1. Jharkhand has become the first Indian state to have implemented Public Fund Management System (PFMS).
2. Ashok Chawla, a former Union Finance Secretary, has been appointed as the new Chancellor of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) University. Currently, He is serving as the chairman of TERI since February 2016.
3. Aishwaryaa Dhanush, the noted filmmaker and actor, has been appointed as the United Nations Women's Advocate for Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment in India.She will help to raise awareness of UN Women's core message of gender equality and women's empowerment across India and will boost the organization's efforts to close the gender gap and achieve a more equal world — a Planet 50-50, by the year 2030.
4. The 5-day long Solung festival has started in Arunachal Pradesh. It is an agro-based festival, which is celebrated every year by the Adi tribe of Arunachal Pradesh in the first week of September. The festival reflects the socio-religious features of the Adi people. People perform various rituals and make offerings to gods and goddesses during the celebration and pray for a bumper harvest. Mithun, Great Indian Bison, whose sacrifice is given during the celebration, is considered as holy animal and occupies an important religious significance among the Adis. People present gifts of meat and Apong (rice beer) to neighbours and relatives on the occasion thus cementing family and social relationships. Another feature of this festival is care and protection of animals which are vital components of their family and social life.
5. The 2016 Gabonese presidential election has been won by President Ali Bongo Ondimba. With this, he is re-elected as the new President of Gabon. The President of Gabon is elected for a seven-year term in a single round of voting by plurality; whichever candidate places first is deemed elected, regardless of whether the candidate secured a majority of votes.
6. The 2016 BRICS Convention on Tourism has started at World heritage site Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh on September 1. The 2- day convention has been inaugurated by Dr.Mahesh Sharma, the Union Minister of State for Tourism and Culture. The event will consists of inter- governmental exchange of views and ideas and panel discussions on different subjects including cooperation between the BRICS countries for promoting intra-regional tourism.
7. The 14th edition of ASEAN-India Summit 2016 and 11th edition of East Asia Summit 2016 will be held in Vientiane, Lao PDR on September 8, 2016. It will be attended by Heads of State/Government of the 10 ASEAN and 18 East Asia Summit Participating Countries. From India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the summit. The purpose of the summit is to review ASEAN-India cooperation and discuss its future direction under each of the three pillars of politico-security, economic and socio-cultural cooperation.
8. Michel Temer, the former vice president of Brazil, has been sworn in as the new President of Brazil. He took oath after the Senate voted 61-20 to remove President Dilma Rousseff from office for breaking fiscal laws in her management of the federal budget. Prior to this, Temer was the acting President of Brazil since May 2016 following the suspension of President Dilma Rousseff during her impeachment trial.
9. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) will launch the INSAT-3DR satellite into orbit by the GSLV-F05 rocket vehicle from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikotta, Andhra Pradesh. The INSAT-3DR is a modern weather satellite and has a mission duration of 8 years. It will help to predict weather patterns and also provide search and rescue information.
10. Anuradha Rao has been appointed as the new MD and CEO of SBI Mutual Fund. Prior to this appointment, Rao was the Deputy Managing Director at SBI handling New Business Portfolio. She succeeded Dinesh Kumar Khara, who has been appointed Managing Director of State Bank of India (Associate & Subsidiaries).
11. The President of Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov (78), has recently passed away in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. He was the first President of Uzbekistan, in office since 1990.
12. The Interview Island Wildlife Sanctuary (IIWS) is located in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It has an area of 99 km2 and is situated to the west of Austen Strait which separates North Andaman Island and Middle Andaman Island.
13. The 2016 G-20 Summit has started in the Chinese city of Hangzhou on September 4 to discuss efforts to reform global economic governance. The 2016 theme is "Toward an Innovative, Invigorated, Interconnected and Inclusive World Economy". This is the first time China is hosting the G-20 global meet and it is only the second time that the G20 is hosted in Asia. The G-20 represents over 85 % of the world's economy and two-thirds of global population.
14. Zaheer Khan, former India pacer, has been inducted as an Honorary Life Member of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). He is the third Indian player to receive the distinction in 2016 after Virender Sehwag and Anjum Chopra.
15. The Kerala government has recently appointed the Legendary Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar as brand ambassador for anti- liquor and anti-drug campaign to create awareness among people against alcoholism and drug abuse. The state government has also decided to open up more de-addiction centres for the benefit of the addicted.
16. The Phulwari Wildlife Sanctuary is on the bank of Sabarmathi river in Rajasthan, which includes 11 forest blocks and many villages surrounding it in two parts. It is home to many species such as Marsh Crocodile Crocodylus palustris, Monitor Lizard Varanus bengalensis and Indian Rock Python Python molurus.
17. Dr. Urjit Patel is the newly appointed Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). He succeeded Dr. Raghuram Rajan. Prior to this appointment, he was the deputy Governor of RBI.
18. The High Court of Rajasthan has recently launched the e-stamp facility in its Jodhpur and Jaipur benches simultaneously. With this, Rajasthan has become 4th state in India to provide this facility. Before this, the facility was available in Delhi, Chhattisgarh and Himachal Pradesh.The e-stamp facility is completely secure and reliable and there is no possibility of any forgery or tampering. The payment of court fees through e-stamps is a simple, easy and secure process.
19. The Kalesar National Park is a protected area in eastern district of Haryana. It is a popular destination for Leopard and bird-watching. It is home to wild boars, sambhars, hares, red junglefowl, porcupine, monkeys, chitals, red jungle fowl, etc.
20. The 28th edition of ASEAN Summit 2016 has started in Vientiane, Laos. In the summit, the ASEAN leaders will review the progress of implementation of ASEAN Community Blueprints 2025.
21. Dr. Bibhuti Lahkar, an ecologist and conservation activist from India, has won the prestigious 2016 Heritage Heroes Award of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) at the IUCN's World Conservation Congress in Honolulu, Hawaii. With this, he became the first Asian and the first individual from Assam to win this prestigious environmental award. The award is aimed to recognize the outstanding efforts of conservationists around the world in making a difference in the conservation of World Heritage sites in challenging situations. Dr.Lahkar has been working to save the grasslands, flora and fauna of Manas National Park area for the past two decades and is currently engaged as Manas Landscape Administrator for Aaranyak, an NGO working for biodiversity conservation in North East India.
22. Thithi has bagged the best film award at the first edition of BRICS Film Festival 2016. It is a Kannada-language dramatic comedy movie, which is co-written and directed by Raam Reddy. The movie is about how three generations of sons react to the death of the oldest in their clan, a man named Century Gowda: a locally renowned, highly cantankerous 101-year-old man.
23. J Satyanarayana, the former IAS officer, has been appointed as the part-time chairperson of Unique Identification Authority of India(UIDAI). The post has been lying vacant following resignation of Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani's resignation in 2014. Besides him, technocrats Rajesh Jain and Anand Deshpande have been appointed as part-time members of the UIDAI.
24. India has been declared free from Yaws and Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus (MNT) by the World Health Organization (WHO). Recently, India has received WHO's certificates for MNTE & Yaws-free India at the 69th session of Regional Committee of WHO at Colombo, Sri Lanka. India is the first country under the 2012 WHO Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) roadmap to eliminate yaws, a disease known to affect the most underserved population. India had eliminated maternal and neonatal tetanus, which the WHO had termed a major public health feat.
25. K.G. George, the famous film director, has won the prestigious 2015 J.C. Daniel Award for his outstanding contribution to the Malayalam film industry. He is noted for the deep psychological analysis and character study of the human mind in his films. The award carries a purse of Rs.1 lakh and a citation and will be given by the State government in the State Film Awards at Palakkad, Kerala.
26. The world's first daily driverless bus service has started in Lyon, France. The buses can hold up to 15 passengers and features like LIDAR radar technology and motion sensors will help to avoid accidents.
27. The 14-day bilateral military exercise "PRABAL DOSTYK-16" has started between India and Kazakhstan at Karaganda region of Kazakhstan, which will be concluded on September 17, 2016). The purpose of the bilateral exercise is to enhance interoperability while undertaking counter terrorism & counter insurgency operations in rural & semi-urban environment under the umbrella of United Nations.
28. Anjum Chopra, a former Indian captain, has become the first Indian woman cricketer to get the prestigious honorary life membership of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC).
29. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has successfully launched advanced weather satellite "INSAT-3DR" into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) by the GSLV-F05 rocket vehicle from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikotta, Andhra Pradesh. The INSAT-3DR is a modern weather satellite and has a life expectancy of 10 years. It will help to predict weather patterns and also provide search and rescue information.
30. The United Nations charter, the seminal treaty of the UN, has been translated into Sanskrit by Dr Jitendra Kumar Tripathi, the secretary of the Lucknow-based Akhila Bharatiya Sanskrit Parishad (ABSP). Currently, the UN Charter is available in all six official languages viz. Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish. The United Nations Charter was signed on 26 June 1945, in San Francisco, at the conclusion of the United Nations Conference on International Organisation, and came into force on 24 October 1945.
31. India's first Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) laboratory will be set up in Aundh in Hingoli district of Maharashtra. LIGO-India will bring wide opportunities in cutting edge technology for Indian industries as they will be engaged in the construction of 8 km-long beam tube at ultra- high vaccuum on a levelled terrain.It will be 3rd such laboratory in the world and first outside the United States. The existing laboratories are located in Hanford, Washington and in Livingston, Louisiana.
32. The "Scooty for College Girls Scheme" has been launched by the Jammu and Kashmir government to make women independent in terms of mobility. As per the scheme, the eligibility for a scooty is based on minimum percentage and the annual family income of 65 % and Rs.4 lakh respectively. In it, college going girl students will be given a 50 % subsidy on purchase of a Scooty.
33. T R Zeliang, the Chief Minister of Nagaland, has won the 2016 Pangkor Dialogue Award in Malaysia for the efforts made by the people of the state for environmental preservation and promotion. Zeliang was awarded by the organisers- Institute Darul Rudzuan and the Malaysian government.
34. Angelique Kerber, a German professional tennis player, has won the 2016 US Open Women's Singles tennis tournament by defeating Karolina Pliskova of Czech Republic in the final by 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. With this, she became the first German player to win the tournament since Steffi Graf in 1996.
35. The Asia's oldest bourse Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has become the first Indian stock exchange to file IPO papers with market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for its Initial Public Offering (IPO). The IPO is a type of public offering in which shares of a company usually are sold to institutional investors that in turn, sell to the general public, on a securities exchange.
36. The 2016 India-US Economic Summit will be held in New Delhi from September 14 to enhance bilateral trade and investments between both the nations. The 2-day summit will be inaugurated by US Ambassador to India Richard Verma and will deliberate on augmenting the existing two-way trade to $ 500 billion and will focus on sectors that foster growth.
37. Stanislas Wawrinka, a Swiss professional tennis player, has won the 2016 US Open Men's Singles tennis tournament by defeating Novak has won 2016 US Open men's singles tournament by defeating Novak Djokovic in the final by 6-7, 6-4, 7-5, 6-3. This is his first US Open title and 3rd major title.
38. The world's first robotic operation inside the human eye has successfully performed by British surgeons, which potentially revolutionise the way such conditions are treated. The procedure was carried out at John Radcliffe hospital in Oxford.
39. The 2016 International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress has been hosted by Honolulu, Hawaii. The purpose of 2016 IUCN congress is to conserve the nature, study innovative approaches of conservation and harnesses the solutions nature offers to global challenges. The theme of the 2016 IUCN Congress is "Planet at the Crossroads".
40. The joint military training exercise "Yudh Abhyas 2016" will be conducted between India and United States at Chaubattia in Uttarakhand from September 14 to 27. The purpose of the exercise is to stimulate a scenario where both nations were working together to counter insurgency and terrorism in mountainous terrain under UN charter.
41. The 2016 International Buddhist Conclave will be held in Sarnath, Uttar Pradesh from October 3, 2016 to promote Buddhist sites in Bodhgaya and Sarnath.
42. The world's longest bullet train (or High-Speed Rail (HSR)) network with over 20,000 km of track has established in China. The network is part of the network of passenger-dedicated lines (PDLs) in service. The HSR in China refers to any railway in China with commercial train service at the speed of 200 km/h or higher.
43. The book "Anything but Khamoshi: The Shatrughan Sinha Biography" is authored by Bharathi S Pradhan. It is a rivetingly honest read that retraces the hurrahs and heartaches of India's most popular Bihari Babu.
44. The National Hindi Divas is celebrated every year on September 14 in India. On this day, the President of India presented the Rajbhasha awards at Rashtrapati Bhawan to recognize the excellent contribution of Ministries, Departments and Nationalized Banks in the field of Hindi. On this day, in 1949, the Constituent Assembly of India had adopted Hindi language as the official language of India.
45. The 17th edition of 2016 Non Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit will be held at Margarita Island in Venezuela on September 17-18. The NAM Summits are among the largest gathering of countries, after the United Nations. India is one of the founding members of the NAM, which came into being 55 years ago when leaders of 25 developing countries, including the then Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru met at the 1961 Belgrade Conference.
46. Kunwar Bai (105), who was recognised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for building toilet by selling off her goats, has been chosen as the 'Swachh Bharat Abhiyan' mascot. Prime Minister Modi will felicitate Kunwar Bai at a function in New Delhi to mark 'Swachhta Diwas' on September 17, 2016.
47. Spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar will be honoured with a humanitarian award by a prominent Jewish human rights organisation for promoting human dignity, interfaith relations and tolerance among people. The Art of Living founder will be conferred with Simon Wiesenthal Centre's highest honour "the Simon Wiesenthal Humanitarian Laureate" at a ceremony in New Delhi on September 21, 2016.
48. Axis Bank has recently tied up with Banaras Hindu University (BHU) to offer specialized banking courses. The bank along with the Faculty of Commerce at BHU will develop the design and curriculum of courses. The partnership will offer courses like Masters in Commerce (MCom), Master of Financial Management (MFM), Master of Financial Management (Risk & Insurance) MFM – RI, Master of Foreign Trade (MFT). The first batch will start from academic session 2016-17. The courses will be designed to introduce the students to functioning of banking industry in India and to academically and vocationally prepare them for corporate world.
49. The Gionee mobiles has recently signed an MoU with the Haryana government to set up its phone manufacturing hub with an initial investment of Rs. 500 crore. The hub would be set up over an area of 40-50 acres in Faridabad and would provide employment to 28,000 people in next 3 years.
50. The Uttar Pradesh government has appointed bollywood actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui as the brand ambassador of the Samajwadi Kisan Beema Yojana (SKBY), a scheme aimed at insuring farmers. In the scheme, many facilities like cashless treatment upto Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs one lakh for organ transplant have been included.
51. Mohammad Hamid Ansari, the Vice-President of India, is leading the Indian delegation at the 17th edition of Non Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit at Margarita Island in Venezuela on September 17-18. India is one of the founding members of the NAM, which came into being 55 years ago when leaders of 25 developing countries, including the then Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru met at the 1961 Belgrade Conference.
52. The International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer is observed every year on September 16 to mark the day back in 1987 when Montreal Protocol signed on substances that deplete the ozone layer. The 2016 theme is "Ozone and climate: Restored by a world united".
53. The high-level committee headed by Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian, which was formed to tackle the shortage of pulses, has recently submitted its report to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. The committee was formed to consider a reasonable hike in the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for pulses and bonus for the farmers to promote puslse cultivation.
54. Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma have been conferred with the coveted Arjuna Award for year 2016 and 2015 at a function held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi.Earlier, both the players could not receive the Arjuna Awards from the President of India, as they were participating in international tournaments.
55. The Naropa festival is a grand Buddhist festival which occurs in every 12 years, has started at the 17th century Hemis Monastery in Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir. The main event of the festival is the celebration of the 1,000th birth anniversary of spiritual Saint Naropa. In it, the six bone ornaments of Naropa will display, which are said to provide liberation on sight to all those who witness it. Beside this, the ancient silk Thangka (Tibetan Buddhist painting) of Buddha Amitabha will also unfurl.
56. Nadia Murad Basee Taha, a young Yazidi woman who survived trafficking and gang-rape by the Islamic State terrorists, has been appointed as the Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Nadia is a fierce and tireless advocate for the Yazidi people and victims of human trafficking everywhere and is also the nominee of Nobel Peace Prize.
57. China has successfully launched the Tiangong-2 space laboratory into orbit to test space technology and conduct medical and space experiments. The space station was put into orbit by Long March 2-F T2 rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwestern Gobi desert. The Tiangong 2 module will be used for testing systems and processes for mid-term space stays and refueling and will house experiments in medicine and various space-related technologies.
58. Typhoon Meranti, also known as Typhoon Ferdie in the Philippines, has recently badly hit China's Fujian Province with winds of 173 km/h. It is the world's strongest typhoon in 2016. Before that, the typhoon had hit the southern part of Taiwan and then slammed into the southeastern part of China with strong winds and lashing rains. Nearly 2 million homes were powerless in Fujian. The typhoon also brought heavy rainfall as it moved to lash China's Zhejiang Province. More than 63,000 people in Zhejiang were relocated.
59. India has been ranked 112 out of 159 countries in the 2016 World Economic Freedom Index. As per the 2016 annual report of the Economic Freedom of the World, Hong Kong has the highest level of economic freedom worldwide, followed by Singapore, New Zealand, Switzerland, Canada, Georgia, Ireland, Mauritius, the UAE, Australia and the UK.The report is based on data from 2014 and measures the economic freedom by analyzing the policies and institutions of all 159 countries and territories.
60. The United States will be partner country in the 8th edition of Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit-2017, which will be held at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar in January 8-9. The central focus of the summit is "Sustainable Economic and Social Development". The purpose of the summit is to bring together heads of states and governments, ministers, leaders from the corporate world, senior policy makers, heads of international institutions and academia from around the world to further the cause of development and to promote cooperation.
61. Alka Sirohi, a retired IAS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre, has been appointed as the new chairman of Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) with effect from the September 21, 2016. She succeeded Deepak Gupta. She will be in office till completion of her term as member on January 3, 2017. Currently, Sirohi is member in the Commission.
62. V.K. Sharma has been appointed as the new chairman of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). He succeeded SK Roy, who recently resigned from the post. Prior to this appointment, Sharma was the managing director of the LIC.
63. The first-ever United Nations Summit for Refugees and Migrants has been held at the UN General Assembly in New York. In it, the "New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants" have been adopted by leaders from 193 countries to save lives of over 65 million refugees and migrants and share the responsibility. The declaration is not legally binding but calls on countries to protect refugees' human rights, boost humanitarian aid and work on their resettlement. The summit has represented a breakthrough in the collective efforts to address the challenges of human mobility.
64. The first-of-a-kind Indian music and dance festival "Confluence: Festival of India" has started in Sydney, Australia. It was inaugurated by Mahesh Sharma, the Union Tourism and Culture Minister. The purpose of the 10-week long festival is to showcase India's rich and diverse culture. The festival is an initiative of Indian government supported by the Australian side, which will run across 7 cities including Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, Canberra and Adelaide.
65. The United Nations' International Day of Peace is observed every year on September 21 to strengthening the ideals of world peace, both within and among all nations and peoples. The 2016 theme is "The Sustainable Development Goals: Building Blocks for Peace".
66. The world's largest solar power plant with an installed capacity of 648MW has been commissioned at Kamudhi in Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu. The plant was set up by Adani Group on an area of around 5,000 acres at a total cost of Rs 4,550 crore.
67. The Tamil film "Visaranai" has been selected as the official entry to Oscars 2017 in the Foreign Language Film category. The film is directed by Vetrimaran and is based on M.Chandrakumar's novel Lock Up. It is story about autorickshaw driver, who shares his experience after he and three of his friends are arrested on false charges.
68. The first-ever Jesse Owens Olympic Spirit Award-2016 will be posthumously bestowed to Olympic champion Muhammad Ali, who passed away on June 3, 2016. It will be accepted by his wife Lonnie Ali. The annual award will recognize an individual(s) who has served as a powerful force for good in society, inspiring others by contributing to a better world, uniting people or leading a cause.
69. Navtej Sarna, an Indian Foreign Service officer of the 1980 batch, has been appointed as the new Indian Ambassador to the United States. Prior to this appointment, he was serving as Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs before he was posted in London in January 2016. He will succeed Arun Singh, who is due for retirement. Apart from this, the Union Government has also appointed Taranjit Singh Sandhu as the next High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka. Sandhu will replace Yash Sinha.
70. The first meeting of Goods and Service Tax (GST) Council has held in New Delhi and is chaired by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. The two-day meet of the GST Council council will decide on long pending issues of threshold limit for applicability of the tax as well as the limit for dual control between Centre and states. The GST is a single indirect tax which will subsume most of the central and state taxes such as VAT, excise duty, service tax and central sales tax.
71. Sanjay Dutta and Ritesh Sarothiya have been selected for the 2016 Clark R. Bavin Wildlife Law Enforcement Awards, which honours individuals engaging in exemplary law enforcement actions to protect wildlife. Sarothiya is the Assistant Conservator of Madhya Pradesh State Forest Service and Dutta is the range officer of Belakoba Forest Range Jalpaiguri in West Bengal. The award ceremony will be held on 3rd October 2016 at the 17th Conference of the Parties (CoP) of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in Johannesburg, South Africa.
72. The Union Government has appointed three outside experts as members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which will set interest rates. The appointees are Indian Statistical Institute professor Chetan Ghate, Delhi School of Economics director Pami Dua and Ravindra H Dholakia of IIM-Ahmedabad. The experts will serve for four years and are not eligible for re-appointment. In the six-member MPC- the other 3 members are from RBI – will conduct its first monetary policy review on October 4, 2016. These are RBI governor Urjit Patel, deputy governor R. Gandhi, who is also in charge of the monetary policy, and executive director Michael Patra.The RBI governor will have a casting vote in case of a tie.
73. Industrialist Adi Godrej, the Chairman of Mumbai-based Godrej Group, has been bestowed with the 10th edition of Clinton Global Citizen Award-2016 for leadership in business and philanthropy. The award recognizes Godrej's leadership in transforming the intersection of business and philanthropy and making the Godrej Group a global example of what can be achieved through inclusive, sustainable business strategies.
74. The parliamentary committee headed by the Congress MP M Veerappa Moily, has been constituted to review the all budgetary reforms. Besides the budget, the committee will also review the disinvestment policy, banking sector in India, RBI's emerging role and its framework. The committee will also review the performance of regulatory bodies – Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Competition Commission of India (CCI) and Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), Stock Holding Corporation of India Ltd (SHCIL), National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF) and Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO). The committee will also evaluate the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), Central Statistical Office (CSO) and streamlining of statistics collection machinery in India.
75. To commemorate the birth centenary of Jana Sangh ideologue Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair the 149-member national committee. The committee includes several Governors, Chief Ministers, scientists, journalists, academicians, social Workers and spiritual leaders. Beside this, the 23-member executive committee has also constituted for this purpose that will be headed by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
76. India has been ranked 143rd out of 188 countries in the 2016 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The index is the first global analysis that assesses countries on SDG health performance was published online in The Lancet and launched at a special event at the UN General Assembly in New York. The list is topped by Iceland, followed by Singapore, Sweden, Andorra and UK. The SDGs are 17 universal goals, 169 targets and 230 indicators set by the United Nations in 2015 to guide a range of pressing problems including food and water security, poverty and climate change up to 2030. The SDGs follow and expand on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which expired at the end of 2015.
77. The first-ever Druzhba-2016 (or Friendship-2016) joint military drill exercise has started between Russia and Pakistan in the Army High Altitude School in northern Pakistan's Rattu and at a special forces training center in Cherat on September 24 and will continue till October 7. The drill will involve experience sharing and will aim to develop coordination in carrying out practice combat tasks in a mountainous environment, including operations against illegal armed groups.
78. Madhusudan Sahoo has been appointed as the new chairman of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) for a period of 5 years or until further orders, whichever is the earliest. Currently, Sahoo is a member at anti-trust regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI). The board will regulate the functioning of insolvency professionals, insolvency professional agencies and information utilities.
79. Vijay Kelkar, the former petroleum secretary, has been elected as the new President of the prestigious Indian Statistical Institute (ISI). He succeeded former RBI governor C Rangarajan. The ISI functions under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
80. Arun Goyal, a 1985 batch IAS officer of Union Territory cadre, has been appointed as the Additional Secretary in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council. Presently, Goyal is working as Additional Secretary in Project Monitoring Group of Cabinet Secretariat. The GST Council is mandated to decide on tax rate exempted goods and the threshold limit.
81. The first meeting of the India-China High Level Dialogue on Counter-terrorism and Security has been in Beijing, China to enhance security and cooperation to combat terror. The meeting was co-chaired by R N Ravi, Chairman of Joint Intelligence Committee and Wang Yongqing, Secretary General of Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission of China.
82. Sudhir Pratap Singh has been appointed as the Director General (DG) of counter-terrorism force National Security Guard (NSG).
83. R. K. Pachnanda, a 1983 batch Indian Police Service officer from West Bengal, has been appointed as the new Director General of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF). Presently, he is ADG of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).
84. The powerful typhoon Megi has recently hit island-nation Taiwan with winds up to 230 km/hr that causing heavy rains and triggering damaging winds. It is equivalent to Category 4 tropical cyclone. As per the reports, more than 2,700,000 homes were left without electricity after some 38 inches of rain fell in Yilan County.
85. India will host the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup in October 2017, which is first-ever FIFA tournament in India. It is in news because the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017 has recently launched the official emblem for the world cup at Margao, Goa. The emblem is designed as a celebration of the India's rich and diverse culture, with its main elements being the Indian Ocean, the banyan tree, the kite and the starburst, which is an interpretation of the Ashoka Chakra, an integral part of the national identity.
86. India has been ranked 39th out of 138 countries in the 2016-17 Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), which is released by the World Economic Forum (WEF). As per the GCI report, due to improved monetary, fiscal policies and lower oil prices, the Indian economy has stabilized and now boasts the highest growth among G20 countries. The report has also stated that India still needs to cover a lot of ground in the areas like labour, financial market, tax regulations, manufacturing, infrastructure and technological readiness. The list has been topped by Switzerland, followed by Singapore, United States, the Netherlands and Germany.
87. The Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in New Delhi has become the first airport in the Asia-Pacific region to achieve carbon neutral status. With this, the airport carbon accreditation has upgraded Delhi Airport to "Level 3+, Neutrality", which is the highest level of achievement available to airports across the world. The carbon neutral status to IGI airport was given by Airports Council International (ACI) during the Airport Carbon Accreditation certificate presentation ceremony held in Montreal, Canada on September 27, 2016. The carbon neutrality status is granted if the net carbon emission over an entire year is zero. This means the airport absorbs or offsets the same amount of emission that is generated. The Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) is a GMR Group-led consortium which manages and operates IGI airport.
88. Shimon Peres (93), the former Israeli PM and President, has recently passed away in Ramat Gan, Israel. Peres was Israel's most eminent elder statesman, who shared the Nobel Peace Prize with the late former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for reaching, in 1993, an interim peace deal which never hardened into a lasting treaty. He was part of almost every major development from the country's founding in 1948.
89. The book "Karachi, You're Killing Me!" has been authored by Pakistani journalist-writer Saba Imtiaz. It is a comedy crime-thriller novel, which revolves around the life of a young protagonist, Ayesha and about several events of violence and disturbance that take place in Karachi due to poor security measures. It is a treatise on the state of journalism in Karachi, where law and order is taken for granted. The upcoming Bollywood film "Noor" is based on the novel in which Sonakshi Sinha is playing a journalist role.
90. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the India Sanitation Conference (INDOSAN) in New Delhi on September 30, 2016. The conference is meant for taking stock of the progress under the mission, deliberating on related issues and renewing the commitment to ensure Swachh Bharat. The individuals and organisations who have made significant contribution for generating awareness about sanitation and motivating people in this regard would be honoured during the conference.
91. Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, the Union Minority Affairs Minister, has launched the "Progress Panchayat" programme for minorities from Mewat region of Haryana to reach out to the minority communities and publicize the various welfare measures taken by the NDA government for their betterment. The programme will be organized in 100 places in India where Union Ministers will interact with people about the several schemes.
92. Rajasthan has become the first Indian state to adopt centre's Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP) in all its urban local bodies (ULB). Almost 5 lakh conventional street lights have been replaced with LED street lights across the state. The project has been funded by Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a Public Energy Services Company under the administration of Ministry of Power, Government of India (GoI), at no cost to the state.
93. Max Walker (81), an Australian cricketer and Australian rules football player, has recently passed away in Melbourne, Australia. His unorthodox cricket bowling action earned him the nickname "Tangles" and his larrikin character made him a much-loved figure with the Australian public.
94. Ajay Singh, the Chairman and Managing Director of Spicejet Airlines, is the newly elected president of Boxing Federation of India (BFI).
95. The world's largest filled aperture radio telescope "Tianyan" has been built by China in Guizhou Province. The radio telescope is also known as Five-hundred-metre Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST). The purpose of FAST is to discover the laws of the development of the universe. It will be used to study stellar radio emissions, gravitational waves and potentially signals from extraterrestrial civilizations.
96. The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has recently declared that 2026 Asian Games will be hosted by Japan. The 2018 Asian Games have already been awarded to Indonesia while the 2022 edition will be held in the Chinese city of Hangzhou.
