Daily Current Affairs Update October -04 2017

1. Union Environment Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan unveiled India’s third National Wildlife Action Plan for 2017-2031, which outlines the future road map for wildlife conservation across the country. The plan was unveiled on the inaugural day of the Global Wildlife Programme (GWP) conference in New Delhi, which is jointly hosted by India, World Bank and United Nations Development Programme. 

2. Odisha State Government is creating a 1.2 lakh acre land bank across the state which will be allocated for industrial use and purposes.

3. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr.Shivraj Singh Chouhaninaugurated a community toilet for third gender, in the Mangalwara area, Bhopal.

4. The Minister of Road Transport & Highways Mr.Nitin Gadkari launched the countrywide Free Eye Check-up Campaign at Panjari Toll Plaza, Nagpur Bypass, Nagpur, in Maharashtra.

This free eye checkup camp will be conducted for five days till 6th October 2017. 50 free eye check-up camps have been set up on identified national highways.

5. Karnataka Chief Minister Mr.Siddaramaiah launched ‘Mathru Poorna’ scheme, for nutritional wellness of pregnant and lactating women in rural areas, at Vidhan Soudha, in Bengaluru, Karnataka.

The ‘Mathru Purna’ scheme, aims at providing pregnant and lactating poor women in rural areas with one nutritious meal daily, for 25 days in a month.

6. Central Water Commission (CWC) has signed MoUs with IIT Roorkee and Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology (MNNIT) Allahabad to support dam rehabilitation efforts of various implementing agencies and CWC.

7. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at Bilaspur and International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) at Una in Himachal Pradesh.

8. Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal laid the foundation stone for the first ever Industrial Training Institute (ITI) exclusively for the Dibyangans (Differently Abled) at ITI Complex in Dibrugarh.

9. As per statistics released by the Union Home Ministry, Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of active gun licences among all states and union territories of India. 12.77 lakh people in Uttar Pradesh are authorised to carry weapons.

10. A statue of Mahatma Gandhi was unveiled to mark his 148th birth anniversary, in Cardiff, Wales.

11. Nepal, India to conduct first joint tiger count through camera tapping

12. Credit Rating Agency Fitch Ratings has lowered India’s economic growth forecast for Financial Year 2017-18 to 6.9 % from 7.4% after the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth was lower than expected in the April-June 2017 quarter (at 5.7% vs. 6.1% in previous quarter).

13. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare was awarded as the best department for its contribution during ‘Swachhta Pakhwada’, in New Delhi.

14. US scientists Rainer Weiss, Barry Barish and Kip Thorne won the 2017 Nobel Prize in the field of Physics for their pioneering role in the detection of gravitational waves at Stockholm, Sweden

15. Government forms Committee for 5G rollout by 2020

16. Brenda Hale appointed as UK Supreme Court’s first female president

17. President appoints Commission under Justice G.Rohini to Examine Sub Categorization of OBCs

18. Russia has launched world’s largest nuclear-powered icebreaker ship named Sibir (Siberia). It was launched into the water at the Baltic Shipyard in St Petersburg.

19. Researchers announced that, they have developed a new test ‘Oncotype DX’, that predicts the return of cancer, thus sparing breast cancer patients from unnecessary chemotherapy, in London.

20. Hyundai India has announced that it will be official transportation partner for the upcoming FIFA U17 World Cup Tournament which starts from October 6, 2017 in India.

21. Viswanathan Anand finished joint second at the Isle of Man Chess Championship, in Douglas, Isle of Man.

22. Rajghat, the Samadhi of Mahatam Gandhi in Delhi, has for the first time acquired a statue of Mahatma Gandhi. The statue was unveiled by Vice-President of India Mr. M.Venkaiah Naidu

23. China opened a 409-km new expressway linking Tibet’s provincial capital Lhasa with Nyingchi, which is close to Arunachal Pradesh border. Lhasa and Nyingchi, both are major tourist attractions in Tibet.

24. savings bank account customers of State Bank of India (SBI) will not have to pay any charges for closing the account. This waiver applies to savings accounts which have existed for more than 1 year.

25. India’s first International Financial Services Centre (IFSC), Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) IFSC has ranked at 10th place in the latest September 2017 edition of Global Financial Centres Index 22 (GFCI) – London.

26. India received its first-ever shipment of US crude oil at Paradip port, in Odisha, as a part of purchases made by Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL).

27. Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple of Madurai was awarded the best ‘Swachh Iconic Place’ (Cleanest Iconic Place), in India.

28. American Scientists Jeffrey Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael Young have won the 2017 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine

29.  Jagmeet Singh, a 38 year old Sikh lawyer, was elected to lead Canada’s New Democratic Party, in Toronto, Canada.

30. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Mr.Chandrababu Naidu launched ‘Swachh Andhra Mission’ on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti.

Shuttler PV Sindhu has been appointed as the brand ambassador of ‘Swachh Andhra Mission’.

31. Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications (RCom) has called off plans to merge its wireless business with rival Aircel.

32. Qatar Airways, one of the Middle East’s biggest carriers has announced that it has completed the acquisition of a 49 per cent stake in Italy’s AQA Holding. Alsarda, previous sole shareholder will retain a 51 per cent share in the company.

 It is to be noted that AQA Holding is the parent company of Italy’s second largest carrier Meridiana.

33. Jagan Kumar of TVS Racing won his sixth consecutive title in the premier Super Sport Indian (165cc) class, in the MRF MMSC FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship, in Chennai.

34. International Day of Non-Violence – October 2

35. World Habitat Day – October 2

 The theme for World Habitat Day 2017 is ‘Housing Policies: Affordable Homes’

36. Government approved development of Harohalli industrial park in Karnataka

37. high-level meeting on Railways Safety was held at Western Railways (WR) headquarter’s at Churchgate in Mumbai, under the chairmanship of Railway Minister Mr. Piyush Goyal.

38. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan launched ‘Single Click Pension Delivery’ scheme. Under this scheme, the money will go directly into the account of the beneficiaries.

39. L&T Infotech, the infotech arm of engineering giant Larsen & Toubro has bagged $ 100-mn Government contract for an initiative to use social media analytics to identify tax non-compliance.

40. 3rd annual ‘Women of India Organic Festival’ is held at Dilli Haat, in New Delhi.

The theme for 2017 is ‘Good for Women; Good for India; Good for You’

41. ‘No helmet, no petrol’ rule for two wheelers came to act in Andhra Pradesh.

42. Turkey has opened its largest military base in Africa, in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia to train Somali Soldiers.

43. UAE begins collecting ‘sin’ taxes on tobacco, energy drinks

44. INA veteran, 91 year old Rama Khandwala awarded the ‘Best Tourist Guide’

45. Scientists make first ever video call using ‘unhackable’ quantum network

 Scientists in Austria and China made the first video call using quantum encryption.

The video call was done using a satellite named ‘Micius’.

46. Gurugram-based VVDN Technologies, in partnership with Ireland’s Embedded Downloads, launched the first Blockchain technology based smartphone ‘BitVault’.

BitVault – World’s first Blockchain technology based smartphone

47. Mark Verstappen won the Malaysian Grand Prix 2017 title, in Selangor, Malaysia.

Max Verstappen of the Red Bull team won the Malaysian Grand Prix 2017 title.

48. World Vegetarian Day and International Coffee Day observed on October 1

49. The Government named Rajnish Kumar as the new chairman of State Bank of India, for a three-year term. Kumar will succeed Arundhati Bhattacharya.

50. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2017 to Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson "for developing cryo-electron microscopy for the high-resolution structure determination of biomolecules in solution"

51. The World Health Organization (WHO) appointed Soumya Swaminathan one of two Deputy Directors General. This is the first time such a post has been ever created within the organisation. The position is also the highest post held by an Indian in the WHO

52. India is likely to be the world’s fastest-growing large economy in the next 10 years, driven by digitisation, favourable demographics, globalisation and reforms, according to the Morgan Stanley report.

53. Bangladesh signed a $4.5 billion third line of credit (LoC) agreement with India for its infrastructure and social sector development.

54. Bharti Airtel has received Ghana’s National Communications Authority’s approval for the merger between Bharti Ghana (Airtel) and Millicom Ghana (Tigo), subject to certain conditions.

55. Madhya Pradesh Government has implemented the Chief Minister's Skill Promotion and Skills Scheme to provide jobs by providing employment oriented training to the youth.

All the youth who are in the age group of 18-35 are being benefitted through Mukhya Mantri Kaushal Samvardhan Yojana and Mukhya Mantri Kaushalya Yojana

56.  Yatra Online Inc has tied up with OYO to bring the hospitality firm's inventory on its platform.

57.  India, EU to Hold 14th Summit Talks in New Delhi.

58.  India has opened two immigration check posts along the borders with Myanmar and Bangladesh.

59. China’s Zhejiang Electric Power Company has started construction of giant power supply pylon, claimed to be world’s tallest, in country’s east Zhejiang Province

60. Satya Pal Malik (71) was sworn-in as 35th Governor of Bihar. He was administered oath to office by Chief Justice of Patna High Court Rajendra Menon.

61. The Union Ministry of Water Resources has approved project to set up Turtle sanctuary in Allahabad along with River Biodiversity Park at Sangam in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh under Namami Gange programme.

62. The Union Government had launched SECURE Himalaya, a six-year project to ensure conservation of locally and globally significant biodiversity, land and forest resources in high Himalayan ecosystem spread over four states viz. Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Sikkim.

63. 

The Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has unveiled third National Wildlife Action Plan for 2017-2031 to chalk out future road map for wildlife conservation.

64. Param Shah appointed as FICCI UK Director.

65. Rangana Herath, 1st left-arm spinner to pick 400 wickets

66. Indian Railways announced No service charge on train e-tickets till March 2018.

67. On the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti the Nepali version of Mahatma Gandhi’s autobiography ‘The Story of My Experiments’ with Truth was released at Kathmandu.

68. Taj Mahal has been dropped from the list of tourist destinations published by the government of Uttar Pradesh.

69. India will be the guest of honour during the sixth edition of the World Government Summit scheduled from February 11th – 13th, 2018 in Dubai.

70.   Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman inaugurated ‘Pratham-Shyok’ bridge in Leh that will connect Leh to Karakoram in north eastern Ladakh.