September 2019 | 1 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. September 2019 | 3 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.