16-17 September 2018 - Daily Current Affairs

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) C 42 with two British earth observation satellites ‘NovaSAR’ and ‘S1-4’ from the Sathish Dhawan Space Centre Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
The satellites were put into sun-synchronous orbit just over 17 minutes after lift-off from the first launch pad.
With the successful launch of two British satellites on Sunday, the total number of foreign satellites launched by India goes up to 239.
India has been sending foreign satellites belonging to international customers from 29 countries through PSLV.
Presently there is an order of 980 crore Rupees for this fiscal and next fiscal.

Important Dates

The International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer is being observed every year on 16th September for the preservation of the Ozone Layer.
The Ozone layer is a fragile shield of gas which protects the Earth from the harmful ultraviolet radiation of the sun and thus helping preserve life on the planet.
This year, the theme for the Day is ‘Keep Cool and Carry On: The Montreal Protocol’.

Note:

The day marks the commemoration of the date of signing of the Montreal Protocol in 1987 on substances that deplete the Ozone layer.
The principal aim of Montreal Protocol is to protect the ozone layer by taking measures to control total consumption of these chemicals.

Indian five-time world boxing champion M C Mary Kom clinched her third gold medal of the year in 48 kg category.
Mary Kom was up against Kazakhstan's Aigerim Kassanayeva and prevailed 5-0 with a fine tactical performance.
Jyoti Gulia picked up the country's lone gold in 51 kg of the youth category of the Silesian Open boxing Tournament for women in Gliwice, Poland.
Former world champion Sarita Devi signed off with a bronze medal in the senior category.
In the junior competition, the Indian team produced a terrific performance to sign off with 13 medals (six gold, six silver and a bronze).

Maldives have lifted the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Cup 2018 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
The Maldives defeated India (defending champions) 2-1.
The win for the Maldives comes 10 years after their first SAFF Cup title in 2008.
Seven-time champions India had started as favorites in the summit clash. The Indian team, comprising mostly under-23 players, was the only unbeaten side in the tournament.

Note:

The South Asian Football Federation Championship (SAFF) Championship is the main association football competition of the men's national football teams governed by the South Asian Football Federation.
Seven teams (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) compete in the South Asian Football Federation Tournament (SAFE).

Simranjit Kaur (64kg), Monika (48- kg) & Bhagyabati Kachari (81- kg) claimed gold medals as Indian boxers notched up an impressive seven podium finishes at the Ahmet Comert Tournament in Istanbul, Turkey.
Simranjit defeated Turkey’s Sema Caliskan to win the Gold.
Bhagyabati was declared the most scientific boxer of the tournament.
Monika beat Ayse Cagirer (Turkey) to win the gold medal.

Rio Olympics Bronze medalist Sakshi Malik settled for a Silver medal in 62 kg category at the Medved International Wrestling tournament at Minsk, Belarus.
Sakshi lost to Hungary's Marianna Sastin, 2-6 to finish second best.
Pooja Dhanda bagged a Bronze medal in the 57 kg category.

Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge (33-year) set a new marathon world record in the German capital, Berlin clocked 2 hours 1 minute 39 second.
He broke the previous world record set in Berlin by fellow Kenyan Dennis Kimetto in 2014 by 1 minute and 18 seconds.
Kenyans Amos Kipruto finished second in 2:06:23 and Wilson Kipsang was third in 2:06:48.
For the women's race, Kenyan Gladys Cherono won in 2:18:11, followed by Ethiopians Ruti Aga in 2:18:34 and Tirunesh Dibaba in 2:18:55.

Tajinder Mukherjee has been appointed as the new chairmen-cum-managing directors of National Insurance Company Limited (NIC).
Earlier, she was the General Manager and Chief Underwriting Officer of New India Assurance.
She took charge from 14^th September.

Note:

National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) is a state-owned general insurance company in India, headquartered at Kolkata.
Its portfolio consists of a multitude of general insurance policies, offered to a wide arena of clients encompassing different sectors of the economy.

Veteran film writer Brij Katyal passed away at a hospice in suburban Bandra.
Mr. Katyal penned the story of Shashi Kapoor-Nanda hit ‘Jab Jab Phool Khile’.
Katyal also has writing credits to his name in many TV serials such as ‘Dillagi’, ‘Saans’ and ‘Pal Chhin’, both directed by Neena Gupta.

Noted Malayalam actor ‘Captain Raju’(68-year) passed away at his residence near Palarivattom, Kochi.
Some of his popular movies include Nadodikattu, Oru Vadakkan Veeragadha and Pavam Krooran.
He had also acted in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada movies.
Mr. Raju also directed two movies that include Itha Oru Snehagadha and Mr Pavanai 99.99.

The World Cultural Culinary Heritage Committee will hold the first edition of the World Heritage Cuisine Summit and food festival at the Qila Gobindgarh in Amritsar (12-14^th October 2018).
The summit will celebrate traditional cuisine with live demonstrations, food tasting, presentations, panel discussions, master classes by chefs from around the world in the holy city.
It will focus on inculcating an appreciation for food culture and traditions, good food habits and sustainable practices.
World chefs' congress hosted by the Indian Federation of Culinary Associations.

The Union Home Minister ‘Rajnath Singh’ has inaugurated the ‘pilot project’ of smart fencing’ along the Indo-Pak International Border in Jammu.
The Union Home Minister also visited Command Control Centres’ and Border Out Posts’ along the Indo-Pak International Border in Jammu sector.
The ‘smart fencing’ features will virtually make it impossible for the terrorists to breach it and infiltrate into the Indian Territory, have been installed at two places along the International Border in Jammu.

The Jaipur Literature Festival (the world’s largest free literary gathering) has begun in Houston at the Asia Society of Texas.
The festival started with a soulful music performance by Indian Sufi singer ‘Zila Khan’.
The inaugural session also saw Congress leader and writer Shashi Tharoor discuss his book “Why i am a Hindu” with writer Namita Gokhale.

Super Typhoon ‘Mangkhut’ slammed into China's southern Guangdong province.
The typhoon made a landfall into the coast of Jiangmen city in Guangdong province, packing winds up to 162 km per hour after leaving a trail of destruction in Hong Kong.
Earlier, more than 400 flights at two airports in China's southernmost island Province of Hainan were canceled and all coastal resorts and schools were closed.