Current affairs : September 9, 2016
President approves GST Bill
- GST Bill has been ratified by the Parliament, as well as 16 states.
- The GST bill met the requisite percentage of 50% for its ratification and government plans to roll out the new indirect tax regime from 1 April, 2017.
AP passes resolution supporting GST Bill
The Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly has passed a resolution supporting the Constitution Amendment and the Goods and Services Tax Bill.
- GST is a comprehensive tax on the manufacture, sale and consumption of goods and services at a national level.
Cleanest Districts in
India
The ‘Swachh Survekshan’ for rural India was
recently released.
A total of 22 hill districts and 53 plain
areas were assessed under the Gramin Swachh Survekshan launched in May 2016.
The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation had commissioned Quality Council
of India (QCI) to carry out the assessment.
- Mandi (Himachal Pradesh) and Sindhudurg (Maharashtra) are the cleanest districts in India.
- Mandi was judged as the cleanest district in “Hills” category and Sindhudurg as the cleanest in the “Plains” category.
- Districts of Sikkim, Shimla (Himachal Pradesh), Nadia (West Bengal) and Satara (Maharashtra) have also featured at the top of the index.
Cleanest state in India:
Sikkim has been adjudged the cleanest state in the list on the condition of sanitation in rural areas of 26 states. The results of survey carried out last year by National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) was released recently.
- Jharkhand has occupied the last position.
- Sikkim scored 98.2% on a scale of 100. Kerala scored 96.4 while neighbouring Tamil Nadu notched up just 39.2.
GSLV Successfully
Launches India’s Weather Satellite INSAT-3DR
In its tenth flight (GSLV-F05) conducted
recently, India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, equipped with the
indigenous Cryogenic Upper Stage (CUS), successfully launched the country’s
weather satellite INSAT-3DR, into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO).
- This was the first operational flight of GSLV equipped with CUS and the fourth to carry the indigenous CUS.
- This flight was the third consecutive success achieved by GSLV carrying indigenous CUS.
Delhi HC quashes
appointment of 21 AAP MLAs as Parliamentary Secretaries
The Delhi High Court has set aside the AAP
government’s order appointing 21 MLAs as Parliamentary Secretaries since it
lacked the approval of the Lieutenant Governor (LG), the administrative head of
Delhi.
- The Election Commission will now decide whether to continue hearing a petition asking for the disqualification of the legislators.
Popularise municipal
bonds:
U.K. Sinha, chairman of Securities and
Exchange Board of India (Sebi), has urged the country’s municipal bodies to
improve their accounting standards and suggested that other financial
regulators allow regulated entities to invest in municipal bonds.
ICICI Bank introduces 'Software Robotics' to improve banks productivity
ICICI Bank, has announced the deployment of 'Software Robotics' in over 200 business processes across various functions of the bank.
- The software robots will reduce the response time to customers by up to 60%.
NASA launches first mission to collect samples from asteroid
The US space agency, NASA has launched its first mission to collect samples from an asteroid and return them to Earth in hopes of learning more about the origins of life.
- The unmanned spacecraft, known as OSIRIS-REx, blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station today.
- The 800 million dollar mission will travel for two years on a journey to Bennu, a near-Earth asteroid about the size of a small mountain.
International Literacy day:
Celebrated on September 8. This year marks the 50th anniversary of International Literacy Day and UNESCO is celebrating it under the banner “Reading the Past, Writing the Future”.
- Global Alliance for Literacy (GAL) has been launched as part of International Literacy Day.
- This is a new and ambitious initiative to make all major stakeholders pull together to promote literacy as a foundation for lifelong learning.
- It aims to mobilize investment and promote innovative initiatives, with a focus on gender and new information and communication technologies.
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OP Kohli sworn in as MP Governor
Senior BJP leader Om Prakash Kohli sworn in
as the 26th governor of Madhya Pradesh.
- Kohli, who is also the Gujarat Governor, has been given the additional charge of Madhya Pradesh after Ram Naresh Yadav's tenure in office got over on Wednesday.
Stuart Blackburn's book based on
Arunachal wins MM Bennetts Award
Author Stuart Blackburn's "Into the
Hidden Valley", a book based on Apatani tribe of Arunachal Pradesh, won
the MM Bennetts Award for Historical Fiction 2016 in the UK.
PepsiCo's Indra Nooyi only
Indian-origin woman in Fortune list
PepsiCo CEO and Chairman Indra Nooyi was
ranked 2nd on the list of Fortune's 51 Most Powerful Women list.
- The list is topped by Mary Barra, CEO and Chairman of General Motors.
Ex-IAS officer J Satyanarayana
appointed part-time UIDAI chief
Former IAS officer J Satyanarayana has
appointed as part-time chairperson of Unique Identification Authority of India
(UIDAI).
- The post has been lying vacant following resignation of Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani’s resignation in 2014.
