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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 14 September 2014

National

Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to friends and well-wishers not to celebrate his birthday and instead dedicate time and resources towards relief work in this hour of need for flood-ravaged Jammu and Kashmir.
Mr. Modi’s appeal came amid plans to celebrate his birthday on September 17, 2014 across the country, including in Gujarat where he will be present that day.

Days after he courted controversy with his remark that “love jihad” flourished through madrasas, BJP MP from Unnao, Sakshi Maharaj, has set off another controversy, this time with a statement that religious learning institutions are giving “education of terrorism.”
The remark, made at Nademau in Kannauj district, is a repeat of what the MP said on September 7 at a programme in Etah, branding madrasas as “hubs of terror” where “love jihad” prospered.
“Love jihad” is a term used by right-wing Hindu outfits while referring to alleged conversion of Hindu girls through marriage.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said that Singrauli will be developed as ‘energy city’ of the State.
“Singrauli will be developed as energy city of the state,” Mr. Chouhan announced while launching development works worth Rs. 161 crore in the city during the Deendayal Anyodaya Mela.
Apart from other measures, an industrial area will also be developed for all-round development of the district.
He said Rs. 100 crore will be spent on infrastructure development in Singrauli during five years.
It will be connected with air and rail facilities. A Central School will also be established in the city for providing education facilities to the wards of those working in the energy city, he said.
He also provided benefits under various welfare schemes totalling Rs. one crore to 516 beneficiaries.

Avaidyanath, also a former MLA, was admitted to Medanta Hospital in Gurgaon. He passed away at the Peeth hospital in Gorakhpur, where he was admitted after being brought from Gurgaon.
Avaidyanath, former chief priest of Gorakhpur’s famous Gorakhnath temple, was also the guru of Yogi Adityanath, current MP from the city and BJP’s firebrand leader who is in the news for his campaign against “love jihad”.

Devastating floods in Jammu and Kashmir have caused an immediate loss of Rs. 5,400-5,700 crore to the state’s economy, with heavy damages to trade, hotels, restaurants, horticulture and handicraft, according to initial estimates of industry body Assocham.
Jammu & Kashmir has been hit by the worst floods in over a century, throwing basic infrastructure like power, railways and communication in the state completely out of gear.
The initial estimated loss to hotels, trade, agriculture — horticulture, roads and bridges in the Jammu and Kashmir regions itself is Rs. 2,630 crore.
Besides, high-cost infrastructure like Railways, power and communication in the hilly terrains would have suffered a loss of about Rs. 2,700-3,000 crore, the industry body said.

NASA is all set to send the fourth SpaceX Cargo Mission, that would carry among other equipments a 3D printer to the International Space Station (ISS) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on September 20.
Space Exploration Technologies Corp’ (SpaceX) Falcon-9 rocket will launch a Dragon cargo spacecraft loaded with more than 5,000 pounds of scientific equipment and supplies, the U.S. space agency said in a statement.
It will also carry a small flowering plant related to cabbage that would allow scientists to study plant growth and adaptations in space.
It will be the fifth trip by a Dragon spacecraft to the orbiting laboratory.
The spacecraft’s 2.5 tonnes of supplies and materials are critical for the implementation of 255 science and research investigations that will occur during the station’s Expeditions 41 and 42.
Besides, the spacecraft will carry science payloads like the ISS-Rapid Scatterometer to monitor ocean surface wind speed and direction.

Islamic State (IS) extremists released a video showing the beheading of British aid worker David Haines, who was abducted in Syria last year.
IS militants recently beheaded two American journalists, James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and posted the videos online after the U.S. began launching airstrikes and humanitarian missions in August to aid waning Iraqi and Kurdish security forces in northern Iraq.
The IS group has also put out videos showing the beheading of Kurdish and Lebanese soldiers and the mass shooting of dozens of captured Syrian soldiers.
At the end of the video showing the beheading of Sotloff, the Islamic State group threatened to kill Haines next and briefly showed him on camera.

President Pranab Mukherjee arrived for a four-day state visit during which India and Vietnam are expected to sign agreements on oil exploration and air connectivity.
The President will also visit the historic city of Ho Chi Minh. The visit marks the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two nations.
Mr. Mukherjee was received at the Noi Bai International Airport by the Vietnamese Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs and Chairman of President’s Office Dao Viet Trung and was given a guard of honour.
Key agreements between ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) and Petro Vietnam for joint oil explorations in the South China Sea blocks are expected to be signed during the visit. Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan is part of the delegation accompanying the President.

India’s largest software exporter Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Sunday said it has opened Saudi Arabia’s first all-female business process centre, which will provide employment to up to 3,000 women in three years.
Saudi Aramco and GE are the centre’s first customers, TCS said in a statement in Mumbai.
Both the clients have already surpassed their target of recruiting 100 women each, while the total number of those employed at the centre stands at 300, it said.
The Riyadh-based 3,200-sq mt facility will offer customers specialised finance and accounting, human resources, materials supply and office services to improve their operational efficiency, it said.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet put France back in the Davis Cup final by winning the doubles and ending the two—year reign of the Czech Republic.
France makes the final for the first time since 2010. It won the last of its nine cups in 2001.
The defending champions Czechs needed to win the doubles to keep alive their chances of reaching a third straight final.

Rohan Bopanna has received the Davis Cup Commitment Award, an honour accorded to players who have competed in at least 20 ties.
The 34-year-old from Karnataka is the ninth Indian to receive the award.