Current Affairs: 20 September 2016

The President Pranab Mukherjee has appointed Retd. IAS – officer of MP Cadre Smt. Alka Sirohi (UPSC-Member) as the chairman of Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).
She will replace Deepak Gupta (65-year) who demits office on 20th September 2016.
Sirohi will be in office till the completion of her term as a member on January 3, 2017 (or till further orders).

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President Vladimir Putin’s ruling United Russia Party has won the parliamentary election with more than 54% of the votes.
According to the Central Election Commission Communist Party and Liberal Democratic Party with about 14 % each are in second and third place.
Yesterday,Elections to the State Duma were held in a split system, 225 members of parliament were elected by party tickets, while the other 225 were elected in one-seat constituencies.

Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party CDU (Christian Democratic Union of Germany) has lossed in Berlin state elections.
It has been ousted from the state governing coalition with the centre-left Social Democrats.
The anti-migrant party “Alternative for Germany” made gains and will enter the state parliament for the first time.

Union Tourism and Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma has inaugurated the 10-week first Indian music and dance festival in Sydney,Australia.
The festival, an initiative of Indian government supported by the Australian side, will run across seven cities including Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, Canberra and Adelaide.

Union Human Resource Development minister Prakash Javadekar has inaugurated the super computer PARAM ISHAN at IIT Guwahati campus.
PARAM ISHAN is the fastest and most powerful computer in North East, Eastern and Southern region.
PARAM ISHAN has been jointly developed by IIT Guwahati and Centre for Development of Advanced Computing(C -DAC).

Noted Malayalam critic Dr. M Leelavathi has been chosen for the prestigious N Mohanan Suvarna Mudra Award 2016.
She has been selcted for her contributions to Malayalam language and literature.
The award was instituted in memory of well-known short story writer N Mohanan.
The honour comprises a gold medal of one sovereign.

The Rio 2016 Paralympic Games 2016 (15th) have ended in Rio with a colourful closing ceremony at Maracana Stadium in Brazilian City, Rio de Janeiro.
Brazilian officials handed over the flag to Tokyo for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
China dominated the Rio Paralympics games with 239 medals, followed by Britain, Ukraine and the United States.
India capped off a successful Paralympic Games campaign in Rio by procuring their best ever haul of four medals (two gold, one silver and a bronze medal).

Indian shooter Subhankar Pramanick has clinched the gold medal in 50-metre rifle prone event at the ISSF Junior World Cup for pistol, rifle and shotgun at Gabala in Azerbaijan.
He shot 205.5 overall to finish top of the podium.
Czech Republic’s Filip Nepejchal (205.2) followed in second position, while Romania’s Dragomir Iordache (185.1) was placed third.
A total of 279 junior athletes, representing 27 countries are battling it out in 18 events.

Hosts India were routed by Spain 0-5 in the Davis Cup World Group Play-off tie.
In the last match, Ram kumar Ramanathan (India) lost to David Ferrer in straight sets 6-2, 6-2.
Earlier, in the first rubber match Marc Lopez defeated Sumit Nagal 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 giving Spain 4-0 lead.
Earlier, Saketh and Ramkumar had lost their opening Singles matches.