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CURRENT AFFAIRS: DAYS
World Development Information Day
- World Development Information Day is celebrated annually on October 24th.
- The day focuses on improving the dissemination of information and mobilizing public opinion, especially among young people.
- The primary goal for improving the dissemination of information and mobilizing public opinion is to create awareness for problems of development.
World Polio Day
- World Polio Day is October 24 and arrives at a critical moment for the polio eradication program.
- The Day was established by Rotary International to commemorate the birth of Jonas Salk, who led the first team to develop a vaccine against poliomyelitis.
Ayurveda Day
- National Ayurveda Day is celebrated every year on 25th October
- The 4thAyurveda day to be organized on 25th October, 2019 at National Institute of Ayurveda, Jaipur, Rajasthan
- Ministry of AYUSH, Govt. of India decided to celebrate Ayurveda Day every year on the day of DhanvantariJayanti (Dhanteras) since 2016
| USEFUL INFO |
| Minister of State (Independent Charge) of AYUSH |
| Union Minister | ShriShripadYessoNaik |
| Constituency | North Goa, Goa |
CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL
Union Cabinet decisions
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister NarendraModi, approved a number of measures including the hiking of MSP for wheat and the opening up of fuel retailing to non-oil companies.
Hikes MSP for wheat by ₹85, pulses by ₹325 per quintal
- In a move to increase farmers’ incomes, the Union Cabinet has decided to hike the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for Rabi crops for the marketing season 2020-21.
- The increase in MSP for Rabi Crops for 2020-21 is in line with the principle of fixing the MSPs at a level of at least 1.5 times of the all India weighted average cost of production [CoP], which was announced in the Union Budget 2018-19.
- The highest increase has been recommended for lentils (increase of ₹325 to ₹4,800 a quintal) followed by safflower (increase of ₹270 to ₹5215 a quintal) and gram (an increase of ₹255 to ₹4875).
- The MSP of rapeseed & mustard has been increased by ₹225 to ₹4,425. For both wheat and barley, it has been increased by ₹85 to ₹1925 and ₹1525 per quintal, respectively.
Opens up fuel retailing to non-oil companies
- The government opened up fuel retailing norms, allowing non-oil companies to set up petrol pumps to increase competition.
- At present, to obtain a fuel retailing licence in India, a company needs to invest ₹2,000 crore in either hydrocarbon exploration and production, refining, pipelines or liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals.
- State-owned oil marketing companies — Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd. (HPCL) — currently own most of 65,000 petrol pumps in the country.
- Reliance Industries, Nayara Energy (formerly Essar Oil) and Royal Dutch Shell are the private players in the market but with limited presence. Reliance, which operates the world’s largest oil refining complex, has less than 1,400 outlets.
Approves proposal to grant ownership rights to people in unauthorised colonies in Delhi
- Union Cabinet approved a proposal to grant ownership rights to people living in unauthorised colonies in Delhi.
- Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said the Centre would also bring a Bill in the Winter Session of Parliament to give relief to residents of unauthorised colonies in the national capital. The decision “is applicable to 1,797 identified unauthorised colonies” spread over 175 sq. km and inhabited by people from lower income groups.
Approves agreements with other countries in various fields
- The Cabinet gave approval to agreements signed with other countries in various fields including traditional medicine, and science and technology.
- These include administrative arrangements for cooperation in the field of railways between the Ministry of Railways and the Directorate General for Mobility and Transport of the European Commission.
- A proposal for cooperation in science and technology between India and the U.S. was also approved.
- The agreement would provide an opportunity to promote “high quality” and “high impact” research and innovation partnerships, as well as broaden relationships between the extensive scientific and technological communities.
- The Cabinet also approved a Memorandum of Understanding to provide a framework of cooperation between India and St. Vincent and the Grenadines for the promotion of traditional systems of medicine.
- This will mutually benefit the two countries in the said field
- It will lead to promotion and propagation of traditional systems of medicine in St. Vincent & the Grenadines. Activities mentioned in the MoU will boost the importance of AYUSH in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Indian Railway launches One Touch ATVM for fast ticketing
- Indian Railways has launched ‘one touch ATVM’ at 42 suburban stations of Central Railway to render fast ticketing to millions of commuters over Mumbai Suburban Network.
- This new machine will reduce the waiting time of the passengers and allow passenger to avoid standing in long queues.
- A total of 92 ATVMs has been installed at 42 suburban stations.
- The new machine is loaded with the user friendly which will greatly ease the load on ticketing system of Mumbai Suburban Network
CURRENT AFFAIRS: BANKING AND FINANCE
Fitch Rating slashes India’s GDP growth forecast to 5.5% for FY20
- Fitch Ratings slashed India’s GDP growth forecast in the current fiscal to 5.5 per cent saying a large credit squeeze emanating from shadow banks has pushed economic growth to a six year low.
- India’s GDP growth at 6.6 per cent for the fiscal year that began in April 2019.
- The projection is lower than 6.1 per cent that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had forecast in early October.
- GDP expansion will pick up to 6.2 per cent in the next financial year (2020-21) and to 6.7 per cent in the year after(2021-22).
World Bank inks agreement project to support smallholder farmers in Odisha
- The Central Government, Odisha government and the World Bank signed a loan agreement worth $165 million to support smallholder farmers in the state.
- The project “The Odisha Integrated Irrigation Project for Climate Resilient Agriculture” will be implemented in Odisha’s rural areas which are vulnerable to droughts and largely dependent on rainfed agriculture.
- It will benefit about 125,000 smallholder farmer households from 15 districts of Odisha managing 128,000 hectares of agricultural land.
- The project will strengthen the resilience of smallholder farmers against adverse climate by improving access to resilient seed varieties and production technologies, diversifying towards more climate-resilient crops, and improving access to better water management and irrigation services.
- The project in Odisha is among several such initiatives supported by the government in our commitment to achieve the sustainable agriculture-related targets of the SDGs by 2030.
Vijaya Bank Museum inaugurated in Bengaluru
- The Vijaya Bank Heritage Museum was inaugurated old headquarters of Vijaya Bank, Bangalore
- Jose J. Kattor, regional director of RBI Bengaluru, inaugurated the museum
- This museum has a unique collection of photographs which demonstrate the development of the bank. This museum brings back memories of the history of the former Vijaya Bank
- Vijaya bank was established on October 23, 1931, the erstwhile Vijaya Bank was one of the premier nationalised banks in the country.
- Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank merged with Bank of Baroda
| USEFUL INFO |
| Bank of Baroda CEO | P. S. Jayakumar |
| Bank of Baroda Headquarters | Vadodara |
| Bank of Baroda Tagline | India’s International Bank |
CURRENT AFFAIRS: BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
Google achieves ‘quantum supremacy’
- Google has achieved quantum supremacy with its advanced processor that was able to surpass the world’s most powerful supercomputer.
- Google says that its 54-bit Sycamore processor was able to perform a calculation in 200 seconds that would have taken the world’s most powerful supercomputer 10,000 years.
- Meanwhile, IBM – the company operating the supercomputer that Google claims to have beaten is disputing the claims.
- The search giant has made the details of its research public for the scientific community to fully scrutinize its achievement.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: AWARDS AND HONOURS
Marg ERP’s CMD Shri. Thakur Anup Singh Awarded Udyog Rattan Award
- Marg ERP Ltd’s Chairman and Managing Director Shri. Thakur Anup Singh was awarded the Udyog Rattan Award– 2019 by the ‘Institute of Economic Studies’ for his exceptional work in transforming the Indian industry landscape how MSMEs can accelerate their business using technology.
- The “Udyog Rattan Award” was presented to Marg ERP Ltd. in recognition of its highly esteemed contribution through outstanding dedication towards the industrial development in India, by bringing technological innovation among 2,50,000 SMEs and are geared up to increase this number to 6,00,000 in the next few years.
Jailed Uighur academic IlhamTohti wins Sakharov Prize
- The European Union awarded its top human rights prize ‘Sakharov Prize’ to economist IlhamTohti for his work defending China’s Uighur minority and urged Beijing to release him from jail.
- The European Parliament described Tohti as a “voice of moderation and reconciliation” who campaigned for the implementation of regional autonomy laws in China.
- The EU award, named after Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, was created in 1988 to honor individuals or groups who defend human rights and fundamental freedoms.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATION
Arvind Singh appointed chairman of AAI, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu to be NHAI chief
- Senior IAS officer Arvind Singh has been appointed as the chairman of Airports Authority of India and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu will head the National Highways Authority of India.
- Ganji Kamala V Rao, at present in his cadre-state Kerala, has been named the chairman and managing director, India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) Ltd.
- Vijayendra will be chairman & managing director, National Small Industries Corporation Ltd. He is at present joint secretary, department of defence production.
- SatyaBrataSahu, who is director, National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited will be additional secretary, department of land resources.
- Pramod Kumar Tiwari, joint secretary, department of food and public distribution, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution will be the director general of the Bureau of Indian Standards in the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
- Debashri Mukherjee, joint secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office has been appointed as the additional secretary, department of water resources in the river development and Ganga rejuvenation, Ministry of Jal Shakti.
- AmitYadav, joint secretary in the department of telecommunications, has been appointed as the director general, directorate general of foreign trade.
- RakeshSarwal will be additional secretary in the department of higher education in place of Sandhu.
- AshishUpadhyay, has been appointed as additional secretary & financial advisor in the Ministry of Power. He is joint secretary in the Ministry of Power.
- Senior bureaucrat K Sanjay Murthy, additional secretary in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs will be chief executive officer and managing director, Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
- Keshav Kumar Pathak, who is serving in his cadre-state Bihar, has been appointed as managing director, National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd. under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
- K Moses Chalai, additional secretary in the Ministry of Women and Child Development will be secretary, North Eastern Council Secretariat.
- Rachna Shah, joint secretary, Cabinet Secretariat will be additional secretary in the same department. B Srinivas has been named as the managing director, National Horticulture Board, department of agriculture, cooperation and farmers welfare.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: SUMMITS AND CONFERENCE
New Delhi to Host First “Global Bio-India 2019” Summit from 21st – 23rd November
- The Global Bio-India 2019, one of the largest biotechnology stakeholder’s conglomerate will be held for the first time in India at New Delhi from 21st to 23rd November, 2019. Announcing this at a Curtain Raiser in Delhi.
- India for the first time is hosting a mega event for the biotech community to attract investments, showcase our indigenous strengths and more importantly fuel the hopes and aspirations of the indigenous talent pool.
- The Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India along with its Public Sector Undertaking, Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) is organizing this event.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: SPORTS
China to host expanded Club World Cup in 2021
- FIFA has awarded the inaugural edition of its expanded 24-team Club World Cup to China, the association’s president Gianni Infantino announced in Shanghai.
- Currently the FIFA Club World Cup features 7 teams including the holders of the UEFA Champions League.
- Qatar is the host nation for the competition to be held 2019 and 2020.
India slip to 106 in latest FIFA rankings, Belgium retain top spot
- The Indian football team slipped two places to 106 in the latest FIFA rankings after their 1-1 draw with much lower-ranked Bangladesh in the World Cup qualifier earlier this month.
- Bangladesh, meanwhile, jumped three spots to 184 riding the result which their head coach Jamie Day had described as being similar to India’s famous tie against Qatar.
- Meanwhile, Belgium has remained at the top spot in the rankings with France and Brazil also holding on to their positions.
- Top-ten rivals Uruguay (5th, up 1), Croatia (7th, up 1), Argentina (9th, up 1) have edged closer to the summit.
- But the most significant rises are to be found further down the Ranking, where the in-form quartet of Ukraine (22nd, up 3), Japan (28th, up 3), Turkey (32nd, up 4) and Russia (37th, up 5) are among the more notable climbers.
| USEFUL INFO |
| FIFA Headquarters | Zurich, Switzerland |
| FIFA President | Gianni Infantino |