Current Affairs, News & Facts of 24 Sep 2015

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• Mukesh Ambani remains India’s richest person for the ninth consecutive year with a net worth of USD 18.9 billion, according to the latest Forbes India Rich List.
• currently, Mr. Ambani is the Chairman, Managing director (MD) and largest shareholder of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL). It should be noted that RIL is India’s second most valuable company by market value after Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).
• Ambani was followed by Sun Pharma's Dilip Shanghvi as second richest with a net worth of USD 18 billion, while Wipro's Azim Premji retained his third place with USD 15.9 billion. Flipkart's co-founders Sachin and Binni Bansal made their debut at 86th position with a net worth of USD 1.3 billion each.
• The combined wealth of India's 100 richest persons remained largely unchanged at USD 345 billion, as compared to USD 346 billion in 2014

The top 10 richest in India are:-

1) Mukesh Ambani; USD 18.9 billion

2) Dilip Shanghvi; USD 18 billion

3) Azim Premji; USD 15.9 billion

4) Hinduja brothers; USD 14.8 billion

5) Pallonji Mistry; USD 14.7 billion

6) Shiv Nadar; USD 12.9 billion

7) Godrej family; USD 11.4 billion

8) Lakshmi Mittal; USD 11.2 billion

9) Cyrus Poonawalla; USD 7.9 billion

10) Kumar Birla; USD 7.8 billion

This list was compiled using shareholding and financial information obtained from the families and individuals, stock exchanges, analysts and India’s regulatory agencies.

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• Critically acclaimed Marathi film Court on Wednesday was selected as India's official entry to the Oscars next year. The film was declared the winner of the National Award for Best Feature Film in March this year. The film will compete in the Best Foreign Film category at the Academy awards to be held next year. 
• The film was selected among 30 other films by a Film Federation of India (FFI) which is headed by film-maker and director Amol Palekar. It should be noted that Court is third Marathi film to be shortlisted for India’s official entry to Oscars. Other two films are Shwaas (2004) and Harishchandrachi Factory (2008)

About "Court" :-

• Court is a film which revolves around a case of abetment of suicide filed against a 'Lok Shahir' or a ballad singer in a lower court in Mumbai involving legal action against him including those under the 
• controversial UAPA (the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act). The courtroom drama, directed by debut filmmaker Chaitanya Tamhane, was released in over 150 screens across India on April 17.

Awards and Honours:-

• Court has won 18 awards at various film festivals across the world including honours at the Vienna, Antalya, Mumbai and Singapore film festivals. The film also has won the Best Feature Film award at the 62nd National Film Awards in 2015.

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Eminent Hindi writer Dr Kamal Kishore Goenka was conferred with 24th Vyaas Samman for the year 2014 on 22 September 2015. He was awarded for his work 'Premchand ki Kahaniyon ka Kaal Kramanusaar Adhyayan'.  His work is a critical analysis of the work Hindi literature’s doyen Munshi Premchand.

About Vyas Samman :-

• Vyas Samman as instituted in 1991 by the KK Birla Foundation. It is presented to an outstanding literary work in Hindi published during the last 10 years. 
• Ram Vilas Sharma was the first person to receive the award for his Bharat ke Pracheen bhasha parivar aur Hindi in 1991.
• The award carries monetary award of 2.5 lakh rupees, a citation and a plaque.

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• The government has cleared the proposal for a nearly Rs 8,000-crore project for IAF's Integrated Air Command and Control System ( IACCS), which aims at integrating all ground and air sensors 
• Decision in this regard was taken by Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the proposal forwarded by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC). Earlier in November 2014, DAC had given its nod for addition of 4 more nodes IAF’s IACCS.

About Integrated Air Command and Control System (IACCS) :-

• Integrated Air Command and Control System (IACCS) is an automated command and control system for Air Defence (AD) which integrates different air sensors and radars to protect Indian airspace.
• Once the system is in place, the air headquarters will get a composite air situation picture since it will be integrating Air Force, Army, Naval and civilian radars. 
• The IAF currently has five sector headquarters (nodes) of communication and the plan is to have four more, besides establishment of 10 sub-nodes and up-gradation of the entire system. 
• As part of this, the new command and control system will be set up and integrated with the existing ground and air sensors and air defence systems. 

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• Food safety watchdog FSSAI's CEO Yudhvir Singh Malik, the man behind the ban of global giant Nestle's popular noodle brand Maggi has been moved out and shifted as Additional Secretary in Niti Aayog.
• Yudhvir Singh  Malik, a 1983 batch IAS officer of Haryana cadre, was appointed to the post of Chief Executive Officer in Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) under Health and Family Welfare Ministry, only in September last year.
• The Appointments Committee of Cabinet(ACC) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the appointment of Malik as Additional Secretary in the Niti Aayog. He has been appointed in the newly created post by cancelling the appointment of Keshni Anand Arora, his batch mate from the same cadre.

Background :-

• It was during Malik's tenure that samples of Maggi noodle samples were subjected to lab tests which found that it contained added Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) and lead in excess of the permissible limit.
• FSSAI had on June 5 banned the instant snack that has had a level of global resonance that's unprecedented for the Indian food regulator although the ban was later lifted by the Bombay High Court with the condition that manufacturing and selling would be allowed only after fresh tests.
• The ACC also approved appointments of Kavita Gupta and Kiran Soni Gupta as Textile Commissioner and Additional Secretary and Financial Adviser in Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports respectively.

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• National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) was headless for almost a year but now it has got a new chief as Stuti Narain Kacker, a 1978 batch IAS officer, has been appointed as the Head of the child rights panel by Women and Child Development Ministry. 
• Kacker retired as Secretary from Disability Affairs, in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. She was heading the management committee of the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA). 
• The Chairperson's position fell vacant after the tenure of former UPA appointee Kushal Singh ended in October last year. Since than the commission was headless and the commission still does not have other members, for which there are six vacancies.

About National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) :-

• The Commission deals with education, child development, care of neglected and marginalised children, elimination of child labour, child psychology and other laws related to children. 
• According to the NCPCR Act, of the six members of the commission, two have to be women. The members need to be eminent personalities in the fields for which they are appointed.