Daily GK Updates: 6th Sept 2014

1.    India signs civil nuclear agreement with Australia

i. India will now be in a position to secure uranium from Australia to meet its energy requirements, with the two countries inking a bilateral civil nuclear agreement on Friday.

ii.  The deal was announced by visiting Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, after talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi late on Friday.

iii. This nuclear deal is being considered as a concrete symbol of the bilateral partnership between India and Australia because the pact details say that Australia would provide supply of uranium, production of radio isotopes, nuclear safety and other areas of cooperation to India.

Apart from the civil nuclear deal signed between India and Australia, the two countries also inked three more pacts. Other three pacts were 
i.  MOU on cooperation in Sport
ii. Renewal of MOU on cooperation in the field of Water Resources Management
iii. MoU on Cooperation in Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET)

Note: Australia as a nation has about a third of the world’s recoverable uranium resources and it exports nearly seven thousand tonnes of uranium in a year. This was Australia’s first nuclear deal with a Non-Nuclear, Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) signatory country.

ii. Earlier such deal was banned because India is not a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, NPT. 

2.    Sushma Swaraj inaugurates India Investment meet in Bahrain capital Manama today

i. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj inaugurated the first ever India Investment meet in Bahrain capital Manama today.

ii.  The meeting is aimed at attracting investments from Bahrain and the Gulf region into India and give a boost to bilateral trade and investment relations.

iii. During her stay, she will hold talks with top Bahraini leaders and discuss issues of mutual, regional and international interest.

iv.  This is the first visit to the Gulf region and to Bahrain by the External Affairs Minister, which underlines the importance of the region in view of high stakes India has in terms of its energy security, Indian Diaspora and trade ties.

3.    Chandrakala Padia appointed as first women chairperson of IIAS

i. Chandrakala Padia was appointed as first women chairperson of Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS).
ii. She succeeded the former West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi. 
iii. Currently, she is working as Vice-Chancellor of Maharaja Ganga Singh University in Bikaner. 
iv. She was a visiting associate of IIAS. She was National Fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies in 2003-04.

4.    HM launches India's first 'National Anti-Tuberculosis Drug Resistance Survey'

i. Health Minister Harsh Vardhan today launched India's first National Anti-Tuberculosis Drug Resistance Survey in New Delhi. 

ii. The survey will be conducted on 5,214 patients across the country. It will provide information on the prevalence of anti-tuberculosis drug resistance among new and patients already undergoing treatment

iii. The survey will include tracking the effectiveness of tuberculosis prevention and control activities,assess epidemiological trends and identify and respond to outbreaks of drug-resistant TB.
iv. The number of multi-drug resistant TB cases in the country had increased by five times between 2011 and 2013.

5.    US Open: Sania Mirza-Bruno Soares win mixed doubles title

i. India's Sania Mirza and her Brazilian teammate Bruno Soares have lifted the Mixed Doubles trophy of the US Open, the fourth and final Grand Slam of the season. 
ii. In the title clash Friday night, the top seeded Indo-Brazilian pair defeated the American-Mexican team of Abigail Spears and Santiago Gonzalez, 6-1, 2-6, 11-9. This was Sania's maiden US Open and career's third Mixed Doubles Grand Slam title.

6.    Sudhakar Jayant wins gold at World Masters Weightlifting Championships

i. Indian Army's Lt Colonel Sudhakar Jayant completed a hat trick of titles after clinching the gold medal for the third time at the IWF World Masters Weightlifting Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark. 
ii. Competing in 62kg weight category, the 45-year-old Indian lifted a total of 185kg. In snatch, Jayant lifted 85kg while in clean and jerk he came up with a best effort of 100kg. 

iii. The World Masters Weightlifting Championships which started at Copenhagen on August 30th and will conclude tomorrow