1. 9th SLINEX 2019- Indo-Lanka maritime fleet exercise commenced

• The 9th edition of weeklong joint maritime naval exercise between India and Srilanka(SL) named SLINEX for the year 2019 has commenced in the port of Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. Two Sri Lanka Navy Ships(SLNS) namely Sindurala and Suranimala that are offshore patrol vehicles left the Trincomalee port of Srilanka to participate in the exercise.
• Exercise features: Wide ranging naval exercise to enhance cooperation in the Indian Ocean region and helicopter operations.At about 323 SL navy personnel are participating in the exercise including the SriLankan Flag Officer Commanding the Naval Fleet, Rear Admiral Upul De Silva.
• The exercise will conclude on september 14, 2019.The first SLINEX was held in the year 2005 and the the previous/8th edition took place in Trincomalee, Srilanka.

Foot Notes:
About Sri Lanka
1. Capitals- Colombo, Sri JayawardenepuraKotte.
2. Currency- Sri Lankan rupee.
3. President- MaithripalaSirisena.
4. Prime Minister- Ranil Wickremesinghe.

2. Vice president releases a book titled ‘Glorious Diaspora - Pride of India'

• A Coffee Table Book titled ‘Glorious Diaspora- Pride of India’ on Pravasi Bharatiya Samman awardees was released by Vice President of India, M. Venkaiah Naidu in New Delhi.
• The book contains the brief profiles of recipients of Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awards (PBSA) from 2003 to 2019. It has been brought out by Indian Diaspora Club.
• It includes an inspiring profile of Distinguished Overseas Indians who have made their indelible mark in various fields.

Foot Notes:
About Indian Diaspora Club
1. Managing Director of Indian Diaspora Club: Rajat Kapoor.
2. NRI Day (Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas): 9 January.

3. Fun zone has been set up by the Railways at the Visakhapatnam Railway Station

• A fun zone, the first of its kind in India, has been set up by the Railways at the Visakhapatnam Railway Station, Andhra Pradesh. The Gaming zone was inaugurated at platform number Fun zone has been set up by the RailwaysKey Points:
• The children can enjoy games during their waiting period for trains.
• The gaming zone has different interesting games to children & adults.

About Indian Railways:
1. Founded: May 8, 1845
2. Headquarters:  New Delhi
3. Minister of Railways: Piyush Goyal

4. Chandrayaan 2: ISRO lost contact with Vikram lander before its landing

• Indian Space Research Organisation has announced that it lost contact with the Moon lander "Vikram" which was scheduled to land on the moon between 1.30 a.m. and 2.30 a.m. (IST). Further the roll out of the rover "Pragyan" was scheduled between 5.30 a.m and 6.30 a.m. Lander "Vikram" started its descent at about 1.38 a.m. from an altitude of 30 km at a velocity of 1,680 metres per second, but lost its communication with the Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter when it was at an altitude of 2.1 Km from Moon's surface.
• According to ISRO, the performance of the lander was as per the plan till it was 2.1 km from the moon surface. Although, the 2,379 kg Chandrayaan-2 orbiter continues to fly around the moon. Its mission life is of one year.
• ISRO launched the Chandrayaan-2 (on July 22, 2019) into the space from India's heavy lift rocket Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-Mark III (GSLV Mk III). The Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft comprised three segments: the Orbiter, lander 'Vikram' and rover 'Pragyan'.

About ISRO
1. Director: Kailasavadivoo Sivan
2. Headquarters: Bengaluru
3. Founder: Vikram Sarabhai
4. Founded: 15 August 1969

5. Oscars of science awarded to Event Horizon Telescope Team

• The Event Horizon Telescope Team consists of 347 scientists produced the world first image of a black hole. They were felicitated with breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. The prize is known as the Oscars of science with prize money $3 million. The team published the image of black hole circled by a flame-orange halo of white-hot plasma on the Messier 87 (M87) galaxy.
• Directed by Shep Doelman at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, the team spent over a decade simulating an Earth-sized computational telescope that combined the signals received by eight radio telescopes working in pairs around the world with their sights trained on the Messier 87 (M87) galaxy, 55 million light-years away.
• Through this technique, they were able to achieve an unprecedented resolution and observe the black hole's silhouette for the first time in history, confirming theoretical predictions about these celestial objects.

6. World Literacy Day is celebrated on 8 September

• On 8th September every year, International Literacy Day is celebrated to make people to know the importance of Literacy for people, communities and societies.
• It aims to combat worldwide problems also to promote illiteracy. The theme for 2019 is Literacy and Multilingualism.
• On 26th October in 1966, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared 8th September as International Literacy Day.

Foot Notes:
About UNESCO
1. Headquarters: Paris, France
2. Head: Audrey Azoulay
3. Founded: 16 November 1945, London, United Kingdom
4. Abbreviation: UNESCO

7. Bollywood actor and renowned Kathak dancer Veeru Krishnan passed away

• Bollywood actor and renowned Kathak dancer Veeru Krishnan has passed away in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
• He worked in many films such as “Ishq”, “Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke” and “Raja Hindustani”. He mostly appeared in supporting roles in the films in the 1990s.
• Besides being an actor, he was also a famous kathak dancer. Many Bollywood celebrities like Katrina Kaif, Athiya Shetty, Karanvir Bohra, and others were trained in Kathak by him.

8. Well known lawyer and former Union minister Ram Jethmalani passed away

• Ram Jethmalani, Senior lawyer, and a former union law minister has passed away at his home in Delhi after suffering from prolonged illness. He was 95.
• Jethmalani was born on 14 September 1923 in Shikarpur, Sindh in the Sindh division of the then Bombay Presidency, now part of Pakistan. The partition led him to move to Mumbai. He earned an LL.B.( Bachelor of Law) degree from Bombay University with a first-class first at the young age of 17.
• He has worked as union law minister and in the National Democratic Alliance government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

9. PM to launch a new initiative to control FMD

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to launch a new initiative in the National disease management Programme for Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and Brucellosis. Under this scheme, the Centre will allocate Rs.13,500 crore central scheme to control livestock diseases.
• The scheme will be launched on 11 September from Mathura district in Uttar Pradesh. On this day, PM will also launch the National AI Programme throughout the event on 11 September in Mathura.
• The aim of the Programme is to regulate Foot and Mouth sickness and Brucellosis by 2025 with vaccination and ultimate demolition of FMD by 2030.

About Uttar Pradesh
1. Chief minister: Yogi Adityanath
2. Governor: Anandiben Patel
3. Capital: Lucknow

10.  B Bala Bhaskar appointed as next Indian Ambassador to Norway

• Senior diplomat B Bala Bhaskar was appointed as the next Indian Ambassador to Norway. He will replace Krishan Kumar, who has been heading the Indian mission in Norway since July 2018.
•  Formerly he served as a Joint Secretary of the WANA division of the MEA that deals with all the matters relating to India's trade with WANA region comprising 19 countries.

Foot Notes:
About Norway
1 .Prime Ministe: Erna Solberg; Norway
2. Capital: Oslo.
3. Currency: Norwegian krone.