Daily Current Affairs : 29th & 30th September 2013

1. Every year on 29 September celebrated as the World Heart Day since 1999. The theme of the 2013 World Heart Day is “A life course approach to the prevention and control of cardiovascular disease (CVD) with a focus on women and children because healthy children lead to healthy adults and healthy adults lead to healthy families and communities”. The World Heart Day is organised by World Heart Federation.

2. Ruchira Kamboj was appointed as the Permanent Representative of India to UNESCO, Paris with the rank of Ambassador. The government made this announcement on 25 September 2013. She will succeed VS Oberoi.

3. Rashtriya Janata Dal Chief, Lalu Prasad was Monday held guilty in a fodder scam case by a Special CBI court and renders him ineligible for contesting elections for at least six years. . The quantum of sentence will be announced Oct 3.

4. Megan Young of Philippines crowned Miss World 2013 at the Bali Nasa Dua Convention Center in Bali, Indonesia. The second place went to Miss France Marine Lorphelin and third to Miss Ghana Carranzar Naa Okailey Shooter.

5. In Andhra Pradesh, a state-of-the-art advanced integration centre for the Naval Science and Technological Laboratory under DRDO was inaugurated in Visakhapatnam on 29th September 2013.

6. The National Green Tribunal banned digging of earth across India for making bricks and roads without prior environment clearance. A bench headed by Justice P Jyothimani directed the Chief Secretaries of all states and union territories to ensure that its interim order is adhered to.

7. Net-enabled cellphones could soon be provided to 2.5 crore people under the MGNREGA scheme. As per proposal, one person per family registered under MGNREGA scheme will be provided with the cellphone for which a recharge of Rs 30 per month will be provided for free for two years. To get the cellphone, the beneficiary will have to pay Rs 300. The scheme will be funded by Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) at a cost of Rs 4,850 crore spread over a period of four years to cover 2.5 crore beneficiaries.

8. The Khadi and Village Industry Commission (KVIC) announced on 29th September 2013 that Khadi will get a new push in context with its brand identity with the introduction of an exclusive mark from 2014 onwards.

9. Indian and Chinese officials held fourth round of talks and discussed various issues like finalising a key border security mechanism expected to be signed during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's proposed visit here next month.

10. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on Sunday met in New York for the first time and discussed ways to normalise bilateral ties.

11. Leaders of the Brics group of nations on 5 September 2013 announced to set up a 100 billion US dollar fund to steady currency markets destablised by an expected pullback of US monetary stimulus. The announcement was made at the meeting of BRICS leaders. Brazil, India and Russia committed 18 billion dollars each while China announced 41 billion US dollars. South Africa announced 5 billion US dollars. BRICS had earlier planned to set up 240 billion US dollars fund.

12. Germany is ready to give finance and technical support to the international operation to destroy Syria's chemical weapons, Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said on Sunday.

13. High imports of gold and oil pushed Current Account Deficit (CAD) to 4.9 per cent of GDP to $21.8 billion in the April-June quarter of the current fiscal, the RBI said today. CAD, the difference between inflow and outflow of foreign exchange, was 4.4 per cent or $16.9 billion in the same quarter of last fiscal, 2012-13.

14. The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has opened a lending window for private sector for the creation of warehouse space and also to set up cold storages and cold chains in Karnataka.

15. Rajnath Singh, the Bharatiya Janata Party President became the campaign committee chief for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls on 29 September 2013 in New Delhi.

16. Rafiq Kathwari, an Indian-American poet selected for 2013 Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award for the collection of his debut poems. Rafiq Kathwari is the first non-Irish person to win the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award. The award was founded by the Patrick Kavanagh Society in 1971 to commemorate the Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh.

17. Anti-Corruption Bureau Director General B. Prasada Rao has been appointed as Director General Police in-charge by the State Government in Hyderabad on Monday as the DGP V. Dinesh Reddy retired on reaching superannuation.

18. The facsimile version of 'Harijan', a weekly publication started by Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, to highlight the social and economic problems of India and the world, will be released on Monday.  "Harijan” is one of the two main publications of Gandhiji while “Young India” has already been published.

19. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-funded Avahan programme may have prevented over 6 lakh HIV infections in India over 10 years, according to a report in Lancet Global Health. The Avahan India AIDS Initiative was launched in 2003, as a large scale, targeted intervention prevention programme and was implemented in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Manipur and Nagaland. 

20. Kerala Chief Minister Oomen Chandy is expected to participate at the 11th edition of the Suminfra 2013, an infrastructure summit organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here Oct 7-8. he theme of this year's summit is 'Accelerate Infrastructure Growth in the Changing Global Context - Revitalising Growth through Institutional Framework, for Dynamic, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth'.

21. Shahrukh Khan may soon become the “goodwill ambassador” of the Republic of Korea.

22. Tourism Minister K Chiranjeevi launched the campaign - '777 days of Incredible Indian Himalayas' on World Tourism Day to promote the virgin peaks of Himalayas and attract both domestic and international tourists during lean summer season.

23. Russia today successfully launched a Proton-M rocket with a European communication satellite on board, marking a return of its most important unmanned space vehicle three months after one exploded on takeoff. The Proton-M rocket is Russia’s most popular for commercial satellite launches.

24. NCA Chairman Ranjib Biswal appointed as chairman of the IPL during the annual General Meeting of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) at Chennai. Prior to this appointment Ranjib Biswal was manager of the Indian Cricket team during the ICC World Cup 2011 and the ICC Champions Trophy 2013. He is also the head of Orissa Cricket Association. He replaced  Rajeev Shukla as chairman of IPL.

25. Narayanaswamy Srinivasan re-elected as the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for a third term at its 84th annual general meeting (AGM) held at Chennai.

26. Olympian Swaran Singh Virk led the Indian rowers' impressive showing by clinching a gold medal at the 15th Asian Senior Rowing Championship at Luan, China on Sunday.

27. A dominant India triumphed in the 3rd Sultan of Johor Cup with a thumping 3-0 victory over hosts Malaysia in the title clash of the Under-21 hockey tournament here today.

28. United Arab Emirates defeated Namibia in their second crucial match at Sharjah cricket Stadium by 135 runs to keep their hopes alive to qualify directly to the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2015.

29. Former Junior World Champion Nikhat Zareen (54kg) came one step short of making it two titles in two World Championships in Albena, Bulgaria on Saturday.

30. Stephen Lee, a snooker player from England banned for 12 years after being found guilty of seven charges of match-fixing on 25th September 2013.

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