1.
Shape the future with elderly: Celebrate Int'l Day of Older
Persons
i.The day
is celebrated by raising awareness about issues affecting the elderly and to
appreciate the contributions that they make to society.
ii. The
day’s theme for 2013 is ‘The Future we
want: What older persons are saying’.
iii. The day serves as a
moment to pause and reflect upon the opportunities and challenges of ageing
populations in the 21st century and promote the development of a society for
all ages.
iv. By 2050, the number of older persons will be twice the number of children
in developed countries, and the number of children in developing countries is
expected to double" - International Day of Older Persons is observed on
October 1 annually.
2. Ranjan Mathai Appointed as India's High Commissioner
to United Kingdom
i. Former Foreign Secretary Ranjan
Mathai appointed as India's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.
ii. He will succeed noted economist and
veteran diplomat Dr Jaimini Bhagwati.
iii. Ranjan
Mathai joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1974 and has served in Indian
embassies in Vienna, Colombo, Washington, Tehran and Brussels.
iv. Ranjan Mathai served
as Foreign Secretary for a period of two years and handed over the charge to
his successor Sujatha Singh in July 2013.
3. Ravi Shankar Narsimhan was presented with Friendship
Award
i. A
senior Indian journalist, Ravi Shankar Narsimhan, on 29 September 2013 was
presented with Friendship award by
China-the highest honor given to foreigners.
ii. Narsimhan is the executive
editor in the overseas edition of the Beijing based China Daily. Ravi Shankar hails from Andhra Pradesh.
iii. Narsimhan has worked with China
Daily for 11 years. He was given the award for helping China better tell its
stories to the outside world. He is one among the 50 foreign experts from 20
countries and diverse fields, who have been rewarded.
iv. The Friendship Award is an annual
award given by the Chinese government to honour outstanding foreign experts in
China.
4.
Growth will exceed 5% in 2013-14: FinMin
i. Finance Ministry on Tuesday said economy will grow by
over 5 percent in the current fiscal on back of high farm productivity and
investments and promised more steps to boost growth.
ii. "It (GDP) will
be more than 5 per cent, it cannot be less than 5 per cent," Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram said when
asked about forecast by private analysts that growth could be lower than 5
percent in 2013-14.
iii. The Q2 GDP growth should be better than first quarter... We
need to incentivise growth... As far as the interest rate is concerned, it is
completely the domain of RBI and Governor will take a call on that,"
Mayaram said.
iv. The Current Account Deficit (CAD), Mayaram said, was
expected to be less than USD 70 billion or 3.7 percent of GDP for the full
fiscal.
v. The economy grew at a four year low of 4.4 percent in the
April-June quarter of current year. In 2012-13 fiscal the growth was at a
decade low level of 5 percent.
vi. RBI is scheduled to announce its second quarter policy
review on 29th October.
5.
India-Mozambique trade could double by 2016: Anand Sharma
i. Trade
between India and Mozambique could double to $3 billion by 2016 from the
current level of $1.28 billion.
ii. This was stated by
Commerce Minister Anand Sharma during his meeting with Mozambique's Industry
and Trade Minister Armando Inroga in the Mozambique
capital Maputo,
iii. Sharma was on a
two-day visit to that country September 27-28 during which he also met Prime
Minister Alberto Vaquina of Mozambique.
iv. Bilateral trade has
doubled from $631.76 million in 2011-12 to $1.28 billion in 2012-13, surpassing
the one billion US dollars bilateral trade target set during Mozambique
President Armando Guebuza's visit to India in 2010.
v. India
has extended Lines of Credit (LoC) worth $640 million to Mozambique. Three LoCs worth
$216.4 million for development work in Mozambique were signed during the visit
of Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur in July.
vi. India is the 8th largest foreign investor in Mozambique with
total investments estimated at more than $500 million.
Note: i. Armando Emílio Guebuza is a Mozambican politician
and the President of Mozambique since 2005.
ii. Alberto Vaquina is the Prime
Minister of Mozambique.
iii. Capital of Mozambique - Maputo
iv. Currency of Mozambique - Mozambican metical
6.
RBI
to infuse Rs10,000 cr to ease market liquidity
i. The Reserve Bank of India will
infuse 10 thousand crore rupees by purchasing government securities on 7
October, to ease liquidity in the market.
ii. In a release issued
yesterday, RBI stated that based on the assessment of prevailing and evolving
market conditions, it has decided to conduct open market operations by
purchasing government securities for an aggregate amount of 10 thousand crore
rupees.
iii. Open market
operations refer to the sale or purchase of government securities with the
objective of adjusting rupee liquidity conditions in the market.
7. Phone lines allotment: CBI books Dayanidhi Maran,
i. The CBI has filed a
case against the then Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran and BSNL officials for
allegedly allotting 300 high-speed telephone lines to Maran’s residence in
Chennai which were extended to his brother’s channel.
ii. CBI sources said an
FIR was filed following its preliminary enquiry when it found enough material
to proceed with a regular case against Maran and BSNL officials — the then CGM
K. Bramhanathan and MP Veluswami.
iii. The sources said
these 323 residential lines were allegedly in the name of BSNL General Manager
connecting the Boat House residence of Maran with the office of Sun TV through
a dedicated underground cable during his tenure as Telecom Minister.
iv. The probe had
started in 2011, nearly four years after getting complaints that a ‘virtual’
telephone exchange was allegedly set-up at the then Telecom Minister’s for
facilitating data transfer from Sun TV.
v. The CBI in its report
to the Telecom Secretary had alleged that these lines were for the use of large
commercial enterprises to meet special needs such as video conferencing or
transmission of huge volume of digital data for which heavy fee is charged but
Sun TV got it for free.
8. Aga Khan, a Swiss-Born Philanthropist and Muslim
Spiritual Leader Visited India
i. Aga
Khan, a Swiss-Born Philanthropist and Muslim Spiritual Leader visited India.
ii. During the official
visit, Aga Khan the unveiled restored Humayun’s Tomb in New Delhi on 18
September 2013.
iii. The task of
restoration was done by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, in partnership with the
Archaeological Survey of India, and with the support of the Sir Dorabji Tata
Trust.
iv. The restoration work
took place on the public private partnership (PPP) model and it is first of its
kind on the India’s heritage site. The project was funded primarily by the Aga
Khan Trust.
9. Vice President of India released a commemorative
postage stamp of Baba Jumdev
i. The
Vice President of India, M. Hamid Ansari released a commemorative postage stamp
in the memory of Baba Jumdev at a function in Gondia, Maharashtra on 30
September 2013.
ii. Baba Jumdev was a
prominent spiritual leader and revered social activist. He was a spiritual
guide and a social reformer for who worked towards the service of humanity.
iii. M. Hamid Ansari
explained that through a postage stamp, the social and spiritual message of
Baba Jamudev will reach all over the country.
iv. Baba Jamudev made valuable contributions towards reforming
and improving the society. He called upon his followers to be good human beings
by adhering to compassion and forgiveness.
10.
Rasheed Masood gets 4 years in jail, set to lose RS seat
i. Rajya Sabha member and Congress leader, Rasheed Masood, was sentenced to
four years in jail by a Delhi court in a corruption case, becoming the first MP
to lose his seat after a recent Supreme Court judgement had removed the
immunity for convicted lawmakers.
ii. 67 year old Masood, who
attains the dubious distinction of being the first lawmaker to be disqualified
after the 10th July Supreme Court judgement, was immediately taken into custody
by the court.
iii.Special CBI Judge J P S Malik on Tuesday handed down the jail term to
Masood after holding him guilty of fraudulently nominating undeserving
candidates to MBBS seats allotted to Tripura
in medical colleges across the country from the central pool as Health Minister
in the National Front government of 1990. The court also imposed costs of Rs
60,000 on Masood.
iv. Besides Masood, the court has awarded four-year jail term
each to two other public servants, Gurdial Singh, a former IPS officer, and
retired IAS official Amal Kumar Roy, the then secretary of Tripura Chief
Minister Sudhir Ranjan Majumdar.
v. The court, which has convicted nine students in the case,
has also given one year imprisonment each to nine of them.
vi. The nine students, who had fraudulently got admission in
the medical colleges, were convicted for cheating.
11. Salve Challenger Trophy 2013-14 Won by India Blue
i. India
Blue cricket squad won the NKP Salve Challenger Trophy by defeating Delhi by 50
runs in the final at the Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore on 29 September 2013.
ii. Electing to bat
first, the Indian blue posted a total of 274 for nine in their 50 overs before
bowling out the strong Delhi batting line-up for 224 in 44.4 overs. Bhuvneshwar
Kumar selected for Man-of-the match for his four wickets.
iii. Yuvraj singh
captained the India Blue team, whereas Virat Kohli captained the Delhi team.
iv. The teams which are participated in the tournament are India
Blue, India Red and Delhi.
v. The 2012-13 edition
of the tournament was won by India B Squad.
12.
Indian
basketball team win bronze at KFC U-21 3ON3 International Challenge
i. Indian basketball team has won bronze medal at KFC
under-21 3ON3 International Challenge in Beijing.
ii. Agencies report that the Indian team
comprising Ajay Pratap Singh, Lovneet Atwal, P Vijay and Amit Kanarjee won the
medal with better scoring rate than other semi-finalist Chinese Taipei.
iii. In quarterfinals, India beat China
21-17. In semifinal, India lost to Australia 13-16.
iv. Lovneet also secured a gold medal for
India in KFC 3ON3 International Challenge 3-Pointer shooting competition.
13. Petra Kvitova Won Singles Title at WTA Toray Pan
Pacific Open
i. The
Czech Republican tennis player Petra Kvitova defeated Germany's Angelique
Kerber in the final to win singles title at WTA Pan Pacific Open at Tokyo.
ii. Seventh seed Petra
Kvitova, of the Czech Republic, won 6-2, 0-6, 6-3 over fifth-seeded Angelique
Kerber to claim the tournament title for the first time.
iii. It was her 11th WTA
title and evened her tournament finals appearances at 2-2 in 2013.
iv. Petra
Kvitova won her first Grand Slam by defeating fifth seed Maria Sherapova from
Russia 6-3, 6-4 in the Wimbledon women’s final on 3 July 2011
