Current Affairs 19th October 2017

Current Affairs 19th October 2017 - Important Points

• Kerala HC restored life ban imposed on Sreesanth on - 17th October 2017
• Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas awarded with Swachh Bharat Inter-Ministerial Award on - 2nd October 2017
•  PM Narendra Modi dedicated first ever All India Institute of Ayurveda to nation on - 17th October 2017
• George Saunders wins 2017 Man Booker Prize on - 17th October 2017
• Gujarat signs MoUs with 3 companies under Make in Gujarat on - 17th October 2017
• Indian peacekeepers in Sudan awarded with UN medal on - 17th Octobers 2017
•  Chhattisgarh government reduces loan interest given to women under - Saksham Yojna

Current Affairs 19th October 2017 - Details

Kerala HC restored life ban imposed on Sreesanth on - 17th October 2017

A division bench of the Kerala High Court on 17th October 2017 restored the life ban imposed on cricketer S Sreesanth by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in the wake of the 2013 IPL spot-fixing scandal.
The bench, comprising of Chief Justice Navaniti Prasad Singh and Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan, gave this verdict on a petition filed by the BCCI against the ruling by a single judge bench that lifted the life ban imposed on Sreenath in August 2017.
Important Highlights

• The court delivered its verdict after hearing the appeal for the last two days.
• The bench in its statement ruled that the court cannot conduct a judicial review on the life ban imposed by the BCCI, the national governing body for cricket in India, and hence upheld that appeal.
• The verdict has fiinally ended hp[es of Sreesanth of playing for Kerala state’s Ranji side in its upcoming matches.
• In addition to that, the bowler will no longer be allowed to participate in practice sessions at any place that comes under the BCCI or any state cricket association.
• On 16th May 2013, the Delhi police arrested Sreesanth and two of his Rajasthan Royals teammates, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan from Mumbai on charges of spot-fixing during the Indian Premier League.
• After this arrest, all the three players had their Rajasthan Royals contracts suspended while their inquiries were pending.
• On 13th September 2013, Sreesanth and Ankeet Chavan were banned for life by BCCI's disciplinary committee.
• Sreesanth and the two other players were let off by a Patiala House court in Delhi in July 2015.
• The BCCI, however, had refused to alter its disciplinary decision even after the verdict from the court.
• Following this Sreesanth had challenged the life ban against him in the Kerala High Court too.
• The single-judge bench of Justice A Muhamed Mustaque had lifted the life ban imposed on him by the BCCI on 7th August.
• Justice Mustaque had also set aside all proceedings against Sreesanth which were initiated by the board.

Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas awarded with Swachh Bharat Inter-Ministerial Award on - 2nd October 2017

The Union Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas was awarded with Swachh Bharat Inter-Ministerial Award on 2nd October 2017.
This event marked the third anniversary of the Swachh Bharat Mission on Gandhi Jayanti.
Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas received the award on the basis of the various innovative and developmental activities it undertook more than a period of 3 years.

MoPNG Initiatives

• Project Saraswati - Oil & Gas Central Public Sector Enterprises launched Project Saraswati in Haryana by tapping the ground water resources to deal with severe water crisis in summer.
• Unique zero energy - A unique zero energy based vegetable storage cellars were developed in Nang village near Leh to prevent rottening of farm products due to extreme temperatures.
• Bio-Toilets - It constructed bio-toilets in Leh (J&K) and Mahanandpur (Bihar) thereby making Bharatnagar (Maharashtra), Gandhigaon (Assam) Open Defecation Free localities.
• Swachhta Apps- It administered cleaning Himalayas initiatives by launching Swachhta Apps and organised innovative competitions to clean Himalayas.
• Swachh Vidyalaya Abhiyan- Oil CPSEs and Joint Ventures constructed over 20 thousand school toilets in order to reduce the drop-out rate among girl students due to no-availability of separate toilets which is benefitting above 5 lakh girl students.

 PM Narendra Modi dedicated first ever All India Institute of Ayurveda to nation on - 17th October 2017

Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated the All India Institute of Ayurveda to the nation on the occasion of National Ayurveda Day on 17th October 2017. Prime Minister released the “Ayurvedic Standard Treatment Guidelines”. developed by the Ministry of AYUSH on the same occasion. The Prime Minister also awarded the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute, Pune with the Yoga Award, which was announced on the occasion of International Day of Yoga.

More About All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA)

• The first ever All India Institute of Ayurveda is set up along the lines of AIIMS and has an NABH Accredited Hospital and an Academic Block.
• It has been set up with a total campus area of 10.015 acres and a budget of Rs 157 Crore.
  Out Patient Services will be provided in the hospital block of the AIIA with the free of cost medicines.
• Currently, clinical specialties running in the hospital block are Neurological Disease Care Unit,Kriya Kalpa, Diabetic Retinopathy Clinic, Musculoskeletal Care Unit, Diabetes & Metabolic Disorders Care Unit, Yoga, Panchakarma Clinic, Kshara Evum Anushastra Karma and Infertility Clinic.
• It has pathology, microbiology, biochemistry and radiology laboratories/diagnosis facilities.
• The indoor patient department has got the provision of 200 beds.
• As an apex institute under the Ministry of AYUSH, the AIIA will be bringing synergy between the traditional wisdom of Ayurveda and modern diagnostic tools and technology.

George Saunders wins 2017 Man Booker Prize on - 17th October 2017

George Saunders, US Author won renowned 2017 Man Booker Prize of Britain for fiction for his first full-length novel 'Lincoln in the Bardo' on 17th October 2017. After this, Saunders became second American writer to win this award. Paul Beatty became the first American to win the award for his novel called The Sellout in 2016.

The other writers who made it to the list of finalists were Fiona Mozley, Paul Auster, Emily Fridlund, Ali Smith and Mohsin Hamid. The prize, for approximately USD 66000, was launched in 1969.
Initially, this Prize was only open to writers from Britain, Ireland and the Commonwealth nations until it started permitting authors from other English-speaking countries in 2014.

More about George Saunders

• He was born in Amarillo, Texas.
• He got a degree in geophysics from the Colorado School of Mines and worked as a geophysicist in Indonesia.
• He eventually enrolled in an MFA program at Syracuse University and he published his debut fiction collection 'CivilWarLand in Bad Decline' in 1996.
• Later, he published several other collections and novel including his widely celebrated 2013 short story collection 'Tenth of December'.
• Best known for his dark and funny futuristic short stories, he has penned various award-winning short story collections, essays, fables and a children’s book and many pieces of journalism.
• Guggenheim Fellowship and MacArthur Fellowship  award was granted to him back in 2006.
• He received an Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2009.

Gujarat signs MoUs with 3 companies under Make in Gujarat on - 17th October 2017

The state government of Gujarat signed 3 MoUs worth Rs 10,400 Crore with three companies that have the potential to create 21,300 job opportunities in the state on 17th October 2017.
The MoU’s were signed in the presence of the state’s Chief Minister, Vijay Rupani under the Make in Gujarat initiative.
The companies signing the agreement are - United Phosphorous Limited, Grasim Industries Limited and Arvind Limited.

Indian peacekeepers in Sudan awarded with UN medal on - 17th Octobers 2017

50 Indian peacekeepers stationed in South Sudan  have been awarded with the UN Medal for their professionalism and service in  protecting civilians and building durable peace in the conflict-ridden country on 17th October 2017.

The peacekeepers were presented with the award by UNMISS Force Commander General Frank Mushyo Kamanzi. These Indian peacekeepers are a part of the UN Mission in South Sudan.Indian peacekeepers were deployed at Bor in the Jonglei region of South Sudan with the Indian battalion .

They were acknowledged for their contribution in carrying out patrols across the region and to provide a safe and secure environment for the 2500  civilians who wanted refuge at the UN Protection of Civilians site at Bor. They even provided services to the community outside their core mandate such as medical care for local residents and support for local farmers with veterinary treatment to their animals.

 Chhattisgarh government reduces loan interest given to women under - Saksham Yojna

The state government of Chhattisgarh has reduced the interest rate(roi) on loan given to women and their self-help groups under Saksham Yojna. The roi on loans has been cut from 6.5 percent to 5 percent in order to benefit more women and their SHGs under this Yojna.
The state’s Women and Child Development Minister, Ramsheela Sahu took this decision while chairing a meeting of the governing body of Chhattisgarh Mahila Kosh (CMK) at Raipur.