to urban transport to implement urban mobility plans at the local level and helping India at the national level to improve their sustainable transport policy.
    • The selected pilot cities will be benefitting from the technical assistance activities initiated under the program.

    India's first Global Mobility Summit inaugurated by - PM Narendra Modi

    India’s first-ever Global Mobility Summit – ‘MOVE’ inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on 7th September 2018. The two-day summit, organised by Niti Aayog, will be deliberating on steps to promote electric vehicles and shared mobility.

    This summit is being organised with an intention to make Indian cities pollution free. Union Ministers including Arun Jaitley, Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal and Ravi Shankar Prasad will be attending the meeting.

    Important Highlights

    • The summit is expected to witness participation of over 2,200 people across the world including leaders from the industry, government, research organisations, academia, think tanks and civil society.
    • The representatives of major companies including Mahindra Electric,Tata Power, Ola, Maruti Suzuki, Honda, Toyota, Hero Cycles, Tata Motors, Bosch and Sun Mobility are also expected to participate in the summit.
    • International representation from embassies and the private sector will be including USA, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, Austria, Germany, Brazil and more.
    • The key components of the summit will be including the core conclave, mobility week with featured events, digital exhibition and a variety of stakeholder consultations.
    • The deliberations will be held on steps to promote more usage of electric vehicles and to bring awareness about various aspects of Mobility.
    • In regards to reinvent the public transport system, deliberations will be held on intermodal connectivity and transit planning.

    Former RBI governor Bimal Jalan to head panel to select new Chief Economic Advisor by - The Union Government

    The Union Government has appointed former RBI governor Bimal Jalan as the head of the panel that has been  tasked with selecting India’s next chief economic advisor.

    The other members of the panel are including department of personnel and training C Chandramouli secretary and economic affairs secretary Subhash Chandra Garg.  The panel will be screening the applications received and conduct interviews. The move came two months after the government sought applications for the post after previous CEA Arvind Subramanian resigned from his office.

    Important Highlights

    • The government has received around 20 applications but the panel will be shortlisting applications from it and then set up interviews.
    • The selection committee also reserves the right to invite and short-list suitable individuals from outside the list of applicants for the posts.
    • The process is expected to take a couple of months and the final decision can be expected by December 2018.
    • The decision of the selection panel under Bimal Jalan panel will then be examined by the appointments committee of the cabinet.
    • The Appointments Committee of Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will give the final stamp of approval for the appointment of the next CEA.