Important Current Affairs 11th September 2018 English

Important Current Affairs 11th September 2018

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                                                                (National News)

Inaugurates “First Regional Workshop on RERA”
 
Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri on Monday said the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act 2016 (Rera) has brought discipline, transparency and accountability in the real estate sector.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government had got the legislation passed in Parliament to ensure fair practices for protecting the interests of buyers and imposing penalties on errant builders.
The  Maharashtra is one of the first states to implement the act, and established the Real Estate Regulatory Authority of Maharashtra.

Successful Air-to-Air Refuelling of LCA Tejas
 
In a significant achievement and a major step towards Final Operational Clearance (FOC) of LCA Tejas, the mid-air refuelling of ‘wet contact’ trial for LCA Tejas MK-1 was successfully carried out on 10th September from an Indian Air Force base. The trial was a part of the Air-to-Air refuelling flight tests conducted by IAF.
Before this ‘wet contact’ trial, the ‘dry contact trials’ were successfully conducted on September 04 & 06, 2018 where the Drogue (basket) extended from the IAF tanker aircraft by a fuel hose, was tracked and plugged into using the aircraft refuelling probe without taking fuel. IAF provided all required support to DRDO including the tanker aircraft for the successful test flight.
The Air-to-Air refuelling capability for LCA is a ‘force multiplier’ for the IAF, giving the aircraft the potential to stay airborne for much longer periods of time.

NITI Aayog, Intel and TIFR collaborate to set up a Model International Center for Transformative AI (ICTAI)

 
NITI Aayog, Intel, and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) announced on 7th September that they are collaborating to set up a Model International Center for Transformative Artificial Intelligence (ICTAI) towards developing and deploying AI-led application-based research projects. 
This initiative is part of NITI Aayog’s ‘National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence’ Discussion Paper that focuses on establishing ICTAI in the country through private sector collaboration.

Objective:
Based in Bengaluru, the Model ICTAI aims to conduct advanced research to incubate AI-led solutions in three important areas – healthcare, agriculture and smart mobility – by bringing together the expertise of Intel and TIFR.
It aims to experiment, discover and establish best practices in the domains of ICTAI governance, fundamental research, physical infrastructure, compute and service infrastructure needs, and talent acquisition.

Aadhar not mandatory for booking an International Parcel
 
The Department of Posts today clarified that it is mandatory to produce an Identity Proof acceptable for important transactions like booking an International Parcel or International EMS (Merchandise) for safety and security reasons. 
One of the accepted Identity Proof is Aadhaar, along with others like driving license, Passport, Voter ID etc which are also acceptable. 
Aadhaar, as per the prevailing norms in the country, is not a mandatory document to be produced at the time of booking. Moreover, all such documents are only required for office record and are NOT required to be pasted on the consignments.

Delhi Government launches doorstep delivery of 40 services
 
The Delhi government on September 10, 2018 launched a scheme that will enable doorstep delivery of 40 essential government services such as caste and marriage certificates, driving license and new water connections in the first phase. The services will be provided for an extra fee of Rs 50.
What comes under the schemes?
Under the scheme, the Delhi government will provide 40 services such as caste certificate, driving licence, at the doorstep of people. Eventually, more services will be added to the list.

In July, the government had approved administrative reforms proposal to hire a company, which will be an intermediary agency, to execute the project in the national capital.

The intermediary agency will set up call centres and hire 'mobile sahayaks’ (facilitators). The citizens will be able to call a centralised number to set up a home visit with a mobile sahayak.

                                                          (Sports News)

First Indian to win a medal in IAAF Continental Cup
 
Triple jumper Arpinder Singh has created history by becoming the first Indian to win a medal in the IAAF Continental Cup. At Ostrava in Czech Republic on 10th September, he clinched a bronze. 

The 25-year-old Arpinder was representing the Asia-Pacific team in the meet, held once every four years. 

No Indian has ever won a medal in the Continental Cup which was known as the IAAF World Cup before 2010. Two top athletes from the four regions of Europe, Americas, Africa and Asia-Pacific were taking part in each of the 36 events in men and women sections taken together. 

 IAAF Continental Cup

The IAAF Continental Cup (formerly known as the IAAF World Cup) is an international athletics competition which comprises track and field events. It is the only world cup contested by teams representing entire continents, rather than just those of individual countries. The event takes place every four years.

The founder of the original World Cup was the Italian IAAF former President Primo Nebiolo.
In 2018, the inaugural Athletics World Cup was held. This event is not related to the original IAAF World Cup or its IAAF Continental Cup successor, and the latter continues to be held.

                                                               (Day & Dates)

International Literacy Day 2018 observed globally
 
The 52nd International Literacy Day was celebrated across the world on September 8, 2018 with an aim to highlight improvements in world literacy rates, and reflect on the existing literacy challenges.
The day was commemorated by a two-day special event at UNESCO’s headquarters, Paris. It also saw the hosting of the 2018 UNESCO International Literacy Prize awards ceremony.

The Literacy Prizes consists of five prizes. They are International Reading Association Literacy Award, Noma Literacy Prize, UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize, The Malcolm Adiseshiah International Literacy Prize and UNESCO Confucius Prize for Literacy.

                                                       (International News)

Ocean Cleanup foundation deploys 2000 ft long device to clean Great Pacific Garbage Patch
 

The Ocean Cleanup foundation, an organisation founded by 24-year-old Dutch innovator Boyan Slat, on September 9, 2018 launched the world’s first ocean cleanup array from San Francisco, marking the start of the cleanup of Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a collection of marine debris in the North Pacific Ocean.

The cleanup system, “System 001”, headed to a location 240 nautical miles offshore for a two-week trial before moving towards the Great Pacific Garbage Patch which is 1200 nautical miles offshore, to start the cleanup. 

System 001 is being towed from the San Francisco Bay by the vessel Maersk Launcher. 

System 001: 

The cleanup array comprises floater, skirt and stabilizers.
System 001, named as ‘Wilson’, will be able to collect 50 tons of plastic in its first year.
The hard-walled pipe enables the floating component of the array.
It consists of a 2000 ft long U-shaped floating barrier with a three-meter (10 ft) skirt attached below. 
This dense 10-foot skirt below the floating part of the device is supposed to help gather floating debris.
The system is designed to be propelled by wind and waves, allowing it to passively catch and concentrate plastic debris in front of it. 

Indo-US joint military exercise ‘Yudh Abhyas 2018’ 
 
The joint military training Exercise Yudh Abhyas 2018 will be conducted between India and the United States in Himalayas at Chaubattia, Uttarakhand from September 16 to 29, 2018. 

As part of the ongoing Indo-US defence cooperation, this joint military exercise would be held under the aegis of Headquarter Central Command.

Exercise Yudh Abhyas is a series of one of the longest running joint military training and a major ongoing bilateral defence cooperation endeavour between India and the US. 

This will be the 14th edition of the joint military exercise hosted alternately by both countries. The two-week exercise will witness participation of about 350 personnel of the US Army and similar strength of Garud Division of the Indian Army.

                                                          (Defense News)

Opening ceremony: INDO-MONGOLIA joint exercise Nomadic Elephant-2018
 
Indo-Mongolia joint exercise Nomadic Elephant-2018, commenced on 10th of September at Mongolian Armed Forces (MAF) Five Hills Training Area, Ullanbaatar, Mongolia with a brief but impressive opening ceremony. 
The 12 days long joint exercise will be conducted from 10 Sep to 21 Sep 2018. 
Exercise Nomadic Elephant is an annual, bilateral exercise since 2006 which is designed to strengthen the partnership between Indian Army and Mongolian Armed Forces.
The Indian contingent is represented by a contingent of 17 PUNJAB Regiment while the Mongolian contingent is represented by Unit 084 of the Mongolian Armed Forces.

During the exercise both sides will jointly train, plan and execute a series of well-developed tactical drills for neutralisation of likely threats that may be encountered in urban warfare scenario. Experts from both sides will also hold detailed discussions to share their experience on varied topics for mutual benefits.