CHENNAI IAS ACADEMY-9043 211311/411 TNPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS – SEPTEMBER 2018 CHENNAI IAS ACADEMY Vellore & Tiruvannamalai ENGLISH MEDIUM www.chennaiiasacademy.com chennaiiasacademy Contact : 9043 211 311 / 411 1 CHENNAI IAS ACADEMY-9043 211311/411 Current Affairs For TNPSC Examinations SEPTEMBER 2018 SI.NO CONTENTS PAGE.NO 1. TAMILNADU 03 - 06 2. NATIONAL 06 – 38 3. INTERNATIONAL 38 – 48 4. APPOINTMENTS & 48 – 53 RESIGNS 5. SPORTS 53 – 62 6. SCIENCE AND 62 – 64 TECHNOLOGY 7. IMPORTANT DAYS 64 – 68 8. AWARDS 68 - 72 2 CHENNAI IAS ACADEMY-9043 211311/411 TAMILNADU Coastal Zone Management plan Tamil Nadu government submitted the final draft of „Coastal zone management plan‟ to the Union ministry of Environment, Forests and climate change. As per the Tamil Nadu prison manual, (Open Air Prison) the concept of open- air prison is to relieve congestion in walled prisons, train inmates in proper methods of agriculture for future rehabilitation and make prisons self- sufficient in agri production. It also aims to give prisoners with good conduct a certain amount of freedom. The plan divides 1,076 km long coastline into 6 categories (6 CRZs - Coastal People convicted under provisions of Regulation Zone) to preserve its marine Central Act XLV of 1860, habitual offenders, ecology, covering 13 TN coastal districts and women prisoners, political prisoners, hired and 28 islands. professional murderers, ‗A‘ class prisoners and inmates having tendency to escape are not They are named as CRZ IA, CRZ eligible for the provision. IB,CRZ II, CRZ III, CRZ IVA and CRZ IVB. The prisons department had already The state has 1 Marine National Park established such a facility in Coimbatore, that is Gulf of Manna. Salem, and Sivaganga districts to engage convicts and life convicts in agriculture Open air prison activities. Thirumalaisamudiram Tamil Nadu will soon have its fourth open-air prison at Thirumalaisamudiram village in Thanjavur district. 3 CHENNAI IAS ACADEMY-9043 211311/411 Tamil Nadu‟s new ICT Policy Tamil Nadu Government has announced Municipal administration and rural a new Information Communication development Minister S.P Velumani Technology Policy, 2018. received the award for Excellence in NREGA This policy will address the aspirations Administration. of investors, especially IT and ITeS companies, The state government has also received MSMEs and start-ups by way of provision of an award for the initiatives under Geo- standard administrative incentives, fiscal MGNREGA, performance in Aadhaar seeding incentives, capital subsidies, tax exemptions, and conversion. and special incentives, among other things. Tuticorin district administration got a It also has provisions for incubating national award for achieving self- sufficiency start-ups and creating Research Parks. under seven schemes under Grama Swaraj Awards for promoting Green IT Abhiyan. industry and single-window facility for early District Collectors Annadurai and clearance from concerned agencies are also Prashant M Wadnere have been honored for part of this policy. effective implementation of the scheme in Thanjavur and Tiruvannamalai districts. Tamil Nadu receives five awards from Pakistan Dental Association's Centre Humanitarian Award Tamil Nadu has received five awards Chennai based craniomaxillofacial from the central government for effectively surgeon, Dr S M Balaji has been awarded the implementing the Mahatma Gandhi National Pakistan Dental Association‘s „Humanitarian Rural Employment Guarantee Act Award‟. (MGNREGA) scheme. 4 CHENNAI IAS ACADEMY-9043 211311/411 1st technology-aided livestock census – Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu is going to conduct the 20th livestock census, which is the 1st technology-aided livestock census. The census will be done with the help of a tablet, clicking photographs of livestock on various localities. Prof. Balaji is the first Indian to receive such an honour from the Pakistan Dental Association. The award was conferred on the side- lines of the 40th Asia pacific Dental federation 2018 meeting in Manilla, Philippines. „TN-SMART‟ app The Tamil Nadu State Disaster Management Authority (TNSDMA) is going to launch an app called ‗TN-SMART‘ for real- The livestock Census will be time risk assessment. undertaken once in five years and this is the first time the census would be undertaken for a three-month period (usually 1 month). The census has been delayed for the first time since 2002. It couldn‘t be undertaken as per schedule in 2017 because of the Centre‘s Digital India initiative. Customs Checking Centre India‘s first „Customs Checking It is a web application to collate data Centre‟ has been inaugurated related to disaster management and provide at Thiruvotriyur, Chennai. flood alerts in specific areas. ‗TN-SMART‘ stands for Tamil Nadu - System for Multi-hazard potential impact Assessment and Emergency Response Tracking. 5 CHENNAI IAS ACADEMY-9043 211311/411 NATIONAL Prime Minister Launches India Post Payments Bank This eliminates the massive backlog in front of the port and eases the traffic congestion. New Corporation to support water project funding Tamil Nadu Government is going to Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched constitute a new ‗Water Resources a payments bank of the Department of Posts that Conservation and River Restoration will take banking to the doorstep of every citizen Corporation‘ to help implement water schemes. through an unmatched network of post offices and almost 3 lakh postmen and „Grameen Dak The new department will help out Sewaks‟. Public Works department to draft innovative The India Post Payments Bank projects and schemes to improve water (IPPB) will be like any other banks but its sources. operations will be on a smaller scale without involving any credit risk. It will carry out most banking operations like accepting deposits but won‘t advance loans or issue credit cards. The payments bank will accept deposits of up to Rs 1 lakh, offer remittance services, mobile payments/transfers/purchases and other banking services like ATM/debit cards, net banking and third-party fund transfers. The IPPB would be available through 650 branches and 3,250 access points. 6 CHENNAI IAS ACADEMY-9043 211311/411 India Along With 23 Other Nations have been organized by the Women and Child Participates In Tsunami Mock Drill Development Ministry to spread broad awareness on the issues related to malnutrition like stunting, under-nutrition, anaemia and low birth weight in children. The decision to celebrate September as the National Nutrition Month every year was taken during the second meeting of National Council on India‘s Nutrition Challenges under the Poshan Abhiyaan held in July 2018. Rajasthan Government To Provide India along with 23 other Free Mobile Phones To Women of nations participated in a major Indian ocean-wide tsunami mock drill which will involve evacuation BPL Families of thousands of people from coastal areas in over half a dozen coastal states. The exercise, known as 'IOWave18', is being organised by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO, which coordinated the setting up of the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (IOTWMS) in the aftermath of December 2004 tsunami. In a bid to boost Prime Minister Narendra September: National Nutrition Month Modi's flagship 'Digital India' Being Celebrated Across Country campaign, Rajasthan government will soon distribute mobile phones to women under the Bhamashah Yojana. Focused on women who fall under the Below Poverty Line (BPL), the scheme aims to transfer financial and non-financial benefits of government schemes in a transparent manner. The Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje-led government in Rajasthan stated that they are making efforts to launch new applications so that the poor can receive all benefits by simply pushing a button on their cell phones. The National Nutrition Month (September) is being celebrated across the country to mark the fight against malnutrition. During this month, various programmes 7 CHENNAI IAS ACADEMY-9043 211311/411 International Aviation Summit Held in New Delhi NITI Aayog Chief Executive Officer Amitabh Kant announced that India will shortly unveil a One Nation-One Card policy for public transport that will entail connectivity between various modes of transport. The announcement was made at a function on Future Mobility Summit- 2018 in New Delhi. The road transportation segment alone contributes to around 4% of country‘s GDP with the segment still being heavily dependent on fossil fuels. The objective of the strategy is to plan for the citizens of India first, rather than focussing on The International Aviation Summit began vehicles alone, by providing sustainable mobility in New Delhi, India. The seminar has been jointly and accessibility. organised by the Airports Authority of India, Ministry of Civil Aviation and International Air Manoj Sinha Inaugurates Conference Transport Association (IATA). On 'E-Mobility in Indian Railways' Union Minister for Civil Aviation Suresh Prabhu announced that the Civil Aviation Ministry is coming up with Vision 2035 under which it plans to build 100 new airports across India in the next 10-15 years with an investment of USD 60 billion and address the major issues concerning aviation industry such as airport infrastructure, taxation and use of technology. India To Have „One-Nation-One- Card‟ Policy For Transport Soon: A Conference on “E-Mobility in Indian NITI Aayog Railways” organized by Ministry of Railways through Institution of Railways Electrical Engineers