Daily updates 13 September 2019

National

1.MSDE laid the foundation stone of IIS in Mumbai

• Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), laid the foundation stone for Indian Institute of Skills (IIS) at Mumbai.
• The objective of the institute is to provide skill training in highly-specialised areas to students who want to pursue technical education after completing Class X and XII.
• The IIS will be a tertiary care institute in the skills ecosystem and offer best of required courses in emerging and high demand areas such as deep technology, aerospace, among others.
• These institutes will be constructed and operated on a PPP (Public-Private Partnership) model. Tata Education Development Trust (TEDT) was selected as the private partner for setting up IIS at NSTI campus in Mumbai through a competitive bidding process.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB NTPC/IBPS RRB Mains:

• Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE): Mahendra Nath Pandey.

2. India joins global antimicrobial resistance research hub

• India has joined the Global Antimicrobial Resistance Research (AMR) and Development hub as a new member.
• AMR is the ability of a microbe to resist the effects of medication that once could successfully treat the microbe.
• India will be a member of the board of members of the hub from this year. India looks forward to working with all partners to leverage their existing capabilities, resources and collectively focus on new research to address drug-resistant infections.
• The hub supports global priority setting and evidence-based decision-making on the allocation of resources for AMR research and development through identification of gaps, overlaps and potential for cross-sectoral collaboration and leveraging.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB Main 2019:

• The Global AMR R&D Hub was launched in 2018.
• The acting Chairperson of the hub's Board of Members is Bersabel Ephrem.

International

3. Vietnam opens Southeast Asia's largest solar power farm

• Vietnam has inaugurated Southeast Asia's largest solar power farm which has the capacity to produce 688 million kWh of electricity annually.
• The Dau Tieng Solar Power Complex, a joint venture with the Thai industrial group B.Grimm Power Public Company, occupies 540 hectares in Tay Ninh province, Vietnam.
• The complex was constructed on the Dau Tieng Reservoir the largest artificial lake in Vietnam and is expected to generate 10 per cent of the country's solar energy to guarantee supply to 320,000 homes.
• It will also prevent the emission of 595,000 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB NTPC/IBPS RRB Mains:

• President of Vietnam: Nguyen Phu Trong; Vietnam Capital: Hanoi.
• Currency: Vietnamese dong.

Agreement

4. IFC signs MoU with FIDC for training NBFCs

• The International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank Group, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Finance Industry Development Council (FIDC).
• FIDC is a representative body of asset and loan Financing Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFCs), to collaborate on the training of NBFCs in the country.
• According to the agreement, the training programs for NBFCs would be conducted on “Commercial Credit Reporting” aimed at building the capacity of NBFCs to enhanced reporting and enquiring on Commercial Credit Information Data from the Credit Bureaus.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB Main 2019:

• CEO of IFC: Philippe Le Houerou; Director-General of FIDC: Mahesh Thakkar.

Appointment

5. Karnataka Bank chief becomes IBA committee member

• Mahabaleshwara MS, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Karnataka Bank, has been inducted to the managing committee of Indian Banks’ Association (IBA).
• He was elected unopposed from the Private Sector Member Banks’ category.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB NTPC/IBPS RRB Mains:

• Chairman of Indian Banks’ Association: Sunil Mehta.

Ranks and Reports

6. Times Higher Education released "World University Rankings 2020"

• World University Rankings 2020, published by the United Kingdom (UK) based Times Higher Education (THE), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Ropar and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore were ranked number 1 among the 56 Indian institutes on the list of the best universities of the world. The ranking includes almost 1,400 universities across 92 countries.
• As per the World University Rankings 2020, the University of Oxford is the number one university in the world for the fourth time in a row. The California Institute of Technology stands at the second place and the University of Cambridge fell to the third rank this year.

Defence

7. DRDO hands over second 'Netra' (AEWC) aircraft to IAF

• The Defence Research Development Organization (DRDO) has handed over the second airborne warning plane, Netra, to the Indian Air Force.
• The Netra, an Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEWC) aircraft, it is useful for surveillance, tracking, identification and classification of airborne and sea surface targets and is useful in detecting incoming ballistic missile threats.
• The Netra had played a stellar role during the Balakot airstrikes that had been carried out by the IAF in February this year. It provided surveillance and radar coverage to the five Mirage jets that bombed terror launch pads in Balakot in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB Main 2019:

• Chairman of DRDO: Dr G. Satheesh Reddy; Headquarters: New Delhi; Founded: 1958.
• Motto of DRDO: “Strength’s Origin is in Science.

8. Indo-Thailand joint military exercise Maitree 2019

• India and Thailand are all set to organize Joint Military Exercise MAITREE-2019 at Foreign Training Node, Umroi (Meghalaya) from 16-29 Sep 2019. Both the countries have already conducted two such military exercises in past one month.
• About 100 Indian and Royal Thailand Army (RTA) soldiers will participate in the joint military exercise with an aim to share experience gained during a various counter-terrorism operation in their respective countries. The exercise 'MAITREE' is an annual training event which is being conducted alternatively in India and Thailand since 2006.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB NTPC/IBPS RRB Mains:

• Chief of the Army Staff: General Bipin Rawat.

Obituaries

9. Climate change campaigner of the South Pacific Akilisi Pohiva passes away

• Climate change campaigner of the South Pacific and Prime Minister of Tongan Akilisi Pohiva passed away.
• He was long-time pro-democracy campaigner and leader in the fight against climate change. He was awarded the Defender of Democracy Award in 2013 by the Parliamentarians for Global Action, the first Pacific Islander to receive the prize.

Sports

• Australian fast bowler Megan Schutt scripted history by becoming the first woman to claim two hat­tricks in white-ball cricket.
• The right-arm medium-pacer claimed an ODI hat-trick to become the first Australian woman to achieve the feat.
• She became the first Australian women to claim a hat­trick in ODIs. Schutt had claimed her first hat­trick in a T20 game against India.

Miscellaneous

11. Sri Lanka flags off Pulathisi Express, a 'Make In India' train

• The tie-up between India and Sri Lanka received a boost when a newly 'Make In India' train "Pulathisi Express" rake was flagged off from Colombo Fort Railway station.
• The rake of the train was manufactured in the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai. The train which has been inducted under an Indian Line of Credit has an on-board entertainment system, modular interiors and fully-rotating seats in Air Conditioned Chair cars for passenger comfort.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB Main 2019:

• Sri Lanka Capitals: Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte; Currency: Sri Lankan rupee.
• Prime minister: Ranil Wickremesinghe; President: Maithripala Sirisena.

12. Water found on potentially habitable super Earth K2-18b

• Astronomers have found water for the first time in atmosphere of habitable exoplanet K2-18b which orbits in its star’s “habitable zone”.
• K2-18b, which is 8 times the mass of Earth, is now the only planet orbiting a star outside the Solar System, or ‘exoplanet’, known to have both water and temperatures that could be potentially habitable, according to the study published in the journal Nature Astronomy and the lead scientist of the research is Prof Giovanna Tinetti of University College London (UCL), United Kingdom