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Patna High Court quashes Bihar Prohibition of Liquor Act


Patna High Court on 30 September 2016 quashed Bihar government notification completely banning liquor in the state. The court said that the notification is ultra vires to the Constitution.
●    A division bench of the court comprising Chief Justice Iqbal Ahmed Ansari and Justice Navaniti Prasad Singh quashed the 5 April 2016 notification of the state government to stop consumption and sale of alcohol in the state.
●    The court in its verdict said that the notification is ultra vires to the Constitution, hence not enforceable. 
●    The same bench had on 20 May 2016 reserved its order on a batch of writ petitions filed by Liquor Trade Association and many individuals challenging the liquor law which has stringent penal provisions.
●    Ultra vires means beyond one's legal power or authority. If an act requires legal authority and it is done with such authority, it is characterised in law as intra vires.
 

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International Translation Day observed across the world


The International Translation Day was on 30 September 2016 observed across the world with the theme Translation and Interpreting: Connecting Worlds.
●    This is the annual event for the translation community and event is marked with a series of dedicated events, seminars and symposiums across the world.
●    The Day was established in 1953 by the International Federation of Translators (FIT).
●    It is celebrated every year on 30 September on the feast of St Jerome, the Bible translator who is considered the patron saint of translators.
●    In 1991, FIT launched the idea of an officially recognised International Translation Day to show solidarity of the worldwide translation community in an effort to promote the translation profession.
 

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84TH Air Force Day: Air Display


The Indian Air Force proudly celebrates its 84th anniversary on 08 Oct 2016.     
●    A scintillating air display by various aircraft will be the hallmark of the Air Force Day Parade cum Investiture Ceremony at Air Force Station Hindan (Ghaziabad).  
●    Rehearsals for the air display will commence from 01st October 2016 (Saturday).  
●    The general area over which aircraft will be flying at low levels are Wazirpur bridge – Karwalnagar – Afjalpur -  Hindan, Shamili – Jiwana – Chandinagar – Hindan, Hapur – Philkua – Ghaziabad – Hindan
●    The air display will commence with flag bearing sky divers of famous AKASH GANGA Team dropping out of AN-32 aircraft in their colourful canopies, at 0800 hours.
●    The flypast would include the vintage aircraft, modern transport aircraft and frontline fighter aircraft. The ceremony will conclude at 1130 hours with a scintillating aerobatic display.
 

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20 States rewarded for promoting urban reforms under Atal Mission during 2015-16 


19 States and the Union Territory of Chandigarh were today rewarded with performance incentive for promoting urban reforms under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) during 2015-16. While Tamil Nadu topped the list of performing States, Chandigarh headed the list of Union Territories.
●    Minister of Urban Development Shri M.Venkaiah Naidu felicitated the lead performers with mementoes and cheques during INDOSAN Conference in New Delhi. He said that the focus of reforms during 2015-16 was on e-governance, Double Entry Accounting, collection of user charges and municipal taxes, water and energy audit, single window clearences and the focus of reforms during 2016-17 is online building permissions in all the 53 million plus cities, replacement of old water pumpsets with energy efficient ones, reuse of treated water and urban flooding mitigation planning.
●    Reform incentive distributed to 20 States/UT was : Tamil Nadu (Rs.61.34 cr), Karnataka (Rs.29.92 cr), Odisha (Rs.10.27 cr), Telangana (Rs.10.73 cr), Kerala (15.00 cr), Chattisgarh (Rs.13.00 cr), Andhra Pradesh (Rs.13.62 cr), MP (Rs.33.45 cr), Gujarat (Rs.26.72 cr), Bihar (Rs.15.04 cr), Rajasthan (Rs.20.80 cr), Mizoram (Rs.1.63 cr), Maharashtra (Rs.45.57 cr), UP (Rs.63.47 cr), Jharkhand (Rs.7.28 cr), Himachal Pradesh (Rs.3.54 cr), Tripura (Rs.1.70 cr), West Bengal (Rs.24.89 cr), Goa (Rs.1.34 cr) and Chandigarh (0.69 cr).
●    Rs.400 cr was earmarked for reform incentive during 2015-16. 23 States/UTs applied to the Ministry of Urban Development. After verification of claims States/UT scoring 70% marks were identified for giving reform incentive. Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir and A & N Islands could not qualify

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PM, CMs, Ministers sign Declaration of Commitment to make Swachh Bharat by 2019 

Top leadership of the country including the Prime Ministers, Chief Ministers and Ministers from States and Union Territories today signed a Declaration of Commitment to make India Open Defecation Free and Clean by 2019.
●    Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, Union Ministers and Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chattisgarh, Goa, Haryana, Maharashtra and Goa besides Ministers from States and UTs signed the Declaration during the INDOSAN (India Sanitation Conference) here today. Other elected representatives from rural and urban local bodies, District Collectors, Municipal Commissioners also signed a similar Declaration.
●    Addressing the inaugural session of INDOSAN, Minister of Urban Development Shri M.Venkaiah Naidu said ‘’Largest ever mass mobilization is taken place under Swachh Bharat Mission. With people leading the India Sanitation Alliance, cleanliness in rural and urban areas has been mainstreamed with political leadership at various levels for the first time. 21st century India has to get free from illiteracy and LITTERATI people who throw litter in the open”.
●    Shri Naidu said “Mood Of Developing India”(MODI) over the last two years has been for a Clean India and after a  slow start, Swachh Bharat Mission has gained momentum over the last one year with good progress in implementation in both rural and urban areas.
●    The Minister informed that as on date 405 cities and towns have come to be Open Defecation Free and 739 would become ODF by March next year. 24 lakh individual household toilets have so far been built in urban areas and another 19 lakhs under construction. 20,000 of the 82,000 urban wards have become ODF. 90,000 community and public toilet seats have been built and another 1.29 lakh seats under construction.
●    11 institutions and organisations have been felicitated by Prime Minister for significant work to ensure cleanliness. These were: Chandigarh and Mysurr (Clean Cities in million plus population category), Gangtok (Cleanest Tourism Destination), Pune Municipal Corporation and SWaCH Cooperative Society(Best in Solid Waste Management), Rani Ki Vav, Patan, Gujarat (Cleanest Cultural Heritage Site), Surat Railway Station(Cleanest Station), Post Graduate Institute of Medical Research & Education, Chandigarh (Cleanest Hospital), Mandi district, Himachal Pradesh (ODF and Cleanest district in hilly areas), Sindhugurg district, Maharashtra (ODF and Cleanest district in plain areas) and National Cadet Corps, NCC(Exemplary nation-wide cleanliness activities)

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GST Council agrees on five areas, differs on one

The Centre and states today disagreed on decisions reached at the first meeting of the GST Council on service tax assessment although they reached a consensus on area based exemption in the new tax regime. 
●    The second meeting of the all-powerful GST Council, headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, agreed on five subordinate legislations dealing with issues ranging from registration to invoicing under the new Goods and Service Tax (GST) regime. 
●    It also agreed on the treatment of exemption from GST. 
●    Currently, the Centre gives exemption to 11 states mostly in North East and hilly regions from excise duty as also many states give the same as incentive for setting up industry. 
●    The council decided that under GST, which will subsume excise duty and VAT among other levies, taxes will have to be collected and it can be reimbursed from the annual budgets to the exempted categories. 
●    The second meeting of the GST Council finalised rules for registration, rules for payments, returns, refunds and invoices. 
●    With this as many as 6 issues have been settled by the Council, that has representatives of all the states, in two meetings in a span of one week.

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Rajeev Mehta : New President of Cognizant

IT services provider Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp said it was conducting an internal investigation into possible violations of U.S. anti-corrupt practices laws related to payments in India, sending its shares tumbling on Friday. 
●    The company also said President Gordon Coburn had resigned and would be replaced by Rajeev Mehta, the head of IT services.
●    Cognizant, which gave no reason for Coburn’s departure, did not respond to a query on whether it was linked to the probe. 
●    The company’s shares closed down 13.4 percent at $47.63 on Friday, wiping out about $4.5 billion of market value.
●    They fell as much as 17.4 percent to $45.44, their lowest in more than two years. 
●    Cognizant is based in Teaneck, New Jersey but about three-quarters of its employees are in India. 

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Google to set up Cloud Region in Mumbai

Google will open a new 'Cloud Region' in Mumbai that will help the tech giant offer its cloud platform services to developers and enterprise customers in India.

●    Expected to be live in 2017, the local region in India will help make Google cloud platform services even faster for Indian customers, Google said in a statement.
●    The announcement was made at the Horizon event in San Francisco. However, the company did not disclose any financial details. 
●    The business-to-business (B2B) based Cloud services have also been re-branded as Google Cloud.
●    The move is expected to help the American company catch up with bigger rivals Microsoft and Amazon Web Services in the cloud marketplace in the country.
●    Brian Stevens, Vice President of Google Cloud said that by expanding to new regions, Google will be able to deliver better performance to customers.
●    The company has announced locations of seven new Google Cloud Regions -- Singapore, Sydney, Northern Virginia, Sao Paulo, London, Finland and Frankfurt -- that will come online through 2017, like the one in Mumbai.

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Rosetta Crash Lands on Comet : Completes Mission

The Rosetta spacecraft ended its historic mission on Friday, crashing on the surface of the dusty, icy comet it has spent 12 years chasing in a hunt that has provided insight into the early days of the solar system and captured the public's imagination.
●    The spacecraft has stalked comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko across more than 6 billion km (3.7 billion miles) of space, collecting a treasure trove of information on comets that will keep scientists busy for the next decade.
●    The mission managed several historic firsts, such as getting a spacecraft into orbit around a comet and the unprecedented landing of a probe on the surface. 
●    A handful of previous spacecraft had snapped pictures and collected data as they flew past their targets.
●    The ESA is ending the mission because 67P is racing toward the outer solar system, out of range for the solar-powered spacecraft.
●    Rosetta also has been subjected to the harsh radiation and extreme temperatures of space since launching in March 2004 and so was unlikely to last too much longer.
●    Before reaching the surface and shutting down, Rosetta's instruments and camera relayed back data and images, giving scientists insight into the structure of the comet.

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DGCA Ban on Samsung Note 7 Lifted

The Indian aviation regulator has lifted the restriction on carrying the new Note 7 phone in aircraft. 
●    The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has said its September 9 order banning flyers from carrying Samsung Galaxy Note 7 in check-in bags and from switching them on or charging in flight does "not apply to Samsung Galaxy Note 7 purchased after September 15, 2016." 
●    The modified DGCA order issued on Wednesday draws a distinction between Note 7 sold before and after the mid-September date.
●    Those purchased before September 15 — on which restrictions remain — "have been recalled by Samsung and have white battery charge indication on their screen". 
●    The ones purchased after that date have "green battery charge indication on their screen and can be carried on board without any restrictions". 
●    The Note 7 is yet to be launched in India but DGCA's worry stems from the fact that people get these high-end phones from abroad ahead of India launch and then fly with them here.
 

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