17 September 2019 - Daily Current Affairs

1. Sheikh Hasina receives Dr Kalam Smriti International Excellence Award 2019

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina received the Dr Kalam Smriti International Excellence Award 2019 in Dhaka for her contribution in fostering cooperation between India and Bangladesh.
Chief Adviser of the Dr Kalam Smriti International Advisory Council and former Ambassador T.P. Sreenivasan handed over the award to Sheikh Hasina.
The award citation lauded Prime Minister Hasina for her vision of a peaceful and prosperous South Asia, free of tension, conflicts and terrorism.
The Presidents of the Maldives, Ghana and Mauritius earlier received the prestigious award since its introduction in 2015.

Note:

The award has been instituted in the memory of former President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.
The award is given every year to honour statesmen or leaders who have shown excellence in respective fields to achieve the best for their countries.

Source: DD News

2. Bangladesh’s bamboo-made school wins Aga Khan Award for Architecture

Bangladesh’s bamboo-made school built by Arcadia Education Project at South Kanarchor in Keraniganj has won the 2019 Aga Khan Award for Architecture.
The award was given away in Kajan, the republic of Tatarstan for the Arcadia Education Project in South Kanarchor of Bangladesh.
The project involved the construction of a school in an area which is underwater during the monsoon months.
The architect of the project Saif Ul Haque designed a school which remains on the ground during the dry season and floats when the area is submerged in water during monsoon
The winners that include five other structures in Bahrain, Palestine, Russia, Senegal and the United Arab Emirates will share USD 1 million between them.

Note:

The Award was established by the Shia Ismaili community’s spiritual leader Prince Karim Aga Khan in 1977 to identify and encourage building concepts that successfully addressed the needs and aspirations of communities in which Muslims have a significant presence.

Obituaries

3. Renowned writer Sivaraman Cheriyanad passes away

The renowned Malayalam writer Sivaraman Cheriyanad (78-years) passed away in Kerala.
Sivaraman started his career as an upper primary school teacher and was a recipient of the National Teachers Award in 1989.
He received the Abu Dhabi Sakthi Award in 1988 and the A.P. Kalakkad Award in 2009.
He received Kerala Sahithya Akademi scholarship in 1990-91 for his study on the works of writer Parappuram.

4. Former AP Speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao passes away

Former Andhra Pradesh Assembly Speaker and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader Kodela Sivaprasada Rao (72-years) passed away at a city hospital in Hyderabad.
Kodela reportedly attempted suicide at his residence in the city.
He was six-time MLA from Narsaraopet constituency in Guntur district.
In 2014, post-bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, Mr. Rao was made the first Speaker of the Assembly.

Source: The Hindu

National Affairs

5. India offers 1,000 PhD fellowships to ASEAN students at IITs

Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' (HRD Minister) and S Jaishankar (External Affairs Minister) have jointly launched a major programme offering 1,000 PhD fellowships to ASEAN students at IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology) in India.
The country's partnership with South-East Asian nations has developed historically through a shared quest for knowledge.
It is only natural that knowledge remains the fundamental driver of people to people ties.
Those selected can complete their PhD with Government of India funding at par with Indian counterparts.
The funding will cover the entire cost of study and living expenses for up to 5 years of a PhD programme.
The admission portal for the programme is being executed by IIT Delhi.

Note:

In January 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced 1000 fellowships for ASEAN citizens to pursue PhD programmes at an IIT of their choice.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a regional intergovernmental organization comprising ten countries in Southeast Asia.

Source: AIR News

6. India’s first central police university to come up in Greater Noida

The country’s first central police university will be set up by the Union home ministry off the Yamuna Expressway in Greater Noida.
Union Government had given in-principle approval for the university and a 100-acre plot has been identified in Sector Techzone for it.
The land earmarked for the university had been allotted to an IT company.
The Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) confirmed that the land had been allotted to the Centre at a cost of Rs 372 crore.
The university will offer undergraduate and postgraduate courses on policing, internal security, cybercrime and forensic sciences.

Source: Times of India

7. Piyush Goyal launches Steel Import Monitoring System (SIMS)

Piyush Goyal (Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Railways) and Hardeep Singh Puri (Minister of State for Commerce & Industry) jointly launched the Steel Import Monitoring System (SIMS) in New Delhi.
In this system, the importers of specified steel products will register in advance on the web portal of SIMS, providing the necessary information.
SIMS has been developed, in consultation with the Ministry of Steel, on the pattern of US Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) system.
SIMS will provide advance information about steel imports to Government and stakeholders (steel industry (producers), steel consumers(importers)) for effective policy interventions.
The ministry has also launched Common Digital Platform for issuance of electronic Certificates of Origin (CoO).
The platform will be a single access point for all exporters, for all Free Trade Agreements (FTAs)/Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) and for all agencies concerned.

Source: Economics Times

8. I&B Minister Prakash Javadekar flagged off Jaldoot vehicle in Pune

Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Information & Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar flagged off a Jaldoot vehicle a travelling exhibition in Pune, Maharashtra.
The van carrying the ‘SAVE WATER’ message will travel to different parts of the state.
The Union Government has launched the ‘Jalshakti Abhiyan’, a water conservation campaign focusing on 1592 stressed blocks in 256 districts across the country.

9. National Centre for Clean Coal Research & Development inaugurated at Bengaluru

Union Minister of Science & Technology, Dr. Harsh Vardhan has inaugurated National Centre for Clean Coal Research and Development as a national-level consortium on clean coal R&D, led by Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru.
National Centre for Clean Coal Research and Development (NCCCR&D) has been set up by the Ministry of Science & Technology as a national level consortium on clean coal R&D, led by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc)-Bengaluru.
Dr. Harsh Vardhan also dedicated an Interdisciplinary Centre for Energy Research (ICER) to the Nation.
ICER is India’s first of its kind centre equipped with state-of-art facilities for conducting wide spectrum of energy research by knowledge network of elite researchers.
The Central Government through the Department of Science & Technology has set up the National Centre for Clean Coal Research and Development as a national-level consortium on clean coal R&D, led by IISc.

Source: The Hindu Business Line

International Affairs

10. President Ram Nath Kovind accorded ceremonial welcome in Slovenia

President Ram Nath Kovind arrived in South Central European country of Slovenia after concluding his visit to Iceland and Switzerland.
President Kovind was accorded a ceremonial welcome by President Borut Pahor of Slovenia.
India and Slovenia signed seven agreements and MoUs in diverse fields in the presence of President Ram Nath Kovind and President Pahor.
The President will lay a wreath at the memorial of the war victims.
This is the first-ever visit by any Indian President to Slovenia after it gained Independence in 1991.

Note:

The Republic of Slovenia is a country located in southern Central Europe at a crossroads of important European cultural and trade routes.
It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and the Adriatic Sea to the southwest.
The capital and largest city is Ljubljana.

11. CM Pema Khandu dedicates Dikshi Hydroelectric Project to people of the state

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu dedicated the Dikshi Hydroelectric Project to the people of the state.
The 24 Mega Watt Hydroelectric Project has been installed at Dikshi Village in West Kameng District in Arunachal Pradesh.
It is a Run-of-the-River project constructed on the river Phudung by Devi Energies Private Limited.

Sports

12. Steve Smith creates a record of scoring most runs in a series this century

Australian batsman Steve Smith has become the highest run-scorer in a Test series of this century.
Steve Smith finished the Ashes series 2019 with 774 runs from the 4 matches at an average of over 110 with 3 centuries and 3 half-centuries.
Earlier, Smith went past his own record of scoring 769 runs against India during the 2014-15 season.
Smith has made his comeback in the international cricket in the ICC Men's World Cup after serving a 12 months suspension for his involvement in the ball-tampering scandal at Newlands in March 2018.

Most Test runs in a 4 matches series:

829 - Viv Richards (in 1976)
774 - Sunil Gavaskar (in 1971)
774 - Steve Smith (in 2019)
769 - Steve Smith (in 2014/15)

13. Spain beats Argentina to win Basketball World Cup

Spain defeated Argentina by 95-75 to win the Basketball World Cup held in Beijing, China.
France went on to win the bronze medal for the second consecutive time after defeating Australia.
With 32 teams, this was the biggest Basketball World Cup ever.
The tournament also served as qualification for the 2020 Summer Olympics, which took the top two teams from each of the Americas and Europe, and the top team from each of Africa, Asia and Oceania, alongside the tournament's host Japan.

Note:

The 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup was the 18th tournament of the FIBA Basketball World Cup for men's national basketball teams.
The next world cup will be held in 2023 in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines.