07 September 2019 - Daily Current Affairs

07 September 2019 - Daily Current Affairs

1. Country's first 'Fun Zone' for children at Visakhapatnam railway station

• In a first of its kind in the Indian Railways, a paid gaming zone has been provided at Visakhapatnam railway station (platform number- 1) in Andhra Pradesh.
• The gaming zone (400sft area) is for bonafide passengers/rail users who can utilize this facility with a payment of Rs 50 per game during their visit to the railway station.
• The fun zone consists of modern gaming facilities such as virtual-real games (car racing, gun fighting etc), hit the mouse, Doraemon, Doreamanfriend, musical play, basketball and air hockey.
• It is an innovative initiative by the Waltair division of East Coast Railway (ECoR) under non-fare revenue for entertaining waiting passengers/kids.
• The project was developed under NINFRIS (New, Innovative Non-Fare Revenue Ideas Scheme) of the ministry of railways.

Source: Times of India

2. 6th India-China Strategic Economic Dialogue begins in New Delhi today

• The 6th India-China Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED) has begun in New Delhi.
• The three-day dialogue will comprise of round table meetings of joint working groups on infrastructure, energy, high-tech, resource conservation, pharmaceuticals and policy coordination.
• The Indian side will be led by Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar and the Chinese side by Chairman of National Development and Reforms Commission (NDRC).
• The SED was set up between the erstwhile Planning Commission and National Development and Reform Commission of China during the visit of Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao to India in December 2010.
• It has served as an effective mechanism for enhancing bilateral practical cooperation.

Source: AIR News

3. India among top 10 nations in gold reserves

• India has pipped the Netherlands to move into the list of top ten countries in terms of total gold reserves.
• According to the World Gold Council, India has gold reserves totalling 618.2 tonnes, which is marginally higher than the Netherlands’ reserves of 612.5 tonnes.
• International Monetary Fund (IMF) occupies the third position after the U.S. and Germany.
• Indian ranked 9th in individual country ranking, excluding IMF, and ranked 10th including IMF.

• Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) has won the IT Excellence Award, 2019 for its innovative conception by using information technology in the field of disaster management.
• The “SATARK” (System for Assessing, Tracking and Alerting Disaster Risk Information based on Dynamic Risk Knowledge) application has been chosen for the award.
• This app has been developed to provide real-time watch, alert and warning information for different natural disasters and hazards such as heatwave, lightning, agriculture risk, flood, tsunami, earthquake, cyclone or storm, road accident and snakebite.

5. Microsoft & CBSE partners to build AI learning for schools

• Microsoft India and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) have partnered to build AI learning for schools.
• They will conduct capacity building programmes for high school teachers with an aim to integrate cloud-powered technology in K12 teaching.
• The programme is for teachers of grades 8-10 and will be conducted in 10 cities across the country.
• The programme will provide teachers with better access to the latest Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools.
• It will help the teachers to integrate technology into teaching in a safe and secure manner.
• The programme will also offer teachers the opportunity to become Microsoft Innovative Educators.

Source: Live Mint

Science & Defence

6. Lander Vikram of Chandrayaan-2 loses its communication minutes before a soft landing

• The lander of the lunar craft Chandrayaan 2 has gone incommunicado just minutes before its planned soft landing near the moon's the South Pole early this morning.
• The Vikram Lander descent was initiated as planned and normal performance was observed up to an altitude of 2.1 km.
• Subsequently, the communication from the Lander to the ground stations was lost.
• The powered descent of the lander Vikram of Chandrayaan-2 began at 1 hour 38 minutes and 3 seconds.
• It was going down smoothly, closely matching with the predicted path until it came closer to 2.1 kilometres above the lunar surface.

 Obituaries

7. Zimbabwe's former President Robert Mugabe passes away.

• Former Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe (95-years) passes away in Singapore.
• He was hospitalised in Singapore for months for an undisclosed ailment.
• Robert Gabriel Mugabe was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe (from 1980 to 1987) and then as President (from 1987 to 2017).
• Mugabe was forced to step down by the military in November 2017 following nationwide mass protests.
• The country's first post-independent leader passed away nearly two years since he stepped down after 37 years in power.

Source: The Hindu

International Affairs

8. Indo-Lanka Joint Naval Exercise SLINEX 2019

• The week-long annual Joint Indo-Lanka maritime fleet exercise - SLINEX 2019 has been started.
• Sri Lankan Navy has sent two ships to India to participate in the exercise with the Indian Navy.
• The offshore patrol vessels, SLNS Sindurala and Suranimala left Trincomalee on are scheduled to arrive at the port of Visakhapatnam.
• The week-long exercise will be attended by 323 Sri Lankan navy personnel including the commanding flag officer of the naval fleet.

9. India Pavilion inaugurated at 44th Toronto International Film Festival

• The High Commissioner of India to Canada Vikas Swarup has inaugurated the India Pavilion at the 44th Toronto International Film Festival 2019.
• The inauguration of India Pavilion at TIFF will provide a platform to showcase Indian Cinema in the overseas market and facilitate new business opportunities.
• Indian movies have created a new benchmark in film making globally.
• Every Film Festival today acknowledges the enormous potential of India's soft power.
• TIFF also provides the ideal platform for the global outreach of the 50th International Film Festival of India 2019.

Source: AIR News

Sports

10. Anupama Swain wins bronze in World Martial Arts Mastership.

• Indian woman athlete Anupama Swain won a bronze medal in the recently concluded World Martial Arts Mastership Jiu-Jitsu 2019 in Chungju, South Korea.
• Now she qualified for 2022 Asian Games. she was the only Indian to participate in the championship.
• Jiu-Jitsu is a form of martial art and combat sport and it puts the entire focus on grappling with particular emphasis on ground fighting.