National:
- The Indian Air Force formally inducted the Rafale aircraft on 10th September 2020 at Air Force Station, Ambala. The aircraft is inducted as a part of 17 Squadron, the “Golden Arrows”. Hon’ble Raksha Mantri, Shri Rajnath Singh and Mrs Florence Parly, Minister of the Armed Forces of France was the Chief Guest for the Induction Ceremony.
- Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman inaugurated Doorstep Banking Services by PSBs. Doorstep Banking Services is envisaged to provide convenience of banking services to the customers at their door step through the universal touch points of Call Centre, Web Portal or Mobile App.
- Union Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment, Shri Thaawarchand Gehlot released a book containing 33 Action Plans 2020-21 of all the schemes of the Department of Social Justice & Empowerment on 07 September 2020. The book is prepared for economic, educational development and social empowerment of the people belonging to Scheduled Castes, Other Backward Classes (OBCs), and Senior Citizens, victim of Drug Abuse, Transgender, De-notified, Nomadic and Semi Nomadic Tribes (DNTs).
- Shri Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways and MSME, launched Aatmanirbhar Bharat ARISE Challenges (Atal New India Challenges in Applied Research and Innovation for medium and Small Enterprises) by NiTi Ayog on 09 Sep 2020. Shri Nitin Gadkari said, he aims to enhance MSME contribution to GDP from about 30% to 50% and in exports from 49% to 60% & targeting creation of 5 crore additional jobs in MSME sector in 5 years.
The programme will be driven by Indian Space Research Organization & four ministries- Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and associated industries to facilitate innovative solutions to sectoral problems. - Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will launch “YSR Asara” scheme on 11 Sep 2020. This is for Self-Help Groups (SHGs). In this Scheme, outstanding loans of SHGs will be reimbursed and a sum of Rs 6345.87 crore will be released for the benefit of 7,91,257 SHGs.
- The Uttarakhand government has decided to develop “Sanskrit Gram” across the state. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Haridwar-based Sanskrit Academy on 08 Sep 2020 chaired by Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Trivendra Singh Rawat. People in these model villages will communicate with each other in the ancient Indian language on a daily basis.
- Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu administered the oath to Parimal Nathwani of Yuvajana Sramika Rythu (YSR) Congress Party as Rajya Sabha member on 09 Sep 2020. He has taken oath of his third and present term, he has been elected from Andhra Pradesh.
- Chief Minister of Karnataka BS Yediyurappa announced that the Hubballi railway station will be named as “Shree Siddharoodha Swamiji Railway Station – Hubballi” after the Ministry of Home Affairs cleared the state government’s proposal on 09 Sep 2020.
International:
- External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held meetings with Foreign Minister Chingiz Aidarbekov, Kyrgyz Republic and Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Muhriddin, Tajik counterparts here on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting on 09 Sep 2020 in Moscow. They discussed various issues of mutual interests and ways to boost bilateral relations.
Books:
- New Novel “Red Pill” is written by British novelist Hari Kunzru.
- Book “When Love Came Calling” is written by Preeti Shenoy. Book tells the story of two young people, Arush and Puja, figuring out love and life.
Awards:
Smt Nirmala Sitharaman,Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs declared EASE 2.0 Index Results.
Best performing banks on EASE Banking Reforms Index Category wise:
Award Category: Theme wise winner
- Punjab National Bank – Responsible Banking, Governance & HR, Deepening Financial Inclusions & Digitalisation
- Union Bank of India – Credit Offtake, UdyamiMitra for MSMEs
- Canara Bank – Deepening Financial Inclusions & Digitalisation
Award Category: Top Improvers – The Reform Excellence Award
- Bank of Maharashtra
- Central Bank of India
- Corporation Bank
Award Category: Top Performing Banks – The Ease Reforms Index Award
- Bank of Baroda
- State Bank of India
- Oriental Bank of Commerce
Business & Technology:
- Google rolled out latest version of the operating system Android 11 for smart phone users. This is avilable for select smartphone brands including Google Pixel, OnePlus, Xiaomi and Oppo.
- Cisco launched the Webex Classrooms platform. This aims to help in enableing schools to conduct online classes. It provides a classroom structure for teachers and students to organise sessions, review syllabuses, schedule and to launch online classes.
- “Project Connected Home over IP” is an open-sourced, royalty-free home automation connectivity standard project. It aims to provide features of compatibility among different smart home and Internet of things products and softwares. It was launched and introduced by Amazon, Apple, Google, Comcast and the Zigbee Alliance in December 2019. The unified, open-source smart home platform are on track to deliver a draft specification by late 2020 and release the standard in 2021.
Sports:
- The Sports Authority of India regional centre in Kolkata organised a Fit India Freedom Run event at the Netaji Subhash Eastern Centre on 09 Sep 2020. Bula Choudhury, an Arjuna Awardee, Padmashree Awardee and former national women’s swimming champion flagged off the Fit India Freedom Run which was attended by all the staff members, officers & coaches.
- Manchester City midfielder “Kevin De Bruyne” was voted “English football’s player of the year” on 08 Sep 2020. De Bruyne became the first City player to capture the Professional Footballers’ Association award.
Others:
- The Chennai Photo Biennale (CPB) Foundation postponed the third edition of its Chennai Photo Biennale to December 2021, due to Covid-19. The two-month-long photography festival was originally scheduled for December 9, 2020 – February 6, 2021.
- The Cupertino-based iPhone maker is opened world’s first floating Apple Store named “Apple Marina Bay Sands” in Singapore on 10 Sep 2020. It is Apple’s first floating retail store with a glass dome that appears as a floating sphere & sits directly on the water.
- The world’s largest rooftop greenhouse is located in Montreal, Canada. It is set up by Lufa Farms, on the top of a warehouse in spans 15,000 sq m.