India pledges 33-35 per
cent GHGs emission cut by 2030
India has pledged to reduce its greenhouse gases
(GHGs) emissions intensity of its GDP by 33-35 per cent compared to 2005 levels
by 2030. The figures of mitigation action were announced by Union Environment
Minister Prakash Javdekar in New Delhi ahead of the Paris Climate Change Conference.
In this regard, Union Government has submitted Nationally Determined
Contribution (INDC) to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC).
India will host G20
Summit 2018
The G20 member nations took a decision
on the Chair for 2018 earlier in September 2015 and India was selected for the
same. The Group of 20 (G20) is an international forum for 20 major economies of
the world.
Remember G20 Nations by trick: GURU JI SITA AB SSC FCI ME job karti hogi (use only capital letters, job karti hogi is irrelevant) for other mnemonics/tricks Click:
October 2: International
Day of Non-violence
Every year October 2 is being observed as
International Day of Non-violence throughout the world on the birth anniversary
of Mahatma Gandhi. This day is observed by all member countries of the United
Nations to promote the principles of non-violence through education and public
awareness.
Indian-American Professor
wins ‘genius grant’
Kartik Chandran, an Indian-American Associate
Professor of Earth and Environmental Engineering at Columbia Engineering, has
been named a 2015 MacArthur Fellow with a “genius grant” of $625,000 (Rs. 4.09
crore).
Mr. Chandran, an IIT-Roorkee graduate, has won the
fellowship for his work in “transforming wastewater from a pollutant requiring
disposal to a resource for useful products, such as commodity chemicals, energy
sources, and fertilizers.”
Dabur will adopt five UP
villages to support 'Swachh Bharat' drive
Coinciding with the first anniversary of Prime
Minister Narendra Modi's 'Swachh Bharat' initiative, homegrown FMCG major Dabur
IndiaBSE today said it will adopt five villages in Uttar Pradesh and make them
'Open-Defecation Free' within the current fiscal.
List of 5 villages are Nandpur, Nagla Gajju, Naraina,
Nidhawali and Domatikri. The company further said that it has also identified
five other villages in Uttar Pradesh, six in Uttarakhand and two in Himachal
Pradesh for construction of household toilets. Dabur India said it has already
constructed close to 600 toilets under this initiative.
US Treasury Department
adds India to its FATCA list
The US Treasury Department has issued a list of 34
countries which includes India with whom it would share information under FATCA
(foreign account tax compliance act) regulations.
The pact aims to cover automatic sharing of
information on bank accounts and other instruments like mutual funds, insurance
and equities with each other. This is aimed at fighting the black money or
unaccounted money.
Other countries named by the US Treasury Department
list include Luxembourg, New Zealand, South Africa and Brazil. The new list
includes 16 new countries which were added to the original list of countries
with which the US already has the arrangement.
ADB to provide loan for India-Bangladesh
Electricity link upgradation
Asian Development Bank (ADB) has decided to provide
120 million dollars loan to upgrade the India-Bangladesh electricity network.
This loan fund will allow Bangladesh to meet its increasing power demand from
India and support power exchanges across South Asia region.
Argentina tops FIFA world rankings
Argentina continued to lead the men’s soccer world
rankings in the FIFA world rankings,
while Germany overtook Belgium to land at the second place.
Maruti Suzuki Chairman RC
Bhargava gets Forbes award
Maruti Suzuki Chairman RC Bhargava has been honoured
with the lifetime achievement award at the Forbes India Leadership Awards,
2015. The award recognises his invaluable contribution to the Indian business
community and exemplary leadership demonstrated over the years, Maruti Suzuki
India said in a statement.
An IAS topper of 1956 batch, Bhargava was one of the
founding members of Maruti in 1982. He led the company as Managing Director
from 1990 to 1997. Bhargava, who has been Chairman of the country’s largest car
maker since 2007, also serves on the board of several leading corporates.
IDFC Bank started its
banking operations
IDFC Bank, backed by infrastructure financier IDFC (Infrastructure
Development Finance Company). It started its banking operations initially with
23 branches based primarily in Madhya Pradesh, Mumbai and Delhi initially. The
bank is focusing on the wholesale banking segment initially and is expected to
launch retail and small and medium enterprises (SME) banking from January 2016.
IDFC and micro-finance company Bandhan were the only
two entities among 20-odd aspirants that had received banking licences from the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) during 2014. Bandhan had already unveiled its
banking operations from August 2015.
First time the Court
broadcasts live proceedings
In an unprecedented move in the history of the Indian
judiciary, the Madras High Court on Wednesday organised for a live broadcast. The
high court was hearing contempt proceedings against two office bearers of the
Madurai District Bar Association. The entire proceedings were telecast live and
were made available by setting up a giant screen on the court premises.
The court took the decision to telecast the proceeding
live after its earlier hearing in the case was disrupted by sloganeering and
noisy protests by an army of lawyers who had descended on the corridors of the
court. The case has its roots in a ruling making wearing of helmets mandatory
of riders and pillion riders of two-wheelers.
Researchers discovered new
lizard species
Researchers have discovered a new species of
rock-dwelling lizard at Kanker district of Chhattisgarh. The finding by a team
of scientists led by B H Channakeshava Murthy of the Western Ghats Regional
Centre, Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), Kozhikode, was published in
international scientific journal Zootaxa.
The new gecko species has been named Hemidactylus
yajurvedi (Kanker Rock Gecko). The large-sized lizard having a snout-vent
length (SVL) of up to 98mm is the 27th Hemidactylus species known in India.
Source: The Hindu, The Indian Express