Sarkari Naukri
Admission News


October 2019 Daily News Current Affairs

Home > Current Affairs > Current Affairs

  1. Oct 31, 2019
    1. Joint venture between Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and Ebix received approval from IRDAI. The venture, branded as BSE-Ebix Broking Insurance Broking Pvt. Ltd., will enable distribution outlets, wealth management advisors, Points of Sale (POS) to sell life and non-life insurance product.
    2. Airline IndiGo became member of International Air Transport Association (IATA) which represents around 290 airlines across world.
      1. In March 2019, SpiceJet became first Indian low-cost carrier to take membership of IATA. Indian full-service carriers Vistara and Air India are members of IATA too.
    3. As per KPMG Report -
      1. Amazon, Apple and Alibaba are top 3 Disruptive companies.
      2. Disruptors' list complements the fact that tech industry leaders ranked e-commerce platforms first and social networking second as the most disruptive business models over next 3 years.
    4. Bollywood Actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui has been honoured with Golden Dragon Award at Cardiff International Film Festival (UK) for excellence in cinema in global arena.
    5. According to Economist Intelligence Unit's 2019 Global Microscope on Financial Inclusion report -
      1. Only four countries - Colombia, India, Jamaica and Uruguay - scored perfectly across all four parameters. These Nations thus have most favourable conditions for inclusive finance.
    6. Indo-French joint exercise ‘Shakti 2019’ began at Mahajan Field Firing Ranges in Bikaner (Rajasthan).
    7. Oct 31 is Observed as UN World Cities Day, proclaimed in 2013. 2019 Theme is changing the world: Innovations and better life for future generation.
    8. 2nd assembly of International Solar Alliance (ISA) hosted by India in New Delhi.
      1. ISA offers concrete solutions to reduce cost of solar installations in developing countries.
      2. Assembly was be co-chaired by French Deputy Minister Brune Porison.
      3. Prior to this meet, 81 countries of 121 members had signed Framework Agreement of ISA. Of these, 58 have ratified it.
      4. During the meet, Two New Countries- Eritrea and St. Kittis and Nevis Signed ISA Framework Agreement, Taking Signatory count to 83.
    9. President Ram Nath Kovind launched Endowment Fund of Indian Institute Technology Delhi. Institute has set its target as 1 billion USD.
      1. Endowment funds are big source of income for top global universities. Endowment funds of Harvard and Stanford are over 39 billion USD and 27 billion USD respectively. Endowment Fund is an investment fund established by an organization.
    10. Oct 31 is observed as National Unity Day (Rashtriya Ekta Diwas).
      1. It was introduced by Government in 2014, marking Birth Anniversary of Legendary Leader and 1st Home Minsiter and Deputy PM of India, Shri Sardar Valabh Bhai Patel.
      2. On this occasion in 2018, PM Narendra Modi inaugurated Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's memorial in Gujarat's Narmada district. Called the Statue of Unity, the bronze sculpture is the world's tallest statue measuring 600 feet (182m). It has overtook China's Spring Temple Buddha (153m) and USA's Statue of Liberty (93m). It was constructed in 33 months at 2,989 crores.
      3. Like every year “Run for Unity” campaign was organized on this occasion.
      4. Oct 31 is also Death Anniversary of Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. She was killed on this day in 1984.
      5. Oct 31 is observed as World Thrift / Savings Day. In India it is observed on 30th october.
      6. Oct 24 - 31 is observed annually as Global Media and Information Literacy (MIL) Week, initiated in 2012.
    11. Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh Became New Union Territories, w.e.f Oct 31, 2019.
      1. J&K's status as a state has also ended. It was announced in the Rajya Sabha, on August 5, to divide Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories. Highlights of Bill that was passed for the same effect (Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill 2019 )
        1. The historical bill was Introduced in Rajya Sabha by Home Minister Amit Shah. Bill provides for reorganisation of the state of Jammu and Kashmir into Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Union Territory of Ladakh.
        2. The bill repeals Article 370, which as a temporary arrangement and gives autonomous status to state of Jammu and Kashmir.
        3. Bill reorganises state of Jammu and Kashmir into Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir with a legislature and Union Territory of Ladakh without a legislature. 
          1. UT of Ladakh will comprise Kargil and Leh districts, and UT of Jammu and Kashmir will comprise the remaining territories of the existing Jammu and Kashmir. 
        4. UTs of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh will be administered by Lieutenant Governors, appointed by President. 
        5. Bill provides for a Legislative Assembly for the UT of Jammu and Kashmir, with total number of seats in Assembly being 107.  Of these, 24 seats will remain vacant on account of certain areas of Jammu and Kashmir being under occupation of Pakistan. 
          1. Lieutenant Governor may nominate two members to the Legislative Assembly to give representation to women, if they are not adequately represented.     
        6. Assembly will have a term of five years, and the Lieutenant Governor must summon the Assembly at least once in six months. Legislative Assembly may make laws for any part of the UT of Jammu and Kashmir as per any matter in the Concurrent List applicable to Union Territories.  Further, Parliament will have power to make laws in relation to any matter for the UT of Jammu and Kashmir.
        7. High Court of Jammu and Kashmir will be the common High Court for the Union Territories of Ladakh, and Jammu and Kashmir.  UT of Jammu and Kashmir will have an Advocate General to provide legal advice to the government of UT.   
        8. Schedule lists 106 central laws that will be made applicable to UTs of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.  These include Aadhaar Act, 2016, the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and the Right to Education Act, 2009. 
        9. Further, it repeals 153 state laws of Jammu and Kashmir. In addition, 166 state laws will remain in force, and seven laws will be applicable with amendments.  These amendments include lifting of prohibitions on lease of land to persons who are not permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir.
      2. Girish Chandra Murmu is appointed as Lieutenant Governor of UT of Jammu-Kashmir Radha Krishna Mathur is appointed as Lieutenant Governor of UT of Ladakh.
      3. Number of states in the country is 28 now and number of union territories increased to 9.
      4. Government plans to make Ladakh the first Indian union territory (UT) to run completely on renewable energy.
      5. Govt. announced that Bamboo Technology Parks would be set up in the two new Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. The Cane and Bamboo Technology Centre (CBTC) under NEC will implement the project.
      6. Realizing importance of Indian Himalayan region and recognizing need to study its ecology, Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Prakash Javadekar approved proposal of setting-up of a New Regional Centre of the GB Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment & Development at Ladakh.
      7. Government employees of UTs of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh will now get their salaries and other benefits as per the 7th Pay Commission.
    12. General Events / Conferences (Oct 21 - 31, 2019) -
      1. Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik launched a social service initiative called ‘Odisha-Mo Parivar’ (Odisha, my family), aimed at encouraging environment protection, blood donation and welfare of Odias in distress.
      2. Home Minister Amit Shah declared Gandhinagar as first district in Gujarat to become kerosene-free.
      3. 38th edition of Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) 2019 inaugurated in UAE. Mexico is Guest of Honour at 38th edition of SIBF. Theme is ‘Open Books Open Minds’.
      4. Govt. launched first ever common foundation course called the “Aarambh” for civil servants at Statue of Unity, Gujarat.
      5. India and South American nation Ecuador signed Protocol for Completion of Joint Feasibility Study (JFS) between two countries, in line with the government’s efforts to expand its trade presence in the region.
      6. Southern Railway launched Rail Dhandora app, to view commercial circulars, pertaining to ticketing, catering and other amenities like freight and parcel bookings.
      7. India and US signed a joint Statement of Intent (SoI) to co-develop a range of cutting-edge warfighting technologies. It was signed during 9th meeting of India US Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI) 2019 held in New Delhi.
      8. 5th International Conference on Road Tech (Sustainable Roads and Highways) held in New Delhi.
      9. DEFCOM 2019 wlll be held in November 2019 at Manekshaw Centre (New Delhi), with theme Communications as a Decisive Catalyst for Jointness.
        1. DEFCOM is a landmark symposium for collaboration between Indian armed forces, academia and industry, research and development organisations, and the Industry on aspects pertaining to Information and Communications Technology (ICT).
      10. Indian Railways has run its first Buddhist Circuit train covering sites related to Gautam Buddha in India and Nepal. Destinations Included Lumbini (where Buddha was born), Bodhgaya (where Buddha gained enlightenment), Sarnath (where Buddha gave his first sermon), Kushinagar (where Buddha attained nirvana).
      11. International workshop on Environmental Flows Assessment and Implementation for India Held In New Delhi.
      12. Making a foray into the personal digital healthcare domain, Facebook unveiled a "Preventive Health" tool that connects people to health resources and sends checkup reminders. It is Launched first in US.
      13. Ahead of assembly elections, Delhi Government agreed to implement Central scheme Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) that promises small and marginal eligible farmers an income support of Rs.6,000 a year in three instalments. Earlier, West Bengal and Delhi Governments had refused to implement it.
      14. National Cyber Security Cooardinator’s office in partnership with Data Security Council of India (DSCI) launched a platform called ‘TechSagar’. It is a platform to discover consolidated and comprehensive repository of India’s cyber technological capabilities through a portal.
      15. 1st India-Bangladesh Stakeholders’ meet held in Guwahati (Assam). Bangladesh was represented by Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi.
      16. Vibrant Goa - Global Expo & Summit 2019 Held in Goa. During the event, DRDO signed 30 licensing agreement for Transfer of Technology with 16 Indian companies.
      17. Minister of Panchayati Raj Narendra Singh Tomar conferred National Panchayat Awards 2019 in New Delhi. He also launched a Spatial Planning Application called ‘Gram Manchitra’ which is a Geo Spatial based decision support system for panchayats.
      18. Andhra Pradesh government launched project to provide a drinking water connection to every household in state by 2022, for at least the next 30 years. Project aims to provide 1418.49 million litres of water daily to about 110 urban local bodies in the state. Project cost is 46,675 in first phase and 9200 crore in the second phase. Loan of Rs 2,500 from Asian Development Bank will kick-start the project.
      19. Tourism Department of Arunachal Pradesh organized Tawang festival, to promote the tourist attractions and traditional values.
      20. Delhi Police flagged off 30 ‘PRAKHAR’ vans, as special vehicles to curb street crimes.
      21. 48th Indian Handicrafts and Gifts Fair (IHGF) organized by Ministry of Textiles began in Greater Noida (UP).
    13. Visits from India (Oct 21 - 31, 2019) -
      1. Minister of state for external affairs V Muraleedharan attended meet in in Reunion Islands (French territory), along with Leaders from France and Vanilla Islands – consisting of Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius and Seychelles. The met aims at exploring economic and development partnership.
      2. Prime Minister Narendra Modi Visited Saudi Arabia -
        1. He attended Plenary Session of 3rd Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh.
        2. 12 MOUs were signed. Which Include -
          1. Strategic Partnership Council Agreement.
            1. It is significant, as Saudi Arabia is only 4th nation with whom India shares such an inter-governmental mechanism, which is headed by the Prime Minister. Other Nations are Russia, Germany and Japan.
          2. Cooperation in Field of Civil Aviation, medical products regulations, Renewable Energy, Security, Combating illicit trafficking and smuggling of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and chemical precursors.
          3. Military acquisition, industries, research, development and technology.
          4. Letter of Intent between Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority (Monshaat) of Saudi Arabia and Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog, of India.
          5. MoU between Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited (ISPRL) and Saudi Aramco.
          6. MoU for Cooperation between National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul)
          7. MoU between National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and Saudi Payments, To launch Indian Payments service Rupay in Saudi Arabia.
      3. Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan Visited Japan and Russia.
        1. In Tokyo (Japan), He attended Global Forum on Steel excess Capacity.
      4. Commerce and Industry & Railways Minister Piyush Goyal Visited Sweden, for attending 19th Indo – Swedish Joint Commission for Economic, Industrial and Scientific Cooperation. He also Visited Switzerland.
      5. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh visited Tashkent (Uzbekistan), to attend meeting of Council of Heads of Government (CHG) of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
      6. President Ram Nath Kovind Visited Philippines and Japan -
        1. Philippines -
          1. He attended 4th ASEAN - India Business Summit in Manila.
          2. 4 Agreements were signed in fields of Maritime Security,Tourism, Science and Technology and Culture.
          3. He unveiled first M K Gandhi monument in Philippines, as a bronze bust at Miriam College, Quezon City.
        2. Japan -
          1. Attended Enthronement Ceremony of Emperor Naruhito of Japan, who completed his ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne after his father's abdication earlier this year.
          2. Laid foundation stone for Sri Sathya Sai Sanathana Samskruti Project at Sai no Sato, Kakegawa.
      7. Minister of States for Health and Family Welfare Ashwini Chaube attended conference of Health Ministers of BRICS countries at Curitiba in Brazil.
        1. Govt has set a target of ensuring at least 70 % infants to have access to breast milk by 2025, to be increased to 100 %. India has taken inspiration from Brazil's success in the field of human milk bank decided to adopt a similar model in creating a wide network of human milk banks.
    14. Visits to India (Oct 21 - 31, 2019) -
      1. PM Narendra Modi met JP Morgan International Council in New Delhi. After 2007, this was the first time that the International Council met in India.
      2. 28-member delegation from European Union Visited India to assess situation in Kashmir, after revoking of Article 370. The delegation stated that Situation is normal in State and India's move has been in right direction.
      3. World Bank President David Malpass visited India.
    15. Industrial Awards (Oct 2019) -
      1. Kavitha Gopal became first female student of IIT Madras to receive President of India Prize, at 56th convocation of IIT Madras.
      2. International body of people of Indian origin Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) will honour 3 Indian-Americans for their contribution in the health field as well as for promoting health awareness among the diaspora. It Includes -
        1. Rahul Shukla (CEO of S S White Technologies and Shukla Medical).
        2. Hitesh Bhatt (CEO of Bhatt Foundation)
        3. H R Shah, Chairman and CEO of TV Asia.
      3. Former IIT Madras Director MS Ananth conferred with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the TiECON Chennai 2019.
      4. IT Firm Tata Consultancy Services named as overall most outstanding company in India’s IT services sector in Asiamoney 2019 outstanding company's poll.
      5. Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) awarded 46 biomedical scientists from different institutes across the country for excellence in biomedical research. 39 awards for 2017 and 2018 were presented to 46 scientists.
      6. Bollywood Movie Gully Boy', starring Ranveer Singh won best film from India award in regional finals at Asian Academy Creative Awards 2019. Gully boy is also India's official entry to 92nd Oscar Awards 2020.
      7. Promoters of Marg ERP, which provides inventory and accounting software to over one million active users including to 2,50,000 MSMEs, has bagged Udyog Rattan Award from Government.
    16. Obituaries (Oct 2019) -
      1. Jose Jose - Noted Mexican singer.
      2. Jessye Norman - Noted American opera star, also won 4 Grammy awards.
      3. H L Trivedi - Noted kidney transplant surgeon and Padma Shri Awardee.
      4. Farook Khan - Noted Indian-origin journalist in South Africa. He started Miss India South Africa Pageant.
      5. Krishna Gopalkrishna Kadekodi - Noted philatelist and coin collector.
      6. M Gopal Gowda - Noted Kudmi Konkani folk artist.
      7. Eric Pleskow - Noted American-Austrian film producer and Hollywood Tycoon.
      8. Satyapriya Mohathero - 2nd highest Buddhist leader of Bangladesh and head of Sima Bihar of Ramu.
      9. Diahann Carroll - Noted Americn Actress.
      10. Colathur Gopalan - Noted Indian nutritionist. He was responsible for initiating nutrition research in independent India.
      11. Peter Edward Ginger Baker - Noted English drummer, co-founder of rock band “Cream”.
      12. Andrés Gimeno Tolaguera - Noted Spanish tennis player. He won French Open in 1972.
      13. Kadri Gopalnath - Noted saxophonist and Padma Shri awardee.
      14. Dominic Jala - Archbishop of Shillong and Apostolic Administrator of Roman Catholic Diocese of Nongstoin, India.
      15. Sara Danius - Noted Swiss author and first female head of Swedish Nobel literature award body.
      16. Alexei Leonov - Noted Russian astronaut. On 18 March 1965, he became first human to conduct a spacewalk, exiting capsule during Voskhod 2 mission for 12 minutes and 9 seconds.
      17. Alicia Alonso - Noted Cuban Ballet Artist and choreographer.
      18. KB Siddhaiah - Noted Kannada writer.
      19. Kalidas Karmakar - Noted painter from Bangladesh.
      20. Mark Hurd - Co-CEO of US Based Tech firm Oracle.
      21. Dadu Chougule - Noted Maharashtra Wrestling legend, also recipient of Major Dhyanchand award.
      22. T.P. Radhamani - Malayalam and Telugu Actress.
      23. Marieke Vervoort, Belgian Paralympic athlete ended her life through euthanasia (practice of intentionally ending a life to relieve suffering).
      24. Dilip Ramanbhai Parikh - Former Chief Minister of Gujarat.
      25. K R Wadhwaney - Noted sports journalist.
      26. C Raghavachari - Noted journalist.
      27. N Venkatachala - Former Supreme Court judge and Karnataka Loykayukta.
      28. Sadako Ogata - Japanese diplomat and first female to be appointed as UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
      29. John Witherspoon - Noted American Actor.
      30. Nanammal Padma Shri awardee & India’s oldest Yoga teacher.
      31. Gurudas Dasgupta - Noted Indian politician and leader of Communist Party of India. He was known Trade Unionist.
      32. Taro Chatung - Veteran Arunachal Pradesh journalist.
      33. Geetanjali Ramakrishna - Noted Telugu actress.
    17. Misc. Appointments (Oct 2019) -
      1. Kuldeep Singh Dhatwalia appointed as Principal Director General of Press Information Bureau (principal spokesperson of government).
      2. Govt. appointed Pradipta Kumar Bisoi as Secretary in Department of Posts.
      3. Govt. Approved assignment of additional charge of Secretary in Ministry of Panchayati Raj to Amarjeet Sinha (Secretary in Department of Rural Development).
      4. Government appointed PK Gupta as new CMD of PSU NBCC (National Buildings Construction Corporation).
      5. Rajiva Sinha appointed as new chief secretary of West Bengal and Srikant Baldi appointed as Chief Secretary of Himachal Pradesh.
      6. Surendra Kumar Ghotia appointed as Chief (Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief) of South Western Air Command. He succeeded Harjit Singh Arora, who was recently appointed as vice chief of Indian Air Force (IAF).
      7. Tata Communications has named Amur S Lakshminarayanan as its MD and CEO.
      8. Govt. appointed Amrit Lugun as New Ambassador of India to Greece.
      9. Govt. appointed Muktesh Kumar Pardeshi as New Ambassador of to Niue (Oceanic Nation).
      10. Vijay Patil elected as president of Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA).
      11. Government appointed Anumula Gitesh Sarma as New Indian Ambassador to Australia.
      12. Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) appointed Chairman of Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Kallam Satish Reddy as its President for 2019-21.
      13. Pradeep Kumar appointed as Member (Signal & Telecom) in Railway Board and P.C. Sharma has taken over as Member (Material Management) in Railway Board.
      14. Kishan Dan Dewal has been appointed as New Indian Ambassador to Georgia.
      15. American multinational financial Firm CITI Group appointed Peter Babej as CEO of its Asia-Pacific region.
      16. Upender Singh Rawat has been appointed as New Indian Ambassador to Republic of Nicaragua (Central America).
      17. Godavarthi Venkata Srinivas has been appointed as New Indian Ambassador to Republic of Cape Verde.
      18. Arun Kumar Sahu has been appointed as New Indian ambassador to Grenada.
      19. Godavarthi Venkata Srinivas has been appointed as India's New Ambassador to Gambia.
      20. Birender Singh Yadav is appointed as New Indian Ambassador to Iraq.
      21. Muktesh Kumar Pardeshi appointed as New Indian Ambassador to Small Oceanic Nation Samoa.
      22. Indian-American interventional gastroenterologist Amit Sachdev is among 15 people appointed to 2020 Class of White House Fellows. Amit Sachdev has been placed at Department of Health and Human Services.
      23. Govt, Approved charge of Secretary, Department of Expenditure to Atanu Chakraborty. He is also Secretary in Department of Economic Affairs.
    18. Misc. Sports News (Oct 2019) -
      1. 10th Asian Age Group Swimming Championships held in Bengaluru. India finished with medal tally of 64 medals (20 gold, 24 silver and 20 bronze).
      2. Indian Female chess player Koneru Humpy ranked world number 3 in 2019 rankings by Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE).
      3. Australian Female cricketer Alyssa Healy created world record for highest individual score in women’s T20I, scoring 148 runs off 61 balls. Also, Harmanpreet Kaur became 1st Indian to play 100 T20 International matches.
      4. FIFA banned Eugenio Figueredo, former president of South American Football Confederation CONMEBOL, due to bribery charges.
      5. Army's Abdul Quadir Khan won Silver Medal at 53rd Asian Body Building and Physique Sports Championship held at Batam (Indonesia).
      6. For first time, a floating basketball court brought to India in Arabian Sea near Mumbai (Maharashtra). It has been brought for the National Basketball Association (NBA) game 2019, which features the Sacramento Kings and Indiana Pacers, in First week of October 4 & 5 2019.
      7. Austria’s Christine Wolf won Hero Women’s Indian Open Golf Title at Gurugram, Haryana.
      8. Surender Singh of India created three world records at World Powerlifting Championships in Berlin, Germany. Also, Three-time World Champion Mukesh Singh won yet another gold.
      9. FIBA (International Basketball Federation) stated that India will host Tokyo Olympic Games 3×3 basketball qualifying tournament in March 2020 with a total participation of 40 teams (20 male and 20 female teams).
      10. Dutee Chand broke her own 100-meter national record with a time of 11.22 seconds, during National Open Athletics Championships in Ranchi.
      11. Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge has become 1st athlete to run sub 2-hour marathon, busting mythical 2-hour barrier for marathon on a specially prepared course in a huge Vienna park (Austria). He finished marathon in 1 hr 59 min 40.2 sec and became the first ever to run a marathon in under 2 hours.
      12. Kenya’s female runner Brigid Jepscheschir Kosgei has set a new world record in the 2019 Chicago Marathon held in Chicago (US). Kosgei completed in 2 hours 14 minutes and 4 seconds, better than Earlier record of Paula Radcliffe with 2 hours 15 minutes and 25 seconds.
      13. Sports Ministry decided to provide access to four of its sporting infrastructure, free of cost to federations and athletes from November 2019. It is aimed at making sporting infrastructure accessible to all sports persons. 1st phase will see stadiums in the capital, including Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium (JLN), Indira Gandhi Stadium (IG), Major Dhyanchand National Stadium and Karni Singh Shooting Range.
      14. 17-year-old Yashasvi Jaiswal became youngest cricketer in world to score a double century in One Day cricket, playing in Vijay Hazare season against Jharkhand.
      15. Raunak Sadhwani will be 65th Indian Grand Master (Chess) at age of 13 years.
      16. Cricketer Rohit Sharma has created new record in test cricket, gdetting past Australian great Don Bradman. The record is about test average of 99.84 on home soil, which is higher than Don Bradman’s average of 98.22 on home soil in test cricket.
      17. Logo for Paris 2024 Olympic Games has been unveiled, in the art deco style which was trending in 1924 when Paris last hosted Olympics. The Logo also incorporates lips and outline of Marianne, the personification of the French Republic since the revolution in 1789.
      18. Sprinter Dutee Chand named Sportsperson of the Year in 2nd edition of the Vogue Women of the Year awards.
      19. Minerva Punjab FC has been renamed as Punjab Football Club, as per an agreement with Round Glass Sports Private Ltd.
      20. Indian Boxer and Six-time world champion M C Mary Kom has been included in a 10-strong athlete ambassadors group to represent boxers in the build-up to 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games by the IOC’s Task Force for the sport.
      21. American Golfer Tiger Woods secured a record-equalling 82nd PGA Tour crown, winning Zozo Championship in Japan.
    19. Misc. Corporate News (Oct 2019) -
      1. Axis Bank launched ‘Express FD’, a digital fixed deposit (FD) product that allows a customer to open an FD account in three minutes through digital mode without opening a savings account. It offers attractive interest rates, zero issuance fees and no penalty on pre-mature withdrawal of up to 25% of amount. Amont can be between 5000 - 90000, for tenure between 6 to 12 months.
      2. Himachal Pradesh CM Jai Ram Thakur launched Pragati Rath of HDFC bank, which will provide financial and digital literacy to people during a month-long initiative.
      3. UCO Bank launched digital products called UCash, Digilocker and an app. UCash allows Customers to withdraw money from ATMs without using debit card. Digilocker will enable sharing of verified electronic documents without use of physical documents. Mobile app comes as integration of 4 existing apps – UCO Mbanking, UCO UPI, UCO Mpassbook and UCO Secure.
      4. U GRO Capital (formerly known as Chokhani securities) signed its first co-origination of loan agreement with Bank of Baroda, to necessitate joint contribution of credit flow with competitive rate of interest, to empower SMEs by using U GRO Capital’s co-lending platform ‘GRO-Xstream’.
      5. Government e-Marketplace (GeM) signed MoU with Union Bank of India (UBI). It will facilitate a cashless, paperless and transparent payment system on portal and will create an efficient procurement system for government entities.
      6. ICICI Bank launched a new Fixed deposit (FD) scheme called “FD health” which provides investors a complimentary critical illness cover on 33 critical illnesses for customers the age bracket of 18-50 years.
      7. LIC launched Indian life insurance industry’s first joint mass media campaign with the slogan ‘Sabse Pehle Life Insurance’. It will encourage Indian households to opt for adequate life insurance cover as fundamental necessity in their lives.
      8. Payment services Firm Mastercard along with cricketer M S Dhoni launched a nationwide initiative to increase the acceptance and adoption of digital payments among merchants.
      9. Home Credit India tied-up with Karur Vysya Bank (KVB) for joint lending using end-to-end automated processing which will help customer get real-time approval and disbursement.
      10. SBI Card launched 'SBI Card Pay', a payment feature based on Host Card Emulation (HCE) technology for faster, convenient and more secure card payments using mobile phones.
      11. Government e-Marketplace (GeM) signed MoU with Federal Bank to offer a number of services including transfer of funds through GeM Pool Accounts (GPA), advising of Performance Bank Guarantees (e-PBG) and Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) to registered users.
      12. Aditya Birla Finance Limited partnered with Indian Dental Association (IDA) to launch an easy EMI facility for patients going for dental treatments.
      13. Indian Overseas Bank launched healthcare insurance policy through online platform in association with Universal Sompo General Insurance Company.
      14. Kotak Mahindra Bank launched its first overseas branch at Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). With this, Kotak can now accept offshore deposits and offer advisory services to clients based outside UAE.
      15. United Bank of India and Srei Equipment Finance Limited partnered to offer loans to MSMEs and retail customers under a co-lending arrangement.
    20. Persons Resigned / Retired (Oct 2019) -
      1. Kapil Dev resigned as chairman of Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC).
      2. Italian footballer Claudio Marchisio announced his retirement from football.
      3. Rajat Monga resigned as senior group president of Yes Bank.
      4. German footballer Bastian Schweinsteiger announced his retirement.
      5. FIFA banned former chief of Salvadorean Football Association Reynaldo Vasquez for life & and imposed 475,000-euro fine after a corruption investigation.
      6. American competition swimmer and 2-time Olympic gold medalist Conor James Dwyer announced his retirement after being handed 20-month doping ban for having testosterone in form of pellets, surgically inserted into his body.
      7. England Female Cricketer Jennifer Louise Gunn announced retirement from international cricket.
      8. Chinese badminton player Li Xuerui announced her retirement. She reached a career high of no. 1 in women's singles for 124 weeks.
      9. Cricketer Abhishek Nayar announced retirement from all forms of Cricket.
      10. Lebanon’s prime minister Saad Hariri announced his resignation, amid porests due to corrpution charges.
    21. Indian GDP Growth Forecasts (Oct 2019) -
      1. Standard & Poor (S&P) Global ratings reduced India’s growth to 6.3% from its previous estimation of 7.1% for 2020.
      2. RBI in its 4th Bi-monthly Monetary Policy Review reduced GDP Growth Foreacst for 2019-20 to 6.1 % (From 6.9%).
      3. International rating agency Moody’s reduced India’s GDP growth forecast to 5.8% for FY20, from 6.2% earlier.
      4. India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra), a part of Fitch group, lowered India's GDP Growth forecast for FY 2019-20 to 6.1%, from 6.7 % earlier.
      5. Fitch Ratings slashed India's GDP growth forecast in current fiscal to 5.5 %. down from 6.6 % projection earlier.
  2. Oct 30, 2019
    1. United Nations Disarmament Week is observed annually betweene Oct 24 - 30.
    2. In response to India's Complaint against Pakistan for its refusal to let PM Modi's plane use Pakistan airspace to Saudi Arabia, International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) said that Flights carrying national leaders are considered as "state aircraft" and are not subject to ICAO provisions.
      1. India approached world body ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) after Pakistan denied permission for PM Modi to use its air space. PM Modi is to visit Saudi Arabia to attend the Future Investment Initiative.
      2. In September 2019, Pakistan rejected India’s plea to allow PM Modi’s flight to use its air space. It had also refused to allow President Ram Nath Kovind to use its airspace in the same month for his visit to Iceland.
    3. Andhra Pradesh will bring port-related services also under Ease of Doing Business ambit through a new online platform called SMARTPORT. SMARTPORT will be covered under Public Service Delivery Guarantee Act and tracked through a single-desk portal to bring in transparency and establish a corruption-free environment.
    4. New Book Suncatcher by Booker Prize–nominated author Romesh Gunesekera shall be released soon.
    5. New Book The Unquiet River: A Biography of the Brahmaputra by Arupjyoti Saikia shall be released soon.
    6. 2019 Erste Bank Open Men's Tennis (Vienna, Austria) -
      1. Singles - Dominic Thiem (Austria)
      2. Doubles - Rajeev Ram (US) AND Joe Salisbury (UK)
    7. Madhya Pradesh-based Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism and Communication (MCNUJC) and UNICEF signed agreement to jointly work in area of child rights.
    8. Bengali writer Nabaneeta Dev Sen's last novel of her Naxal trilogy has been translated into English as 'The Parrot Green Saree', by Tutun Mukherjee. In Bengali, novel was titled 'Phoenix'.
    9. Singapore-based AirCarbon Pte Ltd Launched global blockchain-based carbon exchange called AirCarbon Exchange, offering a marketplace for airlines and other corporate buyers to trade securitised carbon emissions.
      1. It will provide a ready supply of credits, also called EEUs (eligible emission units), for those in transportation industry to acquire CO2 offsets for compliance and voluntary purposes when list of compliant units is approved.
      2. Carbon credits will be securitised into tokens using blockchain technology, making them tradable. Each tradable token will be backed by one equivalent tonne of carbon credits.
      3. New exchange is a collaboration venture with the Sustainable Energy Association of Singapore (Seas), and supported by Enterprise Singapore.
    10. Odisha government as allocated INR 3208 crores under Augmentation of Basic Amenities and Development of Heritage and Architecture (ABADHA) scheme in 3 years to transform Puri into a world heritage city.
    11. High-Level Advisory Group headed by economist Surjit S. Bhalla submitted its report and favoured India signing free trade agreements (FTA) with trade partners.
      1. Report supports government's resolve to go ahead with negotiations for proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
      2. Panel was assigned asked to assess global environment and make recommendations for boosting India's share in global merchandise and services trade, managing pressing bilateral trade relations, and mainstreaming new age policymaking.
    12. New Delhi based Gandhi Mandela Foundation has constituted India’s first International Award, The Gandhi Mandela Award. It will honor exemplary work of Heads of Governments and other distinguished persons/organizations around world. Awardees will be selected by a jury of eminent personalities.
    13. Master in Management Rankings 2019 by Financial Times -
      1. IIM Calcutta ranked 17th globally. It Replaced IIM Ahmedabad as India's Best.
      2. Other Indian Institutes in Top 50 - IIM Ahmedabad (21), IIM Bangalore (44).
      3. Top 3 - University of St. Gallen (Switzerland) (1), HEC Paris (France) (2), London Business School (UK) (3).
    14. Competition Commission of India (CCI) approved Proposal from Korea based carmakers Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Motors Corp to acquire a stake in ANI Technologies – the parent firm of ride-hailing platform Ola and Ola Electric Mobility (OEM). The investment amounts to US$300 million.
    15. Competition Commission of India approved Masdar (Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company) acquiring minority stake in Hero Future Energies Global Ltd. (HFE UK), and Hero Future Energies Private Ltd (HFE India).
      1. Stake will be acquired by way of subscription to equity shares in HFE UK and non-voting compulsorily convertible preference shares in HFE India.
      2. This transaction was approved through ‘green channel,’ a much quicker route for clearing certain categories of mergers and acquisitions, that was introduced by CCI recently.
    16. 28th Vyas Samman for 2018 has been conferred on Noted Hindi writer Leeladhar Jagoori.
      1. It was anounced in March 2019. Award is given by KK Birla Foundation for his collection of poems “Jitne Log Utne Prem”.
      2. Vyas Samman started in 1991, and carries an amount of 4 lakh.
    17. Health and Family Welfare Minister released 14th National Health Profile (NHP) 2019, prepared by the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence -
      1. Life Expectancy in India increased from 49.7 years in 1970-75 to 68.7 years in 2012-16.
      2. Life Expectancy of females is 70.2 years and males is 67.4 years.
      3. Highest population Density was reported in Delhi with 11,320 people per square km and the lowest population Density was reported in Arunachal Pradesh with 17 people per square km.
      4. Infant Mortality Rate declined considerably to 33 per 1000 live births in 2016. It is now 37 in rural and 23 in urban areas.
      5. India in 2017 registered a birth rate of 20.2 per 1000 population, death rate of 63 and natural growth rate was 13.9 per 1000 population.
    18. 14 start-ups have been selected for 2019 SEED awards, granted to organisations working on sustainable development.
      1. Award highlights contribution of green and social enterprises to advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
      2. SEED was founded by UN Environment Programme (UN Environment), UN Development Programme (UNDP) and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) at 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg.
      3. 5 Indian Staruips have won the awards under various categories - Aikya Organics, Stonesoup, Aarohana Ecosocial Development, Ecozen Solutions and Farmers Fresh Zone.
    19. Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) has conducted Whole Genome Sequencing of over 1000 Indians from different populations across country, to generate data on genetic diseases, Called IndiGen Genome project. Its outcomes will assist in efficient diagnosis of rare genetic diseases.
    20. Vice President Venkaiah Naidu unveiled a 15-point reform charter, to enable effective functioning of Parliament and State Legislatures. Key Points Include -
      1. Pre and post Legislative Impact should be assessed.
      2. Functioning of Department related Standing Committees of Parliament should be ensured through longer tenures instead of reconstitution every year as at present. Recommendations to committee should be based on academic backgrounds.
      3. Minimum number of sittings for both Parliament and State Legislatures per year should be approximately prescribed.
      4. Political parties should take responsibility be enforcing a code of conduct.
      5. Rules should be framed that take automatic effect against erring members in case of interruptions and disruptions.
      6. Political parties should ensure at least 50% attendance of the members of legislatures everyday to address issues of lack of quorum.
      7. Secretariats of legislatures should publish regular reports on attendance of members during proceedings.
      8. Functioning of anti-defection law and whip system should be reviewed.
    21. US and Australian Scientists discovered ‘the footprints a monstrous galaxy’ being called as ‘Cosmic Yeti’ in early universe. The discovery provides new insights into the first growing steps of some of biggest galaxies in universe. It was forming new stars at a rate that was over 100 times faster than in Milky Way.
    22. As per President of International Court of Justice, Pakistan violated its obligations under Vienna Convention in Kulbhushan Jadhav case. ICJ found that Pakistan had violated its obligations under Article 36 of Vienna Convention and appropriate remedies were due in the case.
      1. ICJ ruled then that Pakistan must review death sentence awarded to Jadhav and grant him consular access.
    23. US House of Representatives officially recognized mass extermination of Armenians by Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1917 as genocide.
      1. Members of the house also backed a new legislation that proposes sanctions on Turkey for its recent military offensive in northern Syria.
      2. These two resolutions will now be sent to US Senate,which is controlled by the Republicans.
      3. Democrats have majority in US House of Representatives.
    24. India won 7 Medals at Olympic Test Event for Boxing .
      1. Gold - Shiva Thapa and Pooja Rani.
      2. Silver - Ashish.
      3. Bronze - Nikhat Zareen, Simranjeet Kaur, Sumit Sangwan and Vahlimpuia.
    25. World Bank stated that it will continue with USD 6 billion annual lending target for India to support infrastructure development and alleviate poverty. As of now, 97 projects are being currently executed in India with loan assistance from World Bank, with commitment of USD 24 billion.
  3. Oct 29, 2019
    1. Nagaland government launched an ex-gratia scheme for students studying outside Nagaland, called ‘Nagaland Government Ex-gratia Scheme for Students Studying outside Nagaland’ (NGESSO). It will provide 5 lakh as one-time payment to families of students in case of unfortunate death of any student while studying outside state.
    2. Social Network Twitter banned all political advertising worldwide, saying that the reach of such messages “should be earned, not bought”.
    3. Week Long 3rd edition of Guwahati International Film Festival has beeen inaugurated. Iran is focus country in this edition.
    4. Mukesh Ambani led-Reliance Industries became world’s sixth-largest energy entity in terms of market capitalization, overtaking British oil major BP Plc. RIL achieved this after hitting market cap of $130.76 billion. Saudi Aramco is world’s largest energy entity, that pumps about 10% of the world’s crude.
    5. RBI imposed 1 crore penalty on Bandhan Bank for non-compliance with promoter holding norms. Bandhan bank failed to bring down shareholding of its “non-operative financial holding company” to 40 % of its paid-up equity capital within 3 years of commencement of business.
      1. RBI also imposed a penalty of 35 lakh on Tamilnad Mercantile Bank for violating norms on frauds classification and notification.
    6. India's Adani Group partnered with San Francisco (USA) based Digital Realty, for joint work in data centre, co-location and interconnection solutions. This will boost Adani Group's foray into data centre domain.
      1. Two companies will evaluate operation of data centres and data centre parks jointly, and will also cultivate undersea cable provider communities of interest across India.
    7. President Ram Nath Kovind approved Tamil Nadu Agricultural Produce and Livestock Contract Farming and Services (Promotion and Facilitation) Act 2019. It makes Tamil Nadu  first Indian state to enact a law on contract farming. Aim is to set a policy framework and institutional mechanism on agricultural produce and livestock contract farming.
    8. Rafael Mariano Grossi of Argentina has been elected as the new Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, succeeding Yukiya Amano of Japan.
    9. Datta Padsalgikar has been appointed as Deputy National Security Advisor (NSA). He is Former Mumbai Police Commissioner and Maharashtra DGP.
    10. Researchers from Indian Institute of Information Technology Hyderabad (IIIT-H) created the first-ever ‘Indian brain atlas’(IBA), in collaboration with Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technolog. Study revealed that Indian brain, on an average, is smaller in height, width and volume when compared to Western and other Eastern populations.
    11. Pakistan released a new coin in order to commemorate the 550th anniversary of Sikhism Founder Baba Guru Nanak. The coin worth Pakistan Rupees 50 will be available at Kartarpur Sahib along with a postal stamp worth PKR 8 to travelling pilgrims. Earlier, Nepal had issued a coin to commemorate 550th anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak.
      1. Also, Air India painted Sikh religious symbol ‘Ik Onkar’ on tail of one of its aircraft, to mark 550th birth anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak.
    12. Odisha Govt signed Letter of Understanding (LoU) on "drink from tap mission" with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), To provide quality drinking water to every urban household in the state. UNICEF will provide cooperation to Odisha for implementation of "drink from tap" program.
    13. Bangladesh Cricketer Shakib Al Hasan has been suspended for two years by International Cricket Council (ICC) for not reporting a corrupt approach. Shakib has been handed a full ban for a year and a 12-month suspended sentence.
    14. Nepalese man Nirmal Purja shattered previous mountaineering record for successfully climbing world's 14 highest peaks, completing it in 189 days. 8027 meter High Mount Shishapangma in China was last of 14 peaks that are more than 8000 meters. Previous record for climbing 14 peaks was seven years, 10 months and six days,. set by South Korean climber Kim Chang-ho in 2013.
    15. Government has set up a Committee of Secretaries (CoS) under Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, To understand the stress and devise the strategy to eliminate financial burden in the telecom sector.
    16. South American Nation Chile cancelled hosting two major international summits, including a UN climate change conference, due to anti-government protests in country.
      1. Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit was planned for November and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP25) was planned between 2 to 13 December 2019. But, Chile has pulled out hosting for both events.
    17. 3 Indian-origin chief executive officers (CEOs) featured in Top 10 names in The Best-Performing CEOs in World 2019 list compiled by Harvard Business Review (HBR), featuring 100 CEOs.
      1. List is topped by American technology company NVIDIA’s CEO Jensen Huang.
      2. Indian CEOs in List - Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen (6th), MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga (7th) and Microsoft chief Satya Nadella (9th). List also features India-born CEO of DBS Bank Piyush Gupta on 89th spot.
    18. Researchers from US's Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) developed a new technology to capture carbon dioxide from a stream of air, virtually at any concentration level. It may pave way for new strategies to reduce atmospheric greenhouse gas levels.
      1. Most methods of removing CO2 from gas required higher concentrations of CO2. The new method could take out gas even when it was present in very low concentrations.
      2. Device is a specialized battery with a stack of electrodes that absorbs carbon dioxide from the air passing over its surface as it was being charged up, and then released the gas as it was being discharged.
    19. Operation of a land-based prototype of the Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) submarines has been successfully carried out. AIP has a force multiplier effect on lethality of a diesel electric submarine as it enhances submerged endurance of the boat several folds.
      1. Fuel cell-based AIP has merits in performance compared to other technologies. DRDO programme to build a fuel cell-based AIP system for Indian Naval submarines has crossed several milestones in technology maturity.
    20. Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) will now be eligible to apply for National Pension System (NPS) at par with Non Resident Indians (NRIs), after a permission by Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA).
      1. Now, any Indian citizen, resident or non-resident and OCIs are eligible to join NPS till age of 65 years.
      2. Till now, subscribers under National Pension System (NPS) and Atal Pension Yojana (APY) have crossed 3.18 crores.
      3. NPS was notified for government employees joining service on or after 1 January 2004. It was extended to all citizens from May 2009, to corporates in December 2011 and to Non-Resident Indians (NRI) in October 2015. It now has over 66 Lakh govt and over 19 lakh private employees.
      4. In 2019, tax exemption limit under section 10(12A) of IT Act, for lump sum withdrawal rom NPS account on exit/maturity was increased from 40% to 60%. Moreover, remaining 40% of corpus is already tax-exempt as it is mandatorily utilised for annuity purchase.
    21. MOU has been signed between All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) under Ministry of AYUSH and Frankfurter Innovationszentrum Biotechnologie GmbH (FiZ). Aim is research in field of genomics and develop evidence-based guidelines supported with latest technologies.
    22. Ministry of Railways and Indian School of Business (ISB) signed MoU for a strategic partnership. It covers several aspects including executive education programs, developing research opportunities, developing case studies and pedagogical materials, and creating of a future-ready leadership pool for Indian Railways.
    23. Ladakh administration organized first-ever Ladakh Literature festival. It will now be held annually.
    24. President Ram Nath Kovind presented First ever National Corporate Social Responsibility Awards in New Delhi, as highest recognition given by Government in domain of CSR. The awards were instituted in 2017 by Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA).
      1. In 2019 edition, 19 companies from a total of 528 entries have been selected for awards.
      2. Categories -
        1. Recongnition to a company based on total eligible CSR Spend (Up to 4 awards, and up to 4 honourable mentions).
        2. Corporate Awards in CSR in Challenging Circumstances (Up to 5 awards, and up to 5 honourable mentions).
        3. Recognition to a company to be given based on contribution to National Priority Schemes (NPS) (Up to 11 Awards, and up to 11 honourable mentions).
    25. Oct 29 is observed as Internet Day. In 2005, it was decided to propose to UN the designation of October 29 as World-wide Day of the Information Society, which resulted in Internet Day being celebrated on that day.
  4. Oct 28, 2019
    1. Oct 28 is observed as International Animation Day (IAD), proclaimed in 2002.
    2. 2019 French Open Badminton (Paris) -
      1. Men's Singles - Chen Long (China)
      2. Women's Singles - An Se-young (South Korea)
      3. Men's Doubles - Indonesia's Marcus Fernaldi Gideon AND Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo. They defeated Indian duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty.
      4. Women's Doubles - South Korea's Lee So-hee AND Shin Seung-chan
      5. Mixed Doubles - Indonesia's Praveen Jordan AND Melati Daeva Oktavianti
    3. Cyclone 'Kyarr' intensified to become first Super Cyclonic storm in Arabian Sea in last 12 years after Cyclone Gonu ravaged Oman coast in 2007. It is likely to continue its movement west-northwestwards towards Oman coast during next five days.
    4. Dineshwar Sharma has been appointed as administrator of UT of Lakshadweep.
    5. Filipe Jacinto Nyusi has been re-elected as President of Mozambique (East Africa).
    6. Alberto Fernandez won Argentina's presidential elections, with country facing severe economic crisis.
    7. World Bank included Kolkata and Bengaluru, besides Delhi and Mumbai, for preparing ease of doing business report to provide a holistic picture of business environment of India.
      1. Report ranks 190 nations based on ten parameters, which includes ease of starting a business, construction permits, getting electricity, getting credit, paying taxes, trade across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency.
    8. India's domestic payments platform-Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has hit landmark of one billion Transactions, 3 years after its launch in April 2016. It also crossed 100 million users, making it the fastest adoption of any payments system anywhere in world.
      1. National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which operates UPI platform, aims to take network global by enabling acceptance of UPI in Singapore and UAE.
    9. 7th CISM World Military Games held in Wuhan (China).
      1. Medal Table -
        1. Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
          1  China  133 64 42 239
          2  Russia  51 53 57 161
          3  Brazil  21 31 36 88
          4  France 13 20 24 57
          5  Poland  11 15 34 60
      2. India ranked 11th with 8 Medals (5 Gold, 1 Silver, 2 Bronze).
    10. Dubai hosted 2019 First Global DXB Challenge, a large gathering for creative young minds in the fields of robotics and artificial intelligence. Theme is Ocean Opportunities.
  5. Oct 27, 2019
    1. Tata Motors approved equity infusion of 6,500 crore from its promoter Tata Sons Pvt. Ltd, along with raising 3500 crores via external commercial borrowing. Tata Motors total debt stands at around 50,000 crores.
    2. 2019 Swiss Indoors Men's Tennis (Basel, Switzerland) -
      1. Singles - Roger Federer (Switzerland). It is his 10th Swiss Open Title and Career Title No. 103.
      2. Doubles - Jean-Julien Rojer (Netherlands) AND Horia Tecău (Romania)
    3. Mahindra Two Wheelers Europe, a subsidiary of Mahindra & Mahindra, will acquire 100 % ownership of Peugeot Motocycles (PMTC). Brand's presence in Europe will be fortified, with PMTC's headquarters continuing to be based at Mandeure (France).
    4. Manoj Jain has been appointed by Govt as CMD of GAIL, India's biggest natural gas company. Also,
      1. Arvind Singh has been appointed as chairman of Airports Authority of India
      2. Sukhbir Singh Sandhu will head National Highways Authority of India.
      3. Pramod Kumar Tiwari has been appointed as Director General of the Bureau of Indian Standards.
      4. Vijayendra has bee appointed as new Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC).
    5. Sophie Wilmes has been chosen as Belgium's new prime minister. She is the first female head of government of Belgium.
    6. ICICI Bank exited GST Network, selling its entire 10 % stake to 13 state governments. Stake sale is for aggregate cash consideration of 1 crore.
      1. ICICI Bank exited GSTN following government's decision to make GST Network into a public sector entity.
      2. As per the decision, Centre will own a 50 % stake in GST Network and remainder will be held by the states on a pro-rata basis.
    7. Oct 27 is observed as World Day for Audiovisual Heritage. 2019 theme is Engage the Past Through Sound and Images. It was marked by UNESCO in 2005.
      1. Oct 27 is also Birth Anniversary of K R Narayanan, 10th President of India.
    8. BJP's Manohar Lal Khattar sworn in as Chief Minister of Haryana for second straight term. Dushyant Chautala as been appointed as deputy CM.
    9. USA president Donald Trump announced that Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi died in a raid conducted by US special forces in north western Syria. Baghdadi repportedly killed himself by detonating a suicide vest.
    10. On recommendation of Election Commission, Ministry of Law and Justice amended Conduct of Election Rules 1961, to now allow senior citizens and person with disabilities (PwD) in absentee voter list. The absentee voter refers to a vote cast by someone who is unable to go to polling station.
      1. Disabled and people aged over 80 years can now cast their vote through postal ballot. Currently voting through postal ballot is available to Indian armed forces and to those assigned poll duties.
    11. On occasion of Deepawali, UP Govt Organized event for lighting 4 lakh earthen lamps along banks of Sarayu river, in Ayodhya. The event has entered Guinness World Records for its scale.
    12. Archaeological Survey of India discovered that present-day state of Andhra Pradesh had a maritime center near banks of Swarnamukhi river around 2,000 years ago.
      1. Excavations Began in Dec 2018 at state’s Gottiprolu. Sizes of bricks were common in Satavahana/Ikshvaku period of Krishna valley.
      2. Team also unearthed four armed sculptures of Lord Vishnu, belonging to Pallava period according to the analysis of headgear and drapery.
    13. Mercedes' British Racer Lewis Hamilton Won Mexican Grand Prix 2019 -
      1. Formula 1 Season 2019 -
        1. Round Grand Prix Winner date
          1 Australian Grand Prix Valtteri Bottas (Finland) 17 March
          2 Bahrain Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton (UK) 31 March
          3 Chinese Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton (UK) 14 April
          4 Azerbaijan Grand Prix Valtteri Bottas (Finland) 28 April
          5 Spanish Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton (UK) 12 May
          6 Monaco Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton (UK) 26 May
          7 Canadian Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton (UK) 9 June
          8 French Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton (UK) 23 June
          9 Austrian Grand Prix Max Verstappen (Belgian-Dutch) 30 June
          10 British Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton (UK) 14 July
          11 German Grand Prix Max Verstappen (Belgian-Dutch) 28 July
          12 Hungarian Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton (UK) 4 August
          13 Belgian Grand Prix Charles Leclerc (Monaco) 1 September
          14 Italian Grand Prix Charles Leclerc (Monaco) 8 September
          15 Singapore Grand Prix Sebastian Vettel (Germany) 22 September
          16 Russian Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton (UK) 29 September
          17 Japanese Grand Prix Valtteri Bottas (Finland) 13 October
          18 Mexican Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton (UK) 27 October
          19 United States Grand Prix   3 November
          20 Brazilian Grand Prix   17 November
          21 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix   1 December
  6. Oct 26, 2019
    1. Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar participated in 29th ministerial meeting of BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India, China) countries on Climate Change at Beijing (China).
      1. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro also announced that Indian and Chinese Citizens will not required Visa to visit Brazil.
    2. UP CM Yogi Adityanath announced scrapping traditional number '100' for immediate police assistance, launching '112' as an integrated emergency number for police, medical and fire emergencies in state.
      1. The '112' helpline number is an integration of police (100), fire (101) and women (1090) helpline numbers.
      2. Till now, 20 states and Union territories have adopted a single emergency helpline number '112'.
    3. China has been given Hosting rights by FIFA, for revamped version of Club Football World Cup, having 24 teams. It will be held in June and July 2021.
      1. The decision was made despite China’s suppression of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, and the internment of more than one million Uighur Muslims in state of Xinjiang. The same is being criticized globally.
    4. 18th NAM (Non Aligned Movement) summit held in Baku (Azerbaijan). On India's Behalf, It was attended by Vice President Venkaiah Naidu.
      1. NAM is a forum of 120 developing world states that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. After United Nations, it is largest grouping of Nations.
      2. Theme was Upholding the Bandung Principles to ensure concerted and adequate response to the challenges of the contemporary world.
    5. Indian and Oman Air Force Joint exercise named EX EASTERN BRIDGE-V held at Air Force Base Masirah (Oman).
    6. Govt. appointed Sukhbir Singh Sandhu as Chairman of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).
    7. President Ram Nath Kovind addressed commemoration of Golden Jubilee (50th anniversary) of Vishwa Shanti Stupa in Rajgir (Bihar).
    8. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh approved issuance of two Open General Export Licences (OGELs) for export of certain parts &components and intra-company transferof technology to select countries. It will give a boost to defence exports and enhance ease of doing business.
      1. Countries allowed under OGELs - Belgium, France, Germany, Japan, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, UK, USA, Canada, Italy, Poland and Mexico. Export of items to a ‘Special Economic Zone’ is not permitted.
      2. OGEL is a one-time export licence to be granted to a company for a specific period (two years initially).
    9. Competition Commission of India (CCI) approved acquisition of 4.15% stake in Aditya Birla Capital Limited (ABCL) by Jomei Investments Limited (JIL). JIL is wholly-owned by Advent International GPE IX Limited Partnership, a fund managed by Advent International Corporation.
  7. Oct 25, 2019
    1. Oct 25, 2019 is observed as Ayurveda day, being observed since 2016.
      1. Ministry of AYUSH, in 2016 decided to celebrate Ayurveda Day every year on day of Dhanvantari Jayanti (Dhanteras).
      2. On this occasion, Ministry of Ayush distributes “National Dhanwantari Ayurveda Award”, comprising of cash reward of 5 lakhs.
    2. Book The True Meaning of Yoga, written by noted philosopher Atman in Ravi (AiR) has been released.
    3. Odisha's Department of Women and Child Development and Mission Shakti launched a state Strategic Action Plan (SAP) with the support of UNICEF & UNFPA, aiming to end child marriages in Odisha by 2030.
      1. Oct 29 is also observed as Odisha Disaster Preparedness Day and National Day for Disaster Reduction. It commemorates destruction brought by Super Cyclone 1999. Theme of 2019 is Empowering Community for Disaster Resilience.
    4. Karnataka won 2019–20 Vijay Hazare Domestic Cricket Title, defeating Tamil Nadu. It is karnataka's 4th title of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
    5. 2019 European Open Men's Tennis Title (Antwerp, Belgium) -
      1. Singles - Andy Murray (UK). He defeated Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland)
      2. Doubles - Germany's Kevin Krawietz AND Andreas Mies defeated Rajeev Ram (US) / Joe Salisbury (UK)
    6. International Cricket Council (ICC) anounced that 2020 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup will be held in South Africa in Jan - Feb 2020.
    7. India's Prithvi Sekhar won men’s final of World Deaf tennis championship in Antalya, Turkey. He defetaed Jaroslav Smedek of Czech Republic in Final.
    8. Britain's Natural History Museum named a tiny, blind and wingless beetle after climate activist Greta Thunberg. The honey-coloured insect, measuring less than one millimeter, was discovered in Kenyan capital Nairobi in 1960s. It was earlier known as Nelloptodes gretae.
    9. Mokgweetsi Masisi has been elected as New President of Botswana (Southern Africa).
    10. Jewish U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg won 2019 Berggruen Prize for Philosophy and Culture, comprising 1 Million USD Cash Prize. It is given by Berggruen Institute, an independent think tank which develops ideas to shape political and social institutions.
    11. Insurance regulator IRDAI has set up a committee to evaluate applications filed under the Regulatory Sandbox approach to promote innovative ideas to foster growth in insurance sector. Panel will be headed by IIIT Bangalore Director S Sadagopan.
      1. Regulatory Sandbox (RS) refers to live testing of new products or services in a controlled environment for which regulators may permit certain relaxations for limited purpose of testing.
    12. BRICS Nations' New Development Bank (NDB) approved 2 projects worth USD 800 million in Brazil and India, bringing Bank’s portfolio to 44 projects with loans of USD 12.4 billion.
      1. Projects Include 500 Million USD Fundo Clima – Brazil National Climate Fund Project and India's 300 Million USD Renewable Energy Sector Development Project. Indian Part will be given to REC Limited to support Government’s increasing investment in renewable energy sector.
    13. India signed US$165 loan agreement with World Bank for implementation of Odisha integrated irrigation project for climate resilient agriculture. It aims to support small farmers to strengthen resilience of their production system and improve market linkage for their produce.
    14. Government formed a committee to resolve differences between Niti Aayog and Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) over who will implement its ambitious artificial intelligence mission. Committee will be headed by principal scientific advisor K VijayRaghavan.
    15. Indian Cricketer Jasprit Bumrah and Female Cricketer Smriti Mandhana won Wisden India Almanack Cricketer of the Year award. Other winners are Pakistan’s Fakhar Zaman, Sri Lanka’s Dimuth Karunaratne, and Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan.
      1. Cricket Country: The Untold History of the First All India Team by Prashant Kidambi was adjudged the Wisden India Book of the Year.
    16. Global Health Security Index 2019 by Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security and Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). It is the first comprehensive assessment of epidemic and pandemic threats globally.
      1. India ranks 57th on Overall list, out of 195 Nations.
      2. Bottom 5 - Marshall Islands (191), São Tomé and Príncipe (192), North Korea (193), Somalia (194), Equatorial Guinea (195).
      3. Top 5 - US (1), UK (2), Netherlands (3), Ausralia (4), Canada (5).
      4. Neighbours - Sri Lanka (120), Bangladesh (113), Pakistan (105), Nepal (111), China (51).
    17. 11th Edition of Mercer Global Pension Index 2019 (37 Nations) -
      1. India improved its ranking to 32nd position, up from 33rd last year.
      2. Top 3 - Netherlands (1), Denmark (2), Australia (3)
    18. A MOU has been drafted by India, Nepal and Bhutan to create a trans-boundary wildlife conservation park, which will include bio-diversity rich landscapes. Unlike other parks that are species oriented, this peace park will be landscape oriented.
      1. Such a kind already exists in Manas park region (Assam). However, only a part of the trans-boundary protected area in India and Bhutan is being conserved based on the landscape.
      2. In new peace park, the entire park will have its conservation protocols completely based on landscape.
    19. UN Member Nations endorsed a proposed road map for action on nitrogen challenges called Colombo (Sri Lanka) Declaration on Sustainable Nitrogen Management.
      1. Aim is to halve nitrogen waste by 2030. Declaration was developed with technical support from International Nitrogen Management System (INMS), joint activity of UNEP and Internationals Nitrogen Initiative.
      2. Reducing reactive nitrogen will help to reduce Eutrophic zones that are affecting fishing and tourism.
      3. Reactive Nitrogen means nitrogen compounds like nitrogen oxides, nitrous oxide, ammonia, etc, Most of them are result of intensive farming and misuse of fertilizers.
    20. IIT Hyderabad and School of Architecture Bhubaneswar researchers developed bio-bricks from agricultural waste, serving dual purposes of development of eco-friendly sustainable material and waste management.
      1. Bricks are made from agro-waste like wheat straw, paddy straw, sugarcane bagasse and cotton plant. Bio-bricks are more sustainable than clay bricks.
      2. The bricks also provide good insulation to heat and sound and help in maintaining humidity of buildings and make house more suitable for hot-humid climates.
    21. Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitaraman released a commemorative coin on Paramahansa Yogananda to mark his 125th birth anniversary. Paramahansa Yogananda was an Indian monk, guru and yogi who introduced millions of teachings of meditation and Kriya Yoga through his organization Self-Realization Fellowship.
  8. Oct 24, 2019
    1. 2019 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly elections (288 seats) -
      1. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) remained Largest party, winning 105 seats and getting 25.7 % votes.
      2. Shiv Sena 2nd with 56 seats, Nationalist Congress Party got 54 and Indian National Congress got 44 seats.
      3. BJP-Shiv Sena will remain in power.
    2. 2019 Haryana Legislative Assembly elections (90 seats) -
      1. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) remained Largest party, winning 40 seats and getting 36.5 % votes.
      2. Indian National Congress 2nd with 31 seats, Jannayak Janta Party got 10 seats.
      3. BJP Will remain in power, after forming alliance with some independent elected MLAS.
    3. West Bengal government decided to abolish no-detention policy and re-introduce pass-fail system in classes 5 and 8. Students will have to take exams for promotion from these classes to 6 and 9.
    4. Home Ministry released Bureau of Police Research and Development’s flagship publication “Data on Police Organizations” (DoPO 2018) in New Delhi.
      1. There has been increase of 19,686 Police personnel in sanctioned strength of State Police and 16,051 in strength of CAPFs.
      2. There has been 20.95% increase in strength of Woman Police, taking percentage of women in Indian Police to 8.73%.
      3. Overall Police Population Ratio at state level stood at 192.95 policemen per lakh population.
    5. Mohun Bagan Athletic Club has conferred life membership to 2019 Nobel laureate Indian-American Abhijit Banerjee.
      1. In 1911, Mohun Bagan became first Indian club to win the Indian Football Association (IFA) Shield beating the East Yorkshire Regiment of British Army in final.
    6. Vijaya Bank museum has been inaugurated in Bengaluru, at Vijaya Tower, headquarters of erstwhile Vijaya Bank. Vijaya bank was merged with Bank of Baroda in April 2019.
    7. Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath launched government’s flagship scheme 'Mukhya Mantri Kanya Sumangala Yojana'. It will provide a fund worth Rs 15000 to every family where a girl child is born. The amount will be released to the family in a phased manner.
      1. Kanya Sumangala scheme aims to make sure that parents will take proper care of the girl child, in order to get benefits undet the scheme.
      2. Funds will be released in various installments, when the girl child completes various milestones such as birth, vaccination, admission to Class 1, 5, 9 and graduation.
    8. Swiss financial Group Credit Suisse released 10th edition of its annual Global Wealth Report -
      1. It tracks both growth and distribution of wealth, in terms of numbers of rich, and status of inequality globally.
      2. 47 million people who are just 0.9% of world’s adult population, owned $158.3 trillion, which is 44% of world’s total wealth.
      3. At the other end, 2.88 billion people who account for 57% of world’s adult population, owned $6.3 trillion, which is 1.8% of world’s wealth
      4. China overtook US in 2019 to become ‘country with most people in top 10% of global wealth distribution’.
      5. India -
        1. India’s total household wealth grew by 5.2% in dollar terms in the period. Net wealth per adult grew at 3.3%, sharply slower than average 11% growth rate reported in 20 years to 2019.
        2. Non-financial assets of Indian households grew by 6.9% in 2018-19, outpacing 1.4% growth in financial assets.
        3. Report estimates wealth per Indian adult at $14,569. However, wealth distribution is very uneven in India with few wealthy holding huge chunks. India accounts for 2% of the world’s millionaires.
    9. India signed Agreement with Pakistan for the operationalization of the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor.
      1. To celebrate 550th Birth anniversary of Sri Guru Nanak, Indian Government passed a resolution in November 2018 for the construction of Kartarpur Sahib Corridor. The 4.2 km corridor connects the Dera Baba Nanak in the Indian side with the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara in Pakistan.
      2. Travel is Visa free and pilgrims have to carry a valid passport alone. Persons of Indian origin are required to carry OCI card.
      3. Pilgrims have to return on the same day.
      4. Prevailing issue is that csh-strapped Pakistan will levy 20 USD as service charge per pilgrim per visit. India had consistently urged Pakistan not to levy charges.
    10. 15th World Wushu Championships 2019 (Shanghai, China)
      1. Medal Table -
        1. Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
          1  China 14 1 1 16
          2  Iran 9 2 1 12
          3  Hong Kong 5 4 1 10
          4  Indonesia 3 0 1 4
          5  Macau 2 5 5 12
      2. India Ranked 10th with 4 Medals (1 Gold, 2 Silver and 1 Bronze). Indian Medalists -
        1. Gold - Praveen Kumar (Men's 48 KG)
        2. Silver - Y. Sanathoi Devi (Women's 52 KG) and Poonam (Women's 75 KG)
        3. Bronze - Vikrant Baliyan (Men's 60 KG)
    11. India ranked 63rd in World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business ranking 2019, up from 77th rank last year.
      1. India was ranked 142 in 2014 report. It improved to 130 in 2015 and 100th in 2016. It further improved to 77th in 2017 and now ranked 63rd in 2018 report, released in Oct 2019. In 2015, India had set a goal to join top 50 economies on ease of doing business ranking by 2020.
      2. India for the third time in a row was among the top 10 performers on the list. The other top 10 performers - Saudi Arabia at rank 62, Togo in African continent at rank 97, Jordan (75), Tajikistan, Pakistan 108, Kuwait (83), China (31) and Nigeria (131).
      3. Top 5 - New Zealand (1), Singapore (2), Hong Kong (3), Denmark (3), South Korea (5).
      4. Bottom 5 - Somalia (190), Eritrea (189), Venezuela (188), Yemen (187), Libya (186).
      5. Neighbours - Bangladesh (168), Pakistan (108), Nepal (94), Sri Lanka (99).
    12. Ministry of Science and Technology issued Guidelines for the Evaluation of Nano pharmaceuticals in India, as a crucial step for providing predictable regulatory pathways and transparency for nano pharmaceuticals in India.
      1. Impact of nano material waste disposal on environment should be declared.
      2. It makes it compulsory for pharma companies to present data on how plasma, off-target tissue and disease sites are affected by repeated dosing.
      3. It provides guidelines for animal toxicology data. It allows toxicology studies to be performed only on rodent species and dogs.
      4. Guidelines have been provided for information on the ingredients, physio chemical characterization data on nano pharmaceuticals, waste disposals, nano carriers, stability studies and analytical method validations.
    13. China is constructing a huge cosmic ray observation station in Sichuan province, equivalent to 200 soccer fields, located 4,400 meters above sea level. Rocks from Ice Age were blasted for the construction.
      1. Three underground pools will hold the detectors. The detectors collect high energy photons generated by remote celestial bodies.
      2. The observatory is named as “Large High-Altitude Air Shower Observatory” (LHAASO).
      3. The main objective of the observatory is to study the origin of cosmic rays, their acceleration and transmission mechanism.
    14. Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) launched an online aptitude test dubbed as ‘Tamanna’ (Try And Measure Aptitude And Natural Abilities), to help students make right career choices, for students of Classes 9 and 10.
      1. It aims to help students of Class 9 and Class 10 make a better choice of subjects, and eventually help them in making an informed decision while choosing subjects in Class 11 and 12.
    15. European Union (EU) Parliament awarded ‘Sakharov Prize for Human Rights’ to Uighur intellectual Ilham Tohti, who has been jailed and sentenced to life imprisonment in China for “separatism”. European Parliament also urged China to immediately release Ilham Tohti as well as called for the respect of minority rights in China.
      1. Sakharov PrizeIt is awarded by the European Union (EU) Parliament annually for free speech, constituted in memory of Soviet physicist and dissident Andrei Sakharov.
    16. Government accorded ‘Maharatna’ status to PSUs Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and Power Grid Corporation.
      1. It will impart greater operational and financial autonomy thus enhancing powers to their Boards to take financial decisions.
      2. Boards of Maharatna PSU can make equity investments to undertake financial joint ventures (JV) and wholly owned subsidiaries and undertake mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in India as well as abroad. This is subjected to ceiling of 15% of net worth of concerned CPSE, limited to INR 5000 crore in one project.
      3. All Maharatna PSUs so far are -
        1. National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC)
        2. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC)
        3. Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL)
        4. Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL)
        5. Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL)
        6. Coal India Limited (CIL)
        7. Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL)
        8. Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL)
        9. Power Grid Corporation Of India Limited (POWERGRID)
        10. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL)
    17. Lucknow-based City Montessori School (CMS) won Guinness World Record for becoming the ‘world’s largest school’ in terms of strength of students, with 18 branches and approximately 56,000 students.
    18. Oct 24 is observed as -
      1. United Nations Day. It marks enactment of UN Charter on this day in 1945. 2019 theme is Our Planet. Our Future.
      2. International Day of Diplomats, celebrated since 2017.
      3. World Development Information Day, established by UNGA in 1972.
      4. WHO World Polio Day.
    19. New Governors appointed -
      1. Satya Pal Malik - Goa
      2. P.S. Sreedharan Pillai - Mizoram
      3. Girish Chandra Murmu - Lieutenant Governor of UT of Jammu-Kashmir
      4. Radha Krishna Mathur - Lieutenant Governor of UT of Ladakh
  9. Oct 23, 2019
    1. Cabinet Approvals (Oct 23, 2019) -
      1. General Approvals -
        1. Approved Regulations for recognizing ownership or mortgage / transfer rights to residents of Unauthorized Colonies (UCs) in Delhi.
          1. It will benefit more than 40 lakh residents of unauthorized colonies spread over around 175 sq kms, as development / redevelopmentcan now take place in these colonies resulting in a clean, secure and healthy living environment.
          2. In coming winter session of Parliament, Government will introduce a Bill for recognizing General Power of Attorney (GPA), Will, Agreement to Sell, Purchase and possession documents, which will be a one-time relaxation for this purpose for the residents of UCs.
        2. Approved proposal for revival of ill PSUs BSNL and MTNL by approving several terms -
          1. Administrative allotment of spectrum for 4G services to BSNL and MTNL so as to enable these PSUs to provide broadband and other data services. It be funded by Government by capital infusion of Rs 20140 Crores, with additional GST amount of 3674 Crores to this spectrum also to be borne by Government.
            1. By using this spectrum allotment, BSNL and MTNL will be able to deliver 4G services, compete in the market and provide high speed data using their vast network including in rural areas.
          2. BSNL and MTNL will also raise long-term bonds of Rs 15,000 Cr for which sovereign guarantee will be provided by Government.
          3. BSNL and MTNL will also offer Voluntary Retirement to their employees, aged 50 years and above through attractive Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS). Ex-gratia component of VRS will require 17169 Crores, to be borne by Government. 
          4. BSNL and MTNL will be merged into one entity.
        3. Approved Cadre review of Group “A” General Duty (Executive) Cadre and Non-GD cadre of Indo- Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).
          1. Creation of two new Commands (Western Command at Chandigarh and Eastern Command at Guwahati) to be headed by Additional Director General & assisted by Inspector General.
          2. Proposal is for creation of 60 posts in Group ‘A’ Executive General duty Cadre and 02 posts in Group ‘A’ Non-GD cadre at various levels. Creation of proposed posts in Cadre Review of Group ’A’ posts in ITBP will enhance its supervisory and administrative capabilities.
          3. In total, apprpoval is made for creation of over 3000 new posts in ITBP.
      2. CCEA Approvals -
        1. Approved increase in Minimum Support Prices (MSPs) for all mandated Rabi Crops of 2019-20 to be marketed in Rabi Marketing Season (RMS) 2020-21, in line with principle of fixing MSPs at a level of at least 1.5 times of the all India weighted average cost of production (CoP), which was announced in Budget 2018-19.
          1. Highest increase in MSP has been recommended for lentil (Rs. 325 per quintal) followed by safflower (Rs. 270 per quintal) and gram (Rs. 255 per quintal).
          2. MSP of Rapeseed & Mustard has been increased by Rs. 225 per quintal. For both wheat and barley, the MSP has been increased by Rs. 85 per quintal.
        2. Approved Review of Guidelines for Granting Authorization to market Transportation Fuels, as a major reform of guidelines for marketing of petrol and diesel. Existing policy for granting authorization to market transportation fuels had not undergone any changes since 2002. Features -
          1. Entities seeking authorisation would need to have a minimum net worth of Rs.250 crores, down from current requirement of 2000 crores.
          2. Non – Oil Companies can also invest in the retail sector.
          3. Entities seeking market authorisation for petrol and diesel are allowed to apply for retail and bulk authorisation separately or both.
          4. Companies are been given flexibility in setting up a Joint Venture or Subsidiary for market authorisation.
          5. In addition to conventional fuels, authorized entities are required to install facilities for marketing at least one new generation alternate fuel, like CNG, LNG, biofuels, electric charging, etc. at their outlets within 3 years of operationalization.
          6. CCTV facilities will be set up at all retail outlets.
          7. Authorised entities are required to set up minimum 5% oftotal retail outlets in the notified remote areas within 5 years of grant of authorisation.
          8. An individual may be allowed to obtain dealership of more than one marketing company in case of open dealerships of PSU OMCs but at different sites.
      3. MOUs -
        1. St. Vincent & the Grenadines - Traditional Systems of Medicine.
        2. USA - Science and Technology.
        3. Approved administrative arrangement on Cooperation in field of Railways between Ministry of Railways and Directorate General for Mobility and Transport of the European Commission to strengthen future technical exchanges and cooperation.
        4. Kuwait - Capacity building and strengthening accounting, financial and audit knowledge base in Kuwait.
    2. 2000-year-old street has been unearthed by reseacrhers in Jerusalem (Israel), believed to have built by Pontius Pilate and was uncovered for first time since the city was sacked by the Romans in 70AD.
      1. It was an ancient walkway which was used by pilgrims as their way to worship at the Temple Mount in the ‘City of David’ in Jerusalem.
      2. Archaeologists revealed over 100 coins trapped beneath paving stones. The discovery of coins pointed out that these are dated between 17 CE to 31 CE that means the work of street construction was completed during the time that Pontius Pilate governed Judea.
      3. The street links to most important places in Jerusalem – the Temple Mount and Siloam Pool.
      4. Pontius Pilate was known as the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea. He is best known as a person who presided over Trial of Jesus and ordered his crucifixion.
    3. QS India University Rankings 2019 -
      1. Top 10 -
        1. IIT Bombay
        2. IISC Bengaluru
        3. IIT Madras
        4. IIT Delhi
        5. IIT Kharagpur
        6. IIT Kanpur
        7. University of Hyderabad
        8. University of Delhi
        9. IIT Roorkee
        10. IIT Guwahati
      2. This is 2nd India specific ranking of India's higher education institutions from Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), the global higher education think tank behind QS World University Rankings.
    4. IIM Kozhikode and Mangalore Refineries and Petrochemicals announced a special drive Labelled as “La Eve (meaning The Woman)” to support women entrepreneurs in country. MRPL would provide seed fund assistance from the start funding initiative under start-up India Program.
    5. Indian cyclist Ronaldo Singh won gold medal in men's junior Keirin event at Asian Track Cycling Championships at Incheon in South Korea. James Singh won bronze in same event. India also secured 2 bronze medals in men's and women's Jr. sprint team.
    6. World Health Organization (WHO) released Global Tuberculosis (TB) Report 2019 -
      1. India reported most, 27 % of global TB Cases, followed by China (9 %), Indonesia (8 %) and Pakistan (6 %).
      2. India plans to end TB By 2025, 5 years ahead of Global UN SDG Target of 2030.
    7. Oct 23 - International Snow Leopard Day.
      1. On this day, Government of India launched its first national protocol to assess the population of this elusive and endangered species in India. It will contribute to the global ‘Population Assessment of the World’s Snow Leopard’s (PAWS) initiative.
    8. National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) released figures of criminal records registered in India during year 2017-18 -
      1. As per report, 50 lakh cases of cognizable crime were registered across country.
      2. Total number of crime against women are 3,59,849 cases while Uttar Pradesh topped the list with 56,011 cases.
    9. Vreedhi Financial Services (VFS) secured a non banking finance company licence from Reserve Bank of India, enabling it to offer credit and other services to micro enterprises operating in tier two three cities and small towns.
    10. Actor Ayushmann Khurrana has been appointed by UNICEF and Ministry of Women and Child Development as ambassador to raise awareness against sexual abuse of children.
    11. Researchers found that call of male white bellbird (Procnias albus) is loudest bird call recorded in the world, that can reach 125 decibels, almost as loud as a very loud rock concert, and more than 9 decibels higher than the loudest recorded call of the screaming piha (Lipaugus vociferans), which held previous record of being the world’s loudest bird.
    12. Book Ten Studies in Kashmir: History and Politics, written by educationist and Padma Shri recipient K N Pandit has been released.
    13. Final book by late Noted British economist Anthony Atkinson, titled Measuring Poverty around the World has been released.
    14. 2019 Denmark Open Badminton Title (Odense, Denmark) -
      1. Men's Singles - Kento Momota (Japan)
      2. Women's Singles - Tai Tzu-ying (Chinese Taipei)
      3. Men's Doubles - Indonesia's Marcus Fernaldi Gideon AND Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo
      4. Women's Doubles - South Korea's Baek Ha-na AND Jung Kyung-eun
      5. Mixed Doubles - Indonesia's Praveen Jordan AND Melati Daeva Oktavianti
    15. Scientists discovered six new lizard species of Dravidogecko family in the Western Ghats. Dravidogecko is a small size lizard found in wet forests in mid-to-high elevations. This is seen as a significant development as only one species of the genus was known so far.
      1. Species have been named as Dravidogecko Septentrionalis, D Janakiae (after botanist Janaki Ammal from Kerala), D Tholpalli, D Meghamalaiensis, D Douglasadamsi (after British author and satirist Douglas Noel Adams) and D Smithi (in honour of British herpetologist Malcolm Arthur Smith).
  10. Oct 22, 2019
    1. Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India imposed penalties of Rs 1.01 crore on Cholamandalam MS GIC.
      1. Penalty of 1 crore is for violation of Clause that specifies that no commission shall be payable to any intermediary on acceptance of a ported policy.
      2. Other penalty of 1 lakh is for motor insurance and was for violating outsourcing guidelines by agreeing to payment terms not in interests of insurer.
    2. Grasim Industries signed agreement to form a joint venture company in India with Maschinenfabrik Reinhausen GmbH (MR) of Germany, for manufacturing and sale of Composite Hollow Core Insulators to serve power transmission and distribution (T&D) industry globally.
    3. Former South African Cricketer Graeme Smith has been elected an Honorary Life Member of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in England.
    4. Bengal Warriors won 7th season of Vivo Pro Kabaddi League 2019, as their first title, defeating Dabang Delhi.
    5. 2019 Stockholm Open Men's Tennis Title (Sweden) -
      1. Singles - Denis Shapovalov (Canada)
      2. Doubles - Henri Kontinen (Finland) AND Édouard Roger-Vasselin (France)
    6. 2nd India Myanmar Naval Exercise called IMNEX-2019 held at Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh).
    7. India's Riya Bhatia won ITF women’s tennis tournament in Lagos (Nigeria), defeating Nastja Kolar of Slovenia.
    8. Most advanced electronic interlocking system has been mounted on Grand Cord Route (GCR) by Indian Railways, to increase speed of trains and reduce travel time between Delhi and Howrah from present 17-19 hours to 12 hours.
      1. Indian railways replaced 65 years old obsolete mechanical signalling system at Tundla station in Uttar Pradesh with most advanced and secure electronic interlocking system.
      2. It will increase train handling capacity of Tundla Junction to 250 trains per day from 200 trains currently. Trains outside Tundla will have to stop for a relatively short time and schedule of trains will be improved.
      3. Grand Chord is a part of Howrah-Gaya-Delhi line and Howrah-Allahabad-Mumbai line. This route connects Sitarampur (West Bengal) and Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Junction, Uttar Pradesh.
    9. Incumbent Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal party retained power in Canadian general election 2019 with a narrow margin.
    10. Ministry of AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa Rigpa and Homoeopathy) and Ministry of Defence signed MoU for integration of AYUSH under health establishments of Directorate General of Armed Forces Medical Services (DGAFMS), to provide traditional medicine services at the armed forces’ hospitals and dispensaries.
    11. DRDO began manufacturing of hypersonic missiles, that are five times faster than speed of sound. This technology increases the survival against modern ballistic missile defence system.
      1. Indian Air Force also test fired surface-to-surface cruise missile BrahMos from Trek Islands in Car Nicobar Islands, with its range of 300 KM.
    12. Assam Cabinet approved a legislation that rules no Government jobs will be provided to persons with more than 2 children after 1 January 2021.
      1. Earlier In September 2017, Assam government passed “Population and Women Empowerment Policy of Assam”. Under this, job candidates with two children alone would be eligible for government employment and existing government staff were to strictly follow two children norms.
    13. Govt. appointed Pankaj Kumar as New chief executive officer (CEO) of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). Other Notable appointments approved by appointments committee -
      1. Braj Raj Sharma - Chairman of Staff Selection Commission.
      2. Sanjeev Nandan Sahai - Secretary in Ministry of Power.
      3. Pramod Kumar Das - Secretary in Ministry of Minority Affairs.
      4. Ashok Malik has been appointed policy advisor in Ministry of External Affairs in rank of additional secretary.
    14. Actress Deepika Padukone and Badminton Player PV Sindhu named as ambassadors for PM Narendra Modi’s new initiative called ‘Bharat Ki Laxmi’ movement, aiming to bring commendable work done by women to light ahead of the Diwali festival.
    15. Researchers developed a new dielectric capacitor- a device that stores energy like a battery, taking inspiration from a French pastry. The croissant is made by folding multiple layers of dough. Researchers found that by pressing and folding a polymer film capacitor, they were able to store 30 times more energy than the best-performing commercially available dielectric capacitor.
      1. It may pave way for efficient, low-cost, and environmentally-friendly electric energy storage systems for wind and solar sources.
      2. Study noted that dielectric capacitors generally have ultrahigh power density making them suitable for technologies such as motor drives, and space vehicle power systems.
    16. NASA reported that ozone hole near south pole is in its smallest size since it was discovered. In 2006, the hole was 10.3 million square miles. It has now been reduced to 3.6 million square miles. Scientists say that the hole is smaller than it was found in 1985. Ozone hole reaches its peak in September and October and disappears by late December.
      1. Ozone layer shields life from harmful solar radiation, which was harmed by man-made chlorine compounds. This led to thinning of Ozone layer in the Southern Hemisphere.
      2. International Montreal Protocol was framed in 1987, banning chlorine compounds in refrigerators and aerosols.
      3. Now, the reason for reducinng of Ozone layer is mainly due to global warming, more than because of reduction in usage of chlorine compounds. This is a good news in terms of Ozone hole reduction, but bad in terms of rising global temparature.
    17. Researchers at Stanford University (US) developed a new catalyst that helps to turn carbon dioxide from cars into fuels like propane or natural gas.
      1. Catalysts induce chemical reactions without being used up. In new research, scientists combined ruthenium and iron oxide nano particles to form new catalyst. This arrangement activates hydrocarbon formation from Carbon-Dioxide.
      2. Earlier methods only produced simplest hydrocarbon methane from effluents of vehicles. This method produces propane and other higher hydro carbons including natural gas. Also, earlier methods involved two steps processes - reduce carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide and combine carbon monoxide and hydrogen to form hydrocarbons.
    18. Minister of Electronics and Information Technology (MeiTY) Ravi Shankar Prasad unveiled BHIM 2.0, an upgraded version of NPCI developed UPI app.
      1. He launched it during MeitY Startup Summit 2019 in New Delhi. MeitY Startup Hub (MSH) was also launched, as a platform to connect startup ecosystem. 
      2. Other initiatives include Indian Software Product Registry and selected Incubation Centres under Technology Incubation Development for Entrepreneurs 2.0 (TIDE 2.0).
        1. TIDE 2.0 is aimed at strengthening nearly 2000 technology based startups in areas of national concern by taking advantage of emerging technologies as well as empowering 51 incubation centers across country.
      3. BHIM was launched in December 2016. BHIM 2.0 has added a bunch of new functionalities including -
        1. Increased transaction limit, an option of applying for IPOs, linking multiple bank accounts, offers from merchants, a donation gateway and three additional regional languages are new additions.
        2. 3 additional languages- Konkani, Haryanvi and Bhojpuri, over and above existing 13.
        3. Increased transaction limits for high value transactions- increasing the existing cap of Rs. 20,000 and now up to Rs. 1,00,000 from verified merchants.
      4. During the event, Fintech Firm BharatPe won DigiDhan Mission Fin-tech Award 2018-2019 for 'Innovation in Digital Payments through Emerging Technology'.
    19. French Scientists found new stable compound of Plutonium unexpectedly, while trying to create plutonium dioxide nano particles using different precursors. Plutonium at its pentavalent state showed a peculiar behavior, which scientists learnt that is because it was stable. Scientists thus confirmed that Plutonium exhibited stability properties at its pentavalent state.
      1. Unstable radioactive dangerous plutonium that is predominantly used in nuclear applications are tricky to transport, store and dispose. This new development may aid in handling and transportation of the element.
    20. Oct 22 is observed as International Stuttering Awareness Day, marked in 1998.
  11. Oct 21, 2019
    1. Oct 21 is observed as Police Commemoration Day in India, in memory of the policemen killed at Hot Springs in North Eastern Ladakh by Chinese troops on this date in 1959.
      1. Till October to November of 1959, Indian Police personnel were responsible for defending 2,500 mile long border of India with then Tibet.
      2. Oct 21 also observed as World Iodine Deficiency Day.
      3. Oct 21, 2019 also marks 76th anniversary of Azad Hind Movement, commemorated at Red Fort, Delhi. Azad Hind Movement was established in Singapore in 1943 on Oct 21, conceptualized by Netaji Subhsh Chandra Bose.
    2. Oldest known natural pearl in the world has been discovered by Abu Dhabi archaeologists working at a Neolithic site on Marawah Island. Dubbed ‘Abu Dhabi Pearl’, it was found in layers that have been radiocarbon dated to 5,800-5,600 BCE, during the Neolithic period.
    3. Australian Airline Qantas completed first non-stop commercial flight from New York to Sydney, as world's Biggest duration nonj-stop Commercial flight. It took 19 hours and 16 minutes to complete.
    4. War Exercise by Sudarshan Chakra Vahini of Indian Army, named Sindhu Sudarshan, held at Jaisalmer field firing range in Rajasthan.
    5. India's Kuhoo Garg and Dhruv Rawat won badminton mixed doubles title at Egypt International 2019 in Cairo, Egypt. They defeated India's Utkarsh Arora and Karishma Wadkar.
    6. IIT Kharagpur graduate Debayan Saha has invented a device called “PM 2.5”, which when fitted near the silencer pipe in vehicles will curb air pollution. The technology developed by uses a combination of electric energy and wave energy to influence the pollutants like PM 2.5 such that they act like a magnet attracting other particulate pollutants from the ambient atmosphere to get attached to it.
    7. Bali Jatra, one of biggest trade fairs of Odisha, will be held in November 2019, for 8 days.
      1. It is held in Cuttack at Gadagadia Ghata of the Mahanadi river, to mark the day when ancient Sadhabas would set sail to distant lands of Bali, as well as Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and Sri Lanka for trade and cultural expansion. 
    8. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated Col. Chewang Rinchen Setu (Bridge) in Ladakh, named in honor of Colonel Chewang Rinchan who was one of highly decorated officers in Indian Army, Including Maha Vir Chakara (1952). Col. Chewang Rinchen Setu has been constructed at an altitude of 14,650 feet in forward area of Ladakh region.
      1. It is also India's Highest Altitude All-weather Permanent Bridge, at 14650 feet across Shyok river.
      2. Defence Minister also stated that Siachen Glacier, world’s highest battlefield, is now open for tourists and Tourism.
    9. Scientists at John Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (US), have developed Lithium-Ion batteries that can operate under extreme conditions like submersion, ballistic impact, cutting and heat.
      1. Lithium-Ion batteries are commonly used in every household item, but are susceptible to catastrophic fire and explosion.
      2. Scientists used water-in-salt and water-in-bisalt electrolytes in batteries. These electrolytes were incorporated in a polymer matrix to reduce water activity and elevate energy capabilities of the battery. This gives the batteries higher energies to withstand heat and pressure.
    10. Indian Railways decided to allow carriage of goods of e-commerce Firm Amazon on a pilot basis for three months, to be ferried during non-peak hours (11 AM to 4 PM).
      1. Carrying of e-commerce consignment ofAmazon in EMU services commenced from Sealdah to Dankuni in EMU local (suburban services) managed by Eastern Railways. 7 MT of consignment per day has been allowed to be carried.
    11. IIT Delhi will announce its Endowment Fund on October 31, 2019 ahead of its Golden Jubilee Convocation ceremony on November 2. Institute has set its target as 1 billion USD.
      1. Endowment funds are big source of income for top global universities. Endowment funds of Harvard and Stanford are over 39 billion USD and 27 billion USD respectively. Endowment Fund is an investment fund established by an organization.
    12. Minister for Electronics & Information Technology, Communications and Law & Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad launched MeitY Startup Hub (MSH), a platform to connect startup ecosystem. It was inaugurated during MeitY Startup Summit 2019 in New Delhi. It is aimed to be a social media platform for all stakeholders of startup ecosystem.
    13. New Book Dark Fear, Eerie Cities: New Hindi Cinema in Neoliberal India, written by Sarunas Paunksnis has been released.
    14. United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) launched its cinema ad campaign ‘Feed Our Future’ against hunger and malnutrition in India, in collaboration with in-cinema advertising platform UFO Moviez and SAWA -the Global Cinema Advertising Association.
      1. This is for second time WFP has launched this campaign in India to raise awareness on hunger and malnutrition, a reality facing millions of people around the world.
    15. Joko Widodo has been re-elected as President of Indonesia, for his 2nd successive term.
    16. China will launch test flights for the next two space rockets in its Smart Dragon series meant for commercial use in 2020 and 2021.
      1. Solid-propellant Smart Dragon-2, weighing about 60 tonnes and with a total length of 21 meters, will be capable of sending 500 kg payloads into orbit at an altitude of 500 km (310 miles).
      2. At about 116 tonnes and with a length of 31 meters, the Smart Dragon-3, set for a test flight in 2021, will be capable of sending 1.5 tonne payloads into orbit.
    17. A Chinese company signed an agreement to lease Tulagi island in the Solomon Islands, a day after Beijing recruited the Pacific nation as its latest ally in strategically important region.
  12. Oct 20, 2019
    1. Visits from India (Oct 11 - 20, 2019) -
      1. Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu Visited Comoros (Indian Ocean) and Sierra Leone (West Africa).
        1. Comoros -
          1. 6 MOUs were signed, Including co-operation in Defence, Health and Medicine, Arts and Culture and MOU on e-VidyaBharti.
          2. It also includes an agreement for Exemption for Visas for diplomatic passpost holders.
          3. India also extended Line of Credit of over 60 million USD to Comoros. 41.6 million USD will be for 18 MW Power Plant in Moroni and another 20 million US Dollars for procurement of High-Speed Interceptor Boats.
          4. Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu has been awarded Comoros' highest civilian honour 'The Order of the Green Crescent'.
        2. Sierra Leone -
          1. 6 MOUs were signed, for co-operation in cultural exchange programme and various fields.
          2. India approved establishment of a Joint commission in Sierra Leone.
          3. India extended a credit line of 30 million US Dollars for irrigation development in Sierra Leone.
      2. Health and Family Welfare Minister Harsh Vardhan attended G20 Okayama Health Ministers’ Meeting in Okayama City, Japan.
    2. Visits to India (Oct 11 - 20, 2019) -
      1. The Netherlands' King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima Visited India.
        1. India and Netherlands launched second phase of the Local Treatment of Urban Sewage Streams for Healthy Reuse Plant (LOTUS-HR), in new Delhi.
        2. 25th DST - CII India-Netherlands Technology Summit Held in New Delhi.
    3. General Events / Conferences (Oct 11 - 20, 2019) -
      1. 10th edition of Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav-National Cultural Festival  organized by Ministry of Culture  under ‘Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat’ campaign in Madhya Pradesh.
      2. 3rd India Energy Forum by CERAWeek held in New Delhi. During the event, Indian Railways announced to become a net-zero carbon emitter by 2030.
        1. Railways also launched 10 ‘Sewa Service’ trains, in a bid to improve last-mile connectivity.
      3. 1st India Sports Summit 2019 held in New Delhi, titled Fitness: $10 Billion Opportunity. Minister of State for Youth and Sports Kiren Rijiju announced that a ‘Fit India’ mission office would be set up, to promote aforementioned goals.
      4. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal launched initiative called ‘Farishte Dilli Ke’, under which citizens who take accident victims to the hospital will be felicitated with INR 2000 and a certificate.
      5. First National Hindi Science writers conference held at Dr. Shakuntala Mishra National rehabilitation university in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh (UP).
      6. Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Minister Mahendra Nath Pandey announced to set up 14 Authorized World Skills India Training Centres across 9 cities. Cities – Chandigarh, New Delhi, Chennai, Trivandrum, Indore, Pune, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Shillong. Centres will offer certification courses of 9 months to 36 months duration on graphic design technology, 3D digital game and print media technology.
      7. Conference on One Nation One FASTag held in New Delhi.
      8. 6th Replenishment Conference of Global Fund to fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria (GFTAM) held in Lyon, France.
      9. Odisha’s smart city Bhubaneswar got it 1st Robo Chef Restaurant, in Bubaneswar, claiming to be the first restaurant in Eastern India where two indigenously developed robots, ‘Champa’ and ‘Chameli’ are engaged.
      10. National Health Authority and CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) organized Asia Health Conference 2019 in New Delhi.
      11. Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) developed two diagnostic kits under Make in India initiative. The kits are called Blue tongue sandwich ELISA (sELISA) and Japanese Encephalitis lgM ELISA.
      12. Jaffna International Airport (JIA) in Sri Lanka received its inaugural flight from Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Jaffna Airport was redeveloped at Rs 1,950 million (Sri Lankan rupee) of which India funded Rs 300 million (Sri Lankan rupee).
      13. IIT Guwahati partnered with Japan’s Kyoto Institute of Technology (KIT), to organize an international symposium on Advances in Sustainable Polymers (ASP-19).
      14. Ministry of Tribal Affairs launched Van Dhan Internship Programme, organized by TRIFED (Tribal cooperative marketing Development Federation of India). It will train interns and interns will help tribal population in becoming self reliant and entrepreneurs.
      15. Indian Army's Northern Command held Sangam Youth Festival at Bhadarwah (Jammu and Kashmir), in collaboration with Jammu University, to spread message of peace, prosperity, communal harmony and national integration.
      16. 2nd edition of Indo-French Knowledge Summit held at University of Lyon in France.
      17. Minister of state for Culture & Tourism (IC) Prahalad Singh inaugurated CCRT e-portal and YouTube Channel, during Digital Bharat – Digital Sanskriti program organised by Rashtriya Centre for Cultural Resources and Training (Ministry of Culture) at New Delhi.
      18. HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ inaugurated 5 new Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs), one National Navodaya Leadership Institute and laid foundation stone of 9 new JNVs in New Delhi.
      19. 129th death anniversary of mystic bard Fakir Lalon Shah observed in Bangladesh. Lalon is believed to be born in 1774 though no written records exist. It is said that Lalon was born Hindu but he was raised by a Muslim family after he was abandoned by his own family when he got infected with small pox. A festival of Baul songs named Indo Bangla Baul Music Festival was also held alongside.
      20. 24th Busan International Film Festival Held in Busan (South Korea).
    4. 2019 Annual Meetings of World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) Held in Washington DC (US).
      1. India was represented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. She also attended G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meet, BRICS Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meet in Washington D.C.
      2. Global Finance Ministers agreed to double a key pool of money that IMF can use to aid distressed countries, doubling to 500 billion dollars a temporary fund provided by 40 of IMF's 189 members.
      3. Also, Finance Ministers have again put off giving more votes to major emerging economies. IMF has been working to restructure its voting shares to give more weight to growing economies like China, India and Brazil.
    5. Health and Family Welfare Minister Harsh Vardhan attended G20 Okayama Health Ministers’ Meeting in Okayama City, Japan.
    6. Oct 20 is observed as World Statistics Day, being observed since 2010, declared by UN Statistical Commission. It is celebrated once in 5 years.
      1. India celebrates Statistics Day on 29th June, on birthday of legendry statistician Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis.
      2.  51 African countries that jointly celebrate African Statistics Day annually on 18 November.
      3. Next World Statistics Day is to be celebrated on October 20, 2020.
        1. Note that It is not being observed in 2019. It has just been noted down for the purpose of knowledge.
      4. Oct 20 is also known as World Osteoporosis Day.
      5. Oct 20 is also observed unoffically as National solidarity day. China attacked India on this day in 1962.
    7. DRDO signed 30 licensing agreement for Transfer of Technology with 16 Indian companies, to cater requirements of forces deployed in inhospitable terrain and hostile weather conditions.
    8. Punjab got most of its over 2800 polluting brick kilns switched to a new technology, cutting emissions by over 70 %. In new kilns, bricks to be baked are arranged in a zigzag pattern, allowing hot air to cover a longer path, unlike in traditional kilns, where bricks are arranged in straight lines.
      1. As air takes zigzag path, it improves heat transfer to the bricks, thus making the operation more efficient.
  13. Oct 19, 2019
    1. 2nd Annual Joint Military Exercise DHARMA GUARDIAN-2019 between India and Japan began at counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School, Vairengte (Mizoram).
    2. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh approved admission of girl children in Sainik schools across country, from next academic session (2021-22). Pilot project was started by Ministry of Defence for admission of girl children in Sainik School Chhingchhip in Mizoram two years ago.
    3. Researchers from India and UK created a robot named Pepe which encourages children to wash their hands, presented at 28TH IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication held in New Delhi, on Global Handwashing Day 2019 (October 15).
    4. NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Christina Koch performed first ever all women spacewalk when they ventured outside International Space Station (ISS). Christina Koch had already carried out four spacewalks but it was the first such mission for Jessica Meir, who became the 15th woman to walk in space. They spent seven hours outside ISS replacing a failed power control unit.
    5. 10th Indian and Maldives Armies Joint Military Exercise called ‘Ekuverin’ held at Aundh Military Station in Pune, Maharashtra. Word ‘Ekuverin’ means ‘Friends’ in Dhivehi language.
    6. India will host 91st Interpol General Assembly in 2022, announced during 88th Interpol General Assembly in Santiago (Chile).
    7. Great Britain won Sultan of Johor Cup hockey tournament 2019 held at Johor Bahru in Malaysia, beating India.
    8. Sri Lanka has been removed from ‘Grey List’ of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) following the new measures taken by the country on financial security. ‘Grey List’ identified by FATF refers to a jurisdiction with strategic Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) deficiencies. It was announced during FATF plenary concluded in Paris, France.
      1. During the same meet, FATF decided to keep Pakistan on its ‘Grey List’ till February 2020, to take extra strict measures to eliminate terror funding and money laundering. Pakistan was added to FATF's ‘grey list’ in June 2018. Pakistan had earlier been included in the ‘grey list’ from 2012 to 2015.
    9. Chile Govt. declared a state of emergency in Santiago (Capital of Chile), following severe violence. Protestors clashed with riot police in several parts of Santiago.
    10. Vice President Venkaiyah Naidu presented “Most Eminent Senior Citizen Award” to scholar, legal luminary and former Attorney General of India K Parasaran. He was awarded Padma Bhushan in 2003 and Padma Vibhushan in 2011.
    11. Govt. appointed Anup Kumar Singh as new Director-General of National Security Guard (NSG), also known as ‘black cats commando’ force.
      1. NSG was raised in 1984 following Operation Blue Star, assassination of Indira Gandhi and Akshardham Temple attack. It counters terrorists and hijack-like incidents with a view to protect states against internal disturbances.
    12. PM Narendra Modi unveiled book “Bridgital Nation”, written by N Chandrasekaran and Roopa Purushottam.
    13. Reesearchers spotted fastest ant in world, the Saharan silver ant (Cataglyphis bombycina), which can cover 855 millimetres (33.66 inches) per second. It has stride rate of 47 per second, 10 times that os Usain Bolt. It can travel 108 times its body length per second.
    14. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope Observed 1st Confirmed Interstellar Comet comet 2I/Borisov. Hubble revealed a central concentration of dust around nucleus. Comet 2I/Borisov is 2nd interstellar object known to have passed through solar system. In 2017, the first identified interstellar visitor, an object officially named 'Oumuamua, swung within 24 million miles of Sun before racing out of solar system.
    15. SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar has been appointed as chairman of banking industry Body Indian Banks Association for 2019-20.
    16. To promote digital payments, government asked banks / payment system providers to not impose charges, or merchant discount rate (MDR), on customers and merchants on digital payments made to establishments with turnover in excess of Rs 50 crores. This will be applicable from November 2019. This was announced in budget 2019-20 by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
    17. Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance launched i-SERV, a first-of-its-kind video calling service within life insurance industry, to enhance customer experience.
    18. Global Payments Firm PayPal partnered with Synchrony Financial to launch a credit card for users of its subsisdiary Venmo. Venmo users can transfer funds to others via mobile app, both sender and receiver living in U.S.
    19. Telecom operator Bharti Airtel signed pact with AMPSolar Evolution to acquire 26 % stake in solar power firm, for Rs 8.4 crores.
    20. As per study by CARE Ratings, Uttar Pradesh topped among states in terms of overall expenditure incurred on capital outlay/asset creation (capex) during 2015-2019.
      1. However, Telangana topped in terms of capital expenditure on Irrigation. It ranked seventh in overall capex expenditure.
      2. Top 5 in Terms of overall capex - Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Bihar, Gujarat.
      3. Top 10 States accounted for 73 % of the combined capex undertaken by all States.
  14. Oct 18, 2019
    1. As per India Innovation Index (III) 2019 released by NITI Aayog -
      1. Karnataka is Most Innovative State among Major States. Others In Top 5 - Tamil Nadu (2), Maharashtra (3), Telangana (3) and Haryana (5)
      2. Among 17 major states, Chattisgarh, Bihar and Jharkhand are at bottom of the index with Jharkhand finishing last.
      3. Among North-Eastern & Hill States - Sikkim (1), Himachal Pradesh (2) and Uttarakhand (3).
      4. Among Union Territories/ small States - Delhi (1), Chandigarh (2) and Goa (3).
      5. Index is based on seven pillars which include 5 enablers and 2 performance indicators.
    2. Indian Army has begun to digitize its official records under its new programme called “OASIS”-Officers Automated Structures Information System. When the officer retires, whole data will migrate from Oasis to Retired Officers Digital Records Archive (RODRA), which holds pension details of officers.
    3. According to new draft rules from DoPT (Department of Personnel and Training), terms and perks of CICs (Chief Information Commissioner) and ICs (Information Commissioner) are to be fixed as that of Cabinet Secretary and Secretary to GoI level.
      1. CIC and IC currently hold tenure of 5 years and their perks are similar to that of the Chief Election Commissioners as defined in Right to Information Act, 2005.
      2. They are likely to be downgraded in the “Table of Precedence”. Their positions are to be several notches down the CAG and Chairman, UPSC. They are likely to be reached to position 23 as occupied by the Secretary to GoI.
    4. Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari announced road starting from Kapurthala, connecting Gobindwal Sahib and terminating near Taran Tarana in Punjab as new National Highway, NH- 703AA and named it as ‘Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji Marg’, after first Sikh guru.
    5. 11th Nuclear Energy Conclave held in New Delhi with Theme Economics of Nuclear Power- Innovation towards Safer & Cost Effective Technologies.
    6. Karnataka, Kerala and Gujarat topped in University-Industry Linkages (UILs) in a research report conducted by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI). Analysis was conducted on the basis of 10 parameters.
    7. Asian Junior Boxing Championships 2019 held in Fujairah (UAE) -
      1. India won 21 Medals (6 Gold, 9 Silver and 6 Bronze). India won most number of medals but was second behind Uzbekistan in Tally, which had total 20 Medals and 8 Gold.
      2. Indian Gold Medalists - Vishvanath Suresh, Bishwamitra Chongtham, Kalpana, Preeti Dahiya, Tashbir Kaur Sandhu, Alfiya Tarannum Pathan.
    8. As per The CS Gender 3000 in 2019: The changing face of companies reort by Credit Suisse Research Institute (CSRI) -
      1. India Ranks 23rd in terms of female representation on boards, increasing 4.3 % over past five years to 15.2% in 2019. This is significantly below global average of 20.6%.
      2. Report analyzes gender mix of the executive teams of over 3,000 companies stretching across 56 countries.
      3. With 15% of female CEOs, Singapore and Italy rank highest in terms of female CEO representation globally, followed by Thailand (9%) and Philippines (8%).
    9. New Book authored by Chess legend Viswanathan Anand titled Mind Master: Winning Lessons from a Champion's Life, has ben released.
    10. New Book Titled The Daughter from a Wishing Tree, written by Sudha Murthy has been released.
    11. European Council appointed Christine Lagarde (France) as president of European Central Bank (ECB), based in Frankfurt (Germany). She earlier served as Chairman of International Monetary fund (IMF).
    12. Sudhakar Shukla has been appointed as Whole Time Member of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI). IBBI chairperson is M. S. Sahoo and it has 10 members.
    13. Reliance Industries (RIL) became first Indian company to hit market capitalisation of Rs 9 lakh crores. IT giant TCS is second with market-cap of Rs 7.66 lakh crores. It was earlier second company to reach Rs 8 lakh crore mark, after Reliance.
    14. UN General Assembly today elected 14 States to UN Human Rights Council, responsible for promoting and protecting all human rights.
      1. Assembly elected Armenia, Brazil, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Libya, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Namibia, Netherlands, Poland, South Korea, Sudan and Venezuela.  All 14 members will serve three-year terms beginning January 2020.
      2. UNHCR has total 47 Member Nations.
    15. Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra named orchestra of the year 2019 Gramophone Awards. The group is the first Asian orchestra to win the award. This category is the only one of classical music magazine’s awards open to public vote. This award is often likened to Oscars for classical music world.
  15. Oct 17, 2019
    1. Nobel Prizes 2019 -
      1. 2019 Winners -
        1. Trade Winners Description
          Physiology or Medicine William G. Kaelin (US), Peter J. Ratcliffe (UK), Gregg L. Semenza (US) for discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability
          Physics James Peebles (Canada), Michel Mayor (Switzerland) and Didier Queloz (Switzerland) One half to James Peebles (Canada) for theoretical discoveries in physical cosmology and other half jointly to Michel Mayor (Switzerland) and Didier Queloz (Switzerland) for discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star
          Chemistry John B. Goodenough (Germany), M. Stanley Whittingham (British American) and Akira Yoshino (Japan) for the development of lithium-ion batteries
          Peace

          Abiy Ahmed Ali (Ethiopia Serving Prime Minister)

          for his efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation, and in particular for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighbouring Eritrea
          Economic Sciences Abhijit Banerjee (Indian-American), Esther Duflo (French-American), Michael Kremer (US) for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty. Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo are Husband-wife Duo.
          Literature

          2018 - Olga Tokarczuk (Poland)

          2019 - Peter Handke (Austria)

          2018 - Olga Tokarczuk (Poland) - for a narrative imagination that with encyclopedic passion represents the crossing of boundaries as a form of life.

          2019 - Peter Handke (Austria) - for an influential work that with linguistic ingenuity has explored the periphery and the specificity of human experience
      2. Facts About Nobel prizes -
        1. In 2018, it was for first time in 70 years of Nobel Prizes, that no Literature Prize was given. It was announced by Swedish Academy after a sexual assault scandal. It was postponed to 2019.
        2. Background -
          1. Will of Swedish scientist Alfred Nobel established five Nobel prizes in 1895 - Chemistry, Literature, Peace, Physics, and Physiology or Medicine, first awarded in 1901.
          2. In 1968, Sweden's central bank Sveriges Riksbank established the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, which, although not being a Nobel Prize, has become informally known as Nobel Prize in Economics.
        3. Physiology or Medicine -
          1. Granted by Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute awards.
          2. 12 women have been awarded Medicine Prize so far.
          3. Youngest - Canada's Frederick G. Banting (32 years age), awarded in 1923 for discovery of insulin.
        4. Physics -
          1. Granted by Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
          2. 3 women have been awarded Physics Prize so far.
          3. Youngest - Australian-British physicist Lawrence Bragg (25 years age), awarded in 1915 together with his father.
          4. India's C. V. Raman was awarded Physics Nobel in 1930, For his work on scattering of light and for discovery of effect named after him.
        5. Chemistry -
          1. Granted by Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
          2. 5 women have been awarded the Chemistry Prize so far.
          3. 1 person, Frederick Sanger, has been awarded the Chemistry Prize twice, in 1958 and in 1980.
          4. Youngest - France's Frédéric Joliot (35 years age), awarded in 1935.
        6. Peace -
          1. Granted by Norwegian Nobel Committee.
          2. 17 women have been awarded Nobel Peace Prize so far.
          3. Peace Prize Laureate Le Duc Tho (Vietnamese) declined his Nobel Peace Prize in 1973. He was awarded jointly with US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, for negotiating Vietnam peace accord.
          4. Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan is youngest to win Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, at the age of 17.
          5. 2 Indian Person have been given Nobel Peaze Prize so far. Mother Teresa (1979), Kailash Satyarthi (2014).
        7. Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences
          1. Granted by Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
          2. 2 woman has been awarded Prize in Economic Sciences so far, Elinor Ostrom in 2009 and Esther Duflo in 2019.
          3. Youngest - Frances Esther Duflo (46 years age), awarded in 2019.
          4. India's Amartya Sen was guven Economic studies Nobel in 1998. For his contributions to welfare economics.
        8. Literature -
          1. Granted by Swedish Academy.
          2. 15 women have been awarded Literature Prize so far.
          3. Youngest - UK's Rudyard Kipling (41 years age), known for Jungle Book.
          4. Rabindranath Tagore, Only Indian to receive Nobel Literature Prize so far (in 1913). He is also first Indian Nobel Laureate.
        9. Indian Nobel Laureates -
          1. Rabindranath Tagore in 1913 (Literature)
          2. C.V. Raman in 1930 (Physics)
          3. Mother Teresa in 1979 (Peace)
          4. Amartya Sen in 1998 (Economic Studies)
          5. Kailash Satyarthi in 2014 (Peace)
        10. Indian Origin Nobel Laureates -
          1. Har Gobind Khorana (US) - In 1968 for Physiology / Medicine.
          2. Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (US) - In 1983 for Physics.
          3. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan (UK/US) - In 2009 for Chemistry.
          4. Abhijit Banerjee (US) - In 2019 for Economics.
    2. As per Hurun Global Unicorn List 2019 -
      1. With 21 unicorns (Billion Dollar Startups), India emerged as 3rd largest ecosystems for more successful start ups, behind China (206) and US (203). List has 494 unicorns globally.
      2. Top Indian Startups - One97 Communications (USD 10 billion), Ola (USD 6 billion), Byjus (USD 6 billion), and OYO Rooms (USD 5 billion).
      3. Beijing (China) is city with most unicorns (82), ahead of San Francisco (US) with 55.
    3. Shirui Lily Festival 2019 held at Shirui Vangayan Ground of Ukhrul in Manipur.
    4. Kiran Uniyal has created Individual Guinness World Records for “The most full contact knee strikes in three minutes (one leg) (female), 263 strikes” & “The most full contact knee strikes alternate legs in one minute(female),120 strikes”. She is wife of a serving Colonel of Indian Army.
    5. Italy approved a new tax on digital companies, as part of its 2020 draft budget. The levy, due to be introduced from next year, will oblige Tech companies to pay 3% levy on internet transactions. It is expected to yield about 600 million euros ($662 million) a year.
    6. Tamil Nadu government constituted two committees to deal over water disputes with Kerala relating to Parambikulam-Aliyar Project (PAP) and Pandiyar-Punnampuzha project. Tamil Nadu’s PWD secretary K. Manivasan would lead both committees.
    7. New book titled “India in a Warming World: Integrating Climate Change and Development” will release soon, featuring articles by climate experts including Sunita Narain, Anil Agarwal, Dr Friederike Otto & Shibani Ghosh, edited by Navroz K Dubash.
    8. Financial Action Task Force (FATF) decided to keep Pakistan on its ‘Grey List’ till February 2020., to take extra strict measures to eliminate terror funding and money laundering. Pakistan was added to FATF's ‘grey list’ in June 2018. It was decided during FATF meeting on Money Laundering in Paris. Pakistan had earlier been included in the ‘grey list’ from 2012 to 2015.
    9. Jammu & Kashmir Legislative Council got abolished, as per Section 57 of J&K Reorganisation Bill 2019. With this, J&K state has now been reduced to Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, w.e.f November 2019.
      1. 36-member Legislative Council functioned as Upper House for 87-member J&K Legislative Assembly.
      2. Tenure of current 22 Members of Legislative Council (MLCs) has come to an end. J&K Governor will be replaced by the Lieutenant-Governors (LGs) of 2 UTs.
    10. Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAHD) released a census report of livestock population for 2019. data revealed that livestock population in India has grown by 4.6% from 512 million in 2012 to about 536 million in 2019. Population of cows increased 18% over previous census (conducted in 2014).
    11. 2nd edition of Defense of Andaman and Nicobar Islands 2019 (Danx-19), a large joint exercise was conducted by ANC (Andaman and Nicobar Command).
    12. Outgoing Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi recommended SC Judge SA Bobde as New Chief Justice of India (47th).
    13. Oct 17 is UN International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (IDEP). 2019 Theme is Acting together to Empower Children, their families and Communities to End Poverty. It is being observed since 1987.
      1. Oct 17 is also observed as World trauma day.
    14. Argentinian Footballer Leonel Messi won Golden Shoe for 2018-19 season, for being the top scorer in the European leagues with 36 goals. This is his 6 th Golden Shoe award.
    15. Indian army inducted US made precision-guided Excalibur artillery ammunition and indigenous Dhanush howitzer, To boost its firepower. Precision-guided Excalibur is capable of hitting targets within 50 kilometre, made by American company Raytheon.
    16. United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced establishment of world's first graduate-level, research-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) university, named as Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) after Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi. University campus will be in Masdar City.
    17. 9.2-kilometer-long Chenani-Nashri tunnel will be renamed after Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee.
      1. Chenani-Nashri tunnel, inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi in 2017 and is also known as Patnitop tunnel. It is the longest tunnel in Jammu and Kashmir and is located on National Highway (NH) 44.
      2. Tunnel provides all- weather route to commuters travelling from Jammu and Udhampur to Ramban, Banihal and Srinagar.
      3. Besides being India’s longest road tunnel, it is also India’s first tunnel with a fully integrated tunnel control system.
    18. Switzerland Glaciers have lost 10 % of their volume in past 5 years, as per Cryospheric commission at Swiss Academy of Sciences. In last 12 months Switzerland has lost 2% of total glacier volume despite of increased snowing.
    19. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare released a commemorative postal stamp of Hyderabad based National Institute of Nutrition, under “Corporate My Stamp” scheme of India Posts, launched in 2016. Under this, a corporate entity or an individual can get their photo printed inside postage stamp at a price of 12 lakh rupees.
    20. Sajjan Jindal (CMD of JSW Steel) has been appointed as Vice-Chairman of World Steel Association (Worldsteel), for 1 year. Association also elected YU Yong as Chairman.
  16. Oct 16, 2019
    1. Anoop Kumar Mendiratta has been appointed as the Law Secretary (Secretary, Legal Affairs) in Law Ministry. He has become has become first sitting judge to be appointed as Law Secretary. He is presently District and Sessions Judge, North-East District, Karkardooma Courts, Delhi.
    2. 2019 Global Hunger Index (GHI), jointly published by Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe, score calculated by International Food Policy Research Institute -
      1. India ranks 102nd out of 117 qualifying countries, with a score of 30.3. India was ranked 103rd last year. Increase in prevalence of wasting (low weight for height) among children with score under 5 contributing the most of poor performance. India’s child wasting is extremely high at 20.8%
      2. 17 countries, including Belarus, Ukraine, Turkey, Cuba and Kuwait, shared the top rank with GHI scores less than 5.
      3. There are 4 countries in alarming hunger category - Chad, Madagascar, Yemen, and Zambia. Central African Republic is only nation in extremely alarming hunger category.
      4. Neighbors - Nepal (73), Bangladesh (88), Pakistan (94), Sri Lanka (66), China (25).
    3. Zimbabwe and Nepal are re-admitted as International Cricket Council members. Zimbabwe will now be able to take up their place in the ICC Men’s U19 Cricket World Cup in 2020. Zimbabwe Cricket was suspended in July 2019 and Nepal was banned in 2016 for “governmental interference”.
    4. International Monetary Fund (IMF) World Economic Outlook 2019 Report -
      1. Global growth was 3.6 % in 2018 and is forecast at 3 % for 2019, lowest level since 2008–09. Global Growth is projected to pick up to 3.4 % in 2020. 
      2. India’s GDP growth will be 6.1% in 2019 and will go up to 7% in 2020. China will grow at 6.1 % in 2019 and 5.8 % in 2020.
      3. Cash-Strapped Pakistan will lag at 3.3 % in 2019 and 2.4 % in 2020.
      4. As per world Bank, India halved its poverty rate since the 1990s and achieved a seven plus growth rate over the last 15 years. India's rapidly growing economy needs investment in infrastructure, an estimated 8.8 percent of GDP or USD 343 billion a year until 2030.
    5. Supreme Court’s 5 Judge Constitutional bench (led by CJI Ranjan Gogoi) reserved its judgement on the Ayodhya-Babri Masjid land dispute case after an interminable hearing that lasted for over 40 days. SC heard arguments of all the three litigants - Ram Lalla, Nirmohi Akhara and Sunni Waqf Board and Muslim parties.
      1. This is second-longest hearing in the history of Supreme Court after the landmark Kesavananda Bharati v State of Kerala case in which hearings lasted for 68 days.
      2. Ayodhya administrator had imposed Section 144 in Ayodhya district that will last till December 10. Section 144 prohibits any assembly of four or more persons.
      3. CJI Ranjan Gogoi is set to retire on November 17, 2019. If the judgement on the case is not delivered before the CJI’s retirement, then the entire case would have to be heard afresh with a new judge replacing Justice Gogoi.
    6. Oct 16 as observed as World Food Day, commemorating creation of UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 1945. 2019 Theme is Our Actions are our Future Healthy Diets for a Zero Hunger World.
      1. On this occasion, Health and Family Welfare Minister Harsh Vardhan launched Food Safety Mitra Scheme, Eat Right Jacket and Eat Right Jhola. FSSAI, through Food Safety Mitra scheme plans to engage motivated individuals with the food safety ecosystem at ground level. Food Safety Mitra (FSM) scheme aims strengthening and scaling up ‘Eat Right India’ movement.
      2. Oct 16 also marks as World Anesthesia Day, commemorating first successful demonstration of ether anesthesia on October 16, 1846.
    7. India and Japan Joint Air Force exercise called ‘Shinyuu Maitri’ began at Air Force Station, Arjan Singh in Panagarh town, West Bengal.
    8. J.P.S. Chawla appointed as new Controller General of Accounts in Department of Expenditure (Ministry of Finance).
    9. India Women's Football team beat Bangladesh to win the SAFF U-15 Women’s Championship title, hosted in Thimpu (Bhutan).
    10. Competition Commission of India approved Kora Master Fund LP investment of upto 10 per cent ($75 million) in Edelweiss Securities Ltd.Kora, a foreign portfolio investor, proposes to invest $75 million in Edelweiss Securities and Edelweiss Global Investment Advisory (EGIA) subsidiaries.
    11. India handed over 2nd pair of Mi-24V helicopters to Afghanistan, boosting capability of the Afghan forces. These are replacement for 4 attack helicopters previously gifted by India to Afghanistan in 2015 and 2016.
    12. Bengaluru will host 5th edition of the World Coffee Conference (WCC), in September 2020. Earlier editions were held in the UK, Brazil, Guatemala and Ethiopia.
    13. India ranked 82nd among 128 countries surveyed by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), in World Giving Index -
      1. USA stood at the top followed Myanmar, New Zealand and Australia. Others in top ten are Ireland, Canada, UK, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.
      2. India is behind Nepal (53) and Pakistan (69).
      3. At the bottom are Yemen, Greece and China.
    14. RBI issued guidelines on 'on tap' authorisation of payment systems, including minimum net worth criteria, to encourage competition.
      1. For entities desirous to provide platforms for Bharat Bill Payment Operating Unit (BBPOU), Min Net worth is 100 crores.
      2. In case of TReDS (Trade Receivables Discounting System), the minimum paid up equity capital should be Rs 25 crores. TReDS scheme is to facilitate financing of invoices and bills of MSMEs drawn on corporate buyers by way of discounting by financiers.
      3. Minimum net worth for entities desirous of entering the WLA (White Label ATM) segement should be Rs 100 crore. White Label ATMs are set up by non-bank entities.
    15. Facebook is undertaking an initiative to help tribal girls in India become village-level digital young leaders for their communities. Facebook announced 2nd phase of its ‘GOAL’ programme, which will mentor 5,000 young women in India’s tribal dominated districts.
      1. Launched in March 2019, Going Online as Leaders (GOAL) connects underprivileged young women from tribal areas with senior expert mentors in the areas of business, fashion and arts to learn digital and life skills.
    16. For the first time, ISRO will test surface landing of Reusable Launch Vehicle Program launched in 2016. It aims to cut down the launch cost by reusing the spacecraft. RLV will function as a space shuttle that will carry a payload to space and glide back to the earth. Landing of the RLV is to be tested at Challakere in Chitradurga district in Karnataka.
    17. Uttar Pradesh government will organise India’s first performance of world-famous KHON Ramlila, a masked form of Ramlila art of Thailand in collaboration with Thai government. KHON Ramlila of Thailand is included in the list of UNESCO’s Intangible cultural heritage and it’s a form of masked dance depicting the scenes of Ramlila.
    18. As per Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Report 2019 by United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) -
      1. While applied tariffs in the Asia-Pacific region have halved over past two decades, number of non-tariff measures (NTMs) - policy regulations other than tariffs affecting international trade - has risen significantly. NTMs are now affecting around 58 percent of trade in Asia and Pacific.
    19. 1st Edition of India - Bangladesh Bilateral Navy Exercise held in Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh). Before the exercise, 2nd edition of Indian Navy (IN) and the Bangladesh Navy (BN) Coordinated Patrol (CORPAT) was held in northern part of Bay of Bengal.
    20. India Mobile Congress 2019, the largest mobile technology event in South Asia, organized in New Delhi.
  17. Oct 15, 2019
    1. Oct 15 is Birth Anniversary of Former (11th) President of India A P J Abdul Kalam. He was a noted Aerospace Scientist, also known as Missile Man of India. He was also a recepient of Bharat Ratna Award, Highest honor in India.
      1. In 2010, United Nations declared Shri Kalam's Birth Anniversary, 15 October as World Students' Day.
      2. India built its first indigenous satellite launch vehicle SLV-3 under Dr. Kalam's direction.
      3. Oct 15 is also observed as World Mathematics Day.
      4. Oct 15 is observed as White Cane Safety Day in US, to celebrate achievements of people who are blind or visually impaired.
    2. Air India became first airline in the world to use a Taxibot on a A320 aircraft with passengers on board. Taxibot is a robot-used aircraft tractor for taxiing an aircraft from parking bay to runway and vice versa.
    3. Bahrain International Series Badminton 2019 at Isa Town (Bahrain) -
      1. Indian Player Priyanshu Rajawat won men’s singles title, beating Jason Anthony Ho-Shue from Canada.
      2. Indian mixed double pair of Juhi Dewangan and Venkat Gaurav Prasad also finished at the top.
    4. Former Indian cricketer Sourav Ganguly has been chosen to be appointed as New President of Cricke administrator body BCCI. Jay Shah and Arun Singh Dhumal will be new Secretary and Treasurer respectively.
    5. International Cricket Council (ICC) changed rules of Super Over and ruled that Super over will be repeated till a winnr emerges. The controversial boundary count rule has been scrapped. In final match of the Cricket World Cup 2019, England was declared winner against New Zealand with a boundary count in super over.
    6. United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) released The State of the World’s Children annual report -
      1. A third of world’s children under five years of age, which is around 700 million, have nutrition problems. 50 million are affected by wasting. Wasting is chronic thinness of the body which is mainly due to poverty.
      2. Japan has least Infant Mortality Rate.
    7. 2019 Booker Prize has been awarded jointly to Margaret Atwood (Canada) for The Testaments and Bernardine Evaristo (UK) for Girl, Woman, Other. This was first time the prize was shared since 1992, despite a rule change banning joint winners.
      1. Evaristo is first black woman to win this award since its creation in 1969.
      2. Judging panel was chaired by Peter Florence, who declared the joint winners despite the ban on announcing joint winners.
      3. Earlier, the prize was called Booker–McConnell Prize (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019).
      4. British Indian novelist Salman Rushdie’s tragicomic ‘Quichotte’ was also among six finalist books, being 5th shortlisting of Salman Rushdie. In 1981, he had won the award for “Midnight’s Children”.
      5. Booker Prize for Fiction is a literary prize awarded each year for best original novel in English language and published in UK.
    8. Kais Saied is elected as new President of Tunisia (North Africa).
    9. National Postal Week being celebrated in India Between October 9 - 15, 2019, to create awareness about the role and contributions of postal sector in social and economic development.
    10. World Trade Organization approved US' imposition of tariffs on 7.5 billion USD worth European exports. They were mainly on Airbus production sites like France, Germany, Spain and UK.
      1. Problem dates back to 2004, when EU authorities said Boeing received 19 billion USD in unfair way from state and federal governments. The US also filed similar complaints over European subsidies to Airbus.
      2. US also imposed sanctions on Turkey over its invasion into Northeast Syria, the areas that are held by Kurdish allies of the US.
    11. Oct 15 is observed as UN International Day of Rural Women, marked by UN in 2007. 2019 Theme is Rural Women and Girls Building Climate Resilience.
    12. 4th edition of joint Indo-Kazakhstan military exercise KAZIND-2019 concluded at Pithoragarh (Uttarakhand).
    13. Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) launched a revamped programme to attract investments into India and strengthen Make in India through manufacture and other operations under bond scheme, of Customs Act, 1962.
      1. The Section enables conduct of manufacture and other operations in a customs bonded warehouse.
      2. The Scheme has been modernized with clear procedures, simplified compliance requirements ICT-based documentation and account keeping, by issue of Manufacture and Other Operations in Warehouse Regulations 2019.
      3. CBIC collaborated with Invest India to launch a dedicated microsite for providing information and promoting the scheme and for facilitation of investors. It can be accessed at https://www.investindia.gov.in/bonded-manufacturing
    14. Mumbai is 12th richest city in the world with a total wealth of $960 billion, according to a report by New World Health.
      1. Delhi is on 22nd position, Bangalore 26th and Hyderabad 28th.
      2. New York City (NYC) topped the list with a total wealth of $3.0 trillion, with 65 billionaires and 3,80,000 millionaires.
      3. Tokyo is 2nd with total wealth $2.5 trillion.
    15. Andhra Pradesh CM Jagan Mohan Reddy launched flagship ‘Rythu Bharosa’ scheme, which provides a cash incentive to farmers -
      1. YSR Rythu Bharosa replaces previous TDP government’s ‘Annadata Sukhibhava’ scheme. Under Rythu Bharosa, land holder farmers owning up to five acres will be provided with an annual benefit of Rs 13500.
      2. Landless cultivators or tenant farmers from SC, ST, BC and minority groups are also eligible for the incentive. It includes annual benefit of 6000 per family provided by Centre under PM KISAN Yojana.
      3. YSRCP government earlier promised INR 50000 in 4 annual instalments of 12500 each, the amount was increased to Rs 13,500 to be paid for five years, bringing total to 67500.
    16. Mercedes' Racer Valtteri Viktor Bottas (Finland) Won Japanese Grand Prix 2019 -
      1. Formula 1 Season 2019 -
        1. Round Grand Prix Winner date
          1 Australian Grand Prix Valtteri Bottas (Finland) 17 March
          2 Bahrain Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton (UK) 31 March
          3 Chinese Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton (UK) 14 April
          4 Azerbaijan Grand Prix Valtteri Bottas (Finland) 28 April
          5 Spanish Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton (UK) 12 May
          6 Monaco Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton (UK) 26 May
          7 Canadian Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton (UK) 9 June
          8 French Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton (UK) 23 June
          9 Austrian Grand Prix Max Verstappen (Belgian-Dutch) 30 June
          10 British Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton (UK) 14 July
          11 German Grand Prix Max Verstappen (Belgian-Dutch) 28 July
          12 Hungarian Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton (UK) 4 August
          13 Belgian Grand Prix Charles Leclerc (Monaco) 1 September
          14 Italian Grand Prix Charles Leclerc (Monaco) 8 September
          15 Singapore Grand Prix Sebastian Vettel (Germany) 22 September
          16 Russian Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton (UK) 29 September
          17 Japanese Grand Prix Valtteri Bottas (Finland) 13 October
          18 Mexican Grand Prix   27 October
          19 United States Grand Prix   3 November
          20 Brazilian Grand Prix   17 November
          21 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix   1 December
    17. 4 Indian sites chosen for UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation, announced in Penang (Malaysia).
      1. In this year’s awards, 16 projects from 5 countries – India, Bhutan, China, New Zealand and Australia have been recognized.
      2. Indian sites with Awards -
        1. Award of Distinction - Vikram Sarabhai Library, Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad.
        2. Award of Merit - Keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue (Mumbai) , Our Lady of Glory Church (Mumbai)
        3. Honorable Mention - Flora Fountain (Mumbai).
      3. Award of Excellence - Historic Tai Kwun – Centre for Heritage and Arts, Hong Kong.
  18. Oct 14, 2019
    1. Dutch Open Badminton 2019 (Almere, The Netherlands) Winners -
      1. Men's Singles - Lakshya Sen (India). He defeated Yusuke Onodera of Japan. It is his 1st BWF World Tour title.
      2. Women's Singles - Wang Zhiyi (China)
      3. Men's Doubles - Russia's Vladimir Ivanov AND Ivan Sozonov
      4. Women's Doubles - Bulgaria's Gabriela Stoeva AND Stefani Stoeva
      5. Mixed Doubles - The Netherlands' Robin Tabeling AND Selena Piek
    2. According to Edelgive Hurun India Philanthropy List 2019, Top 3 Indian philanthropists -
      1. Rank Name Firm Contribution
        1 Shiv Nadar HCL Technologies Rs 826 crore
        2 Azim Premji Wipro Rs 453 crore
        3 Mukesh Ambani Reliance Industries Rs 402 crore
    3. Oct 14 is observed as World Standards Day.
      1. Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) notified that it will rank all state capitals and 100 smart cities in Water Quality Rankings for quality tap water to prevent water borne diseases. The ranking will begin in the coming 3 months.
    4. Credit Information Bureau of India Limited (CIBIL) launched a new feature called CIBIL Alert through which customers can get real-time notifications about key changes in their CIBIL Score and Report.
    5. 2019 Shanghai Masters Men's Tennis Title -
      1. Singles - Daniil Medvedev (Russia), Defeated Alexander Zverev (Germany)
      2. Doubles - Croatia Mate Pavić / Brazil Bruno Soares
    6. Indian nun Mariam Thresia from Kerala and four other nuns were declared Saints by Pope Francis, at the Vatican City. Mariam Thresia founded Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family in Thrissur in May 1914.
    7. World Bank South Asia Economic Focus 2019 Report, titled Exports Wanted.
      1. About India -
        1. Projected GDP growth of India in FY 2019-20 is 6%. Report says growth rate of India will improve to 6.9% in 2021 and 7.2% in 2022.
        2. Earlier, Indian GDP Growth Rate was 8.2 % in 2016-17, 7.2 % in 2017-18 and 6.8 % in 2018-19.
        3. Current Account Deficit of India widened from 1.8% in last year to 2.1% this year 80% of the causes of economic slowdown.
        4. In India, domestic demand has slipped, with private consumption growing 3.1 % in last quarter from 7.3 % a year ago, while manufacturing growth plummeted to below 1 % in second quarter of 2019 compared to over 10 % a year ago.
      2. South Asia -
        1. Report says that Bangladesh and Nepal are growing faster than India. However, it assured that India is still a fast-growing economy, despite being hit relatively harder by recent global economic slowdown.
        2. South Asia remains fastest growing region in the world, despite estimation of growth in South Asia to fall to 5.9 % This year. Growth rate of South Asia was 7.7% in 2016-17, 7.2% in 2017-18 and 6.9% in 2018-19.
        3. In Bangladesh, GDP growth is estimated at 8.1 % in 2019, up from 7.9 per cent in 2018. It is fastest in the region. Pakistan is to be slowes at 2.4 %.
    8. RCEP ( Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) meeting Held in Bangkok, Thailand. Trade ministers of 16 nations met and discussed on economic affairs in region. However, due to India’s tough stand on market access, e – commerce and investment the grouping will meet once again. RCEP includes 10 members of ASEAN and 6 Asia Pacific countries - includes Australia, India, China, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.
    9. Noted director Priyadarshan has been conferred Madhya Pradesh government’s National Kishore Kumar Samman for 2018-19. Priyadarshan has made several noted Malayalam and Hindi films. National Kishore Kumar Award has been instituted in memory of eminent playback singer Kishore Kumar. It carries a citation and a cash prize of Rs.2 lakh.
    10. IIT Madras signed a 5-year joint research agreement with ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company (EMRE), the research and engineering arm of ExxonMobil Corporation, for research in biofuels, data analytics, gas conversion and transport, and finding low-emission solutions.
    11. IRDAI constituted 9-member panel headed by TR Alamelu to look into regulations on Reinsurance, Foreign Reinsurance Branches and Lloyd’s India regulations.
  19. Oct 13, 2019
    1. 2019 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships (Ulan-Ude, Russia) -
      1. 224 Competitors from 57 nations participated.
      2. Medal Table -
        Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
        1  Russia 3 1 2 6
        2  China 1 3 1 5
        3  Turkey 1 2 0 3
        4  United States 1 0 2 3
        5  Chinese Taipei 1 0 1 2
      3. India ranked 9th with 4 Medals (1 Silver and 3 Bronze). Indian Medalists -
        1. Manju Rani (Silver) - Light flyweight
        2. Mary Kom (Bronze) - Flyweight
        3. Jamuna Boro (Bronze) - Bantamweight
        4. Lovlina Borgohain (Bronze) - Welterweight
    2. First India International Cooperatives Trade Fair (IICTF) held at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi, to promote exports of key agriculture commodities and products leading to enhanced rural and farm prosperity. As per Agriculture Export Policy (AEP) 2018, Cooperative sector has big role to play in doubling agriculture exports from present $30 billion to $60 billion by 2022.
      1. National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) formulated Yuva Sahakar ­Cooperative Enterprise Support and Innovation Scheme 2019 was launched during the event, with outlay of 100 crores.
    3. 49th World Artistic Gymnastics Championships 2019 held in Stuttgart (Germany), held annually in non-Olympic years.
      1. 548 competitors from 92 nations participated in the event. Indian team consisted of 6 members, without winning a medal.
      2. 2021 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships (50th Edition) will be held in Copenhagen, Denmark.
      3. Simone Biles (US) won record-extending 15th World Gymnastics Championship title, becoming event’s most decorated woman.
      4. Medal Tally -
        1. Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
          1  United States 5 2 1 8
          2  Russia 3 3 3 9
          3  Great Britain 2 1 1 4
          4  Turkey 1 1 0 2
          5  Belgium 1 0 0 1
           Brazil 1 0 0 1
           Philippines 1 0 0 1
    4. Typhoon Hagibis struck Japan, causing lage scale damages. It had winds upto 260 KMPH. “Hagibis” means “speed” in the Philippine language Tagalog.
    5. World Youth Chess Championship 2019  held in Mumbai. 
      1. India won 7 medals and stayed at top of tally. It Includes 1 gold, 3 silver, and 3 bronze medals. Russia ranked 2nd with 5 medals.
      2. Indian Medalists -
        Player Event Medal
        Praggnanandhaa R Open U18 Gold
        Agrawal Vantika Girls U18 Silver
        Srihari L R Open U14 Silver
        Deshmukh Divya Girls U14 Silver
        Ghosh Aronyak Open U16 Bronze
        Sreeshwan Maralakshikari Open U14 Bronze
        Ravi Rakshitta Girls U14 Bronze
    6. Book The Great Game in the Buddhist Himalayas: India and China’s Quest for Strategic Dominance, written by Phunchok Stobdan has been released.
    7. Oct 13 is observed as International Day of Disaster Risk Reduction (IDDRR), marked by UN in 1989. 2019 Theme is Reduce disaster damage to critical infrastructure and disruption of basic services.
    8. Joint 2 week long India - US Army exercise Vajra Prahar 2019 began in Seattle (US).
    9. Minister of State for Culture and Tourism (IC) Prahlad Singh Patel participated in BRICS Culture Ministers’ meeting held in Curitiba (Brazil).
    10. After Attending 2nd Informal India- China summit in Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu (called Chennai Connect), Chinese President XI Jinping also visited Nepal. China-Nepal signed agreement for developing 70-km rail link to be constructed as a part of China’s Belt and Road initiative. The link will connect Kathmandu (Nepal capital) with Gyiron in Tibet.
  20. Oct 12, 2019
    1. Chinese President Xi Jinping Visited India, for 2nd informal summit with India. The meet was held at ancient town of Mahabalipuram (Tamil Nadu), called Chennai-Connect.
      1. As the summit was informal, no MOUs were signed. Talks were about enhancing bilateral trade and relations. Kashmir issue was not discussed.
      2. 1st Informal Summit was held in Wuhan (China) in April 2018.
      3. PM Modi accepted Chinese President's Invitation to have 3rd Indo-China informal summit in China in 2020.
      4. India announced significant relaxations in its e-visa policy or rules for Chinese nationals. Decision to offer multiple-entry 5-year visas is offered for a much longer duration than offered till now and meets a long-standing demand from China.
    2. As per Brand Finance Nation Brands 2019 annual report by Brand Finance  -
      1. India  ranked 7th, up from from 9th rank in 2018, with 18.7% growth in brand value to $2562 bn.
      2. Top 5 -
        1. Rank Nation Brand value
          1 USA $27,751 bn
          2 China $19,486 bn
          3 Germany $4,855 bn
          4 Japan $4,533 bn
          5 United Kingdom (UK) $3,851 bn
          7 India $2,562 bn
    3. 2nd edition of Indian Navy(IN) Bangladesh Navy(BN) Coordinated Patrol (CORPAT) held in Northern Bay of Bengal.
    4. Asian Development Bank signed $190 million loan with India to upgrade 754 kilometres of state highways and major district roads (MDRs) in 14 districts of Rajasthan.
    5. RBI introduced a new reporting system for all co-operative banks, called Central Information System for Banking Infrastructure (CISBI). Co-op Banks will submit their information related to their presence points in a single proforma online.
      1. Bank Branch Statistics Division (BBSD) in Department of Statistics and Information Management (DSIM) of RBI will be nodal unit for CISBI.
      2. CISBI has replaced existing system of email-based reporting at branches, which was inefficient.
      3. It has been done after collapse of Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank, following uncovering of 4000 crores fraud.
    6. 7th edition of C40 world mayors Summit 2019 held at Copenhagen (Denmark), with aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve climate resilience.
      1. Kolkata received “6th C40 Cities Bloomberg Philanthropies Awards 2019 ” for city’s green mobility. It is among 7 winners announced by Bloomberg Philanthropies.
      2. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal attended the event.
    7. Oct 12 is observed as World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD). 2019 Theme is “Protect Birds: Be the Solution to Plastic Pollution”.
      1. It is being observed since 2006. Since 2018, WMBD is celebrated twice a year, on the Second Saturday in May and in October. In 2019, it is observed on May 11 and Oct 12.
      2. Oct 12 is also observed as World Arthritis Day.
      3. Also, On Oct 12, Google honored Bengali poetess and activist Kamini Roy with a Doodle. It is her 155th birth anniversary. Kamini Roy was the first woman who received a graduation degree in pre-independence India.
    8. Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy  launched YSR Kanti Velugu Scheme 2019, on the occasion of World Sight Day on Oct 10, 2019. Under this, natives of Andhra can screen their eyes free of cost and spectacles will also be provided. It is a part of Fit India Movement.
    9. Bank of Baroda subsidiary Baroda Asset Management India will merge its mutual fund business with BNP Paribas Asset Management India, a subsidiary of BNP Paribas Asset Management Asia (BNPP AM). The deal has no cash consideration.
    10. Australian Female tennis player Ashleigh Barty has been awarded Australian sport’s highest individual honour, ‘The Don’, at annual Sport Australia Hall of Fame. Barty was the first Australian to win French Open in 46 years.
    11. West Bengal government is setting up Kanyashree University in Nadia district and Kanyashree colleges across state, to empower girls. Kanyashree scheme was started by state government in 2013.
      1. In 2017, Kanyashree scheme won first prize in UN award and the state government was awarded by UN for Public Service for its Kanyashree scheme.
      2. So far the scheme has been allocated a budget of Rs 7,000 crore and has empowered over 60 lakh girl students.
    12. Environmentalist Chandi Prasad Bhatt has been awarded Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration for 2017 and 2018 for his services in promoting and preserving national integration in country.
      1. It was on 31 October 1984, when former PM Indira Gandhi was killed. The award has been institited by Indian National Congress in her memory.
      2. In 1964, Chandi Prasad Bhatt founded Dasholi Gram Swarajya Sangh (DGSS) in Gopeshwar (Uttarakhand). It later became a mother organisation to Chipko Movement. He has earlier been awarded Ramon Magsaysay Award (in 1982) for community leadership, followed by Padma Bhushan (2005) and has also been a recipient of Gandhi Peace Prize.
      3. Award consists of a citation and Rs.10 lakh in cash.
    13. Govt. has set up a panel to suggest measures to augment GST revenue collection, which dropped to 19-month low in September to Rs 91,916 crores, reflecting the slowdown in the economy.
  21. Oct 11, 2019
    1. Hardeep S Puri, Minister of State(I/c)  for Housing & Urban Affairs launched mobile app mHariyali, aimed at encouraging Public engagement in  planting  trees and other such Green drives. App provides for automatic geo-tagging of plants.
    2. Oct 11 is observed as UN International Day of Girl Child, Being observed since 2012. 2019 Theme is GirlForce: Unscripted and Unstoppable.
    3. Kerala Researchers discovered new species of eel-loach named ‘Pangio bhujia’ in Kozhikode district of state. It is unique species of miniature well-dwelling subterranean fish. It is the first species of eel-loach in the world that has been discovered to be living in subterranean environments.
    4. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia allowed women to serve in armed forces, as a part of series of measures aimed towards women empowerment and increasing rights of women.
    5. Home Ministry proposed an amendment to convict makers and users of illegal arms. According to the amendment, the makers of “prohibited” arms and those carrying such arms will be prisoned for life. The bill will be introduced in winter session of parliament.
      1. Arms Act 1959 act was legislated to consolidate and amend laws related to arms and ammunition. It replaced Arms Act 1878.
      2. Arms Act 1878 stipulated that no Indian shall be allowed to bear arms prior to proper permit. No such rules were imposed to British living in India. Act was seen as a major humiliation for India.
    6. United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) become first UN organization to hold and make transactions in cryptocurrency. UNICEF established UNICEF Cryptocurrency Fund, making UNICEF able to receive, hold as well as disburse donations via cryptocurrencies. UNICEF will be funding open source technology that aims to benefit children and young people globally.
    7. India will set up solar and wind projects on fallow lands along the international border with Pakistan.
      1. India has target of 175 GW of clean energy by 2022. Current solar capacity is 82580 MW.
      2. 30 km by 20 km wide parcel of land is identified along border in Kutch district of Gujarat to implement the project. Proposed energy power parks will generate 2,000 MW of energy each.
    8. India officially condemned Turkey’s unilateral military offensive in north-east Syria.
      1. India called upon Turkey to exercise restraint and respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria.
      2. 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria, code-named by Turkey as Operation Peace Spring is an ongoing military operation conducted by Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) and Turkish-allied opposition Syrian National Army (SNA) against areas under Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (NES) and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
      3. US withdrew its troops from northeast Syria, where US had been supporting its Kurdish allies.
    9. Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai launched a Government Railway Police’s website “railways.delhipolice.gov.in” and mobile application “Sahyatri”. Sahyatri app will help railway passengers find out jurisdiction of a police station and details of GRP officials by geo-tagging with Google Maps.
    10. Microsoft Founder Bill Gates’ new book titled “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need” will be released in June 2020.
    11. NASA launched Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) space weather satellite. Ionospheric is layer of the earth’s atmosphere that contains a high concentration of ions and free electrons and is able to reflect radio waves. It will study the dynamic zone in an atmosphere where terrestrial weather from below meets space weather from above for 2 years.
    12. Forbes India Rich List 2019 -
      1. Top 5 -
        1. Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani held top spot for 12th consecutive year with net worth of $51.4 billion.
        2. Gautam Adani - $15.7 billion.
        3. Hinduja brothers - $15.6 billion.
        4. Pallonji Mistry - $15 billion.
        5. Uday Kotak - $14.8 billion
      2. Wipro founder Azim Premji who gave to charity a substantial portion of his fortune in March 2019, saw his net worth plunge to $7.2 billion from $21 billion last year. He ranked at 17th, compared to 2nd last year.
    13. Credit Saison India, domestic subsidiary of Japanese financial Firm Credit Saison, received a licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI ) to set up a non-banking financial company(NBFC) in Bengaluru.
    14. RBI imposed monetary penalty of Rs 12.88 lakh on Prepaid Payment Instrument (PPI) issuer Balancehero India Private Limited for non-compliance of regulatory guidelines. Toyota Financial Services India Limited (TFSIN) has also faced Rs 5 lakh penalty for non-compliance.
    15. United Kingdom will issue a commemorative coin to mark the 150th birth anniversary of M K Gandhi, announced at 21st Edition annual GG2 Leadership Awards ceremony 2019 in London.
    16. India became member of Group of 20 (G20) Global Smart Cities Alliance on Technology Governance which works towards advancing the responsible and ethical use of smart city technologies.
    17. UN called its member states to pay their outstanding dues, amid facing severe financial crisis.
      1. Out of 193 members, 129 had paid their regular budget. The regular budget for the UN for a year is 5.4 billion USD, apart from peace keeping budget of 6.3 billion USD.
      2. India paid its regular contributions of 230 million USD in January 2019.
      3. US funding covers 22% of UN regular budget, more than any other nation. US owes over 1 Billion USD to UN as of now.
  22. Oct 10, 2019 -
    1. General Events / Conferences (Oct 1 - 10, 2019) -
      1. 2-day national workshop ‘Arogya Manthan’ held in New Delhi, organised by National Health Authority (NHA) to mark the first anniversary of Ayushman Bharat (AB)- Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY), which was launched on September 23, 2018 at Ranchi, Jharkhand by PM Narendra Modi.
      2. 9th Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Intersessional Ministerial meeting will be held in Bangkok in Thailand in November 2019. India will be represented by Commerce Minister Piysuh Goyal.
      3. 11th DefExpo will be held for first time in Lucknow between in February 2020, as biennial exhibition of Indian Defense industry's capabilities and its export potential.
      4. Goa Maritime Conclave (GMC) 2019 Inaugurated in Goa, conducted by Naval War College. Theme is “Common Maritime Priorities in IOR and need for Regional Maritime Strategy”.
      5. PM Narendra Modi and Mauritian PM Pravind Jugnauth jointly inaugurated two landmark projects in Mauritius via video conferencing. These projects are Phase-1 of Metro Express service and a new ENT Hospital.
      6. Home Minister Amit Shah inaugurated luxurious Vande Bharat Express - that will run between Delhi and Katra station in Jammu and Kashmir. The train is second of its kind. The first such train was launched between Delhi and Varanasi. With speeds upto 160 KMPH, It is fastest train in India.
        1. Also, Train Sarbat Da Bhala Express has been flagged off train at New Delhi, earlier known as ‘New Delhi-Lohian Khas-New Delhi Intercity Express’ . Request to rename the train was made by Minister of Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal on occasion of 550th Parkash Purb.
        2. Also, UP CM Yogi Adityanath flagged off country’s first private train Delhi-Lucknow Tejas Express. It will be first train of Indian Railways that will be entirely run by Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC).
          1. All passengers travelling by Delhi-Lucknow Tejas Express will be provided free insurance of up to 25 lakh by IRCTC.
          2. Also, As first such initiative, IRCTC will compensate passengers of new Lucknow-Delhi Tejas Express in case of delay in train schedule. INR 100 will be paid for delay delay of over an hour and 250 for delay of more than 2 hours.
      7. Uttar Pradesh (UP) government started a campaign against illegal Bangladeshi migrants, asking state police to run a special movement to identify Bangladeshi citizens.
      8. Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan showcased Bullet Resistant Jackets made under ‘Make in India’ initiative., made using standard (IS 17051: 2018) set by Bureau of India Standard (BIS). Jackets are light weight weighing between 5 kilograms to 10 kilograms andf prices range between 70000 - 80000.
      9. 5th World Parliament of Science, Religion and Philosophy 2019 held in Pune (MH) with theme of ‘Role of Science, Religion and Philosophy for World Peace and well-being of Mankind’.
      10. North East Handloom and Handicraft Exhibition held in Aizawl (Mizoram), attended by Home Minister Amit Shah.
      11. Drone Innovators Network Summit-2019 held in New Delhi, organized by World Economic Forum(WEF) and Ministry of Civil Aviation.
      12. As part of Indian Navy Overseas Deployment, four indigenously built ships of Indian Navy’s First Training Squadron, Tir, Sujata and Shardul and Indian Coast Guard Ship Sarathi arrived at Mombasa Kenya.
      13. Minister of Health Harsh Vardhan launched ‘Trans Fat Free’ logo of FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) at 8th International Chefs’ Conference in New Delhi. Food Facilities that do not have industrial trans-fat over 0.2g per 100g of food, are eligible to display the logo.
        1. Trans Fat is worst type of fats with known health risks. Industrial trans fats are made by adding hydrogen to liquid vegetable oils so as to make them more solid, and to increase shelf life of foods.
      14. 39th World Congress of Poets (WCP) 2019 at Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha. Theme  was Compassion through Poetry. It was held for third time in India, after 1986 and 2007. It was held in 3 languages English, Spanish and Chinese.
      15. Global Conference on ‘Spirituality for Unity, Peace and Prosperity’ organized by Prajapita Brahma Kumaris Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya at Mount Abu (Rajasthan).
      16. 50th (Golden Jubilee edition) of International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2019 will be held in Goa in November 2019, with Russia as partner country. Dadasaheb Phalke Award 2019 winner Amitabh Bachchan will be honoured on the occasion.
      17. 1st Government-operated Day-Care cum Recreation Centre for senior citizens inaugurated in Leh.
      18. Jal Shakti Ministry launched Ganga Aamantran Abhiyan, a unique open-water rafting and kayaking expedition on Ganga River to create awareness on Ganga rejuvenation and water conservation.  It will be held between October 10 to November 11, 2019. Expedition will start from Devprayag and end at Ganga Sagar, covering whole stretch of 2500 Km of Ganga River.
      19. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar inaugurated e-Vidyabharti (tele-education) and e-ArogyaBharti (Tele-Medicine) projects for all the 54 African countries in New Delhi on 55th anniversary of Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation(ITEC).
    2. Visits to India (Oct 1 - 10, 2019) -
      1. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Visited India.
        1. 7 MOUs Signed, Including -
          1. India and Bangladesh signed MoU to set up a coastal surveillance radar system in Bangladesh to harness bilateral defence cooperation and to build a closer maritime security partnership between the two countries.
          2. Standard Operating Procedure on use of Chattogram and Mongola ports.
          3. Withdrawal of 1.82 cusec of water from Feni river for drinking water scheme for Sabroom town, Tripura.
          4. Implementation of Line of Credit committed committed by India to Bangladesh
          5. Renewal of Cultural Exchange program – Cooperation in Youth Affairs.
          6. MoU between University of Dhaka and University of Hyderabad.
          7. Cultural Exchange Programme- Renewal
          8. MoU on Co-operation in Youth Affairs
        2. Inaugurated 3 bilateral development partnership projects -
          1. Import of Bulk LPG from Bangladesh
          2. Inauguration of Vivekananda Bhaban (students hostel) at Ramakrishna Mission, Dhaka
          3. Inauguration of Bangladesh-India Professional Skill Development Institute (BIPSDI) at the Institution of Diploma Engineers Bangladesh (IDEB), Khulna
        3. She also attended 33rd India Economic Summit of World Economic Forum in Delhi.
        4. She attended India - Bangladesh Business Forum in New Delhi. 2 Government to Business (G2B) MoUs were signed between Start up Bangladesh and Tech Mahindra and Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority and Adani Ports and SEZs.
      2. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance of Singapore, Heng Swee Keat Visited India.
    3. Oct 10 is Observed as World Mental Health Day by World Health Organization. 2019 Theme is Suicide Prevention. It was first celebrated in 1992 at the initiative of the World Federation for Mental Health.
      1. Oct 10, 2019 is also observed as World Sight Day. It is observed annually on second Thursday of October.
    4. Visits from India (Oct 1 - 10, 2019) -
      1. Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Steel visited Mongolia.
        1. He attended commissioning infrastructure facilities constructed to support 1.5 MMT (million metric tonnes) oil refinery project in Mongolia. It is largest project under India's Lines of Credit (LoC) programme. It is Mongolia’s first petrochemical refinery.
        2. Indian LoC of USD 236 million was announced to Mongolia from its previous committed value of US$ 1 billion. This project will meet 3/4th of oil requirement of Mongolia.
        3. Construction of petrochemical refinery will be completed by 2022, to be built near Sainshand in the southern Dornogovi province.
      2. Defence minister Rajnath Singh visited France. He received first of the 36 Dassault Rafale aircrafts. On this occasion, Mr. Rajnath Singh also pertormed Shastra Pujan of the Rafale Jet. All 36 Rafale jets are to be received by India by 2022.
      3. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar Visited US. He firmly defended India's right to buy S-400 missile weapon system from Russia despite threat of sanctions from US.
    5. World Space Week is observed between Oct 4 - 10 Annually. 2019 Theme is The Moon: Gateway to the stars. It was designated by UN in 1999.
      1. It marks oct 4, 1957, launch of first human – made earth satellite, Sputnik 1.
    6. World Health Organisation (WHO) launched its first report on vision, which states that nearly 2.2 billion people live with vision impairment or blindness globally, in which over one billion cases could have been prevented or have yet to be addressed.
    7. Singapore became first country to ban ads for unhealthy sugary drinks, to combat rising diabetes rates. It requested SSB (sugar-sweetened beverages) manufacturers to formulate drinks with less sugar content.
    8. PSU Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) and National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) partnered to formulate an electricity distribution plan to install smart electricity meters in all households. Joint venture called IntelliSmart Infrastructure Pvt Ltd (IntelliSmart) will execute, finance and operate smart meter program.
    9. First satellite-servicing spacecraft named “MEV-1” (Mission Extension Vehicle-1) launched by Russia, onboard Proton rocket. It was developed by Northrop Grumman (US) for its subsidiary Space Logistics LLC, in partnership with NASA.
      1. It will attempt first-ever docking between two spacecraft near geostationary orbit (nearly 36,000 kilometers over equator).
      2. It will link up with 18-year-old Intelsat communications satellite in early 2020.
      3. Once docked with satellite, it will take over propulsion for Intelsat 901 satellite, which is running low on fuel. It will extend its useful life by 5 years.
    10. Researchers at Shiv Nadar University (Greater Noida) discovered two strains of 'plastic-eating' bacteria from wetlands of Greater Noida. It may lead to eco-friendly alternative clean-up methods for plastic waste. The discovered bacterial strains have potential to decompose polystyrene -- a key component in Single-Use Plastic (SUP) items.
      1. Bacterial species namely Exiguobacterium sibiricum strain DR11 and Exiguobacterium undae strain DR14 were isolated from the wetlands adjoining the university.
    11. Russia honoured NASA astronaut Nick Hague with one of its highest honours, “The Order of Courage“. Nick Hague survived an aborted space launch with Russian cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin when their Soyuz rocket failed minutes after blast-off from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in October 2018.
    12. SUMAN (Surakshit Matritva Aashwasan) scheme launched during conference of Central Council of Health and Family Welfare in New Delhi.
      1. Scheme provides free medicines for pregnant women and bring down Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) and Infant Mortality Rate (IMR).
      2. Mother up to 6 months after delivery and sick new born will be able to avail free health care.
    13. RBI approved Kerala Government's Proposal of formation of Kerala Bank, by merging 13 District Co-operative Banks (DCBs) with Kerala State Co-operative Bank. Kerala Bank will be largest banking network in state.
    14. RBI rejected proposed of merger between Indiabulls Housing Finance and Lakshmi Vilas bank.
      1. Earlier, Competition Commission of India had approved the merger in June 2019.
      2. Reason is not stated by RBI. It is speculated that RBI rejected merger because of LVB's high NPA and negative return on assets recently.
      3. Due to performance-related concerns, RBI had put Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) under Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) framework.
    15. Health System Strengthening Conditionality Report of States 2018-19  released by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW). 14 states / UTs were penalised under National Health Mission (NHM) for their worst performances on various health parameters in 2018-19.
      1. Penalised states will lose funds from the central government due to their poor performance.
      2. Top 5 - Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Haryana, Assam, Kerala and Punjab.
      3. Worst states - 14 states and UTs with Bihar, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram were the worst performing states. 3 hilly states Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand received penalty due to non-fulfilment of conditionality. Among the 8 North-Eastern (NE) states, 4 did not meet the eligibility criteria. But Assam, Tripura and Manipur earned incentives.
    16. Government launched GEMINI (Gagan Enabled Mariner’s Instrument for Navigation and Information) device that will provide information related to disaster warning. It is designed for fishermen about disasters when they are 10 to 12 km away from coast.
      1. GAGAN is GPS Aided Geo Augmented Navigation. Satellites GSAT – 8 and GSAT – 10 have GAGAN payloads.
    17. India Meteorological Department (IMD) collaborated with related agencies in China and Pakistan and other nations, to provide climate forecast services to countries in Hindu-Kush-Himalayan (HKH) region. These countries have agreed to establish regional climate centre that will provide forecasting services and climate analyses.
      1. Hindu-Kush-Himalayan region is considered the Third Pole, as It contains vast cryospheric zones and is also the world’s largest store of snow and ice outside the polar region. It spans Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
  23. Oct 9, 2019
    1. Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) and Indian Institute of Management Bangalore will launch a new 2-year program called ‘Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship’ (RGNF), to train young and dynamic individuals. It will be launched on a pilot basis in Gujarat, Karnataka, Meghalaya, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.
    2. Bengaluru-based fintech start-up Shubh Loans received Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) license from RBI, through its subsidiary ‘Ekagrata ‘of its parent company Datasigns Technologies.
    3. Bombay Stock Exchange Partnered with FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry), to promote MSMEs and startups. A session was organised to promote Udyam Saathi and Udyam Sakhi initiatives to foster MSME sector.
    4. World Bank (WB) released a report titled “World Development Report (WDR) 2020: Trading for Development in the Age of Global Value Chains”. Report states that Global value chains (GVCs) can help developing economies to enhance growth.
    5. University of Salford in Greater Manchester, England honored Indian playback singer Asha Bhosle with an honorary Doctorate of Arts degree in recognition of her contribution to field of music.
    6. Book titled “Carpenters and Kings: Western Christianity and the Idea of India” written by Siddhartha Sarma has been released.
    7. Government of Goa replaced traditional ‘dial 100’ with new integrated emergency number ‘dial 112’ for police, fire and medical emergencies.
    8. Short film from Kerala “Spirit Of Kerala” has won the People’s Choice Award at My Rode Reel film competition, touted as ‘world’s largest short film competition’.
    9. Infosys selected as main supplier to deliver Volvo Cars’ digital transformation services for its enterprise digital commercial operations applications and products.
    10. Oct 9 is observed as World Post Day. It marks establishment of Universal Postal Union in 1874 in Swiss Capital, Bern. It was declared in 1969.
      1. Also, Breast Cancer Awareness month is observed annually from October 1 till October 31 in order to raise awareness it.
    11. India ranked 68th in annual Global Competitiveness Index 2019 compiled by World Economic Forum -
      1. The Forum has mapped 141 countries using 103 indicators. India had dropped 10 places.
      2. Top 5 - Singapore (1), US (2), Hong Kong (3), Netherlands (4), Switzerland (5th).
      3. Asia Pacific was the most competitive region, followed by Europe and North America.
    12. 300 scientists from across globe began MOSAIC expedition, as largest Arctic expedition ever, being conducted Alfred Wegner Institute of Germany. MOSAIC is Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for Study of Arctic Climate. Among the scientists, Vishnu Nandan from Kerala is only Indian.
    13. A new antibiotic has been discovered in a tropical rainforest in Mexico, with its unique properties making it attractive for use in agriculture. Known as phazolicin, it was recently isolated deep in tropical forests of Los Tuxtlas, Mexico. It is expected to be able to strike against several types of bacteria.
    14. HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ launched Pradhan Mantri Innovative Learning Programme- ‘DHRUV’ from ISRO HQ at Bengaluru, which aims to allow talented students to realize their full potential and contribute to society.
      1. It will identify and encourage talented children to enrich their skills and knowledge.
      2. 60 students have been selected in the first batch, to go through programme of around 14 days' duration. Every student to be called ‘DHRUV TARA’. It will cover two areas i.e. Science and Performing Arts, with 30 students from each area.
    15. Health & Family Welfare Minister Harsh Vardhan launched The WHO India Country Cooperation Strategy 2019–2023: A Time of Transition, as a strategic roadmap for WHO to work with Government towards achieving its health sector goals.
      1. 4 areas identified for strategic cooperation of WHO with country - Accelerate progress on UHC, Promote health and wellness by addressing determinants of health, Protect population better against health emergencies and enhance India’s global leadership in health.
    16. Cabinet Approvals (Oct 9, 2019) -
      1. Approved releasing additional instalment of Dearness Allowance (DA) to Central Government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners w.e.f. 01.07.2019 representing an increase of 5% over the existing rate of 12% of Basic pay/Pension.
      2. Approved Inclusion of 5300 DP families of Jammu & Kashmir-1947 who initially opted to move outside J & K but later settled there, in Rehabilitation Package approved by Cabinet on 30.11.2016 for Displaced Families PoJK and Chhamb under the PM’s Development Package 2015 for Jammu & Kashmir.
      3. Approved relaxation of mandatory requirement of Aadhaar Seeded data as a pre-condition for release of funds to the beneficiaries under Pradhan Mantri KisanSamman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) scheme, which provides support of Rs 6,000 per year to landholding families.
        1. Under this, after 1st August 2019, release of Installments to beneficiaries is to be made only on basis of Aadhaar seeded database. Farmers in Assam, Meghalaya and J&K, where there has not been enough Aadhaar penetration, have been exempted from this requirement till 31.3.2020.
        2. However, it is been possible to get 100% Aadhaar seeding for release of funds before prescribed time. Since farmers are in dire need of money to take care of various farming activities, mandatory requirement of Aadhaar seeding for release of benefits after 1st August 2019 has been relaxed till 30th November 2019.
      4. Approved MoUs between India and Foreign Broadcasters in field of Radio and Television. This will help Public broadcaster in exploring new visions, New Strategies to address demands of new technologies and stiff competition, Media liberalization and Globalization.
      5. Approved doubling honorarium for ten lakh ASHA workers from existing 1000 rupees to 2000 rupees per month. Government will also open 40,000 wellness centres in 2019 under Ayushman Bharat Scheme.
    17. Govt. gave green nod for developing a commercial airport in Kutch, Gujarat, entailing an investment of about Rs 1400 crores. It will be developed by Mundra International Airport Pvt Ltd. Proposal is to develop existing airstrip in Mundra into a full-fledged commercial airport.
  24. Oct 8, 2019
    1. Oct 8 is observed as Indian Air Force Day. 2019 is 87th observance of the day.
      1. On this occasion, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh received first of the 36 Dassault Rafale fighter jets on behalf of India, during his France Visit.
      2. Oct 8 also marks Festival of Vijaydashmi. On this occasion, Mr. Rajnath Singh also pertormed Shastra Pujan of the Rafale Jet. All 36 Rafale jets are to be received by India by 2022.
      3. On this occasion, PM Narendra Modi released commemorative stamp to honour Marshal of Air Force late Arjan Singh.
      4. Indian Air Force has released a promotional video on Balakot airstrike, which killed over 200 pakistani terrorists.
      5. Also, Wildlife Week is observed across country every year between 2nd October and 8th October.
    2. Govt. inaugurated National e-Assessment Scheme (NeAS) in New Delhi, which along with National e-Assessment Centre (NeAC) would benefit Income Tax department in imparting efficiency in assessment process and would have no physical interface between taxpayers and tax officers.
      1. Faceless assessment of IT returns is a completely electronic communication between tax officials and taxpayers.
      2. CBDT has set up National e-Assessment Centre (NeAC) for electronically assessing the tax returns which would reduce human interventions thereby reducing corruption. CBDT appointed Krishna Mohan Prasad as first Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (Pr.CCIT) of NeAC.
    3. Indian-origin Arjun Bansal and Ankiti Bose named in Fortune’s 2019 “40 Under 40 List”. Arjun is Vice President of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Software and AI Lab at US tech company Intel. Ankiti is CEO of fashion platform Zilingo.
    4. 4th Edition of report titled e-Conomy SEA report 2019:Powering Southeast Asia’s $100 billion Internet economy jointly released by Google, Singapore investment company Temasek and American consultancy Bain & Company.
      1. Southeast Asia’s internet economy is on course to reach US$100bn in 2019, a 39% increase from $72bn in 2018. It is expected to be $300bn by 2025.
      2. Indonesia’s internet economy is the largest in region, at $40 billion in 2019, and expected to be $133 billion by 2025. Vietnam’s internet economy is forecast to reach $12 billion in 2019 and up to $43 billion in 2025.
    5. Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Ramesh Pandey will be honored with 4th United Nations Asia Environmental Enforcement Award 2019 by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), for combating trans-boundary environmental crime.
      1. He introduced M-Stripes (Monitoring System for Tigers Intensive Protection & Ecological Status), a novel software-based patrolling in Dudhwa Tiger Reserve, UP on the recommendation of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) to avoid poaching.
    6. Archaeologists in Israel unveiled remains of a 5,000-year-old city believed to be the biggest in the region from the Bronze Age. The site known as “En Esur” included fortifications, a ritual temple, and a cemetery. An even earlier settlement, believed to be 7,000 years old, was discovered beneath the city.
    7. Research led by University of California (US) discovered 20 new moons orbiting Saturn, increasing its tally of moons to 82. It surpassed the number of moons orbiting Jupiter planet which stands at 79. They were discovered using Subaru telescope atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii (US) and were about five kilometers in diameter.
    8. Former US First Lady Michelle Obama‘s second book titled “Becoming: A Guided Journal for Discovering Your Voice” will release in Nov 2019.
    9. Telangana police taken up a high tech initiative to integrate their police patrol systems with passenger cabs, To provide safety to passengers, especially women. It is 1st such initiative in country. This is being done using police’s ‘Hawkeye’ app that is connected to every taxi aggregator app that provides a cab service facility.
    10. England Cricket Board appointed Chris Silverwood (UK) as new head coach, replacing Trevor Bayliss.
    11. SEBI notified that only FPIs (Foreign Portfolio Investors) located in FATF countries or managed by an enterprise based under FATF jurisdiction can deal in Participatory Notes.
      1. P-Notes are financial instruments required by investors to invest in Indian stock markets without being registered with SEBI.
      2. It is based on recommendaton made by HR Khan Committee.
      3. The step will majorly affect funds from Mauritius and Cayman Islands. They are not FATF members and a major portion, 15 to 20% of FPI comes from these countries.
    12. According to RBI Consumer Confidence Survey 2019, the consumer confidence has dipped to a six-year low, due to decline in employment, income and discretionary spending. Current Situation Index fell to 89.4 whereas it was 95.7 in July 2019.
    13. Government formed Inter-Ministerial Coordination Committee chaired by revenue secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey to check money laundering activities. Objective is to facilitate coordination among the law enforcement agencies, intelligence agencies and various regulators in matters relating to countering of terror financing and money laundering.
  25. Oct 7, 2019
    1. 2019 China Open Tennis -
      1. Men's Singles - Dominic Thiem (Austria), defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas (Greece)
      2. Women's Singles - Naomi Osaka (Japan), defeated Ashleigh Barty (Australia)
      3. Men's Doubles - Croatia Ivan Dodig AND Slovakia Filip Polášek
      4. Women's Doubles - Sofia Kenin (US) AND Bethanie Mattek-Sands (US)
    2. Japanese life insurer Nippon Life Insurance renamed Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management (RNAM) as Nippon India Mutual Fund (NIMF) after acquiring 75 % stake in RNAM from Reliance Capital for around Rs 6,000 crores.
    3. IRDAI constituted a working group chaired by T.L. Alamelu to review the product structure of title insurance, which covers any loss caused due to a defect in ‘title’ of the property arising out of third-party challenges.
    4. Goa-origin Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa won re-election of Prime Minister of Portugal.
    5. Houston Tamil Studies Chair (HTSC) made $2 million pledge to University of Houston to establish an endowment supporting the study of Tamil heritage. HTSC was founded in 2018 to establish Tamil studies chair at Houston University and provide a forum for growing population of over 250,000 Tamil-Americans.
    6. ITC partnered with Andhra Pradesh Government to develop a chilli value chain and improve quality of chilli output. An integrated Agri Extension Platform for chilli farmers has been conceptualized.
    7. Oct 7, 2019 is observed as UN World Habitat Day (first Monday of October). 2019 Theme is Frontier Technologies as an innovative tool to transform waste to wealth and global observance of World Habitat Day 2019 Held in Mexico.
    8. 2019 Japan Open Men's Tennis -
      1. Singles - Novak Djokovic (Serbia)
      2. Doubles - France's Nicolas Mahut AND Édouard Roger-Vasselin
    9. India received details of accounts of Indians in Swiss banks, as first tranche of information shared by Switzerland with India under AEOI (Automatic Exchange of Information) framework. Switzerland exchanged account details with 75 countries including India.
      1. To combat black money deposited in Swiss banks, India and Switzerland signed an agreement in December 2017 that allowed automatic sharing of tax-related information from January 2018.
    10. Ministry of Science and Technology launched new crackers called Eco – friendly crackers, that can help reduce particulate emissions by 30% by producing same level of light and sound, developed by CSIR. Regular crackers release Barium Nitrate the main pollutant. It is now replaced with Potassium Nitrate.
    11. World Cotton Day (WCD) organized by WTO in Geneva (Switzerland) during Oct 7 - 11, 2019, in collaboration with UN and several agencies. World Cotton Day is being observed for the first time. Textiles Minister Smriti Irani participated on India's Behalf.
      1. During the event, India announced launch of second phase of Cotton Technical Assistance Programme (TAP) for Africa. In 5 year long second phase, programme will be introduced in 5 additional countries, namely Mali, Ghana, Togo, Zambia and Tanzania. Cotton TAP programme will now cover 11 African countries.
      2. India implemented a Technical Assistance Programme (TAP) for cotton in 6 African countries – Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Malawi, Nigeria and Uganda from 2012 to 2018.
    12. Health and Family Welfare Minister Harsh Vardhan launched eDantseva website and mobile application, the first ever national digital platform on oral health information and knowledge dissemination.
    13. Competition Commission of India (CCI) given its approval under the 'green channel' route to acquisition of Essel Mutual Fund by a Sachin Bansal-owned entity. This is first clearance under the 'green channel' route, a speedier approval mechanism put in place by CCI.
  26. Oct 6, 2019
    1. UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) appointed Mexican actress Yalitza Aparicio as its goodwill ambassador for indigenous people.
    2. China laundhed Gaofen-10 Earth Imaging satellite into space, onboard Long March 4C rocket.
    3. Indian army began its first ever mountain combat exervise called Himvijay in Arunachal Pradesh, to be conducted in 2 phases.
    4. As a first, Researchers in USA captured images of formation of viruses from particles, with mechanism of particles self assembling to form a parasite. This will help to find new treatment approaches for viral diseases. The study shows that viruses can derive themselves from any particle. However, they require specific strata like that nucleic acid. Researchers are still puzzled about the nucleus assembly.
    5. Book written by Fakir Hassen, titled 150 Years of Celebrating the Mahatma the South African Legacy launched in South Africa.
    6. Fulpati festival celebrated in Nepal with gaiety and religious fervour, observed on seventh day of Dashain festival.
    7. India’s 1st plant to produce diesel from plastic waste in Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh has been launched. It will process 6 tons of plastic to make diesel, in a day.
    8. 2019 World Athletics Championships (Doha, Qatar) -
      1. 1972 Atheletes from 209 Nations Participated.
      2. 27 Indian atheletes participated. India could not win a medal at the events. India had three finalists - Mixed 4x400m relay, men’s 3000m steeplechase (Avinash Sable) and women’s javelin throw (Annu Rani). India was ranked 58th and India’s Avinash Sable qualified for Tokyo Olympics in men’s 3000m steeplechase event.
      3. Medal Table -
      4. Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
        1  United States  14 11 4 29
        2  Kenya  5 2 4 11
        3  Jamaica  3 5 4 12
        4  China  3 3 3 9
        5  Ethiopia  2 5 1 8
  27. Oct 5, 2019
    1. 10th edition of Joint Military Exercise Ekuverin between Indian and Maldives Armies began in Pune (Maharashtra).
    2. 14th edition of Indo – Mongolian joint military Exercise Nomadic Elephant began at Bakloh (Himachal Pradesh).
    3. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh approved enhancing monetary assistance to Next of Kin (NoK) of all categories of Battle Casualty (BC) from Rs two lakh to Rs eight lakh. The amount will be granted under Army Battle Casualties Welfare Fund (ABCWF).
    4. Global Firepower Index (GFP) Report 2019, comparing War Making Strength of Nations -
      1. India has beeen ranked 4th with PowerIndex (PwrIndx) score of 0.1065 and in South Asia.
      2. Top 5 - US, Russia, China, India, France
      3. Cash-Strapped Pakistan Ranked 15th and Bangladesh 45th.
    5. Vinod Kumar Sharma has been appointed as new Lokpal by Punjab State government. Govt failed to amend Punjab Lokpal Act1996, hence leaving the Chief Minister and Cabinet ministers out of Lokpal's ambit.
    6. 1st International Institute for Management Development’s (IMD’s) Smart Cities Index 2019 -
      1. Top 5 - Singapore, Zurich (Switzerland), Oslo (Norway), Geneva (Switzerland), Copenhagen (Denmark)
      2. Top Indian Cities - Hyderabad (67th), New Delhi (68th), Mumbai (78th) and Bengaluru (79th).
    7. Oct 5 is observed as World Teachers Day, marked by UNESCO since 1994. 2019 Theme is Young Teachers: The Future of the Profession.
      1. Note that National Teachers' Day in India is observed on Sep 5. It commemorates Birth anniversary of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, first Vice President and second President of India.
    8. US unemployment rate fell to 50 year low of 3.5%, down from 3.7% earlier. Reason is economical development and over 1.3 lakh jobs added in September 2019.
    9. Cabinet approved new process of strategic disinvestment to privatize selected Public Sector Units, with Department of Investment and Public Asset Management as nodal agency.
      1. In Budget 2019-20, divestment target was raised from 90,000 crore rupees to 1.05 lakh crore rupees.
      2. DIPAM and NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India) will jointly identify PSUs for strategic disinvestment. Earlier, only NITI Aayog used to identify PSUs to be disinvested.
    10. ICICI Bank signed pact with CSC e-Governance Services India to extend its banking and other services to country’s rural regions. ICICI Bank will engage more than 3 lakh CSCs working at last mile as banking correspondents.
    11. National Health Authority (NHA) partnered with Google to collaborate in implementation of government’s flagship health insurance scheme, Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY). Google will support NHA in strengthening PM-JAY’s online presence and showcasing relevant content to beneficiaries.
    12. Govt. approved setting up Tripura's first-ever SEZ at Sabroom, with estimated investment of 1550 Crores and will create approx 12000 jobs.
    13. Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) partnered to set up country’s first e-waste clinic in Bhopal.
    14. NASA received its first all-electric experimental aircraft X-57, from Empirical Systems Aerospace (ESAero). X-57's Mod II vehicle features replacement of traditional combustion engines on a baseline Tecnam P2006T aircraft, with electric cruise motors.
  28. Oct 4, 2019
    1. RBI 4th Bi-monthly Monetary Policy Review -
      1. RBI reduced repo rate by 25 basis points (bps), to 5.15% (from 5.40%).
      2. Reverse repo rate stands revised to 4.90%.
      3. Marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and Bank Rate revised to 5.40%.
      4. RBI has also reduced GDP growth projection for 2019-20 from 6.9% to 6.1%.
      5. Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) Stands at 18.75 % and CRR (Cash Reserve Ratio) Stands at 4 %.
      6. RBI Monetary Policy committee comprises six members -
        1. 3 RBI officials (Term 3 years) - Shaktikanta Das (RBI Governor and MPC Chairperson), Bibhu Prasad Kanungo (RBI Deputy Governor), Michael Debabrata Patra (RBI Officer Nominated by Govt)
        2. 3 external members nominated by Government (term 4 years) - Ravindra H. Dholakia, Chetan Ghate, Pami Dua.
        3. Current mandate of committee is to maintain 4% annual inflation until 31 March 2021 with an upper tolerance of 6% and a lower tolerance of 2%.
    2. Oct 4 is observed as World Animal Day, an international day of action for animal rights and welfare.
    3. World Space Week (WSW) observed from 4 to 10 October globally.
    4. World Economic Forum organized 33rd India Economic Summit in New Delhi, in collaboration with Confederation of Indian Industry. Theme is Innovating India: Strengthening South Asia, Impacting the World.
      1. During the summit, 10th India Social Entrepreneur of Year Award 2019 was given to Shanti Raghavan & Dipesh Sutariya of EnAble India.
    5. Typhoon Mitag hit South Korea and Japan with heavy rain and strong winds, causing large scale damage.
    6. Government appointed New Chief Justices to seven High Courts -
      1. Lingappa Narayana Swamy - Himachal Pradesh High Court
      2. Ravi ShankerJha - Punjab and Haryana High Court
      3. Indrajit Mohanty - Rajasthan High Court
      4. Arup K. Goswami - Sikkim High Court
      5. Ajai Lamba - Gauhati High Court
      6. J.K. Maheshwari - Andhra Pradesh High Court
      7. S. Manikumar - Kerala High Court
    7. Andhra Pradesh CM Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy launched first of its kind Village Secretariat system at Karapa village near Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh. It has set up village and ward secretariats which act as a bridge between the government and the people by rendering over 500 types of services at their doorstep.
      1. YSR Rythu Bharosa scheme will also be implemented from October 15, 2019 under which Rs 15,000 per annum will be given to families of farmers in state.
      2. Under ‘YSR Vahan Mitra’ scheme, auto-rickshaw and cab owners will be provided Rs 10,000 per annum as financial assistance.
    8. Indian Army inducted small Spike anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM) of Israel in order to meet the operational requirements till DRDO develops indigenous man portable ATGM (MP-ATGM).
      1. Procurement from Israel is done as currently there is nearly a 50% shortage of authorized holding of different types of ATGMs.
      2. Present ATGMs available with Army - Milan-2T and Konkurs , do not have night-fighting capabilities, which these Israeli missiles are capable of.
    9. MoU signed between India and Syria to upgrade existing India-Syria Center for Excellence in Information and Technology (IT) to the Next Generation Center for Excellence in Information and Technology (NexGen-ISCEIT) situated in Damascus. It will work on concept of “Train the Trainers” and will help in rapid expansion of IT Sector in Syria.
    10. Peddapalli district of Telangana became first in 2019 rural Swachhta survey to become cleanest district in India. Most improved district was Haryana’s Faridabad, which moved to 2nd place in 2019 from previous rank of 71 in 2018. Haryana’s Rewari ranks 3rd.
      1. Tamil Nadu topped list of large states, with Haryana and Gujarat 2nd and 3rd respectively.
      2. Survey was carried out in 17,000 villages of 690 districts.
    11. As per report 2019 Southwest Monsoon Season Rainfall and IMD’s Long Range Forecasts by IMD (India Meteorological Department) -
      1. Haryana had highest number of dry districts, 19 out of 21, including three where rainfall was very less.
      2. Haryana was 2nd most rain deficit state after Manipur (rain deficit of 56%).
    12. Scientists from Vermont University (US) developed strongest silver ever – 42% stronger than the previous world record. It was made by mixing trace amount of copper into silver, that transformed two types of inherent nanoscale defects into a powerful internal structure. It also helps in maintaining its electrical conductivity.
    13. Rajasthan became first state to launch a policy on Pneumoconiosis , titled Pneumoconiosis Detection, Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation. in January 2015, it had became first state to notify Pneumoconiosis as an epidemic. Pneumoconiosis is a disease of the lungs due to inhalation of dust, characterized by inflammation, coughing, and fibrosis.
      1. People with pneumoconiosis will be declared permanently disabled, and benefits under PWD Act 1995, will be accrued to them.
      2. They are entitled to receive a pension up to Rs 1,250 per month and Family pension of 3500 per month will be provided to legal heir for 5 years or till child becomes self dependent.
      3. Rs 4 lakh (up from Rs 2 lakh) will be given as one time assistance after certification from Pneumoconiosis Board.
      4. 4000 per month or 50% of prescribed minimum wages of unskilled workers, whichever is higher during the lifetime of the worker.
      5. Financial assistance for education: One time education assistance for children Rs 25,000. Maximum-2 children only.
      6. Funeral assistance of 10000 to dependants to perform the last rites of the victim. 1 lakh to nominee/legal heir of deceased victim.
    14. Ministry of Tourism launches Audio Guide facility App called ‘Audio Odigos’ for 12 sites of India (including Iconic Sites), during ongoing celebrations of nationwide 3rd ‘Paryatan Parv 2019’.
      1. With Audio Odigos, tourists will be able to enjoy more enriching experience and take back historical insights of Indian culture and heritage. It is outcome of MoU signed by Tourism Ministry with Resbird Technologies in 2018.
      2. 12 sites where Audio Guide facility Audio Odigos can be used -
        1. Rajasthan- Amer Fort
        2. Delhi- Chandni Chowk, Red Fort, Purana Quila and Humayun’s tomb
        3. Uttar Pradesh- Fatehpur Sikri and Taj Mahal
        4. Gujarat- Somnath and Dholavira
        5. Madhya Pradesh- Khajuraho
        6. Tamilnadu- Mahabalipuram
        7. Bihar- Mahabodhi Temple
    15. To boost Electric Vehicles, Ministry of Power and New & Renewable Energy approved amendments in Electric Vehicle Charging Guidelines and Specifications, to supersede earlier guidelines issued by Ministry of Power in Dec 2018.
      1. Phase-wise installation of appropriate network of Charging Infrastructure throughout country has been envisaged, ensuring that at least one Charging Station should be available in a grid of 3 Km X 3 Km in cities and 1 Charging Station at every 25 Km on both sides of highways.
      2. To address concerns in inter-city travel and long range and heavy duty EVs it has been provided that Fast Charging Station for long range and heavy duty EVs shall be installed at every 100 Kms.
      3. It has been provided that the domestic charging shall be akin to domestic consumption of electricity and shall be charged as such. However, in case of Public Charging Stations, it has been provided that tariff for the supply of electricity to PCS shall be determined by the appropriate commission.
    16. Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) India launched Youth Co:Lab which aims at accelerating social entrepreneurship and innovation in young India. Young entrepreneurs and innovators will get a chance to connect with governments, mentors, incubators and investors, who will help equip them with entrepreneurial skills.
      1. First phase of Youth Co:Lab will focus on six SDGs: SDG 5 (Gender Equality), SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), SDG 12 (Sustainable Consumption and Production) and SDG 13 (Climate Action).
      2. Co-created in 2017 by UNDP and the Citi Foundation, and operational in 25 countries across the Asia Pacific region, the Youth Co:Lab initiative aims to create an enabling ecosystem to promote youth leadership, innovation, and social entrepreneurship.
    17. India’s new monsoon model, called the Monsoon Mission Coupled Forecast Model (CFS), failed to forecast excess rainfall received during August-September 2019. It was deployed by IMD under National Monsoon Mission. In 2019, India recorded its highest monsoon rain in 25 years.
      1. CFS is a dynamical model, also called Climate Forecast Model (CFS). It has been developed based on a climate model developed by National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), U.S. and has been implemented on Prithvi High Performance Computers (HPC) at Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune.
  29. Oct 3, 2019
    1. New India Assurance company signed inter-creditor agreements (ICAs) for debt exposure to debt instruments of Reliance Home Finance and Dewan Housing Finance. This is first such instance of an insurance company entering into ICAs for debt resolution.
    2. Uttarakhand CM Trivendra Singh Rawat launched an awareness campaign “Urjagiri” which aims at stopping power theft and saving.
    3. Sushil Chandra Mishra has been appointed as MD and CEO of Oil India Limited.
    4. England Cricketer Ben Stokes has been voted Professional Cricketers’ Association player of the year at PCA awards. Tom Banton named PCA young player of the year and bowler Sophie Ecclestone collected women’s player of the summer award.
    5. Human rights lawyer from Kyrgyzstan Azizbek Ashurov has been awarded 2019 UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) prestigious Nansen Award. It consists cash prize of USD 150,000 prize. UNHCR hailed Azizbek Ashurov for helping Kyrgyzstan become the world’s first country to end statelessness, working through his organisation Ferghana Valley Lawyers Without Borders (FVLWB).
    6. 4th Annual India - Kazakhstan Joint Army exercise KAZIND 2019 commenced at Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand.
    7. Researchers found an undiscovered dried-up river during the geophysical survey in Kaushambi and Prayagraj region in Uttar Pradesh. This river was a link between Ganga and Yamuna rivers.
      1. A remnant (Palaeochannel) of an inactive river shows was found about 26 km south of the current Ganga-Yamuna confluence at Prayagraj. It was about 4 km wide and 45km long river.
    8. India won a decades-old legal dispute with Pakistan over funds belonging to 7th Nizam of Hyderabad at UK Court. High Court of England and Wales ruled in favour of India and Nizam's descendants and dismissed Pakistan's claims in a legal battle involving £35 million. 
      1. Nizam VII, Mir Osman Ali Khan, last ruler of Hyderabad had transferred a sum of 1 million pounds for safe-keeping to Pakistan’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Habib Ibrahim Rahimtoola, in 1948. Money was transferred from state of Hyderabad’s bank account to Rahimtoola’s account in UK’s National Westminster Bank. The amount, which has now grown in value to 35 million pounds or Rs 306 crore, continues to remain in UK bank.
      2. Descendants of Nizam VII- Mukarram Jah (Titular Nizam VIII) and his younger brother Muffakham Jah claimed the amount, however, Pakistan disputed their claim.
      3. Pakistan claimed the money to be the payment for supplying weapons to Hyderabad.
    9. Chandrayaan2’s Orbiter payload CLASS detected charged particles on moon, observing intensity variations in its first passage through Moon’s orbit.
      1. CLASS is able to detect direct signatures of elements present in the lunar soil. It was also found by the CLASS that best observation occurred when the Sun provides a rich source of x-rays to illuminate the lunar surface.
      2. CLASS stands for Chandrayaan-2 Large Area Soft X-ray Spectrometer. It helps to study Moon's X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) spectra to find out presence of major elements such as Sodium, Silicon, Magnesium, Calcium, Aluminium, Titanium and Iron. This technique will identify these elements by measuring the characteristic X-rays they emit when excited by the Sun's rays.
    10. Ecuador will withdraw from 14-nation Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) from 1 January 2020, amid internal fiscal problems. Ecuador is attempting to increase its production of crude oil in a bid to raise more income. Ecuador several times had not compiled with output quota fixed by OPEC.
      1. Ecuador joined OPEC in 1973 had earlier withdrawn in 1992. However, it rejoined in 2007. Earlier other small former OPEC members have also left the organisation for fiscal reasons such as Indonesia suspended membership in 2016.
    11. US tested an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile, which traveled 6,750 km across Pacific Ocean to the Kwajalein Atoll in Marshall Islands. Missile is armed with 170 kilo tons of TNT.
    12. Delhi Cabinet approved bill to set up a new State Sports University, to offer UG, PG and doctorate degrees in hockey, football and cricket.
    13. Govt. Launched PRAKASH (Power Rail Koyla Availability through Supply Harmony) portal, developed by NTPC, aiming to bring better coordination for coal supplies among all stakeholders (Ministry of Power, Ministry of Coal, Coal India, Railways and power utilities). This is an important step in ensuring adequate availability and optimum utilization of coal at thermal power plants.
      1. Present mechanism to review coal supply situation consists of an inter-ministerial group, which does weekly review of coal supply situation as well as railway logistics. It faced several data integrity issues .
      2. For ease of analyis, Portal gives graphical representation of reports with details shown on map of India.
      3. At present, portal will make available four reports - Daily Power Plant Status, Plant Exception Report, Coal Dispatch Report and Periodic Power Plant Status.
    14. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) in collaboration with World Health Organization (WHO) re-designated the National Health Systems Resource Centre (NHSRC), as WHO Collaborating Centre for Priority Medical Devices and Health Technology Policy.
      1. NHSRC is mandated to assist in policy and strategy development in provision and mobilization of technical assistance to states. It is also mandated to provide capacity building for Health Ministry.
    15. Rate of interest on House Building Advance has been reduced from existing 8.5% to 7.9% for 1 year, irrespective of loan amount.
      1. Scheme of HBA to Central Government Employees is aimed as a welfare measure to Government employees to construct houses of their own, applicable to employees who have rendered 05 years of continuous service.
    16. US imposed tariffs on 7.5 billion USD worth European exports. They were mainly on Airbus production sites like France, Germany, Spain and UK.
      1. Problem dates back to 2004, when EU authorities said Boeing received 19 billion USD in unfair way from state and federal governments. The US also filed similar complaints over European subsidies to Airbus.
  30. Oct 2, 2019
    1. Oct 02 is Birth Anniverary of M K Gandhi and Former PM Lal Bahadur Shastri (2nd PM of India).
      1. It was 150th Birth Anniversary of M K Gandhi. It is observed as UN International Day of Non-Violence, established in 2007.
      2. Film Division in association with India Tourism organised a “Gandhi Film Festival” in Mumbai.
      3. UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and Doordarshan partnered to telecast TV bilingual programme ‘Mahatma Lives‘ or ‘Bapu Zinda Hain’.
      4. Rajasthan Government banned certain categories of Pan Masala and flavoured Tobacco products made of magnesium, carbonate, nicotine and mineral oil. Rajasthan is the third state to impose this ban after Maharashtra and Bihar.
      5. Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and IIT Bombay organized Global Student Solar Assembly. India has committed to reduce its carbon intensity by 33-35% by year 2030 as well as to install cumulative renewable energy capacity of 175 GW (by 2022) and 450 GW (by 2030).
      6. Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog’s Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL) and UNICEF India launched ‘The Gandhian Challenge’ for school children. It provides a platform for children across India to ideate innovative solutions for a sustainable India of their dreams, using Gandhi’s principles. Winners of Gandhian Challenge will be awarded in New Delhi by NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission and UNICEF on the occasion of Children’s Day on 14 November 2019.
      7. Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry, Piyush Goyal released ‘Stations’ Cleanliness Survey Report’. Top 3 cleanest railway stations are from Rajasthan - Jaipur (1), Jodhpur (2) and Durgapura (3). Out of Top 10, 6 are from Rajasthan.
        1. North Western Railway followed by South East Central Railway and East Central Railway are top three zones.
      8. Students from Delhi & NCR region created two world records - environmental sustainability lessons to the largest number of students at one place AND largest number of assembly & lighting of Solar lamps'. Both records had over 5000 participants.
      9. ‘Arogya Manthan’ event organised in New Delhi, to mark first year anniversary of Ayushman Bharat or PM-JAY (Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana). PM-JAY was launched on 23rd September 2018. New mobile application of Ayushman Bharat and ‘Ayushman Bharat Start-Up Grand Challenge’ were also launched by PM Modi.
      10. Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel launched 5 new schemes - Mukhyamantri Suposhan Abhiyaan, Mukhyamantri Haat Bazaar Clinic Yojana, Mukhyamantri Shahariya Slum Swasthya Yojana, Universal PDS Scheme and Mukhyamantri Ward Karyalaya.
        1. Under Universal PDS (Public Distribution System) scheme, general category families are eligible for food grains. Families with single member will be eligible for 10 kg of rice per month, a family of 2 members will get 20 kg of rice per month and family of 3 and more than 3 members will get 35 kg of rice per month at a cost of Rs 10 per kg.
      11. Palestine released a commemorative postage stamp on M K Gandhi, honouring his legacy and values.
      12. Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani Inaugurated India’s Largest ‘Charkha’ made of Waste Plastic in Noida.
      13. At the Safaigiri 2019 organized by India Today group, Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar has been awarded “The most effective Swachhata Ambassador”.
      14. On the eve of M K Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary, PM Modi declared India Open Defecation Free. He sated that more than 110 million toilets have been built under swatch bharat abhiyaan since 2014.
      15. Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) have launched an Automated Real Time Performance Smart-board for effective monitoring and measurement of key programmes of government. Digital Charkha art installation was also launched, as an amalgamation of traditional design with a digital spin with wheel of Charkha being made up of interlinked digital grids.
      16. Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik announced Mo Sarkar initiative, to ensure transparency in governance focusing fully on common public. Govt. will work to ensure that people get their rights with help of 5T mantras - Technology, Transparency, Teamwork, Transformation and Time
      17. PM Narendra Modi released commemorative coin of Rs.150 denomination, at an event held at Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad (Gujarat)
    2. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare organized 1st National Nutrition Survey, between 2016 and 2018. wityh help from UNICEF. For the first time ministry measured malnutrition that included micro nutrient deficiencies.
      1. Around 10% of children in age group of 5 to 9 years and adolescents in age group 10 to 19 years are pre – diabetic. 5% of them were overweight and 5% suffered from blood pressure. The survey for the first time proved the coexistence of obesity and under nutrition.
      2. One in five children in the age group 5 to 9 years were stunted.
      3. Tamil Nadu and Goa had the highest number of adolescents who were obese or overweight.
    3. Competition Commssion approved acquisition of shareholding in GMR Airports Limited by TRIL Urban Transport Private Limited, Valkyrie Investment Pte. Ltd. and Solis Capital (Singapore) Limited. Proposed combination relates to acquisition of up to 55.2% equity stake in GAL collectively by TUTPL, Valkyrie and Solis.
    4. Indian car-maker Mahindra & Mahindra formed a Joint Venture with Ford Motor Company (FMC), after it bought a 51% stake in Indian unit of Ford. M&M will now manage Ford’s Indian Operations. M&M acquired 51% equity share capital of Ardour Automotive, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ford in India. Equity value of transaction is approx 657 crores.
    5. Book titled The Tech Whisperer, written by Jaspreet Bindra has been released.
    6. Book The RSS: Roadmaps for 21st Century, written by Sunil Ambekar has been released.
    7. Book Netherlands – Past, Present and Future written by Venu Rajamony (India’s Ambassador to Netherlands) has been released.
    8. Directorate General of Trade Remedies (Ministry of Commerce & Industry) launched an online system Applications for Remedies in Trade for Indian Industry and other Stakeholders (ARTIS) for filing anti-dumping applications by domestic industry for speedy resolution of dumping issues.
    9. As per RBI data, India’s current account deficit (CAD) narrowed to $ 14.3 billion or 2% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) during the first quarter (April – June) of 2019-20. CAD had fallen from $ 15.8 billion (2.3 % of GDP) in first quarter of 2018-19.
      1. Net foreign direct investment was $ 13.9 billion in first quarter, up from $ 9.6 billion in same quarter of FY 2018-19.
    10. Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik gave assent to a bill for establishing a National Law University in Jammu and Kashmir. It will bring J& K at par with other states where national law universities have been established.
    11. World Trade Organisation (WTO) reduced global trade growth forecast to 1.2% for 2019 from 2.6% growth forecast made in April 2019 due to trade tensions and sluggish global economy. It is weakest level in a decade. Global trade growth forecast for 2020 was reduced to 2.7% from 3%.
      1. In August 2019, India’s exports dropped by 6.05% to USD 26.13 billion and Imports declined by 13.45% to USD 39.58 billion. The trade deficit stood at USD 13.45 billion.
    12. British activist Caroline Criado Perez won Royal Society Science Book Prize 2019 (sponsored by Insight Investment) for her 2nd book ‘Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men’. She received a cheque amounting £25,000.
    13. Bajaj Finance overtook SBI in market value, becoming fifth most valued in country’s BFSI (Banking, Financial Services and Insurance) domain. Market capitalisation of Bajaj finance stood at Rs 2.32 lakh crore as against SBI’s Rs 2.28 lakh crore.
    14. During National day parade of China on Oct 1, China unveiled DF-41 intercontinental-range ballistic missile, touted to be most powerful missile internationally. DF-41 has range of up to 9,320 miles (15,000 kilometres), and is capable of carrying 10 independently targeted nuclear warheads and could hit US in 30 minutes.
    15. Ministry of Finance notified that interest rates of Post Office small savings schemes will remain unchanged for third quarter (Q3) Oct - Dec FY 2019-20 -
      1. Name Interest rate Compounding Frequency
        Savings Account 4 Annually
        1, 2, 3 year Post Office Time Deposit 6.9 Quarterly
        5 Year Post Office Time Deposit 7.7 Quarterly
        5 Year Post Office Recurring Deposits 7.2 Quarterly
        5 Year Senior Citizen Savings Scheme (SCSS) 8.6 Quarterly
        5 Year Post Office Monthly Income Scheme (MIS) 7.6 Monthly
        5 Year National Savings Certificate (NSC) 7.9 Annually
        Public Provident Fund (PPF) 7.9 Annually
        Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) 7.6 Annually
        Sukanya Samriddhi Account Scheme 8.4 Annually
  31. Oct 1, 2019
    1. Government appointed S S Mallikarjuna Rao as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Punjab National Bank.
    2. Japan's SoftBank Group and Indian hotel startup Oyo jointly acquired 80% stake in Japanese rental apartment operator MDI, costing over $100 million.
    3. GST revenue collected in September 2019 remained 91916 crores (CGST 16630 crore, SGST 22598 crore, IGST 45069 crore andCess 7620 crore). Revenue in September 2019 declined by 2.67% in comparison to revenue in September 2018.
    4. Documentation Identification Number (DIN) system of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) came into force. From now onwards, every CBDT communication will have a documentation identification number, ensuring greater accountability and transparency in tax administration.
    5. SBI opened its Melbourne office, becoming first Indian bank to have a branch in Australian state of Victoria.
    6. Oct 1 is observed as UN International Day of Older Persons. 2019 Theme is The Journey to Age Equality. It was established by UN in 1990.
      1. Oct 1 is also observed as International Coffee Day, being observed since 2015.
      2. Oct 1 is also observed as World Vegetarian Day, established by North American Vegetarian Society in 1977.
      3. Oct 1 is also National day of China.
      4. President Ram Nath Kovind will conferred ‘Vayoshreshtha Samman-2019’ on Eminent Senior Citizens & Institutions in recognition of their services towards the cause of elderly persons.
    7. Ministry for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) notified changes in Apprenticeship Rules (1992) as Apprenticeship (Amendment) Rules 2019, to increase skilled manpower in country, and raise minimum stipend payable to trade apprentices. Minimum stipend payable to trade apprentices will be on qualification based and would range from 5000 - 9000 per month.
    8. PSU NBCC (India) signed MoU with Department of Sports to provide Project Management Consultancy for development of National Sports University at Imphal (Manipur). Foundation of National Sports University was laid down by PM Narendra Modi in March 2018. It is presently functional from its temporary campus at Khuman Lampak Sports Complex of Imphal.
    9. Govt. appointed Economist Surjit S Bhalla as Executive Director for India on board of International Monetary Fund (IMF), for 3 years. He will succeed former RBI deputy governor Subir Gokarn as Executive Director for India at IMF who passed away recently.
    10. As first such initiative, IRCTC will compensate passengers of new Lucknow-Delhi Tejas Express in case of delay in train schedule. INR 100 will be paid for delay delay of over an hour and 250 for delay of more than 2 hours. This is in addition to the 25-lakh free insurance to be given to passengers of the train.
    11. Consumer Affairs Ministry launched mobile app named ‘Consumer App’ to help consumers across the country to register their grievances online and provide suggestions on several consumer-related issues. Complaint would be forwarded to respective consumer platform. Ministry claims that complaints will be redressed within 20 - 60 days.

Top






Jobs by Qualification


Copyright 2024 www.linkingsky.com- All Rights Reserved
Disclaimer | Contact Us | About us | Privacy Policy