9th September 2015 - Important Current Affairs updates

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International Affairs

• Today is Independence Day of Tajikistan.
• On this day Tajikistan got Independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
• Tajikistan officially the Republic of Tajikistan, is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia.
• Afghanistan borders it to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and People’s Republic of China to the east.
• Tajikistan also lies adjacent to Pakistan but is separated by the narrow Wakhan Corridor.
• Capital - Dushanbe
• Official language - Tajik (Persian)
• Currency - Somoni
• President - Emomalii Rahmon
• Prime Minister - Kokhir Rasulzoda
• Child mortality has fallen by more than 50% since 1990, a report by the World Health Organization and UN children's agency Unicef says.
• It says that 25 years ago 12.7 million children under five died, but this year the figure is projected to drop below six million for the first time.
• India is going to host 10th World Hindi Conference in Bhopal from tomorrow (10th to 12th September).
• Note : First World Hindi Conference was inaugurated on 10 January 1975 by then Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi.
• This first conference held from 10 to 12 January 1975 in Nagpur.

National Affairs

• ‎Bihar Polls 2015‬ dates Announced.
• The polling is going to be held in Five phases.
• Phase 1: 12 Oct (Monday)
• Phase 2: 16 Oct (Friday)
• Phase 3: 28 Oct (Wednesday)
• Phase 4: 1 Nov (Sunday)
• Phase 5: 5 Nov (Thursday)
• Counting of votes on 8 Nov (Sunday)
• Note : For the first time, photographs of contesting candidates would be affixed on Electronic Voting Machines
• Chief Election Commissioner : Nasim Zaidi
• The Union Cabinet gave its approval for the National Offshore Wind Energy policy today.
• This would provide the roadmap for development of such plants in the country.
• Based on this, the government will locate and identify the areas which have the potential for offshore wind energy. 
• Government will get all approvals for these areas and offer it to developers by way of bidding,”
• Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy : Piyush Goyal
• The Cabinet today permitted 100 per cent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) under the automatic route for white label ATM operations, a move that is aimed at promoting financial inclusion.
• Check FDI Limits for various sectors from here

New Appointments

• Agriculture expert Prof Ramesh Chand has been appointed full-time member of NITI Aayog by the government.
• The National Institute of Transforming India - NITI Aayog - under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been set up succeeding the erstwhile Planning Commission.
• It has noted economist Aravind Panagariya as its Vice-Chairman with economist Bibek Debroy and former DRDO chief VK Saraswat, along with agriculture expert Ramesh Chand now, as full-time members.
• J. Manjula has been named DRDO's first woman Director General and has taken charge of the Electronics & Communication Systems cluster.
• She took charge from K.D. Nayak, Distinguished Scientist & Director General, who held the additional charge of the six ECS laboratories.

Business & Economy

• The Union Cabinet today approved a proposal to increase Dearness allowance (DA) by 6%, for central government employees and pensioners.
• The new DA would be 119% from 113% earlier, and would benefit more than 1 crore central government employees. 
• It would be effective from July 1.
• The Cabinet today approved Gold Bond and Gold Monetisation schemes to reduce the
  
  metal's demand in physical form and fish out idle gold lying with households and other entities.
• Gold Bond Scheme :
• Under the Gold Bond scheme instead of buying physical gold, Indian residents can buy the gold bonds.  
• The bonds will be issued in 2, 5 and 10 grams of gold or other denominations and the tenor of the bond could be for a minimum of 5-7 years so that it protects investors from medium-term volatility in gold prices.
• The Gold Bond scheme will have an annual cap of 500 grams per person and such bonds would be issued for a period of 5-7 years.
• The Budget 2015-16 had proposed to launch a Sovereign Gold Bond (SGB) scheme to develop a financial asset as an alternative to gold.
• Gold Monetisation Scheme :
• People holding idle gold can deposit it in banks for either short, medium or long term.
• The gold monetisation scheme was also announced in the Budget for 2015-16. 
• The gold mobilised under it, will be used in auctioning and replenishing RBI's gold reserves.
• Besides, it would be utilised in making India Gold Coin, which will have the Ashok Chakra, and even for lending to jewellers so that gold need not be imported. 

Awards & Honors

• President Pranab Mukherjee today presented the Gandhi Peace Prize 2014 to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) at a function in Rashtrapati Bhavan.
• Instituted by the government of India in 1995 on the occasion of 125th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the annual Gandhi Peace Prize is given to individuals and institutions for their contributions towards social, economic and political transformation through non-violence and other Gandhian methods. 
• Anirudh Kathirvel, a nine-year-old Indian-origin boy is Australia's new spelling champion after he won the 50,000 dollars 'The Great Australian Spelling Bee' competition.

Sports

• Australian veteran wicketkeeper Brad Haddin has announced his retirement from international and first-class cricket.
• Iran beat India 3-Nil in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
• US Open 2015
• Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis enter Semi-finals of the women's doubles event.
• Serena Williams defeat sister Venus to enter Semis in women's singles category.

Read Current Affairs updates of 8th September 2015 from here

Read Current Affairs updates of 7th September 2015 from here

Read more Daily Current Affairs updates from here
 

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