National Current Affairs
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Madras was ranked the best higher education institution in the country for the third year in a row by the Education Ministry, which released its India Rankings 2021 under the National Institutional Ranking Framework. The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru ranked second.
- Among universities, IISc was ranked one, followed by JNU, BHU.
- Among engineering institutions, IIT-Madras remained number one.
- Miranda House in Delhi remained the best college, followed by Lady Shri Ram College for Women and Loyola College.
- For management institutions, Indian Institute of Management (IIT)-Ahmedabad was ranked one.
The 6th edition of Exercise Peaceful Mission is being hosted by Russia in the Orenburg Region of South West Russia. The aim of the exercise is to foster close relations between SCO member-states and to enhance the abilities of the military leaders to command multi-national military contingents.
According to Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, the Centre will concentrate on building air connectivity between India and countries that are part of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
- The Commonwealth of Independent States include Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine.
According to a National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), there was a 28% increase in the registration of cases in 2020 compared to 2019, primarily owing to the violations of COVID-19 norms across the country.
- Among all States, Tamilnadu recorded the highest crime rate (Crimes per one lakh people).
- Among Union Territories, Delhi recorded the highest crime rate.
- Crimes against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes were increased.
- There was a 8.30% decline in cases of crime against women.
- The cases of sedition declined.
- Human trafficking cases declined.
- The States reporting high charge-sheeting rate under IPC crimes were Gujarat (97.1%), Kerala (94.9%) and Tamil Nadu (91.7%).
India recorded 50,035 cases of cyber crime in 2020, with a 11.8% surge in such offences over the previous year.
- In terms of motive, the maximum 60.2% cyber crimes lodged in 2020 were done for fraud.
- Among States, the maximum 11,097 cyber crime cases were reported in Uttar Pradesh followed by Karnataka (10,741), Maharashtra (5,496), Telangana (5,024) and Assam (3,530).
- The crime rate was highest in Karnataka with 16.2 % followed by Telangana (13.4%), Assam (10.1%), Uttar Pradesh (4.8%) and Maharashtra (4.4%).
Sansad TV, a news channel combining the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha TV, was launched.
The Cabinet has approved several measures to extend a lifeline to the cash-strapped telecom sector:
- Four – year moratorium for dues of telecom service providers. However they will have to pay interest.
- 100% foreign direct investment through automatic route in the sector, from the existing limit of 49%.
- For customers, shifting from prepaid to postpaid and vice-versa will not require fresh KYC.
- Spectrum auctions to be normally held in the last quarter of every financial year.
The Supreme Court has held that magistrates cannot favour the probe agency to extend the period of investigation in the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) cases at will.
- Under UAPA, the investigation has to be completed within 90 days. If not, the accused is entitled to default bail.
Current Affairs Dose : First Week Of September 2021
International Current Affairs
Biden administration, on September 15, announced a new trilateral security partnership for the Indo-Pacific, between Australia, the U.K. and the U.S. (AUKUS). As part of this, Australia will acquire nuclear-powered submarines with help from the U.K. and the U.S.
U.S. President Joe Biden would host the first-ever in-person Quad summit on September 24 which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia and Japanese premier Yoshihide Suga.
South Korea’s antitrust regulator has fined Alphabet Inc’s Google $176.64 million, saying the U.S. technology giant abused its dominant market position to restrict competition in the mobile operating system (OS) market.
Business NEWS
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a Rs. 26,058 crore production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for auto, auto-components and drone industries to enhance India’s manufacturing capabilities. The PLI scheme will incentivise the emergence of advanced automotive technologies’ global supply chain in India.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on Tuesday announced a project to link their respective fast payment systems — Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and PayNow — to facilitate instant, low-cost, cross-border fund transfer. The linkage is targeted to be operationalised by July 2022.
The discussion on FTA — Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) — was taken up during the “2+2” discussion between Foreign and Defence Ministers of India and Australia.
U.S.-headquartered Ford on Thursday announced restructuring of the Indian operation under which the company will stop manufacturing vehicles at its two plants (Chennai, Sanand) in the country.
Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (TCS) said it has been selected by Transport for London (TfL) to design, implement and operate a new smart mobility system for administration of taxi and private- hire vehicles in London.
The Tatas have submitted a financial bid for acquiring Air India, which the government plans to privatise.
- The government had decided to sell 100% stake in Air India along with low-cost subsidiary Air India Express. Besides, it will sell its entire stake of 50% in joint venture ground-handling company Air India SATS Airport Services Pvt. Ltd.
- Founded in 1932 as Tata Airlines, the carrier was renamed as Air India in 1946 and nationalised in 1953.
Sports NEWS
- Sri Lanka pace veteran Lasith Malinga on Tuesday announced his retirement from all forms of cricket.
- ICC women’s ODI rankings: India skipper Mithali Raj was joined at the top by South Africa opener Lizelle Lee.
- Former Australia Test opener Matthew Hayden and ex-South Africa pacer Vernon Philander have been appointed as coaches of the Pakistan team for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup in the UAE.
- Former captain Ramiz Raja was unanimously elected as the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for a three-year term.
- India pacer Jasprit Bumrah has gained a place to be ninth in the latest ICC Test rankings for bowlers. Australia pacer Pat Cummins leads the bowling standings while premier India spinner R Ashwin remains second. West Indies’ Jason Holder is the leading all-rounder.
- Daniil Medvedev has won the U.S. Open. Novak Djokovic’s quest for a record 21st major title that would have completed the calendar-year Grand Slam collapsed at the final hurdle .
- Emma Raducanu beats Leylah Fernandez to win U.S. Open. British teenager Emma Raducanu completed the greatest underdog title triumph in tennis history , becoming the first qualifier to capture a Grand Slam title with a straight-set defeat of Canada’s Leylah Fernandez in the US Open women’s final.
Sci-Tech NEWS
The observations of the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter payloads have yielded discovery-class findings, according to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
- The discovery of Chromium and Manganese on the lunar surface, which are available in trace quantities, by the CLASS payload was announced.
- The observations of microflares of the Sun, during the quiet-Sun period, which provide important clues on the coronal heating problem of the Sun, were made by the XSM payload.
- The first-ever unambiguous detection of the hydration features of the Moon was achieved by Chandrayaan-2 with its infra-red spectrometer payload IIRS, which captured clear signatures of Hydroxyl and water-ice on the lunar surface.
In a major discovery, footprints of three species of dinosaurs have been found in the Thar desert in Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer district, proving the presence of the giant reptiles in the western part of the State, which formed the seashore to the Tethys Ocean during the Mesozoic era.
NASA’s newest Mars rover (Perseverance) has successfully collected its first rock sample for return to Earth.
Person/Places in NEWS
- Ravi Capoor is the CEO of newly launched Sansad TV.
- United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights : Michelle Bachelet (She is in news after her comments on Kashmir).
- Justice M. Venugopal has been appointed as the Acting Chairperson of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT).
- Oscar Fernandes (80), a former Union minister and Rajya Sabha member, died.
- Bhupendra Patel is the 17th chief minister of Gujarat, replacing Vijay Rupani.
- Governor of Nagaland R.N. Ravi was transferred as the next Governor of Tamil Nadu.
- Banwarilal Purohit has been appointed as the Governor of Punjab.
- Lt. Gen. Gurmit Singh (retired), a former Deputy Chief of Army Staff, has been made the Governor of Uttarakhand.
- Assam Governor Jagdish Mukhi has now been given the additional charge of Nagaland.
- Foreign Minister of Australia, Marise Payne and Minister of Defence of Australia, Peter Dutton : Participated in the inaugural ‘2+2’ Ministerial meeting between India and Australia.
- Arun Kumar Singh took charge as the new Chairman and Managing Director of BPCL .
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