4th September 2015 Current Affair Updates | Daily GK Download

1. India and Australia decided to deepen their bilateral defence partnership by taking a slew of fresh initiatives including setting up of a joint working group on defence research and material cooperation. It was also decided that India will take part in the first ever air exercise with Australia. This is in addition to the first-ever bilateral naval exercise that is scheduled to be held later in the month of September. The decisions came following the delegation-level talks between visiting Australian Defence Minister Kevin Andrews and his Indian counterpart Manohar Parrikar.

2. China, a country with the world's largest Army (People's Liberation Army) will cut its number of troops by 300,000. This was announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping, as he kicked off a massive military parade marking 70 years since the end of World War Two in Asia. While making the announcement Xi said that China will always go down the path of peaceful development. Also, it wants the whole world to progress on the path of development.

3. British sports administrator and former star women swimmer Louise Martin was elected as the President of Commonwealth Games Federation. She has become the first female President to be elected as the President of Commonwealth Games Federation. Martin beat the incumbent Prince Tunku Imran of Malaysia in the Federation's elections. Martin was the Vice President at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014.

4. Union Government announced landmark and first-of-its-kind reform associated with oil and natural sector. It announced that it will now auction previously allotted small oil and gas fields to private firms. In a huge reform for country’s oil and gas sector, Union Oil and Natural Gas Ministry announced that it will, for the first time, auction 69 small and marginal oil and gas fields surrendered by state-run explorers like ONGC. The government hopes to raise Rs. 70,000 crore from the sale. The government expects private companies to boost output from the areas that hold resources of more than $10 billion.

5. In order to enable seamless travel by different metros and other transport systems across the country, the Ministry of Urban Development has come out with a smart National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) model which will be inter-operable across different transport systems in the country. This card will also enable retail shopping and purchases. Minister of Urban Development M.Venkaiah Naidu has approved the ‘EMV Open Loop Card with stored value’ in this regard. National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is being given the task of establishing a robust payment system for this proposed card initiative.

6. The Sports Ministry decided to recognize Yoga as a sports discipline and placed it in the Priority category. The Ministry also decided to upgrade Fencing from 'Others' to 'General' category, based on the past performance in major international events. It has also been decided to place 'University Sports' in the 'Priority' category.

7. The West-Central Railway (Headquarter: Jabalpur) Zone has become the first Railway Zone in Indian Railways to eliminate all unmanned level crossings from its system. Out of total 118 unmanned level crossings falling on West-Central Railways as on 1st April, 2014, 80 were eliminated in the financial year 2014-15 and the target of 66 and the remaining 38 have been achieved in current financial year. This could only be achieved by constructing 33 Limited Height Sub Ways (LHs) and manning of 30 level crossings. It is a big safety initiative.

8. Whistleblower bureaucrat Sanjiv Chaturvedi was conferred the prestigious Magsaysay Award for 2015 along with founder of NGO Goonj Anshu Gupta. These awards were given in the award ceremony organized in Manila, the capital of Philippines.

9. NTPC's Director (Technical) A.K. Jha has taken the additional charge of the post of the Chairman & Managing Director, NTPC. A.K. Jha succeeded Arup Roy Choudhury. After refusing extension to Arup Roy Choudhury as CMD of NTPC, the government has decided to give the additional charge to Jha for three months from September 1 as an interim arrangement. A search committee headed by Power Secretary P.K. Pujari is currently looking for a full-time CMD for NTPC.

10. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group announced that their 2018 Annual Meetings will take place in Bali Nusa Dua, Indonesia, in October 2018, following a vote by the Boards of Governors of the two institutions. According to Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the IMF and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, this will be a great opportunity to showcase Indonesia’s impressive economic and social achievements, as well as the culture, beauty, and vitality of the country.