. Current Affairs week 39 Pdf.

20 Sep 26 September

Best of Current Affairs Desk

28 September 2015

IN THIS WEEK

Dear Readers,
What's New

nirdeshak.com

GSTN - INFOSYS
MICROSOFT - OFFICE 2016
APACHE AND CHINOOK
8TH RUGBY WORLD CUP
JAGMOHAN DALMIYA
FULL DEMOCRATIC CONSTITUTION IN
NEPAL
KOLKATA POLICE MUSEUM

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Information Technology
GSTN - Infosys
Infosys was awarded the contract for building the
interface for implementing the proposed Goods
and Services Tax (GST.
To Know: The Goods and Services Tax Network
(GSTN), which was set up to provide IT
infrastructure and services to the centre and state
governments, tax payers and other stakeholders for rolling out GST, has
awarded the contract worth Rs. 1,380 crore to Infosys to build the system and
maintain it for five years after becoming operational. Infosys will now build the
IT interface for implementing the GST, which will make the country a single
market by doing away with cascading effects of multiple levies that will help
the taxpayers in core functions such as registration, filing of return and
payment of tax. It will also connect database of states with the centre and
provide information technology infrastructure for seamless implementation.

Microsoft - Office 2016

To Know: Office 2016 is the latest addition to Microsofts
cloud-based subscription service Office 365. Office 2016
brings new versions of desktop apps for Windows including
Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook and Access and allows
people to collaborate and work together. The new Office 2016
apps are available in 40 languages and require Windows 7 or
later versions. Starting 22 September, Office 365 subscribers can choose to
download the new Office 2016 apps as part of their subscription.

Google Gmail service

Google Gmail service Block and Unsubscribe
To Know: Using the new features, users can block specific email addresses
in Gmail on the web and later on Android mobile operating system. In June
2015, Google had introduced the Undo option that allows users to cancel
delivery of an email within 30 seconds of hitting the send button, helping them
avoid misdirected or inappropriate emails. Gmail is one of the most popular
email services with more than 900 million users globally.

Instagram
Photo-sharing website Instagram recently surpassed microblogging site Twitter.
To Know: Facebook-owned popular photo-sharing website
Instagram added 100 million new users in the past nine months
and thus surpassed the micro-blogging site Twitter which
currently has 316 million monthly active users.More than 80 million photos are
shared on the service every day, up from 70 million in June 2015.Instagram now has
over 400 million active users, out of which more than 75% live outside US. Of
Instagrams 100 million newest members, more than half live in Europe, Asia, Brazil,
Japan and Indonesia.

internet.org
Free Basics by Facebook
TO Know: Free Basics by Facebook is the new name given to the
internet.org initiative which includes the provision of free basic Internet
services apart from other projects such as enhancing connectivity. It is worth
mentioning that internet.org had come under criticism that it had violated the
concept of net neutrality.

Defence
Apache and Chinook
The Union Cabinet on 22 September 2015 cleared
the purchase of two helicopter makes from Boeing
Co. of the United States.
To Know: Under the deal India will purchase 22
Apache attack and 15 heavy lift Chinook helicopters
from Boeing. The total cost of this deal is $2.5 billion.
This deal thus gave further boost to the strengthening ties between India and the US.
India seeks to replace the militarys ageing Soviet-origin choppers with these
helicopters.

What is IACCS?
IAFs Integrated Air Command and Control System
(IACCS).
To Know: Integrated Air Command and Control System
(IACCS) will help in integrating all ground and air
sensors to get a composite air situation picture of
the country. The Air Headquarters of the IAF will get a
composite air situation picture since it will be integrating
Air Force, Army, Naval and civilian radars.
The IAF currently has five sector headquarters (nodes) of communication and
the plan is to have four more, besides establishment of 10 sub-nodes and upgradation of the entire system.

Sports
Davis Cup - Belgium
Belgium - created history by entering the finals of the
Davis Cup for the first time in last 111 years.
To Know: Belgium reached its first Davis Cup final
since 1904 on 20 September 2015 as Steve Darcis
defeated Federico Delbonis in the decisive fifth
match against Argentina to win 3-2. Darcis, who lost
his opening singles match and was defeated in
doubles as Argentina built a 2-1 lead, finally grabbed a point with a 6-4, 2-6, 7-5, 7-6
(3) win at the Forest National in Brussels. Argentina, which has never won the Davis
Cup, was looking for a fifth final in the team competition. On the other hand Britain
defeated arch-rivals Australia 3-1 to reach their first Davis Cup final since 1978.
Britain last won the prestigious tennis team title way back in 1936. Belgium will now
host Britain in the final from 27 to 29 November 2015 in a repeat of their 1904 final
when the Britons won 5-0 at Wimbledon.

Davis Cup India

India has been pushed again to the Asian-Oceania
group
Czech Republic defeated India 3-1 in the Davis Cup
World Group playoff tie on 20 September 2015, which
was played at Delhis RK Khanna Stadium.
To Know: India lost the tie by 1-3 to Czech Republic
as Czech no. 1 Jiri Vesely defeated Indian no. 1 Yuki Bhambri by 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 to
give his country an unassailable lead. The defeat means that India will remain in
the Asia-Oceania Group 1 for next years competition while the top seeds and threetime Champions Czech Republic regained their place in the elite-16 nation World
Group. The doubles loss for the fancied Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna a day
earlier on 19 September severely hurt Indias chances in the tie. For India, the lone
win of the tie was brought by SomdevDevvarman, who had defeated Jiri Vesely in
the first round. India was trying to re-enter the World Group for the first time since
March 2011 when they had lost to Serbia 1-4 in the first round.

Robert Lewandowski - History in 9 minutes

To Know: Robert Lewandowski (Poland) created a footballing history
for the German football league (Bundesliga) as he scored record five
goals in nine minutes to give his team Bayern Munich a 5-1 win over
Wolfsburg on 22 September 2015. It is worth mentioning that the
visitors Wolfsburg were leading 1-0 when Lewandowski was sent as a
substitute. He scored his five goals in just around nine minutes,
including a hat-trick in just 3 minutes and 19 seconds, to completely change
the complexion of the match. His haul was the first time a player has come off
the bench to score five goals in a Bundesliga game.

England 8th Rugby World Cup

England is hosting the 8th Rugby World Cup in which 20
countries are participating.
To Know: England was chosen the host of this event during
July 2009, when it defeated the rival bids from Italy, Japan
and South Africa. The final will be played in Londons Twickenham Stadium.
The 20 nations participating in the Rugby World Cup 2015 are England,
Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Italy, Romania, Georgia, France, Japan, South
Africa, Namibia, Argentina, Canada, United States, Uruguay, Australia, Fiji,
New Zealand, Samoa and Tonga.

Sourav Ganguly
Saourav Ganguly will succeed late Jagmohan Dalmiya as the
president of Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB).
To Know: Sourav Ganguly is the former India cricket captain. He is
currently the joint-secretary of CAB. He has served in this role for 14
months. According to the announcement, Jagmohan Dalmiyas son
Abhishek will also be given prominent position in CAB.

Personality
Viola Davis
American actress Viola Davis - became the first African-American
to win the Best Actress Emmy award
To Know: Viola Davis made history on 20 September by
becoming the first African-American to win the leading actress
(Best Actress) Emmy award. She won this award for her role of a
defense lawyer in the drama series How to Get Away with Murder. On the other
hand Game of Thrones broke Emmy history by picking up record breaking 12
awards at the ceremony held in Los Angeles on 20 September. Emmy Award is the
most prestigious award associated with the television industry.

Jagmohan Dalmiya
Jagmohan Dalmiya, the President of the Board of Control for
Cricket in India (BCCI).
He is known as the person who understood the potential of India
becoming a global powerhouse of cricket commercially.
To Know: Although JagmohanDalmiya joined the BCCI in 1979,
he took first official designation in the entity in 1983 as its
treasurer. In 1997, he was elected unanimously as the president
of the International Cricket Council (ICC). In 2001, he defeated AC Muttiah to
become the BCCI president. However, he was suspended from the BCCI in 2006
and also ousted from his home association, the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB).
Dalmiya won a long legal battle and then again got his place in CAB. In March 2015,
he was again elected BCCI President in the shadow of the IPL spot-fixing scandal.
He was associated with Kolkata-based MN Dalmiya Constructions, a construction
major established by his father. He will forever be remembered as the man who
made Indian cricket a self-sufficient entity and engineered a shift of power base from
its spiritual home at Lords to Kolkatas Eden Gardens. He was given a state funeral
by the West Bengal Govt. on 21 September 2015 with his body kept for more than
two hours Eden Gardens.

Alexis Tsipras
Popular Unity Pary
Greek voters returned Alexis Tsipras to power with a comfortable win
for his Syriza party in the snap election held on 20 September 2015.
The snap election was called after Syriza lost its majority in August
2015 as some of his MPs defected in protest at the signing of an
unpopular new financial bailout deal with international creditors.
These leaders had formed their own new party, Popular Unity Party which, however,
failed to enter countrys Parliament.
To Know: Alexis Tsipras Syriza won just over 35%, slightly down on its previous
result. It won 145 seats out of a total of 300 seats in the Greek parliament. That is
again short of a majority, but Syriza will form a coalition with the nationalist
Independent Greeks. Conservative New Democracy won 28% with 75 seats. The
far-right Golden Dawn, which is set to be the third biggest party, won 7% of the vote
compared with 6.3% in the election in January when Tsipras was first elected. But
the biggest disappointment was for the Popular Unity Party, which was formed by
Syrizas MPs, who had defected from the party protesting against Tsipras policies.
These elections were called in August, when his party split over his reversal on the
86 billion euro bailout, which he had accepted despite having won a referendum
mandate to reject similar terms.

International
Full Democratic Constitution in Nepal
A history was created in Nepal as it adopted its
new Constitution on 20 September 2015. It is
the first full democratic Constitution in
Nepals history and Nepali citizens became
sovereign in the true sense
To Know: It is worth mentioning that Nepal
previously had four constitutions enacted respectively in 1959, 1962, 1990 and 1999.
But all these constitutions were made at the rulers disposal and overshadowed by
the interests of the monarchy and the army. The new constitution, which took more
than seven years to draft, was overwhelmingly endorsed in the Constitutional
Assembly, a constitution-making body comprised of 601 elected lawmakers. Nepal
was declared a secular state in 2006 after the end of decade-long civil war between
Maoist insurgents and the state that claimed nearly 16,000 lives. A Constituent
Assembly was elected in 2008 after the abolishment of the countrys 240-year-old
Hindu monarchy. The lawmakers from Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and UCPNMaoist supported the draft constitution. The voting was boycotted by smaller
opposition parties. As many as 25 lawmakers belonging to pro-Hindu and promonarchist RastriyaPrajatantra Party Nepal cast their vote against the bill. The
smaller opposition parties representing the Madhesi and Tharu indigenous groups
have been the most vocal opponents of the new constitution, and the past few weeks
have seen violent protests and multiple resultant deaths. On 20 September, this new
constitution came into effect as President Ram BaranYadav announced the
promulgation of new constitution.
Some main features of Nepali Constitution:

The constitution defines Nepal as a secular country, despite widespread

protests for it to be declared a Hindu state.

The constitution is the first in Asia to specifically protect the rights of lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgender communities. The state and the judiciary are
prohibited from discriminating against sexual and gender minorities.

The constitution splits Nepal into 7 federal provinces

According to this constitution, the rhododendron is the national flower of

Nepal, and the cow remains the national animal after seeing off a charge from
several lawmakers proposing the one-horned rhino.

Security Bill
Security Bill allows Japans military to fight abroad for the first time
since World War II
Japans Parliament on 19 September 2015 passed which contentious security
bill.
To Know: The bill that was passed by the Japanese Parliament on 19
September loosens post-World War II constraints on use of force by the
military to its own self-defence only. The bill was passed by the more powerful
lower house in July 2015 while the upper house passed in on 19 September
thus turning the bill into a law. Passing of this bill could see Japanese troops
fight abroad for the first time in 70 years. The law will allow the military to
defend Japans allies even when the country isnt under attack, work more
closely with the U.S. and others. They will also be able participate more fully
in international peacekeeping.

Sustainable Development Goals

The 193 member states of the United Nations on 25
September 2015 adopted new Sustainable Development
Goals to replace the expiring Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs).
To know: The new goals primarily expect to reduce world
poverty, improve health and education and quell climate
change. These 17 new broad goals and 169 specific
targetsare expected to be achieved by year 2030. The
goals are estimated to cost the world between $3.5 trillion
and $5 trillion a year between 2016 and the end of 2030.
They replace the eight Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) adopted at a UN summit in 2000, and which expire at the end of
2015. The earlier Millennium Development Goals relied more on wealthy
nations helping poorer ones, and were devised by people working for thenU.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. It is worth mentioning here that despite
significant progress, the only one of those MDGs achieved before this year
was halving the number of people living in extreme poverty. That was due
primarily to economic growth in China.

Place
Kolkata Police Museum
In a landmark development, the West Bengal
Government declassified the 64 files associated
with NetajiSubhash Chandra Bose.
TO Know: The files containing 12,744 pages
were declassified by West Bengal government in
Kolkata in presence of the family members of
Subhash Chandra Bose on 18 September 2015.
The family members have been demanding that
information on Bose, who went missing
mysteriously 70 years ago, be made public. Subhas Chandra Bose, Netaji to his
followers, was a Congress leader and twice elected its president. He quit the
Congress before Independence over differences with Jawaharlal Nehru and
Mahatma Gandhi and launched an organised military resistance against the British
after raising the Indian National Army. Netaji was said to have died of third degree
burns on 18 August 1945, two years before India won freedom, after his plane
crashed in Taiwan. His family and followers never believed that he died in that crash.
Many believe the files could hold the key to the mystery of Netajis disappearance in
1945.

Mina
700 persons were killed and hundreds other were injured in a
stampede outside the holy city of Mecca during the annual Hajj pilgrimage in
Saudi Arabia on 24 September 2015.
To Know: The crush happened in Mina, a large valley about three miles from
Mecca. Mina houses more than 160,000 tents where worshippers spend the
night during the annual pilgrimage of Hajj. The crush happened on Street 204,
one of the two main arteries leading through the camp at Mina to Jamarat,
where pilgrims ritually stone the devil by hurling pebbles at three large pillars.
The worst haj-related tragedy had taken place in 1990 when 1,426 pilgrims
were killed in a huge stampede in Mecca.

Award
Marathi Film Court
Which film was on 23 September 2015
chosen as Indias official entry for 2016
Oscar Awards?
To Know: Chaitanya Tamhanes critically
acclaimed Marathi film Court was on 23
September selected as Indias official entry
to the Best Foreign Language category of
the 2016 Academy Awards (Oscars 2016).
This film was selected from a shortlist of 30 films by a Film Federation of India (FFI)
jury headed by film-maker Amol Palekar. It narrates story of the trial of an ageing folk
singer accused of performing an inflammatory song that may have incited a sewage
worker to commit suicide in a manhole to expose the flaws of the Indian judicial
system. Court thus became the third Marathi film after Sandeep Sawants Shwaas
(Breath) in 2004, and PareshMokashis Harishchandrachi Factory (Harischandras
Factory) made on the life of DadasahebPhalke in 2009, to be selected as Indias
entry to the Academy Awards. The film won two coveted awards the Horizons
award for Best Film which carries a 100,000 $ cash prize and the Lion of the Future
award for a Debut Film at the Venice International Film festival in 2014 among
others.

Vyas Samman
Dr. Kamal Kishore Goenka
TO Know: Dr. Kamal Kishore Goenka was awarded the prestigious Vyas
Sammans 24th edition at a ceremony held on 22 September. He received
this award for his work Premchand ki Kahaniyon ka Kaal Kramanusaar
Adhyayan. It is a critical analysis of the work Hindi literatures doyen Munshi
Premchand. Vyas Samman has been given by the K.K. Birla Foundation
every year since 1991.

National
N. Chandrababu Naidu
N. Chandrababu Naidu Headed the - The NITI Aayogs
Committee of Chief Ministers on Swachh Bharat
Mission, on 23 September 2015 suggested levying cess
on telecom services, petrol and minerals like coal and
iron ore to fund the cleanliness programme.
To know: The Committee of Chief Ministers on Swachh Bharat is a sub-group
established with the objective of giving push to the Swachh Bharat Mission in the
states. It is headed by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister. The committee also
recommended that the government should extend an aid of Rs. 15,000 per toilet.
Pitching for these sops, Naidu told the meeting that the cess is necessary to mobilise
the required money in the next five years for the Swachh Bharat Mission.

Economically Backward Classes (EBCs)

Rajasthan government on 22 September 2015 passed first-of-its-kind of
legislative bill that provides 14% reservation for economically backward
classes (EBCs).
To Know: The 14% reservation for economically backward classes (EBCs)
was provided through the Rajasthan Economically Backward Classes
(Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutes in the State and of
Appointments and Posts in Services under the State) Bill 2015. Apart from the
bill to provide 14% reservation for EBCs, the Rajasthan Assembly also
passed another bill that provides 5% reservation quota for Gujjars and some
other communities under special backward classes (SBC). With passing of
these two bills, the total reservation quota in Rajasthan neared 68%, thus
surpassing the 50% limit set by the Supreme Court. But the state government
plans to ask Parliament to include the Rajasthan quota formula in the Ninth
Schedule of the Constitution for it to pass judicial scrutiny. States such as
Tamil Nadu already have quotas beyond 50%, but are included in the Ninth
Schedule.

Telecom
Uninor to Telenor
Telecom operator Uninor on 23 September 2015 changed its
name to Telenor, the name of its Norway-based parent
company. This became possible as the Indian partner Unitech
Wireless in the venture has completely exited from the
operations.
To know: The Norway-based Telenor entered India through a joint venture with
Unitech Wireless, which was branded as Uninor. Unitech completely exited from the
operations during 2014, with the Telenor group increasing its stake in the Indian
entity to 100%. The Telenor group has mobile operations in 13 markets in the Nordic
region, Central and Eastern Europe and in Asia. Telenor India operates in six circles
Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh East and West and
ranks fourth in revenue and customer market share. It has also changed its tagline
to Ab life full paisa vasool from SabseSasta.

Corporate
Martin Winterkorn
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Volkswagen resigned
from his post in the wake of the recently surfaced
scandal over falsified emissions tests involving the
company.
To Know: 68-year old Martin Winterkorn was CEO of
Germany-based Volkswagen AG for the last 8 years. The
company, which also owns the Audi and Porsche brands, had just achieved
Winterkorns long-standing goal of overtaking Toyota to become the biggest
automaker three years ahead of target. But his position became increasingly
precarious since the scandal broke on 18 September 2015 when U.S. regulators
said the company had deliberately programmed some 500,000 diesel-powered
vehicles to emit lower levels of harmful gases in official tests than on the roads. The
crisis escalated on 22 September when Volkswagen revealed it had found significant
emissions discrepancies in 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide. The companys
stock price has crashed, causing big losses for investors.

Banking
Strategic Debt Restructuring Scheme
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 24 September 2015 notified new norms
pertaining to change in ownership of borrowing entities. This change will
give banks more flexibility to bring in a change in ownership of
borrowing entities which are under stress
To Know: The move would also enhance banks ability to bring in a change in
ownership of borrowing entities which are under stress primarily due to
operational/ managerial inefficiencies despite substantial sacrifices made by
the lending banks. However, the new norm come with an important condition
the banks should clearly establish that the acquirer does not belong to the
existing promoter group. Further, the new promoter should have acquired at
least 51% of the paid up equity capital of the borrower company.

MAT Exemption
The Finance Ministry on 24 September 2015 announced MAT
exemption to foreign companies with no permanent
establishment (PE) in India with effect from assessment year
2001-02
To Know: This means companies not having a permanent establishment or
place of business in India would not come under MAT with effect from April
2001. With this exemption the Finance Ministry thus cleared more air from the
issue of Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) on foreign portfolio investors (FPIs).
This is also expected to come as a big relief for Mauritius-based Castleton
from the Supreme Court so far as MAT is concerned. Apart from this, the MAT
will also not apply on a foreign company belonging to a country having a
double tax avoidance agreement (DTAA). The ministry will propose an
amendment with retrospective effect to Section II5 JB of the Income Tax Act,
in this regard. The move came after Finance Minister ArunJaitley had
promised investors at a gathering some days back that pending tax disputes
would be resolved soon.

Environment
Car free day
Gurgaon, the city started to observe a car-free day every Tuesday starting 22
September 2015.
TO Know: From 22 September Haryanas Gurgaon city will observe car-free
day every Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. to encourage people to use
alternative modes of transport. The idea is to give an experience of car-free
streets to the people and persuade them to use sustainable modes of
transport. The Municipal Council of Gurgaon (MCG) and a private company
Shuttl.com have agreed to provide shuttle services on car-free days at major
metro stations like HUDA City Centre, Sikanderpur, IndusInd Cyber City and
Kapashera border for the major IT hubs. It will save an average of 2.6 kg of
greenhouse gas emissions per person per day. The decision to observe
Tuesdays as car-free day was taken at meeting held earlier on 15 September.
It involved all important stakeholders involved in the initiative Haryana
Urban Development Authority (HUDA), the Municipal Council of Gurgaon
(MCG), the Gurgaon Police and the Deputy Commissioner of Gurgaon.