Current Affairs 8th September 2017

Current Affairs 8th September 2017 - Important Points

• 'Narmada Mahotsav Yatra' flagged off by - Gujarat Chief Minister
• India and Sri Lanka begin Joint Naval Exercise SLINEX 2017 at Visakhapatnam on - 7th September 2017
• Ashish Kashyap resigns as President and Co-founder of MakeMyTrip on - 6th September 2017
• Major research works on agriculture with World Bank fund to be undertaken by - ICAR
• International Literacy Day observed globally on - 8th September 2017
• Viveck Goenka elected as Chairman of PTI on - 7th September 2017
• Indo-US joint military training Exercise Yudh Abhyas for 2017 to be conducted in - USA
•  India Paternity leave introduced by - Johnson & Johnson

Current Affairs 8th September 2017 - Details

'Narmada Mahotsav Yatra' flagged off by - Gujarat Chief Minister

The Chief Minister of Gujarat, Vijay Rupani flagged off statewide ‘Narmada Mahotsav Yatra’ from Surendranagar district on 6th September 2017, as an event of a two-week celebration in order to celebrate the completion of Sardar Sarovar Dam on the Narmada River. The yatra is aiming awareness about the importance of increased water supply from Narmada canal-based projects in different parts of the state.

 According to an official statement, 84 chariots would be travelling across the state in these two weeks to spread awareness about the importance of the project and to show the achievements of the state’s Veterinary and Agriculture Departments.
The yatra would culminate in Dabhoi town of Vadodara district, in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the occasion of his birthday, which happens to fall on the same day.
The event comes just ahead of the state assembly polls, which are due by this year end.

India and Sri Lanka begin Joint Naval Exercise SLINEX 2017 at Visakhapatnam on - 7th September 2017

Indian Navy and Sri Lankan Navy started the 2017 Sri Lanka-India Exercise (SLINEX) on 7th September 2017 at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. The exercise will be concluding till 14th September 2017.
SLINEX 17 aims towards reinforcing strong neighbourly ties between both countries underscored by improved understanding and extensive maritime interaction.
Sri Lanka-India Exercise 2017 focuses on communication,fleet work, seamanship, replenishment at sea, VBSS (Visit Board Search and Seize) operations and helicopter operations. The exercise will be commencing with a Harbour Phase, during which, the participants will be engaging in cultural, professional and social interactions.
The Harbour Phase will going to be the first phase and then the Sea Phase, which will be including complex operations including gun firings, anti-piracy exercises, cross-deck helicopter operations and anti-surface exercises.

More about Sri Lanka-India Exercise

• SLINEX series of bilateral maritime exercises was initiated in 2005 and since then four successful engagements have been conducted.
• The main focus of SLINEX is to promote mutual understanding and providing exposure to both the Navies of each other's operating & communication procedures and best practices.
• This allows the two navies to develop more confidence in order to operate together during complex maritime missions.

Ashish Kashyap resigns as President and Co-founder of MakeMyTrip on - 6th September 2017

Ashish Kashyap resigned on 6th September 2017 as the President and Co-founder of MakeMyTrip with effect from 30th September 2017. As per the settlement agreement, Kashyap will be under non-competition obligation and non-solicitation for the next two years.

Kashyap had assumed the role of President and Co-founder after MakeMyTrip took acquisition of Ibibo Group in October 2016. Kashyap was earlier designated as the Chief Executive Officer of the Ibibo Group. While the deal was announced in October 2016, the Competition Commission of India approved the acquisition in February 2017. MakeMyTrip owns whole of the Ibibo Group currently. Tencent and Naspers are the largest shareholders in MakeMyTrip, owning 40 percent of the stakes.

More about Ashish Kashyap

• Kashyap holds a Bachelor's Degree in Economics from Kirori Mal College affiliated under Delhi University and a Masters Degree from McGill University.
• He was a part of Times Internet for three years before moving to Google in 2005.
• He had set up Ibibo Group, which was initially created as a greenfield incubator in partnership with Naspers and later on evolved into an online travel business after his stint at Google.

Major research works on agriculture with World Bank fund to be undertaken by - ICAR

The Indian Council for Agricultural Research has decided to undertake major research works on agriculture with the World Bank funding of Rs 1100 crore. The research work will be done in 2017 itself only.
Deputy Director General of the national apex agricultural research body Narendra Singh Rathore
gave this information on the research work. He informed this in the convocation function at the Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University in Chennai on 7th September 2017.

Key information

• Rathore said that the funds will be allocated to ten each of the premier agricultural and veterinary universities in India.
• He also added that even though India ranks first in milk production in the world still the milk yield per animal is very low as compared to international standards.
• He called for research to make available enough fodder for cattle as it remains an area of concern now and also to address challenges related to the climate change.
• The Vice Chancellor of the University Dr S Tilagar in his address informed that two research centers would be established in Tamil Nadu for research to preserve and promote domestic bull species.

International Literacy Day observed globally on - 8th September 2017

The 51st International Literacy Day was celebrated across the world on 8th September 2017 with the theme ‘Literacy in a Digital World’. This day was observed by a two-day special event at UNESCO’s headquarters in Paris on 7th and 8th September 2017. It also witnessed the hosting of the 2017 UNESCO International Literacy Prize awards ceremony, which recognized and rewarded excellent literacy practices  from around the globe in connection with theme of this year.
The day was celebrated at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi with the same theme. The event included many programs like felicitation of the dignitaries and distribution of Saakshar Bharat Awards to the best performing states, gram panchayats, districts and NGOs.
Important Objective

• The annual day is an opportunity for civil society, Governments and stakeholders highlighting improvements in world literacy rates, and reflecting on the existing literacy challenges.
• The main aim of this day is to look at what kind of literacy skills are required for people to navigate smoothly through digitally-mediated societies and to explore effective literacy policies and programs that can leverage the opportunities that the digital world provides.
• The issue of literacy is a key component of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals and the UN's 2030 Agenda for the Sustainable Development.

Viveck Goenka elected as Chairman of PTI on - 7th September 2017

Viveck Goenka was unanimously elected as the Chairman of Press Trust of India (PTI) on 7th September 2017. He succeeds Riyad Mathew of the Malayala Manorama group. Before this appointment, Goenka was serving as the Vice-Chairman of PTI. N Ravi will be administering the post of Vice-Chairman of PTI. He was a former editor-in-chief of The Hindu.
More about Viveck Goenka

• He is serving as the Chairman and Managing Director of the Express Group at present, the most widespread newspaper publishing groups that publishes The Indian Express, Financial Express, Marathi daily Loksatta, Hindi daily Jansatta and various news websites.
• An engineer by qualification, Goenka is also the Director of Indian Newspaper Society (INS) and a member of Advertising Association’s India chapter.
• He served as Chairman of the United News of India previously.
• He also served the Council Member of Audit Bureau of Circulation.
• Being the Head of the non-profit Ramnath Goenka Foundation, Goenka has launched the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards which are in their 12th year now.
• Goenka is a wildlife photographer, a journalist and a keen student of conservation.

Indo-US joint military training Exercise Yudh Abhyas for 2017 to be conducted in - USA

Indo-US joint military training 'Exercise Yudh Abhyas - 2017' will be conducted at Joint Base Lewis McChord, Washington, USA from 14th to 27th September 2017 as a part of the ongoing defence cooperation between India and the United States (US). It will be the 13th edition of Exercise Yudh Abhyas that is hosted alternatively between the two countries. This Abhyas is one of the largest joint military training and defence corporation program between both the nations.

Key Highlights of the Exercise Yudh Abhyas

• It will be providing an opportunity to the armed forces of both countries to train in an integrated manner at Battalion level with joint planning at Brigade level.
• Multiple scenarios rehearsing is done during the joint exercise with a view to understand each-other’s organisational structure and battle procedures.
• This whole exercise is an ideal platform to learn from each-other’s experiences of planning and execution of operations.
• Both the armies will be jointly training, planning and executing a series of well-developed operations for threats neutralisation of varied nature.
• A joint exercise will be undertaken by both the nations in an operational setting under a UN mandate at the end.
• Expert academic and military discussions will be held by the experts from both the sides to share each other’s experiences on varied topics for the mutual benefit.

 India Paternity leave introduced by - Johnson & Johnson

Johnson & Johnson India has announced recently that new and adoptive fathers would be entitled to get eight weeks of paid leave during the first year on 7th September 2017.
Speaking on this, Head-Human Resources of Johnson & Johnson India,Indrajeet Sengupta stated that
Enhanced benefits make them attractive towards Millennials and GenZs, who are critical to their future workforce Mothers have the same benefits of up to 26 weeks of maternity leave since the past six years as per the company's Global Parental Leave approach. As per the Indian Law, there is no provision for paternity leave for private sector employees at present.

More about Johnson & Johnson

• Johnson & Johnson company was established in 1886.
• It is an American multinational pharmaceutical, medical devices and consumer packaged goods manufacturing company.
• Headquartered at New Brunswick in New Jersey, this corporation has some 250 subsidiary companies operating in 60 countries and products being sold in more than 175 countries.