Current Affairs 7th September 2015

• Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton has won 2015 Italian Grand Prix of Formula 1

Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix title was won by Mercedes racing driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain in the final race held at Monza near Milan in Italy.

Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel finished second while Felipe Masse (Williams) was at the third positions.

Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg of Force India stood at the 5th and 6th positions respectively.

It was the third victory of Hamilton at the Monza circuit. Earlier he has won the title in 2012 and 2014.

In the 2015 season, it was also the 7th title for Hamilton as he won the titles in Bahrain, Canada, Australia, China, the UK, Italy and Belgium.

• Shane Watson australian cricketer who has retired from Test cricket

Australian all-rounder Shane Watson announced his retirement from Test cricket immediately after his calf injury cut short his one-day international tour of Britain.

He stated that he will continue his international career in the One-Day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals.

About Shane Watson

His nickname is Watto and is an Australian professional cricketer who plays as a right-handed batsman and a right-handed fast medium bowler.

He played his first One Day International against South Africa in 2002 and debuted in the test cricket on 2nd January 2005 against Pakistan at Sydney.

He was the captain of Australian Cricket team in nine one-day internationals and in one test.

His highest score in the test cricket is 176 and scored a total of 3731 runs in 109 innings of 59 test matches.

• Jairam Ramesh is the author of To the Brink and Back: India's 1991 Story

The book titled To the Brink and Back: India's 1991 Story by Jairam Ramesh was released. He is the former Union Environment and Forest Minister (Independent Charge).

The book describes the fast-paced changes in the economic sector introduced by the duo Manmohan Singh and P V Narasimha Rao in 1991.

The book recounts author’s observations when he was part of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) during first 90 days of the Narasimha Rao’s government.

It contains key documents and notes, placed for the first time in the public domain; the personal papers of Narasimha Rao; private conversations with Manmohan Singh; Parliament proceedings; and the minutes of seminal Congress meetings.

Currently, Jairam Ramesh is a member of the Rajya Sabha from Andhra Pradesh and also Chair of the Future Earth Engagement Committee, a research platform on global sustainabilitys.

• Government gives nod to One Rank One Pension scheme

Union Government has given its nod to implement One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme for ex-servicemen. It was announced by Union Defence Minister Manohar Parikkar in New Delhi.

Key points related to One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme :-

Government announced that OROP will be implemented from July 1, 2014 and the base year would be 2013.

The pension would be revised every five years and defence personnel who take voluntary retirement will not be covered.

Government will pay arrears, estimated to cost between Rs 10,000 crore to Rs 12,000 crore, in four half-yearly installments. All widows, including war widows, will be paid arrears in one installment.

According to government, cost to implement OROP would be Rs 8,000 crore to 10,000 crore and it will increase further.

Close to 26 lakh retired servicemen and over six lakh war widows stand to be immediate beneficiaries of the scheme

The benefits of ‘One Rank One Pension’ will be applicable in case of ex-servicemen whose premature retirement was valid and legal.