1st October 2016 - Important Current Affairs updates

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International Affairs

• Today (1st October) is World Vegetarian Day.
• • It is a day of celebration established by the North American Vegetarian Society in 1977 and endorsed by the International Vegetarian Union in 1978, To promote the joy, compassion and life-enhancing possibilities of vegetarianism."
• Today (1st October) is International Day of Older Persons.
• • This year (2015) observes the celebration of the 25th anniversary of International Day of Older Persons (IDOP).
  • Theme of the year 2016 : Take a Stand Against Ageism
• A tributary of Brahmaputra river in Tibet has been blocked by China to construct its "most expensive" hydro project which may impact water flow in India.
• United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has offered to become a mediator between India and Pakistan to help the two nations resolve their disputes.  
• Sri Lanka has become the fifth nation to pull out of the SAARC summit scheduled in Pakistan in November after India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Bhutan boycotted the 8-nation summit.
• Pakistan has officially postponed the 8-nation SAARC summit, after five countries– India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka dropped out of it. 
  
• • The boycott of the summit had been initiated by PM Narendra Modi, who pulled out citing strained diplomatic relations with Pakistan. 
  • Note : The summit is consensus-based and is automatically cancelled even if one member decides not to attend.

National Affairs

• Today (1st October) is National Voluntary dBlood Donation Day.
• • The objective of this day is to share the need and importance of the blood in the life of an individual.
  • This day was first observed in the year 1975 by the Indian Society of Blood Transfusion and Immunohaematology. 
  • Note : Indian Society of Blood Transfusion and Immunohaematology was established on 22nd of October in the year 1971 under the leadership of Mrs. K. Swaroop Krishen and Dr. J.G. Jolly.

New Appointments

• State Bank of India chief Arundhati Bhattacharya's term has been extended till October 2017. 
• • Bhattacharya's term was to end next week. 
  • The Finance Ministry seeks continuity in India's biggest bank's leadership as it merges with associate units. 
  • Note : The government is also planning to fix SBI chairman's tenure at five years, against three at present.

Business & Economy

• Chinese currency Yuan today joined the International Monetary Fund's basket of reserve currencies. 
• • The Yuan joins the US dollar, the euro, the yen, and the British pound in IMF's Special Drawing Rights (SDR) basket, under the move announced in November 2015. 
  • Note : This marks the first time a new currency has been added since the euro's launch in 1999.
• The CBI has registered a case against Canara Bank's ex-CMD RK Dubey for allegedly allowing deviations in sanctioning credit limits to a company during his tenure as an Executive Director at Central Bank of India. 
• • The case has been registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act. 
  • Documents showing ₹2 crore investment were found from his residence.
• India's largest-ever spectrum sale, where mobile airwaves worth ₹5.63 lakh crore are up on the block, started today. 
• • Seven operators namely, Reliance Jio, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, Bharti Airtel, Tata Teleservices, Reliance Communications, and Aircel are participating in the auction. 
  • Note : Reliance Jio is the only company eligible to bid for a pan-India spectrum in the premium 700 Mhz band.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has set the ‘Ways and Means Advances’ (WMA) limit for the central government at ₹25,000 crore for the October-March period. 
• • WMA are advances given by the RBI to the government to meet temporary mismatches in the receipts and payments. 
  • However, the RBI retains the flexibility to revise the limits in consultation with the Centre.

Awards & Honors

• Dehradun's Kendriya Vidyalaya FRI was awarded by PM Narendra Modi as the cleanest school in the country. 
• • The school encourages waste management and recycling and 60% of its premises has greenery.

MOUs & Agreements

• India and Japan are likely to sign a civil nuclear cooperation pact in November during PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Japan.
• • Japan has been demanding additional non-proliferation guarantees from India before exporting nuclear reactors. 
  • The two countries have decided that Japan would halt cooperation immediately if India conducted a nuclear test.

• India won the Under-18 Asia Cup hockey tournament after beating hosts Bangladesh 5-4 in the final. 
• Bengaluru-born para climber Manikandan Kumar won the Gold medal in the IFSC Para Climbing Cup, organised in the United Kingdom.
• Rio Olympics' silver medalist PV Sindhu rose two places in the latest Badminton World Federation rankings, to be ranked eighth. 
• • Former world number one Saina Nehwal, recovering from a knee injury, jumped three places to be ranked fifth. 
  • Among the men, Kidambi Srikanth returned to the top ten, ranked ninth, after a quarterfinal finish at the Japan Open.
• Kolkata's Eden Gardens, which is currently hosting India's 250th home Test, is the second-largest cricket ground by capacity. 
• • The ground, with a capacity of 66,000, is second only to Australia's Melbourne Cricket Ground which can seat almost 90,000 people.

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