Daily Current Affairs Updates: 25 September 2014

1) BJP, Shiv Sena ends 25-year-old alliance in Maharashtra: The BJP Maharashtra unit called off its 25-year-old alliance with the Shiv Sena on Thursday, two days before the deadline for filing of nomination for the October 15 Assembly elections ends. "Shiv Sena never gave a suitable proposal, we could not accommodate our allies in that," BJP leader Eknath Khadse said. The party made a formal announcement of the split after two weeks of high drama and intense parleys between the two allies. 

2) PM Narendra Modi launched 'Make in India' campaign: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday (25 Sep 2014) launched his flagship 'Make in India' campaign to put the country prominently on the global manufacturing map and, in turn, facilitate the inflow of new technology and capital, while creating millions of jobs. The ambitious scheme, that also puts in place the logistics and systems to address, in a timely manner, queries of potential investors, was unveiled along with a logo, a portal and brochures on 25 identified growth sectors before bigshots from the corporate world from India and abroad at the Vigyan Bhavan conference complex in the national capital.

3) Kapil Dev honoured With lifetime achievement award at House of Lords: Indian cricket legend Kapil Dev has been honoured with a Lifetime Achievement award at a ceremony in the House of Lords in London. The award, constituted by the Indo-European Business Forum (IBEF), was presented to the former India World Cup-winning captain for his contribution to the sport and for his work in the field of upliftment of poor and destitute communities through the Khushii society. Arguably the greatest pacer bowler and all-rounder India has produced, Dev led the country to its maiden World Cup triumph in 1983, beating the then formidable West Indies in the title clash at Lord's.

4) PM Modi left for America on a six day visit: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has left for his visit to the United States of America with a vision to start a new chapter in the strategic partnership of the two countries. Modi's packed schedule includes meetings with US President Barack Obama, the US administration, other heads of states, leading industrialists and the Indian diaspora. He will also conduct bilateral meetings with the leaders of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. The Prime Minister will make his first address to the UN General Assembly as well as address prominent Indian-Americans at the famous Madison Square Gardens.

5) Isro’s Mars Orbiter Mission sends its first image home: India’s Mars Orbiter Mission on 25 Sep 2014 despatched the first image of the red planet, shot from a height of 7.3km with its colour camera, which has a 376m spatial resolution. The blurry image showing a surface pockmarked with giant craters was taken after the Martian Orbiter Mission, affectionately nicknamed MOM, took its position above the red planet.

6) Bamiyan to be SAARC cultural capital for 2015: Bamiyan, the Afghan town which shot into prominence when the Taliban blew up two ancient statues of the Buddha in 2001, has been selected to be the SAARC cultural capital for a year beginning April 2015. Dhaka will be the SAARC cultural capital in 2016-17. The year 2016-17 will also be declared the SAARC Year of Cultural Heritage.