Daily Current Affairs 12th September, 2019

Daily Current Affairs 12 September 2019 for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.

NATIONAL NEWS

India to raise target of restoring degraded land to 26 million hectares by 2030: PM

India will raise target of restoring land with degraded status from 21 million hectares to 26 million by 2030. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said this while addressing the 14th Conference of Parties (COP14) of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification(UNCCD) in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh.

PM Modi launches National Animal Disease Control Prog in Mathura

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the National Animal Disease Control programme as well as the National Artificial Insemination Programme in Mathura, Uttra Pradesh.

• In a key initiative aimed at doubling farmers income, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the National Animal Disease Control Programme for eradicating Foot and Mouth Disease and Brucellosis in livestock.
• The project will cost ₹12,652 crores for a period of five years till 2024.
• The programme aims to control the livestock diseases by 2025 and eradicate these by 2030

PM launches Kisan Maan Dhan Yojana in Ranchi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Kisan Maan Dhan Yojana (KMDY) in Ranchi, Jharkhand which will secure the lives of 5 crore small and marginal farmers by providing a minimum pension of Rs 3,000 per month to those who have attained the age of 60.

• The scheme has an outlay of Rs 10,774 crore for the next three years.
• All the small and marginal farmers who are currently between the age of 18 to 40 years are eligible to avail the benefits.

PM inaugurates India’s second Multi-Modal Terminal in Jharkhand

Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated to the nation India’s second riverine Multi-Modal terminal (MMT) built at Sahibganj in Jharkhand.

• It has been built at a cost of 290 crore rupees in a record time of about two years. 
• The terminal at Sahibganj will open up industries of Jharkhand and Bihar to the global market and provide Indo-Nepal cargo connectivity through waterways route.
• Earlier, in November, 2018 Modi had inaugurated the MMT in Varanasi.

Madhya Pradesh’s Happiness Dept. to open Time Bank

The Madhya Pradesh government’s Happiness Department plans to set up a Time Bank that would lend currency to an hour, which could be exchanged to learn a new skill without the need for any paper money.

• Whenever a bank member needs a service or wants to acquire a skill, say gardening or playing a guitar, she could exchange a credit, worth an hour, with another member knowing the skill.

Srivilliputtur ‘palkova’ gets GI tag

The famous Srivilliputtur palkova, a sweet made from cow milk and sugar, has got the Geographical Indication (GI) tag from the Geographical Indications Registry in Chennai. The palkova is manufactured in and around the municipality of Srivilliputtur in Virudhunagar district.

India ranked fourth in global malaria cases in 2017: Lancet report

India ranked fourth in the global incidence of the deadly mosquito-borne disease malaria in 2017, with four per cent of the cases worldwide reported in the country, according to a report published in The Lancet journal.

• Of the 219 million cases of malaria reported globally in 2017, nearly 10 million were from India, making it the fourth most affected by the disease.
• Nigeria tops the list.

DRDO successfully test-fires indigenous anti-tank missile for Army

In a major boost to the indigenous missile development programme, India successfully test-fired the Man Portable Anti Tank Guided Missile (MP-ATGM) from a firing range in Andhra Pradesh’s Kurnool.

• This was the third successful test-firing of the 100 per cent indigenous ATGM which is being developed for the infantry battalions of the Indian Army who would use them for taking out the enemy tank and other armoured vehicles during war times.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Indian business and innovation summit held in Singapore

A business and innovation summit was held in Singapore on September 9 and 10 to mark 100 days of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s second term in office and take economic ties between India and Singapore to a new level.

• About 90 speakers from government, business and technology sectors from India and Singapore participated in 25 sessions during the summit titled ‘India-Singapore: The Next Phase.’

7th RCEP Ministerial Meeting held in Bangkok

The 7th Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) ministerial meeting of 10 members of ASEAN countries and their six FTA (free trade agreement) partners was held in Bangkok, Thailand.

• Along with 7th RCEP Ministerial Meeting 7th East Asia Economic Ministers Summit and 16th ASEAN India Economic Ministers (AEM) meeting were also being held in Bangkok.

Samsung unveils Good Vibes, Relumino tools for deaf-blind, visually impaired

Tech major Samsung has unveiled two apps – Good Vibes and Relumino – to provide communication tools to the deafblind and people with low vision in the country.

• Good Vibes has been developed in India, and uses Morse code to convert vibrations into text or voice and vice-versa. A deafblind person uses a combination of dots and dashes to send their messages, which are received as text or voice on the caregiver’s app.
• The second app – Relumino – was developed by Samsung employees as part of the company’s C-Lab programme globally. It is a visual aid application for people with low vision and enables them to see images clearer by magnifying and minimizing images, highlighting the image outline, adjusting colour contrast and brightness, and reversing colour.

BANKING & FINANCE

IDBI to launch co-branded credit card with LIC

To further strengthen its relationship with parent Life Insurance Corporation of India, IDBI Bank is planning to launch a co-branded credit card, which will be marketed to customers, agents, and employees of the corporation and its subsidiaries.

• The co-branded credit card will be launched in association with LIC’s wholly-owned subsidiary, LIC Credit Cards Services (LIC CSL), before the festival season of Diwali gets underway.

SPORTS

Esow Alben bags gold medal at Track Asia Cup

Indian cyclist Esow Alben won a gold medal at the Men’s Elite Keirin event at Track Asia Cup in New Delhi.

• Also, Amarjeet Singh Nagi clinched a bronze medal in the same event.

England greats Boycott, Strauss given knighthoods

England cricket greats Geoffrey Boycott and Andrew Strauss have been given knighthoods by Theresa May in her resignation honours list.

• Boycott and Strauss both received the honour for their services to sport after outstanding careers for England.

APPOINTMENTS

P K Sinha appointed Principal Advisor to PM

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) approved the appointment of Pradeep Kumar Sinha as Principal Advisor to Prime Minister with effect from September 11, 2019. The veteran bureaucrat was earlier made OSD in Prime Minister’s Office on August 30.

PK Mishra Appointed Principal Secretary to PM Modi

Pramod Kumar Mishra has been appointed as the new Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He succeeds Nripendra Misra who stepped down recently.

AWARDS

UAE confers Zayed II Order on outgoing envoy Navdeep Singh Suri

Outgoing India’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Navdeep Singh Suri has been conferred with the Order of Zayed II, the highest civilian honour in the country, by President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

‘PadMan’ Arunachalam Muruganathan to be awarded by Women Leaders Global Forum

Arunachalam Muruganathan, the real ‘PadMan’ and a social entrepreneur, has been selected to receive the 2019 ‘Power, Together Award’ by the Women Leaders Global Forum (WLGF) at Reykjavik, Iceland.

• The WLGF and award event is co-hosted by Women Political Leaders (WPL), and the Government and co-chaired by leaders of the OECD, World Bank, World Economic Forum and others.
• Akshay Kumar-starrer ‘PadMan’ which released in 2018 was a biopic on Arunachalam, an entrepreneur from Tamil Nadu, who invented low-cost sanitary pads to raise awareness about menstrual hygiene in rural areas.

OBITUARIES

Senior journalist Dilip Satpathy passes away at 56

Senior journalist Dilip Satpathy from Odisha has passed away at the age of 56. He had been suffering from bone marrow cancer

Congress leader Goverdhan Kalla passes away

Veteran Congress leader and former MLA Goverdhan Kalla passed away after a prolonged illness in Jaisalmer. He was 89.

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