Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 29 August 2015

Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 29 August 2015

:: National ::

15% of India’s power by 2030 to be green, says NITI Aayog

• The National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog has told the environment ministry that renewable sources can make up at least 15% of India’s energy mix by 2030 if present policies are given a push.

• This analysis was done as part of the government’s strategy to enumerate India’s climate action plan to be submitted to United Nations.

• The action plan, called Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), is awaiting Cabinet approval and is expected to be made in the first week of September.

• Environment minister Prakash Javadekar had said that India’s submission to the UN will be the most exhaustive, covering all crucial climate change areas — mitigation, adaption, finance, technology.

• As energy is the most important component of the INDCs, the NITI Aayog has conducted a detailed analysis of the futuristic energy needs depending on different scenarios.

• The analysis shows it would be a big leap for India as renewable energy currently contributes to less than 6% of the country’s energy mix.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced setting up a green power capacity of 175 gigawatts (GW) by 2022 to ensure every household gets adequate power.

• India’s power demand by 2030 is expected to be about 10 lakh MW.

• According to the panel, the biggest contributors to enhanced green power will be solar and wind energy, contributing about 70% to total power generation by renewable, followed by nuclear energy.

• India plans to generate 20,000 MW of power from nuclear energy by 2030, when renewable is expected to contribute 2,00,000 MW of energy.

Congress fumes,notification on land law (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: International ::

South Sudan ceasefire takes effect after eleventh-hour clashes

• A ceasefire aimed at ending a brutal civil war in South Sudan has come into effect, hours after fresh clashes between government forces and rebels, which sparked concern for a hard-won peace deal.

• The truce brokered by the regional eight-nation IGAD bloc, along with the United Nations, African Union, China, Britain, Norway and the United States, came into effect last evening at 2100 GMT (midnight in South Sudan's capital Juba).

• Earlier yesterday, South Sudan's army and rebels accused each other of sparking fresh fighting in the past 24 hours in the north-east.

• Aguer said the rebels used mortars and machineguns and that one government soldier was wounded.

Demand mounts on Malaysian PM over resignation (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: Miscellaneous ::

Raghuram Rajan Says RBI Is in an ‘Accommodative’ Policy Phase

• The Reserve Bank of India is in an accommodative phase of monetary policy, meaning it is looking to reduce interest rates, RBI Gov. Raghuram Rajan said.

• The central bank is watching economic data to see whether there will be an opportunity to reduce interest rates further after cutting them three times in recent months, he said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal on the sidelines of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s annual economic symposium.

• Mr. Rajan also addressed developments in China and the U.S., saying he was caught by surprise like many other central bankers by China’s decision to devalue its currency and that the Federal Reserve should proceed with planned interest-rate increases once global financial markets settle.

Sania Mirza gets Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award

• Tennis star Sania Mirza, who won the Wimbledon women's doubles title recently, was on Saturday conferred with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award.

• Mirza became the second tennis player to receive the country's highest sporting honour after Leander Paes.

• President Pranab Mukherjee presented the National Sports Awards for 2014-15 at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

• Currently ranked the World No. 1 tennis doubles player in the women's category, Mirza on Friday expressed her happiness at receiving the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and dedicated it to her family and to India.

• The World No. 1 also extended her gratitude to the Indian government and the sports ministry for nominating her for the award.

• The Arjuna awardees received statuettes, certificates and an award money of Rs.5 lakh each.

• The officially announced winners for the Dronacharya award 2015 are: Coach Anoop Singh for wrestling, Harbans Singh for athletics, Swatantar Raj Singh for boxing, Nihar Ameen for swimming and Naval Singh for athletics - para-sports.

• The Dhyan Chand award for lifetime achievement was announced for Shiv Prakash Misra.

• The award to Mirza came after the Karnataka high court on Wednesday issued a notice to the sports ministry for naming the ace tennis star for the coveted award.

• Sania is the second tennis player to be named for the top award after Leander Paes, who was bestowed the honour in 1996 after he won the bronze medal in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics in the US.

Mo Farah faster than Usain Bolt, escapes Segway cameraman scare during victory lap at World Championships (Register and Login to read Full News..)

Anil Ambani to set up Rs 6,500 crore aerospace project in Nagpur (Register and Login to read Full News..)

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Sources: Various News Papers & PIB

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