CURRENT AFFAIRS 28/09/17

TODAY 28/09/17

• DURGA ASHTAMI
• Shaheed Bhagat Singh Jayanti

1-Chief Executive of Afghanistan calls on the President

• Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, Chief Executive of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, called on the President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, at Rashtrapati Bhavan
• Welcoming Dr. Abdullah to India, the President said that India considers him a very close friend. We admire the selfless leadership that he has given Afghanistan through difficult times.

2- Prime Minister meets Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, Chief Executive of Afghanistan

• Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi met the Chief Executive of Afghanistan, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah  who is in India on a two-day working visit. 
• Recent announcement of a New Development Partnership during the meeting of the bilateral Strategic Partnership Council in New Delhi 
• MoU for Technical Cooperation on Police Training and Development was exchanged 

3-ICAR WORKSHOP  

• Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) for the first time, a national level workshop has been organized to prepare a roadmap for agricultural knowledge management on September 27-28, 2017. ' 
• Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister, Shri Radha Mohan Singh addressed the workshop.
•  58 percent population of the country still relies on agriculture for livelihood. , the agriculture sector is still the top employer.
•  a vast network of agricultural research and education thrives in the country under the leadership of ICAR.
•  More than 102 Agricultural Research Institute, 73 Central and State Agricultural Universities and more than 690 Krishi Vigyan Kendras are working under it and researching for the development of agricultural techniques, high-yielding crops and development of livestock and other activities.  
• Shri Singh said that the government has taken several initiatives in recent times fot the development of agriculture. It includes Farmers Portal, Kisan Call Center, Fasal Bima Portal, Rice Export App, Pusa Krishi App, Agro Collect- Krishi Gyan App, e-NAM Portal, etc.
•  The two-day workshop organised by the Directorate of Knowledge Management in Agriculture, ICAR, at Pusa, New Delhi,

  4-National Tourism Awards 2015-16

• The Airports Authority of India’s Srinagar International Airport, Jammu & Kashmir and Swami Vivekananda Airport, Raipur, Chhattisgarh have been jointly conferred with the prestigious National Tourism Awards 2015-16. 
• The President of India Shri Ram Nath Kovind, presented the award for Best Airport under ‘rest of India’ category at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi on the occasion of World Tourism Day on 27th September
• Annually in recognition of their performance towards comprehensive development of tourism in the country. 
• The Ministry of Tourism presents this awards.
• Tourism Awards segments  
• Travel
• Tourism 
• Hospitality industry
•  It is the first time that two airports jointly have been selected as best airports for their innovative style of functioning, pro-environment initiatives and passenger friendly approach.  

5-“Swacchta Hi Seva"-Nukkad Natak

• Department-Department of Food & Public Distribution
• Minister-Shri Ram Vilas Paswan
• Secretary Ms Preeti Sudanthe 
• Campaign to sensitize all about their responsibilities to keep the country clean 
• Cleanliness drive is being carried out at headquarters of Ministry in “Krishi Bhawan”, “Swacchta Hi Seva” campaign is also being organised at many public places by the Ministry’s officials to create awareness in public
• Dr. Mahesh Sharama, Minister of State (Independent charge) for Culture participated in the campaign “Swachhta Hi Sewa” at Humayun’s Tomb-New Delhi
• Shri Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi participates in “Swachhta Hi Seva” programme in New Delhi
• Course for “sanitary supervisors” to be started in Garib Nawaz Skill Development Centres, being established across the country

6- Mou Between Indian Army and Jamia Millia Islamia University  

• Indian Army and Jamia Millia Islamia University (JMIU), New Delhi recorded their mutual intent for academic collaboration, technical advancement and progression of Army Personnel
• The University agreed to recognise the in-service courses run by the Army. 
• This would facilitate admission of defence personnel in second or third year Graduation/Post Graduation/Doctorate programme through the medium of distance learning. 

7-Yudh Abhyas – 2017  

• Exercise Yudh Abhyas is an annual bilateral exercise designed to strengthen the US and Indian Army partnership. T
• Training was focused on specialised drills and procedures involved in counter insurgency, counter terrorist operations in an urban environment.
• Field training comprised of platoon level training on basic manoeuvres, which then progressed towards company level operations. 
• Helicopter based mobilisation of teams for quick response was also practised.
• Indian contingent got a first-hand experience of operating with the ‘Stryker’ Infantry Combat Vehicle 
• US Army gained an insight on the training of an infantry unit in a mountainous terrain. 
• The exercise was concluded on 28/09/17

8-190^th Gunners Day Celebrated

• Regiment of Artillery, one of the largest Arms of the Indian Army celebrated 190^th Gunners’ Day on 28 September 2017.
• The Gunners’ Day is celebrated to commemorate the raising of the first Indian Artillery Unit namely, 5 (Bombay) Mountain Battery on this day in 1827.

9-DCQA Celebrates its Diamond Jubilee

•  Directorate General of Quality Assurance (DGQA) has completed 60 years of its existence
• DGQA firmly supporting the combat effectiveness of the India Army and Navy while handling a very large bandwidth of technology and an inventory of equipment

10“Prakriti Khoj”-QUIZ competion

• Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has extended the qualifying round of “Prakriti Khoj”- the online Environment quiz, upto October 8, 2017
•  The quiz, a new initiative of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change is providing a unique platform to the school students to develop a scientific temperament, especially in the field of environment.

11-India and Norway health cooperation  

• Ministry of Health and Family Welfare signed a Letter of Intent with the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to extend the cooperation within health sector through the Norway India Partnership Initiative (NIPI) for a period of three years. 
• National Health Policy 2017 for achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
•  The cooperation shall focus on global health issues of common interest 
• Areas
•  reproductive
• maternal
• new-born
• child
• adolescent health
• health system strengthening

• Indian Government’s Intensification Plan for Accelerated Maternal and Child Survival in India as the starting point.   
• The partnership was based on India's health initiative, the National Health Mission (NHM), four high focus states - Bihar, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan 
• Phase I (2006-2012) 
• Home-based new born care (HBNC), 
• Yashoda through State health system
• Establishing Sick Newborn Care Units (SNCU)
• Techno managerial support
• Providing strategic support for immunization and Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiatives.  

12- NDMA's 13^th Formation Day

Theme- School Safety 

NDMA-National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)

• Shri Kiren Rijiju  valedictory address at the 13th Formation Day function of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) 
• 10 point-agenda for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) given by our Prime Minister during the Asian Ministerial Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) last year
• National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has conducted training for earthquake preparedness at schools across the country and hundreds of school children have been sensitized
• National Disaster Management Guidelines on Boat Safety and Cultural Heritage Sites & Precincts, and a study report on Chennai Floods of 2015 were also released 
• Central Building Research Institute (CBRI) gave a detailed presentation on retrofitting of unsafe school buildings 

 13-100 New Suburban Rail Services In Mumbai 

• With these additional services, the total suburban local train services in Mumbai of Western Railway and Central Railway put together will increase from existing 2983 services to 3083 suburban services.
• Introduction of these new suburban services will benefit 77 lakh commuters travelling daily over Mumbai suburban network by reducing congestion and providing faster commute

15- India International Science Festival 2017: ‘Science for New India’

•  India has declared 2010-20 as the ‘Decade of Innovation’. 
• The Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Earth Sciences,  and Vijnana Bharati (VIBHA) have come together to organize The India International Science Festival (IISF) every year, since 2015 to encourage scientific temper among the masses and showcasing Indian contribution in the field of S&T over the years.
•   The previous two editions of IISF held at New Delhi 
• The 3^rd edition of IISF 2017 will be held in Chennai during 13-16 October, 2017 at various venues which include Anna University, Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI), Structural Engineering Research Centre (SERC), National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) and IIT-Madras 
• ‘Science for New India’ 
• aims to provides a platform to young students, scientists and technocrats from across India for the exchange of knowledge & ideas in 'Swachh Bharat Abhiyan', ‘Swasth Bharat Abhiyan’, 'Make in India', 'Digital India’, ‘Smart Villages’, 'Smart Cities’, 'Namami Gange', 'Unnath Bharath Abhiyan', etc.

 16- superannuation of doctors

• The retirement age of superannuation of doctors working in hospitals in 11 Major Ports has been enhanced to 65 years from the existing 60 years by the Union Cabinet
•  As there is shortage of doctors in Major Port Trust’s health institutions, efforts are already on to recruit doctors to bridge the shortage. 
• This would also help in improving doctor-patient ratio in 11 Major Port Hospitals.  

17-Geo-Spatial Technologies for Namami Gange Programme

• National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), which is a part of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has been supporting NMCG to use geospatial technology for water quality monitoring
• hydrological monitoring and evaluation, geomorphological monitoring and evaluation, bioresources monitoring and evaluation, comprehensive geospatial database, develop mobile application for enabling community participation and to co-ordinate necessary linkages with other agencies
• Support to NMCG are generation of comprehensive GIS database, water quality assessment using satellite data of main Ganga from Kannauj to Varanasi,
• real time water quality data visualization, high quality multispectral satellite image, aerial topographical survey, 
• urban sprawl change mapping, non-point source pollution assessment