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Monthly Updates On
CURRENT AFFAIRS
SEPTEMBER 2019
NATIONAL Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari inaugurated the Package-3 of 82 km long Delhi-Meerut highway, connecting Dasna in Ghaziabad to Hapur. This package is a 22-kilometer- long stretch built with a cost of 1989 crore rupees. It has six-lane section with two plus two-lane service road on either side. President Ramnath Kovind unveiled the first Indigenous High-Temperature Fuel Cell System. It is developed by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) under New Millennium Indian Technology Leadership Initiative (NMITLI). The 5.0 kW fuel cell system generates power in a green manner using methanol / bio-methane, with heat and water as bi-products for further use. Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan launched 'TB HAREGA DESH JEETEGA' campaign in New Delhi on 25 September 2019. India is committed to eradicate TB before 2025. One-third of the people in the world have TB bacteria, and 10 per cent of them can become a victim of TB at any time. People who have been cured of TB will be made campaign ambassadors. The Indian Railways has completed the construction of the giant four-lane cable-stayed railway overbridge (RoB) at Burdwan Junction in West Bengal. The RoB, considered to be the second largest in the country will be inaugurated by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal. The railway overbridge was completed in 197 days without affecting traffic for even a single day. India’s first corporate-run train from Lucknow to Delhi, Tejas Express hit the tracks on 4th of October 2019. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath flagged off the train from Lucknow which is run by IRCTC. The train is scheduled to run 6 days in a week with advance coaches and it is the fastest train between Lucknow and Delhi. Bollywood film, Gully Boy was selected as India's official entry in the International Feature Film category at the Oscars. The film is directed by Zoya Akhtar and stars Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt in lead roles. It is a coming-of-age drama centred around the life of a rapper Murad, portrayed by Ranveer. The film was inspired by the real-life stories of Mumbai rappers Divine and Naezy. The Union Home Ministry declared the Sardar Patel National Unity Award’, a new honour for outstanding efforts to further national integration on the pattern of Padma awards. They will be bestowed annually to an individual or any institution or organisation. According to the Ministry, any person without distinction of race, occupation, position or sex shall be eligible for the award.
2 | Monthly Updates on Current Affairs
National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC) plans to set up a 5-gigawatt solar park in the western state of Gujarat, which would be the biggest in the country. The plan is part of NTPC’s aim to reduce the share of fossil fuels in the energy mix to 70% from around 96% by 2032. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is targeting 175 gigawatts of renewable capacity by 2022. Ladakhi Shondol dance has created history by breaking into the Guinness book of world records as the largest Ladakhi dance. 408 women artists in traditional dresses performed gracefully the Shondol dance on the occasion of the Annual Naropa Festival. It is a famous dance which used to be performed by artists for King of Ladakh on special occasion. It was organised by the Live to Love India. A documentary film named ‘Moti Bagh’, which is based on life of an Uttarakhand farmer has been nominated for Oscars. • The farmer Vidyadutt is living in Pauri Garhwal region of the state. CM of Uttarakhand ‘Trivendra Singh Rawat’ congratulated the director, Nirmal Chander Dandriyal, and said it will inspire youths to stay in their villages and work for their communities. Centre has set up a three-member panel to oversee the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories. The committee will look into the distribution of assets and liabilities of Jammu and Kashmir between two successor Union territories, which will come into existence on 31 October 2019. The committee is headed by Former Defence Secretary Sanjay Mitra. India hosted the first conference on military medicine for member nations of the Shanghai Co- operation Organisation (SCO) in New Delhi from 12-13 September 2019. It is the first military co- operation event to be organised in India under the SCO after it joined the organisation in 2017. The objective of the conference is to share best practices in the field of military medicine. Food and Consumer Affairs Ministry has decided to ban single-use plastic in its various departments as well as the public sector units under its administration from September 15. The decision was taken at a meeting held by Union Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan. Cloth or jute bags, locally tailored and produced, can be a viable alternative. The Delhi Air Traffic Service Complex, which is the tallest Air Traffic Control (ATC) tower in India with a height of 102 metres was inaugurated in September, 2019. The new complex comprises of three buildings - the Aerodrome Control Tower, Area & Approach Control Services Building and the Administrative Block. India has announced a contribution of 22 million US Dollars to the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria (GFTAM) for the 6th replenishment cycle (2020-22). Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar released a report on Status of Tiger Habitats in high altitude ecosystems in New Delhi on 3 September 2019. It reveals that even ecology at high altitude is compatible for the tiger growth. In Andhra Pradesh, Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu dedicated the country's longest electrified rail tunnel between Cherlopalli and Rapuru and the electrified railway line between Venkatachalam and Obulavaripalli on 1 September 2019. The length of the rail tunnel is 6.6 kilometre. He also flagged-off a new inter-city super fast express train between Guduru and Vijayawada. The 14th Conference of Parties, COP14, to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification will get underway in Greater Noida on 2 September 2019. The Conference focussed on desertification and degradation of land and ended on 13 September 2019. The objective of the conference was to combat desertification and mitigate the effects of drought in countries experiencing serious drought or desertification. A statue of former Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley would be installed in Patna. Jaitley’s birthday i.e. 28th of December would be celebrated as state function every year.
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ECONOMY The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has placed the Laxmi Vilas bank under its prompt corrective action (PCA) framework. Under PCA, banks are mandated to cut lending to corporates and focus on reducing the concentration of loans to certain sectors. They are also restricted from opening new branches and paying dividends. Facebook will make substantial investments in technology start-ups in India. Around 1.95 start-ups are getting registered every hour in the country. There are 22,895 registered start-ups in the country as per the records till September 2019. Around 45 per cent of start-ups have come from tier-2 and tier-3 cities. About 9 to 10 per cent start-ups have women as founders. SEBI has imposed a penalty of over Rs 22 crore on Aurobindo Pharma and its promoters for violating insider trading norms. The regulator had conducted an investigation into the trading in the scrip of Aurobindo Pharma Ltd. SEBI found that these entities purchased shares while in possession of the UPSI pertaining to Aurobindo, and made unlawful gains. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) prescribed a turnaround time (TAT) for banks to settle failed transactions for customers and also notified compensations payable for various types of customer complaints. The timeline for auto-reversal has been set at between one to five days after the transaction. Most financial compensations have been set at ₹100 per day if the reversal does not happen. The government of India has waived the three-year lock-in period on investments made by non- residents in Infrastructure Debt Funds (IDFs), to promote funding in the infrastructure sector. To attract off-shore investments into IDFs, any amount of interest received by non-resident or foreign company from investment in such IDFs is charged at a reduced tax rate of 5%. According to the Reserve Bank of India’s, ‘Survey of Foreign Liabilities and Assets of Mutual Fund Companies, 2018-19’, Non-residents’ (NRIs’) investments in Indian mutual funds are up by nearly a tenth and is now approaching Rs 1 trillion. The UAE, the UK and the US were the largest investors together accounting for one-third of the MF units. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has projected the Indian economy to grow by 6.3%. It predicted that the global economy will see its weakest growth since the 2008-2009 financial crisis, slowing from 3.6% last year to 2.9% this year. • The OECD's growth forecast, however, is higher than 5.5 per cent in 2012-13. Government has approved 8.65% interest rate on deposits in Employees Provident Fund for 2018-19. Ministry of Labour and Employment has notified 8.65% rate of interest on EPF deposits for its over six crore subscribers. The EPFO has been settling EPF withdrawal claims at 8.55% interest rate, approved for 2017-18. Now, the EPFO will settle accounts on higher rate of 8.65% for 2018-19. Insurance regulator, IRDAI has set up a single point contact for its Regulatory Sandbox (RS) initiative. Now financial technology firms can seek permission to experiment with innovative approaches for the growth of the sector. Regulatory sandbox (RS) usually refers to live testing of new products or services in a controlled/test regulatory environment. India’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth slumped to a 25-quarter low of 5% in Q1 FY20. The slowdown in investment and consumer demand derailed manufacturing, which grew just 0.6%. A meagre 2% rise in farm sector added to the demand slowdown. Private Consumption collapsed to an 18-quarter low of 3.1% from 10.6% in the March quarter.
4 | Monthly Updates on Current Affairs
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has launched a miniature satellite named 'RamanSat 2' designed by Aabhaas Sikka from NASA's Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility. It measures 4 cm x 4 cm x 4 cm and is made to measure radiation from the sun and space reaching the Earth. The lander of the lunar craft Chandrayaan 2 went incommunicado just minutes before its planned soft landing near the moon's South Pole on 7 September 2019. Vikram Lander descent was initiated as planned and normal performance was observed up to an altitude of 2.1 km. Subsequently, the communication from the Lander to the ground stations was lost and the data is being analyzed. According to Phys.org, researchers from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and London's Natural History Museum have identified a new species of amphibians using DNA from museum specimens. It has been named as ‘Andrias sligoi’ and is possibly the world's biggest new species of giant salamander. Astronomers at the University College London, have for the first time discovered water vapour in the atmosphere of a distant planet called K2-18b. For the discovery, they used data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The exoplanet, K2-18b, is eight times the mass of Earth and known as a super- Earth. Scientists have unveiled a newly discovered species of a pterosaur, the largest ever flying animal according to a study conducted by Queen Mary University in London. These species come from the Azhdarchid group of pterosaurs. The pterosaur’s name Cryodrakon boreas roughly translates to ‘frozen dragon of the north wind’. A Japanese woman has become the first person ever to receive an iPS corneal transplant. In an incredible feat of medical advancement, a team from Osaka University in Japan conducted the first ever corneal transplant in July, using reprogrammed stem cells. The woman, who is in her forties, was suffering from corneal epithelial stem cell deficiency, which can lead to blindness. Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed the biggest-ever computer chip using carbon nanotubes (CNT). The RV16XNano is a 16-bit processor that contains 14,000 transistors — electronic switches. These switches are made up of CNT — tiny cylinders made of rolled-up, atom-thick sheets of graphene.
SPORTS The Indian mixed 4x400m relay team qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after reaching the finals in the World Athletics Championships in Doha. The finalists top 8 in the World Championships are automatic qualifiers for the Tokyo Olympics. India’s Bhavani Devi won the silver medal in women’s individual category in the Tournoi Satellite Fencing competition at Ghent, Belgium on 29 September 2019. In the final, she lost to Bashta Anna of Azerbaijan. Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton won the Russian Grand Prix in a Mercedes one-two on 29 September 2019. Valtteri Bottas took second place. In the latest rankings issued by the international wrestling federation, World Championship silver medallist wrestler Deepak Punia has jumped to world number 1 position in 86kg category. But, Bajrang Punia lost the top rank in the 65kg category. The Indian duo of Pankaj Advani and Aditya Mehta won the IBSF World Snooker Team title at Mandalay, Myanmar on 25 September 2019. The Indian pair beat Thailand's team comprising C. Pongsakorn and D. Poramin by 5-2 in the final. This takes Advani's world title tally to a phenomenal 23 while Aditya claimed his maiden title.
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Koneru Hampi of Gudivada clinched Fide World Grand Prix 2019 title with 8 points from 11 rounds in Skolkovo, Russia. In the final round, Hampi just needed a draw with top seed Ju Wenjun of China to win the title. She is the third strongest female player of all time, behind Judit Polgar and Hou. She is ranked fourth in the world at the moment. Indian tennis player Divij Sharan clinched the men's doubles title in the St. Petersburg Open with partner Igor Zelenay on 22 September 2019, defeating Matteo Berrettini and Simone Bolelli. Ministry of Sports will create 20 National Centres of Excellence to groom athletes for 2024 and 2028 Olympics. Each Centre of Excellence will offer funds for four to six specific sports. The new scheme will ensure that athletes in the same premises have access to similar facilities unlike before. Standardising training will enable athletes to attain much higher performances. A smiling panda, Bing Dwen Dwen was revealed as the mascot for Beijing Winter Olympics 2022. Also, a walking Chinese lantern, Shuey Rhon Rhon was revealed as the mascot for the Paralympics 2022 in Beijing, China. The mascots were revealed at a ceremony at the Shougang Ice Hockey Arena in the Chinese capital. Bajrang Punia and Ravi Dahiya qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics winning their respective quarterfinal matches in World Wrestling Championships at Nur-Sultan in Kazakhstan. India's star wrestler Vinesh Phogat qualified for the 2020 Olympics. She defeated American Sarah Hildebrandt in the World Championships in Nur Sultan, Kazakhstan. She scored an impressive 8-2 win over the world championship silver medalist to secure her place at the Tokyo Games. Pankaj Advani clinched a record 22nd world title by winning a fourth straight final in the 150-up format at the IBSF World Billiards Championship in Myanmar. He defeated Nay Thway of Myanmar. In the short format of billiards, this is Advani's fifth title in the last six years. Australian fast bowler Megan Schutt scripted history by becoming the first woman to claim two hattricks in white-ball cricket. The right-arm medium-pacer claimed an ODI hat-trick to become the first Australian woman to achieve the feat. She became the first Australian women to claim a hattrick in ODIs. Schutt had claimed her first hattrick in a T20 game against India. Lasith Malinga, 36, took 4 wickets in 4 consecutive balls in the 3rd T20I against New Zealand. He passed Shahid Afridi to become highest wicket-taker in T20Is. Malinga is the second bowler after Rashid Khan to take four wickets in four consecutive balls in T20I cricket. MC Mary Kom, shooter Yashaswini Singh Deswal and shuttler Sai Praneeth were among 12 top sports persons who were included in the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) of the government. The TOPS is a flagship program of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports which is an attempt to provide assistance to India’s top athletes. It looks to add a premium to the preparations of these athletes. Jamie Murray and Bethanie Mattek-Sands defended their US Open mixed doubles title, defeating Taiwan’s Chan Hao-Ching and New Zealand’s Michael Venus in straight sets, in tennis. Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka won their first career Grand Slam title with a hard-fought 7-5 7-5 win over Ash Barty and Victoria Azarenka in the US Open doubles final in tennis. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc has won the Italian Grand Prix. Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes finished the race at 2nd and 3rd position respectively. In tennis, Rafael Nadal won US Open Men's singles beating Daniil Medvedev 7-5, 6-3, 5-7, 4-6, 6-4 on 9 September 2019. This is his fourth US Open title and 19th Grand Slam trophy. He won his 19th career Grand Slam singles title, in his 27th Slam final. Rashid Khan scripted history as he became the youngest ever Test captain on 5 September 2019 leading Afghanistan against Bangladesh in the one-off Test. The record was earlier held by Zimbabwe's Tatenda Taibu who was 20 years and 358 days old when he led his side against Sri Lanka in 2004. Rashid is 20 years and 350 days old.
6 | Monthly Updates on Current Affairs
Qatar unveiled the logo for the 2022 World Cup which will be hosted by the Gulf emirate, displaying it in public spaces in Doha and cities around the world on 2 September 2019. The design is a stylised Arabic white unisex shawl with maroon patterning, which is displayed in a figure-of-eight symbolising infinity while creating a heart shape above the words FIFA WORLD CUP Qatar 2022. Steve Smith dethroned India captain Virat Kohli to reclaim the top spot in ICC Test rankings. Kohli was dismissed for a first-ball duck in the second innings of the final Test against the West Indies, which saw him slip to the No.2 spot. Steve Smith (904) and Virat Kohli (903) are separated by a single rating point in the latest Test rankings. Indian women's cricket great and ODI captain Mithali Raj announced her retirement from T20 Internationals on 3 September 2019. She ended her T20 career with 2,364 runs from 89 matches at an average of 37.5 and the highest score of 97 not out. She made her T20 International debut in 1999. She is also the first Indian woman to reach the landmark of 2000 T20 runs. Rishabh Pant became the fastest Indian wicket-keeper to claim 50 dismissals in Test cricket, surpassing MS Dhoni. He claimed his 50th victim in his 11th Test while Dhoni had taken 15 Tests to touch the milestone. Pant took an easy catch to dismiss West Indies’ Kraigg Brathwaite off an Ishant Sharma delivery in the second innings of the hosts in the second Test. Bodybuilder S. Bhaskaran who was conferred with the prestigious Arjuna Award was felicitated by the Indian Body Builder Federation on 31 August 2019. He became the first bodybuilder to win the Arjuna award since T. Pauly in 1999. He won the Asian championship and the world championship in Thailand in 2018. Young shooter Yashaswini Singh Deswal won gold in the women's 10meter Air Pistol event at the ISSF World Cup at in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. With the win, she has also secured an Olympic quota for India in 2020 Tokyo Games.
PERSONS IN NEWS Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg was named as one of four winners of the 2019 Right Livelihood Award, known as Sweden's alternative Nobel Prize. She won the award for inspiring and amplifying political demands for urgent climate action reflecting scientific facts. She shares the award with Brazilian indigenous leader Davi Kopenawa of the Yanomami people. Maharashtra’s Governor-designate Bhagat Singh Koshyari was accorded the ceremonial Guard of Honour at Raj Bhavan. The swearing-in ceremony of the new Governor was held on 5 September 2019. Visa has signed up world badminton champion Pusarla Venkata Sindhu as its brand ambassador for two years. Sindhu has also become an athlete member of Team Visa for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. Animation producer J. Michael Mendel, known for his work on 'The Simpsons' and 'Rick and Morty' passed away in September 2019. He was a four-time Emmy award-winner. Haryana Assembly Speaker Kanwar Pal Gujjar recognised the former chief minister of Haryana, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, also the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader, as the Leader of Opposition (LoP) on 10 September 2019. Actress Anushka Sharma has been named in the Fortune India’s top 50 list of Most Powerful Women of 2019. The actress is the youngest woman on the list and ranks at 39. She is also the only Bollywood actor to feature on the list. Also, she the Co founder of AZB. Renowned Indian photographer Raghu Rai has been chosen as the first recipient of the inaugural edition of the 'Acadmie des beaux-arts Photography Award - William Klein'. The award is in honour of the photographer and filmmaker William Klein, best known for his unusual photography techniques. The prize is intended to reward a photographer for their entire career.
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Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Takehiko Nakao has announced his resignation. He expanded the operations of the funding agency from USD 14 billion in 2013 to USD 22 billion in 2018. Robert O’Brien has been appointed as the National Security Adviser of United States of America. Robert O’Brien will replace John Bolton as the NSA of US. Former Indian Cricket all-rounder Dinesh Mongia announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. His first-class record of 121 matches included 21 centuries. Maharashtra’s Governor-designate Bhagat Singh Koshyari was accorded the ceremonial Guard of Honour at Raj Bhavan. The swearing-in ceremony of the new Governor was held on 5 September 2019. Shweta Ratanpura became the first Indian woman to get a bronze medal in graphic designing at the World Skills event. The event was held in Russia and was attended by 63 countries. India ended on number 13 with 1 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze medals. PLANS AND POLICIES The Union Jal Shakti Ministry’s Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS), launched a 10- year national rural sanitation strategy to sustain India’s 100 per cent Open Defecation Free (ODF) status claimed by the Centre. The framework, to be in place from 2019 to 2029, will ensure that people sustain their usage of toilets. It will also focus on solid and liquid waste management. Science and Technology and Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan launched ‘UMMID’ initiative to tackle inherited genetic diseases of newborn babies. The new initiative aims at creating awareness about genetic disorders amongst clinicians and establish molecular diagnostics in hospitals. He also inaugurated NIDAN (National Inherited Diseases Administration) Kendras. India will launch ‘Samudrayaan’ project in 2021-22. • The project proposes to send a submersible vehicle with three persons to a depth of about 6000 metres to carry out deep underwater studies. • The vehicle is capable of crawling on the sea bed at a depth of six-kilometre for 72 hours. • The 'Samudrayaan' project undertaken by the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT). PM Narendra Modi launched Swachhata Hi Seva (SHS) 2019, a massive countrywide awareness and mobilization campaign on Swachhata at Mathura on 11 September 2019. SHS 2019, with special focus on ‘plastic waste awareness and management’ is being organized from 11 September to October 2, 2019. It was launched by the Departments of Animal Husbandry and Dairying and Drinking Water and Sanitation. Home Minister Amit Shah launched the Private Security Agency Licensing Portal at a function in New Delhi on 25 September 2019. The portal will become functional in all official languages like Hindi, Gujarati, Telugu and Tamil within three months. The number of licensed agencies in the states will also be available on the portal so that people do not fall prey to the fraudulent agencies. Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ launched several initiatives of All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)in New Delhi. It includes Facilitation through Margadarshan and Margadarshak, Model Curriculum for Diploma Courses, Waste Management Accelerator for Aspiring Women Entrepreneurs (WAWE Summit 2019) and 360-degree Feedback of Faculty. A mobile app was launched to help para-athletes to look up accessible places in Tokyo during their visit to the city for the 2020 Paralympics Games. The application -- IndTokyo -- which was launched by Arhan Bagati, Awareness and Impact Ambassador of Paralympic Committee of India, at the 'Countdown to Tokyo 2020'. The 2020 Tokyo Paralympics was inaugurated 25 August 2019.
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AWARDS AND HONOURS A documentary on Srinagar-based football club Real Kashmir FC has been nominated in the British Academy Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Awards. The documentary has been nominated in two categories. Its director Greg Clark has picked up a nod for the ‘Director Factual’ category, while the show will battle it out in the ‘Single Documentary’ category. Infosys has received the United Nations Global Climate Action Award in the ‘Climate Neutral Now’ category. It is the only corporate from India to earn the recognition for its efforts to combat climate change. The announcement of the winners was made after the UN Climate Summit in New York convened by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Physicist Thanu Padmanabhan received the M P Birla Memorial Award 2019 for his contributions to the world of cosmology. He is a professor of Inter-university Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics in Pune. The award was introduced in 1993 in recognition to the excellence in research in Astronomy, Astrophysics, Space Science and related areas. Payal Jangid became the 1st Indian to receive the Change Maker Award 2019 at the Goalkeepers Global Goals Awards 2019. The Award was presented by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation at a ceremony held in New York, US. She is the President of her village’s Bal Panchayat. She was awarded for her work towards the abolition of child marriage in her village and other neighbouring areas. International Association of Athletic Federations, (IAAF) honoured the Indian track and field legend PT Usha with a Veteran Pin in recognition of her contribution to the growth of the sport. IAAF chief Sebastian Coe presented her the Veteran Pin during the 52nd IAAF Congress at Doha. The SASTRA Ramanujan prize for 2019 will be awarded to Adam Harper. • Mathematician Adam Harper is an Assistant Professor with the University of Warwick, England. The prize is conferred annually on mathematicians from across the world who are less than 32 years of age and working in an area influenced by the genius Srinivasa Ramanujan. Veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan has been named for the prestigious Dada Sahab Phalke award for his outstanding contribution to the film industry. The award is conferred by the Government for outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian Cinema. It consists of a Swarn Kamal and a cash prize of ten lakh rupees. PM Narendra Modi was conferred the "Global Goalkeeper" award by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by his government. Over 11 crore toilets were built in the country in the last five years, which is a record. The cleanliness campaign was launched by the Modi government during its first term on October 2, 2014.