NEWS 25/09/2017. NEWS FOR 26-SEPT (TUESDAY) 1. Nirmala Sitharaman became first full time woman Defence Minister of India. She took charge of the ministry from Union Finacne Minister Arun Jaitley. Ms Sitharaman is the second woman to become Defence Minister of India. First was former Prime Indira Gandhi, who was holding additional portfolio as Defence Minister from 1980-82. 2. Multi-Agency humanitarian assistance and disaster relief exercise, “Pralay Sahayam” was recently carried out in Hyderabad to create public awareness about man-made and urban disasters including flooding. The two-day exercise was jointly organised by Telangana state govt in association with all central and state agencies National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) and Armed Forces. 3. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas launched country-wide Pradhan Mantri LPG Panchayat scheme to distribute LPG connections among rural areas where conventional fuel is used for domestic purposes. It is a backup scheme to existing Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana. 4. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has floated a five-point peace proposal at United Nations to find a permanent solution to Rohingya crisis. She called for immediate steps to end ethnic cleansing of Rohingya minority as it has deepened crisis along Bangladesh’s border with Myanmar, where over 4,30,000 refugees are fleeing violence in Rakhine State since August 2017. 5. The Film Federation of India (FFI) has selected Hindi film Newton, to represent India in Best Foreign Language category at Oscars, to be held in Feb 2018. 6. The National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog and International Road Federation (IRF), Geneva have signed Statement of Intent (SoI) to cooperate in field of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). 7. Indian cricket team have surged to the top of the ICC ODI rankings after defeating Australia by 5 wickets in the third ODI at Indore on 24th sept and sealed the series by 3-0 in the 5 match series. < < Back