Daily Current Affairs for SSC, Postal Examination: September 3,4, 2016

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Election Commission grants National Party status to All India Trinamool Congress

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has granted national party status to All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) Party led by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

• The party has fulfilled the required conditions to become a national party after getting status of state party in four states. The TMC is ruling the West Bengal Government and has its presence in north eastern states Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura.
• With this recognition, TMC became seventh national party in the country along with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Communist Party of India (CPI) and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM).
• Eligibility to get National Party Status: If any political party (i) Secures at least 6% of the valid votes polled in any four or more states, in the Lok Sabha election or to the State Legislative Assembly and (ii) In addition, it wins at least 4 seats in the Lok Sabha from any State or States. OR (iii) Wins at least 2% seats in the Lok Sabha (i.e., 11 seats in the existing Lok Sabha having 543 members) and these members are elected from at least three different States. OR (iv) It is recognised as a State party in at least four States.

India, Egypt signs Maritime Transport agreement

India and Egypt signed an agreement on Maritime Transport on September 02, 2016. The agreement will help the two nations to step-up two fold co-operation in maritime commerce and in transit of naval vessels.

The agreement was signed after delegation level talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting President of Egypt Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in New Delhi. President Sisi is on a three-day visit (1-3 September 2016) to India at an invitation of President Pranab Mukherjee.

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Army Design Bureau formed to reduce dependence on imports

Indian Army announced the establishment of the Army Design Bureau (ADB) to indigenise procurements and reduce import dependence.

• The ADDB will facilitate the weapons and technology building efforts between the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO), industry and the army. Establishment of ADB was announced by Army Chief General Dalbir Singh at an Army seminar on Make in India. At the seminar, the Army Chief also launched the ‘Make in India Army Website’ that will serve as a one stop platform for information to vendors.
• It was developed with an idea to bring together academic institutions and the industry to develop indigenous knowhow and for this the Army is open to sharing parts of its long-term plans.
• The ADB will integrate various stake holders in its long-term requirements and will be a single point contact for them.
• It would also facilitate and promote indigenous research, design and development of defence equipment for meeting the requirement for weapons and equipment domestically, rather than depending upon foreign imports.

New species of Pterosaur from early Jurassic Era discovered in Patagonia

A group of scientists has discovered a new species of pterosaur from the early Jurassic period in the Patagonia region of South America.

The discovery was disclosed in a study that was published in the last week of August 2016 in the journal PeerJ.

The study also provides new information on the origin, tempo and mode of evolution in pterosaurs.• The new species has been named Allkauren koi from the native Tehuelche word ‘all’ for ‘brain’, and ‘karuen’ for ‘ancient’.

• The fossil of Allkaruen koi was found in northern central Chubut Province in Argentina. The remains included a well preserved and uncrushed braincase.
• The cranial remains were in an excellent state of preservation.
• Allkaruen, from the middle lower Jurassic limit, shows an intermediate state in the brain evolution of pterosaurs and their adaptations to the aerial environment.
• In order to study the neurocranial anatomy, the researchers used computed tomography to observe, in three dimensions, the cranial endocast and the inner ear.
• Subsequently, a comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of the group was performed, including these cranial data and other anatomical features.

3.7 Billion Years Old fossils discovered on Earth in Greenland rocks

A team of scientists have discovered the world’s oldest stromatolite fossils about 3.7 billion years old in the world’s oldest sedimentary rocks in the Isua Greenstone Belt along the edge of Greenland’s icecap. The findings were published in journal Nature on 31 August 2016.

• Led by the Australian University of Wollongong’s (UOW) Professor Allen Nutman, the team's discovery pushes back the previous record by 220 million years and captures the earliest history of the planet
• The discovery of the Isua stromatolite fossils provides a greater understanding of early diversity of life on Earth which could have implications for the understanding of life on Mars.
• A team of Australian geologists made the discovery in July 2012 while carrying out field research in Isua, a remote place in Greenland.
• One day while working at the field, they came across some outcroppings never seen before.
• Upon further assessment, the researchers were able to know they were conical structures, one to four centimeters high.
• The outcroppings looked like microbial mats known as stromatolites. The researchers carried out laboratory analysis and found its formations to be 3.7 billion years old.
• Using radiometric dating, the scientists were able to find out the age of the rocks.

President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov dies

Uzbekistan's President Islam Karimov passed away on 2 September 2016 at Tashkent, Uzbekistan. He was 78.

Karimov had dominated Uzbekistan, Central Asia's most populous nation, for more than 25 years.

About Islam Karimov

• Islam Karimov was the first President of Uzbekistan, in office from 1990 to 2016.
• He was born in Samarkand and was in and out of an orphanage from 1941 to 1945.
• He became an official in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He became the party's First Secretary in Uzbekistan in 1989.
• On 24 March 1990, he became President of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic.
• His election to the Uzbek Communist Party resulted after his predecessor Rafiq Nishonov failed to quell inter-ethnic clashes and instability in the Fergana Region.
• He declared Uzbekistan an independent nation on 31 August 1991.
• He subsequently won its first presidential election on 29 December 1991.

Chennamaneni Vidyasagar Rao sworn in as acting Governor of Tamil Nadu

Chennamaneni Vidyasagar Rao, Governor of Maharashtra, was sworn in as the acting Governor of Tamil Nadu on 2 September 2016 as the tenure of K. Rosaiah ended on 31 August 2016.

Rao was administered oath of office by the Madras High Court's Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul at the Raj Bhavan, Chennai.

•  Chennamaneni Vidyasagar Rao is the present Governor of Maharashtra.