Daily Current affairs - September 4th, 2017 for all competitive exams
Nirmala Sitharaman has become the first woman to become a full-time defence minister of the country. Sitharaman will now be a member of the crucial Cabinet Committee
on Security.
- 1st full time and overall 2nd woman
to become defence minister: Sitharaman is the
second woman to take charge of the crucial ministry as Indira Gandhi, as
the prime minister, had also held the portfolio in the ’70s.
- Members of the Cabinet Committee on Security include the prime minister, home
minister, external affairs minister and the finance minister.
No separate labour rights for
transgenders
The NDA government has
dropped plans to recognise transgender persons as the ‘third gender’ in the
country’s labour law framework.
- In 2014, the Supreme Court had for the first time
recognised transgender persons as the ‘third gender’ and asked the Centre
and the States to give them equal opportunities in education and
employment. But now this reform, part of the Labour Ministry’s draft law
to codify wages and aimed at protecting transgender workers from
discrimination, has been shelved following reservations expressed by the
Law Ministry.
- The Wages Code Bill was drafted under an exercise to
rationalise the country’s 44 labour laws into four codes covering all the
regulations pertaining to wages, industrial relations, social security and
safety, and health and working conditions.
Tigers to make a comeback in Buxa reserve
Buxa Tiger Reserve in West Bengal has been identified for the tiger augmentation
programme by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
- Tigers from the forest reserves of Assam, which have
a similar flora and fauna, will be introduced in Buxa. The reserve is
located very close to Assam’s Manas Tiger Reserve, and some experts
believe that animals from Manas often come to Buxa using Bhutan as a
corridor.
5 banks of BRICS nations sign pact for credit lines
Five banks of the BRICS Bank Cooperation Mechanism have agreed to establish
credit lines in the national currencies and cooperate on credit ratings.
- Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES), Vnesheconombank,
Export-Import Bank of India, China Development Bank and Development Bank
of South Africa (DBSA) have signed an agreement to establish credit lines
in the national currencies, as well as a memorandum of cooperation on
credit ratings.
- The agreement on credit ratings allows the ICM
members to share information about internal credit ratings assigned to
clients, as well as rating assessment and assignment methodologies.
- The use of local currencies will help promote
mutually beneficial economic cooperation, mitigate currency risks,
increase trade, and facilitate companies in accessing the BRICS markets.
Nepal-India joint military exercise begins
India and Nepal today began
their joint military exercise in the western part of the Himalayan country,
focusing on counter-terrorism and forest fighting operations.
- The exercise - Surya Kiran -
was being participated by around 300 troops each side in Rupandehi
district. Senior Nepal Army officer Rajendra Karki inaugurated
the exercise. The 12th edition of Nepal-India joint military exercise will
conclude on September 16.
- According to the Indian Army
officials, the Surya Kiran is the largest joint exercise in terms of troop
participation.
China Wants India To Go Slow On Asia-Africa Corridor
China has initiated a move to persuade India to go slow on the Asia Africa Growth Corridor, which New Delhi has formulated along with Japan.
- Beijing is now trying to persuade India and South
Africa to merge the project with the BRICS platform and keep its rival,
Japan, out of it. Once merged into BRICS, India’s influence on Africa
through the project will also get diluted.
- The Asia Africa Growth Corridor project was planned
by India and Japan with the active support of the African Development
Bank and several African countries including South Africa who wish to
reduce their dependence on Beijing.
Ahmedabad gets status of India’s first World Heritage
City by UNESCO
The commercial capital of Gujarat, Ahmedabad, has been formally accorded
the status of India’s first World Heritage
City by UNESCO. In July, the UN agency had inscribed Ahmedabad as India’s first
World Heritage City at a meeting held in Poland.
- The honour makes the walled city of Ahmedabad
the first city in India, and the third in Asia, to
be on the list. The other two cities are- Bhaktpur in Nepal
and Galle in Sri Lanka.
- India is second after China in terms of number of
world heritage properties in ASPAC (Asia
and Pacific) region, and overall seventh in the world.
- India now has a total of 36 World Heritage
Inscriptions — 28 cultural, 7 natural and 1 mixed
site.
Shri Piyush Goyal takes charge
as Minister of Railways
Shri Piyush Goyal took over as the New Minister of Railways in Rail
Bhavan today i.e.04th September, 2017. He is also Minister of Coal.
- Prior to this, he was Minister of State (Independent
Charge) of Ministries of Power; Coal; New and Renewable Energy &
Mines.
- Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, Minister of Commerce
and Industry & former Minister of Railways was specially present to
hand over the charge to Shri Piyush Goyal.
NASA astronaut back after
clocking 665 days in space
Astronaut Peggy Whitson
returned to Earth, wrapping up a record-breaking flight that catapulted her to
first place for U.S. space endurance.
- Ms. Whitson’s 665 days off the planet—288 days on
this mission alone—exceeds that of any other American and any other woman
worldwide.
- Ms. Whitson was the last one carried from the Soyuz.
She immediately received a pair of sunglasses to put on, as she rested in
a chair on the barren, wind-swept Kazak steppes.
NRAI applauds Rathore
appointment
The National Rifle Association
of India (NRAI) was pleased with the appointment of Olympic silver medallist in
double trap, Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, as Union Sports Minister.
- Apart from the Athens Olympics silver in 2004, the first ever individual Olympic silver for India, Rathore had also won the World Championship bronze at Nicosia in 2003.
