7th October 2015 - Important Current Affairs updates

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International Affairs

• Today (7th October) is World Day for Decent Work .
• During this day trade unions, union federations and other workers associations develop their actions to promote the idea of Decent Work. Actions vary from street demonstrations to music events or conferences held in many countries.
• Theme : End Corporate Greed

National Affairs

• Second phase of Mission Indradhanush to achieve full immunisation of children below two years being implemented from today.
  
• The week-long programme is being implemented in 352 districts of the country.
• The objective of the Mission is to fully immunize children who are either un-vaccinated or partially vaccinated against seven diseases which include Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus and Hepatitis B.
• The mission had been launched in December last year with the aim of expanding immunization coverage to all children across India by 2020.
• Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare - J P Nadda
• The Centre today cleared the National War Memorial and National War Museum to be constructed at the India Gate circle in the national capital.
• The proposal, to build the country’s first national memorial for soldiers who laid down their lives in post Independence, has been pending since the 1960s.
• The project, estimated to cost around Rs. 500 crore, would be completed in five years.
• The memorial will be in the in memory of 22,500 soldiers who sacrificed their lives while in the line of duty post-independence.
• Supreme Court refused to allow voluntary use of Aadhaar card for welfare schemes other than PDS and LPG
• Currently, the card can be used only for availing subsidies under the public distribution system and purchasing kerosene and cooking gas and that, too, voluntarily.
• Note : The government's ambitious UID scheme has been challenged in court over privacy concerns since it uses biometric data like fingerprint and iris scans.
• The National Green Tribunal today directed all commercial vehicles entering Delhi to pay an environmental compensation charge in addition to the toll tax.
• Important Point to Note : In May, Delhi was ranked in a World Health Organisation study as the worst in the world among 1600 cities for levels of PM2.5 or particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns.
• Nearly 66,000 heavy commercial vehicles enter Delhi daily.
• The union cabinet approved the setting up of Three new All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in as many states.
• The new AIIMS would be set up at Nagpur in Maharashtra, Manglagiri in Andhra Pradesh and Kalyani in West Bengal under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY), which involves financial implications of Rs.4,949 crore.

Business & Economy

• IMF says, India's economic growth rate this year to be at 7.3 percent as compared to China's 6.8 percent.
• IMF - International Monetary Fund
• Headquarters - Washington, D.C., United States
• Managing Director - Christine Lagarde

Books & Authors

• The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee received the first copy of the coffee table book 'The Nationalist President Pranab Mukherjee' edited by Prabhu Chawla at a function in Rashtrapati Bhavan today.

Science & Technology

• The Indian Navy has commissioned Indian Naval Ship (INS) Astradharini.
• The vessel will be used to carry out technical trials of underwater weapons and systems developed by Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL), a Naval Systems laboratory of DRDO. 
• Astradharini is a replacement vessel of the erstwhile Astravahini.
• Earlier last month, the Indian Navy had also commissioned INS Kochi, the largest India-made warship.
• INS Kochi is the Indian Navy's second warship with multi-function surveillance and threat alert radar.

Awards & Honors

• Three scientists share Nobel prize in Chemistry 2015 for discoveries in DNA repair.
• Quick Facts about Nobel Chemistry Prize 2015 Awardees
• Tomas Lindahl
• From :  Sweden
• Currently working at :   Francis Crick Institute, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, Clare Hall Laboratory, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom
• Prize Share : 1/3
• He won this award for :  mechanistic studies of DNA repair
• Paul Modrich
• From :  USA
• Currently working at :  Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Durham, NC, USA, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA
• Prize Share : 1/3
• He won this award for :  mechanistic studies of DNA repair
• Aziz Sancar
• From :  Turkey
• Currently working at :  University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
• Prize Share : 1/3
• He won this award for :  mechanistic studies of DNA repair

 Careers

• Centre has appealed to the Chief Ministers of all States to take steps to abolish interview for recruitment to lower posts.
• Minister of state for Personnel and training Dr. Jitendra Singh has written a letter to the Chief Ministers requesting them to lead this initiative in their respective States.
• Mr Singh said, the government’s view is that the interviews should be discontinued for recruitment to junior level posts where personality or skill assessment is not absolutely required.
• He said, the objective behind abolition of interviews for such posts is that it will curb corruption, ensure more objective selection in a transparent manner and substantially ease the problems of the poor and resource less aspirants.

Sports

• Russia’s Sergey Karjakin wins the 2015 Chess World Cup, hosted at Azerbaijan.

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