Daily Current Affairs for SSC, Banking: September 9, 2016

ISRO successfully launches INSAT-3DR Weather Satellite in orbit

INSAT-3DR, an advanced weather satellite, was placed in orbit around 17 minutes after GSLV-F05 took off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on September 08, 2016.

• INSAT-3DR, configured with an imager and two transponders, will continue the services rendered by previous satellites and further augment the capability to provide both meteorological and search and rescue services. A data relay transponder will provide meteorological, hydrological and oceanographic data from remote uninhabited locations through automatic weather stations, rain gauges and agro met stations. The other is a satellite aided search and rescue transponder that will pick up and relay alert signals originating from the distress beacons of maritime, aviation and land based users.
• The imager in the satellite will generate images of the Earth disk from an altitude of 36,000km once in every 26 minutes and provide information on various parameters including radiation, sea surface temperature, snow cover, cloud motion and fog.
• INSAT-3DR is the second heaviest satellite placed in orbit by an indigenous cryogenic engine propelled GSLV. The 2,211kg satellite, which will provide meteorological and search and rescue data services to the country, was injected into the geostationary transfer orbit. The satellite, with the help of its propellant, will be raised to the final geostationary orbit after two days of launch.

President assents the Constitution (122nd Amendment) (GST) Bill, 2014

President Pranab Mukherjee has given assent to the Constitution (122nd Amendment) (GST) Bill, 2014 as per Article 111 of the Constitution. With the assent, bill becomes law and opens road to roll out a new indirect tax regime and gives way for the concept of one nation, one tax.

• What is GST? The GST is a single indirect tax throughout the country. It subsumes most of the Central and State indirect taxes such as the Value Added Tax (VAT), excise duty, service tax, central sales tax, additional customs duty and special additional duty of customs.

Integration of DigiLocker with Driving Licenses & Vehicle Registration Certificates launchedThe Union Government has launched a new service -integration of DigiLocker with Driving Licenses (DL) & Vehicle Registration Certificates (RC). It was jointly launched by Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari and Union Minister of Electronics & Information Technology and Law & Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad in New Delhi.

• With this integration, people will no longer need to carry around physical copies of their Driving Licences and RCs. Using DigiLocker mobile app, they can instead access digital copies of the same on their mobile phones. Besides, DLs and VRC documents will be now issued directly to the DigiLockers of individuals in digital formats. These digital copies also can be shared with other government departments as identity and address proof.
• They can also be used for on the spot verification through the citizen’s mobile, by various law enforcement authorities like the Traffic Police. Besides, it will also result in assured authenticity of such documents and reduction of administrative overhead.

Novel on Apatani tribe of Arunachal, Into the Hidden Valley, wins MM Bennetts AwardInto the Hidden Valley a Novel authored by Stuart Blackburn on 4 September 2016 won the 2016 MM Bennetts Award for Historical Fiction in the UK. The author was presented the award at the HNS Conference in Oxford.

• The book published by Speaking Tiger narrates the story of the Apatani tribe of Arunachal Pradesh during British India. It also looks into a little-known episode in the colonial history of British India.
• Into the Hidden Valley explores and portrays the impacts of the forces of colonialism on both sides when this settled civilisation forcibly collides with British Empire.

Majuli becomes India's first island district

The seat of neo-Vaishnavite Bhakti renaissance -Majuli, became India's first island district with Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal inaugurating it as the 35th district of Assam.

•  Geographical features: It is a fluvial landform (a riverine delta), a unique geographical occurrence and a result of the dynamics of the Brahmaputra river system.
• It is bounded by the river Subanisri and her tributaries on the North West, the kherkatia Suli (a spill channel of the river Brahmaputra) in the northeast and the main Brahmaputra River on the South and the South west.
• It is the largest mid river delta system in the world. It is also comprised of many islets locally called the Chaporis.
• Its area has shrunk from about 1250 square kilometers in 1891 to about 352 square kilometers in 2014 due to the erosion of river-bank.