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CURRENT AFFAIRS: DAYS
International Snow Leopard Day
- International Snow Leopard Day is observed on October 23 in order to commemorate the anniversary of the Bishkek Declaration and to create awareness about the snow leopard.
- On the occasion, Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), ShriPrakashJavadekar launched the First National Protocol on Snow Leopard Population Assessment in India.
- This was launched at the Global Snow Leopard & Ecosystem Protection (GSLEP) Conference in New Delhi.
International Stuttering Awareness Day
- October 22 was designated International Stuttering Awareness Day in 1998.
- The day is intended to raise public awareness of the millions of people – one percent of the world’s population – who have the speech disorder of stuttering.
| USEFUL INFO |
| Theme 2019 | “Growth Through Speaking” |
United Nations Day
- 24 October has been celebrated as United Nations Day since 1948
- United Nations Day marks the anniversary of the UN Charter’s entry into force
- The United Nations was founded in 1945 to support collective action to realize peace, development and human rights for all.
- 75th anniversary of the United Nations will feature a large and inclusive global conversation on the role of global cooperation in building the future we want.
- The UN75 initiative seeks to spark dialogue and action on how we can build a better world despite the many challenges we face
CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL
Union Health Ministry to launch “Indradhanush 2” for covering low immunisation pockets
- Union Health Ministry will carry out massive immunisation program in 271 districts across the nation and 652 blocks located in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar from December 2 under the “Mission Indradhanush 2.0”.
- The “Mission Indradhanush 2.0” is slated to be launched by Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on October 31 falling on the silver jubilee of the Polio eradication campaign, but will come into implementation from December 2.
- The extensive immunisation program will cover children up to 2 years of age and all pregnant women.
- The two vaccines which are put under sub-vaccination level are for diseases like Japanese Encephalitis and Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine which occurs in high-end endemic areas.
| USEFUL INFO |
| Ministry of Health and Family Welfare |
| Union Minister | Harsh Vardhan |
| Constituency | ChandniChowk, Delhi |
India Launches TechSagar Knowledge Repository For Businesses, Startups And Researchers
- To facilitate knowledge-sharing and holistic growth in the Indian tech industry for big corporations and startups, the National Cyber Security Coordinator’s office in partnership with Data Security Council of India (DSCI), launched a digital portal TechSagar.
- TechSagar is meant to act as a repository of over 4K businesses and research entities focusing on technology— IT industry, startups, academia and individual researchers.
- TechSagar is a consolidated and comprehensive source of India’s cyber tech capabilities which will provide insights across 25 technology areas such as internet of things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), blockchain, cloud, virtualisation, robotics, automation, AR or VR, wireless and networking, among others.
‘HunarHaat’ to be held in Prayagraj from Nov 1-10
- The next ‘HunarHaat’, an initiative of the Minority Affairs Ministry, will be organised from November 1-10 in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh.
- The Modi government will provide employment opportunities to lakhs of artisans, craftsmen and traditional culinary experts through the ‘HunarHaat’ initiative in the next five years.
- All the ‘HunarHaats’ to be organised in 2019 and 2020 will be based on the theme of “Ek Bharat Shresth Bharat”.
- ‘HunarHaat’ has proved to be an effective programme to provide employment and employment opportunities to master artisans.
- More than 2,50,000 master artisans, craftsmen and culinary experts, including a large number of women, have been provided employment and employment opportunities in the last three years.
- Traditional cultural programmes, Qawalli, Sufi music and poetry will also be performed by renowned artists at these ‘Haats’.
| USEFUL INFO |
| Minority Affairs |
| Union Minister | Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi |
| Constituency | Jharkhand, RajyaSabha |
CURRENT AFFAIRS: APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATION
DeepikaPadukone, PV Sindhu flag-bearers of PM’s ‘Bharat Ki Laxmi’ initiative
- Actor DeepikaPadukone and shuttler PV Sindhu were named the ambassadors for ‘Bharat Ki Laxmi’.
- An initiative by Prime Minister NarendraModi that aims at bringing commendable work done by women across the nation to light ahead of the Diwali festival.
UNICEF ropes in AyushmannKhurrana to raise voice against child sexual abuse
- Bollywood actor AyushmannKhurrana has joined hands with UNICEF and Ministry of Women and Child Development to raise awareness and speak up against sexual abuse of children.
- Ayushmann has boarded the ministry’s key initiative, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), with an aim to make people aware of the protection and legal support that the Act offers against child sexual abuse.
- The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) is a hugely important step taken by the ministry to make people aware of the protection and legal support that the act offers against child sexual abuse.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: AWARDS AND HONOUR
Wipro selected as DJSI member for 10th consecutive year
- Wipro, an IT consulting and BPO company has been selected as a member o the global Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSI) – 2019 for the tenth year in succession.
- Launched in 2009, the S&P DJSI (World) is the gold standard for corporate sustainability. Inclusion in DJSI (World) index is based on a rigorous analysis of a company’s performance on more than 20 rimary indicators and 120 secondary indicators across a spectrum of economic, environmental, social and governance parameters.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: MOU
Govt approves BSNL-MTNL merger, clears Rs 70,000-crore relief package
- The government finally approved a nearly Rs 70,000-crore revival package for the ailing telecom PSUs, Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL), which will include the two raising long-term sovereign bonds, allocation of 4G spectrum by the government, a voluntary retirement scheme, and the merger of the two firms.
- The revival package is a little less than the Rs 74,000 crore which the department of telecommunications had initially pitched for but fails to assure that the two loss-making PSUs will be able to compete in a hyper-competitive telecom market where incumbent private sector players are also finding it difficult to survive.
- Administrative allotment of spectrum for 4G services to BSNL and MTNL. The said Spectrum will be funded by the Government of India by capital infusion in these PSUs at a value of Rs 20,140 Cr in addition; the GST amount of Rs 3,674 Cr to this spectrum value will also be borne by the Government of India
- BSNL and MTNL will also raise long-term bonds of Rs 15,000 Cr for which sovereign guarantee will be provided by the Government of India (GoI)
- BSNL and MTNL will also offer Voluntary Retirement to their employees, aged 50 years and above through attractive Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS)
| USEFUL INFO |
| Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) |
| BSNLHeadquarters | New Delhi |
| BSNLChairman | Pravin Kumar Purwar |
GeM Signs MoUWith Federal Bank For Payment Services
- The Government e-Marketplace (GeM) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Federal Bank to offer a number of services
- The services including transfer of funds through GeM Pool Accounts (GPA), advising of Performance Bank Guarantees (e-PBG) and Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) to the registered users on the portal.
- The MoU will facilitate a cashless, paperless and transparent payment system on the portal and would create an efficient procurement system for government entities.
- GeM is also working with Banks, TReDs, and SIDBI to provide bill discounting and financing of working capital where the cost of capital is linked to the performance & rating of a seller on GeM.
| USEFUL INFO |
| Federal Bank MD & CEO | ShyamSrinivasan |
| Federal Bank Headquarters | Aluva, Kerala |
| Federal Bank Tagline | Your Perfect Banking Partner |
CURRENT AFFAIRS : DEFENCE
Indian Army to conduct “SindhuSudarshan” exercise 2019
- The Indian Army is to conduct exercise codenamed “SindhuSudarshan” for the year 2019 in the deserts of Rajasthan from November 29 to December 4, 2019.
- The aim of this exercise is to evaluate the capability of the defence services in an integrated air-land battle.
- In the SindhuSudarshan exercise, operational efficiency of the Strike Corps fighting in the desert terrain will be assessed and the Indian Air Force(IAF) will provide support in terms of destruction of targets and airlifting troops.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: RANKING
India improves ranking in Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index
- India has marginally improved its ranking to 32nd position in terms of providing pension and retirement benefits to citizens compared to last year.
- The country’s score in the Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index (MMGPI) 2019 rose to 45.8 from 44.6 last year.
- The MMGPI, which covers 37 countries, is based on how they fare on providing pension and retirement benefits to citizens across different income groups.
- India stood at 32nd position in 2019 out of 37 countries, while it was ranked at 33rd place in 2018 out of 34 countries in the list.
- India’s index value increased largely due to the improvement in all three sub-indices of adequacy, sustainability and integrity.
- As per the index, the improvement was due to slight increase in scores across various dimensions, including net household savings, greater flexibility in managing retirement and part time work, steady progress in governance and reporting around private pension plans.
National Crime Records Bureau releases data for 2017
- The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) released its 2017 data for crime in India.
- The data that was supposed to be published under the new sub-heads of mob lynching, murder by influential people, killing ordered by khappanchayats and murder committed for religious reasons.
- The data suggests that in 2017 itself, India registered over 50 lakh cases of cognisable offences, which, according to reports, is a 3.6 percent increase in the registration of cases as compared to 2016.
- Uttar Pradesh has been listed as the most unsafe for women, with the state registering the maximum number of cases – over 56,000 – of crimes against women in 2017. This comes at a time when a debate rages regarding the law and order situation in the state.
- NCRB has classified ‘crimes against women’ as ‘murder, rape, dowry death, suicide abatement, acid attack, cruelty against women and kidnapping’.
- The NCRB report states that as compared to 2016, there has been a 30 percent rise in incidents of offences against the state. Sedition, waging war against country and damage to public property are among the offences included under this category.
Chennai has fastest wirelinebroadband, Mumbai tops in mobile internet Speeds
- In a report by Ookla, Mean fixed broadband download speeds in India rose by 16.5 per cent during last two quarters
- Chennai and Mumbai have the fastest mean fixed broadband and mobile download speeds respectively, according to a new report by Ookla, the company which owns Speedtest.
- On comparing the fixed and mobile download speeds in the 15 largest cities in India, the reports shows Chennai had by far the fastest mean download speed over fixed broadband (51.07 Mbps), followed by Bengaluru (42.50 Mbps) and Hyderabad (41.68 Mbps). The slowest download speeds were measured in Nagpur (20.10 Mbps), followed by Pune (22.78 Mbps) and Kanpur (23.20 Mbps).
- Overall, mobile download speeds were relatively flat in India, fluctuating between 10.63 Mbps and 11.18 Mbps during April-September 2019.
India ranks 63rd in World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business 2020
- India has moved 14 places to be 63rd among 190 nations in the World Bank’s ease of doing business ranking. India was 77th among 190 countries in the previous ranking
- The ten top ranking countries were New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong SAR China, Denmark, Republic of Korea, United States, Georgia, United Kingdom, Norway, and Sweden
- Somalia ranks last position in the index
- The indicator measures the performance of countries across 10 different dimensions in the 12-month period ending May 1, 2019. The ten areas of study are defined as: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, and resolving insolvency.
| USEFUL INFO |
| World Bank |
| Headquarters | Washington, D.C., United States |
| President | David Malpass |
CURRENT AFFAIRS : SPORTS
Praveen Kumar becomes first Indian man to win gold at Wushu World Championships
- Praveen Kumar became the first Indian man to win a Wushu World Championships gold, beating Russel Diaz of Philippines in the 48kg category in Shanghai.
- The Indian saw off his Filipino opponent in the men’s Sanda event of the 15th World Wushu Championships.
- Among other Indians in the fray, Poonam (women’s 75kg) and Sanathoi Devi (women’s 52kg) secured silver medals while Vikrant Baliyan bagged the bronze in the men’s 60kg category.
- India finished third overall in the championship in event with a gold, two silvers and a bronze.
- Wushu is a Chinese martial art which combines full-contact kickboxing, including close-range punches and kicks, with wrestling, takedowns, throws, sweeps and kicks catch.
AbhishekNayar retires from all forms of cricket
- Veteran Mumbai all-rounder AbhishekNayar has retired from all forms of cricket.
- Nayar represented India in only three ODIs under M.S. Dhoni in 2009.
- He played 103 first-class games and scored 5749 runs while taking 173 wickets