Daily Current Affairs Update October -10 2017

1. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Union Minister for Shipping, Road Transport & Highways and Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Nitin Gadkari inaugurated an alternate sea route to Baratang Island in Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

2. MoU was signed by Uttar Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya under the ‘Ek Bharat, Shrestha Bharat’ programme, to boost cultural ties

3. On 6th October 2017, the 14th India – European Union Summit was held, in New Delhi.

4. On 6th October 2017, the First Meeting of India-Australia Joint Steering Committee was held in New Delhi.

5. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will lead a ministerial delegation to the ASEAN-India ‘Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas’ (PBD) to be held in 2018, in Singapore.India’s High Commissioner to Singapore Jawed Ashraf made this announcement.

The PBD 2018 is an important part of the celebration of 25 years of the ASEAN-India partnership.

6. On 5th October 2017, the UN soldiers left Haiti finishing their 13 year military peacekeeping mission in Haiti.

7. World Bank Group member, International Finance Corporation (IFC) has announced that it has invested USD 76 million in 5-year unrated masala bond issuances of Fullerton India Credit Company.

8. Adobe announced investment on integration of Aadhaar-based authentication in its e-signature solution “Adobe Sign” on  4thOct.2017 .

9. Flipkart announced the launch of MarQ, an in-house brand in the large appliances category

10. Maharashtra State Government and Tata Trusts entered into a tie-up for social development initiatives in Chandrapur district. The tie-up will focus on livelihood, digital literacy, data driven governance and child protection.

11. Magicbricks announced its launch of India’s first online bidding platform for residential and commercial properties.It tied-up with leading developer ‘Magnificence in the Trinity Of Men, Materials & Money'( M3M) for their new inauguration of ‘My Bid, My Home’ .

12.  Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) announced the setting up of a research centre for startups, academicians, environmentalists and entrepreneurs, in Guwahati, Assam.

13. Governor for Telangana and Andhra Pradesh E S L Narasimhan launched the first regional language version of ‘GST Rate Finder’ App in Telugu, in Hyderabad.

14. Australian Cricketer John Wayne Hastings confirmed his retirement from Tests and One-Day Internationals (ODIs). He plans to focus on T20 cricket.

15. Former Union minister and socialist leader Purushottam Lal Kaushik died in Chhattisgarh’s Mahasamund district.

16. Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, chaired by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley constituted a group of ministers (GoM) to make the ‘composition scheme’ more attractive and also revisit GST rates on restaurants.

The GoM has been set up under Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and will submit its report within 2 weeks.

17. Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in collaboration with National Geographic Society is hosting an international conference on “Dialogue of Civilizations – IV” from 8th – 15th October, 2017 at Delhi, Gandhinagar (in Gujarat) and Dholavira (in Gujarat).

18. Uttarakhand State Government and a charitable funding agency named Swan Cultural Center and Foundation, launched ‘Solar Briefcase’ in Kedarnath Dham.

This initiative aims to provide electricity to far flung areas in Uttarakhand.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat has stated that around 47 villages and 1,40,000 families in Uttarakhand do not have access to electricity.

19. President Ram Nath Kovind launched Mata Amritanandamayi Math (MAM)’s, ‘Jivamritam’ filtration system, a clean water initiative, in Vallikkavu, Kollam district of Kerala.

‘Jivamritam’ filtration system aims at providing filtration for clean drinking water to 1 crore villagers.

20. Department of Tourism (Kerala) launched a 3 year long Continuous Tourist Survey (CTS), to increase the growth of tourism in Kerala.

21. UGC panel recommended that, words such as ‘Hindu’ and ‘Muslim’ in names of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), should be dropped.

22. Supreme Court (SC) imposed a ban on the sale of firecrackers till 31st October 2017, in the National Capital Region (NCR)-Delhi.

23. President Ramnath Kovind’s first overseas visit to Ethiopia and Djibouti

24. India has ranked as 8th most valuable nation brand as per Brand Finance’s Nation Brands 2017 report.

In 2017, India has slipped down by one spot as compared to 2016 ranking.India’s National Brand Value in 2017 at USD 2.04 trillion

1st

US

25. Bangladesh Armed Forces Division and U.S. Army began their participation in the Pacific Resilience Disaster Response Exercise and Exchange (DREE).

The exercise will be conducted from 8th – 12th October 2017, in Dhaka and Mymensingh in Bangladesh.

26 . Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd said that, it has signed an agreement with Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd (IREDA) for Rs.300 crore loan, in Mumbai.

27. Noted Novelist T D Radhakrishnan’s has been selected for this year’s prestigious Vayalar award. The award will be presented to him on October 27, 2017, the death anniversary of poet and lyricist Vayalar Ramavarma.

28. Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), was awarded as the best FMCG in the food sector, at the 5th International Advertising Associations (IAA) Leadership Awards, in Mumbai.

29. Online eyewear firm, Lenskart announced Bollywood star Katrina Kaif as its first ever brand ambassador.

30. SS Athenia, the first British ship to be sunk during the Second World War was believed to be found, in Ireland.

31. Anupama Ramachandran of India won the World Open Under-16 Snooker Championship title in the girls category, in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

32. 2017 World Solar Challenge – the solar car race, began on October 8, 2017 from the northern Australian city of Darwin.

In this race, 42 solar cars will cover a distance of 3,000 kms from Northern Australian city of Darwin to southern city of Adelaide.

33. Noted journalist Bismoy Kumar Mohanty dies

34. World Post Day – October 9, 2017

The World Post Day is celebrated to mark the anniversary of the establishment of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) in 1874 in the Swiss Capital, Bern

35. In Gurugram Saudi Aramcos ARAMCO ASIA INDIA office has been inaugurated by Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Shri Dharmendra Pradhan along with Mr Amin H Al-Nasser, President and CEO of Saudi Aramco.

36. Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh has addressed a regional conference of north east labour ministers and officials to take a sincere effort to end the alienation of people from the north east

37. Manipur celebrated its traditional Mera Houchongba festival

38. US lifts economic sanctions against Sudan which have been in place since 1997.

39. A BRICS-themed subway train with carriages representing the five member nations – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – has started test operations in China’s south-eastern Xiamen city

 The Indian carriage depicts elephants and yoga.

40. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposed certain restriction on banking activities of Oriental Bank of Commerce.

RBI initiated prompt corrective action (PCA) against OBC in view of high non-performing assets.

41. AU Small Finance Bank has entered into a corporate agency tie-up agreement to sell health insurance products of Aditya Birla Health Insurance.

42. IDBI Bank informed that its promoter the government of India, has increased its stake in the company to 77.79% by acquiring 3.81% shares through preferential allotment.

43. National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) has signed a MoU with Finlands Fortum Oyj for developing electric vehicle charging infrastructure in upcoming development projects in India.

44. SEBI Chairman Ajay Tyagi has been named among the world’s top 10 regulators in the Market structure. He has placed seventh position among the top 10 regulators worldwide.

45. Private Sector bank, Axis Bank has announced that it has completed the acquisition of Freecharge.

It has also announced appointment of Sangram Singh as the CEO of Freecharge 

46. Prasar Bharati Chairman A Surya Prakash has launched an online application system for music auditions for the All India Radio (AIR) due to the occasion of 64th Akashvani Sangeet Sammelan.

47. India finished second in 20th Asia Masters Athletics Championship held in Rugao, China. and bagged 146 medals, including 37 golds, 43 silvers and 66 bronze.China was topped.

48. Indian golfer 28-year-old Ajeetesh Sandhu won Asian Tour title at the USD 500,000 Yeangder Tournament Players Championship (TPC) at Taipei.

49. Lewis Hamilton wins Japanese Grand Prix, extends lead at top

50. Congress leader Prabhakarpant Ojharkar passed away on October 7, 2017 in Nashik, Maharashtra.

51. Indian Air-force day – October 8

52. Centre sets up group under Rina Mitra to study problems of people along IB, LOC in J&K

53. The 3-day international exhibition -9th Annual ‘World Dental Show 2017’ has opened Bandra-Kurla Complex in Mumbai.It is an integral part of Asia’s biggest dental event.

54. The government has made Aadhaar is mandatory for all post office deposits, PPF, the National Savings Certificate scheme and Kisan Vikas Patra.

55. Chhattisgarh bans Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) used in carry bags

56. Government of India has decided to issue Sovereign Gold Bonds 2017-18 – Series-III. These bonds will be issued by Reserve Bank India (RBI) on behalf of the Government of India.

57. Vijaya Bank (a public sector bank) has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) for enabling all HPCL retail outlets in Karnataka with BHIM/UPI merchant solutions.

58. J Sagar Associates (JSA) is the first law firm have a plan to open an office at Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT).

59. Rajesh Nath, Managing Director of VDMA India, has been conferred Germany’s Highest Civilian Honour, ‘Cross of the Order of Merit’.

60. Supreme Court appointed senior advocate and former additional solicitor general Amrender Sharan as amicus curiae on a petition seeking re-probe into the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.

61. Zee Entertainment has acquired 100 per cent stake in two media entities, 9X Media and INX Music for Rs 160-crore.

62. China has approved HP Inc’s $1.1 billion purchase of Samsung Electronics’ printer business with certain restrictions and concerns about the U.S. firm’s dominance in the laser printer market.

63. ‘thenationspride.com’, India’s First Portal Dedicated to Para-sports was launched on October 6, 2017.

64. National Award-winning director Kundan Shah died at his age of 69 due to heart attack.

65. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of a four-lane cable-stayed bridge between Okha and Beyt Dwarka, Gujarat

66. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is to launch a financial literacy drive in 80 blocks in nine states on the pilot basis to educate people on e-transactions, formal sector borrowings and insurance purchases. The pilot project, according to RBI will be commissioned in the 9 states of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Odisha, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh by the 6 NGOs in collaboration with the sponsor Banks.

67. In the United States, hurricane Nate has made landfall near the mouth of the Mississippi River in Louisiana. According to the US National Hurricane Center, the storm with maximum sustained winds of 137 kilometres per hour is moving north and a second landfall is expected on the Mississippi coast later.

68 The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2017 was awarded to Richard H. Thaler "for his contributions to behavioural economics".

69. World Mental Health Day is observed on 10 October every year, with the overall objective of raising awareness of mental health issues around the world and mobilizing efforts in support of mental health.

'Mental health in the workplace' is the theme of World Mental Health Day 2017.

70. Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated the third International Conference on Yoga in New Delhi. The theme of this year’s conference will be ‘Yoga for Wellness.’

71.  The Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh inaugurated the four-day First ‘BIMSTEC Disaster Management Exercise- 2017’ (BIMSTEC DMEx-2017) in New Delhi. 

72. World Bank Reduces India GDP Growth Forecast to 7% for 2017-18.

Both the Asian Development Bank as well as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) have also cut their growth projections for India to 7% and 6.7%, respectively, for fiscal 2017-18.

73.  IIT-Kharagpur has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Samsung India for the setting up of a digital academy on the institute’s campus.

74.  In just over a year of joining Facebook as India MD, Umang Bedi has resigned from his position at the social networking giant. Sandeep Bhushan has been appointed as the interim Managing Director.

75. PepsiCo India Holdings Pvt. Ltd’s Chairman and Chief Executive officer D. Shivakumar has resigned. He will be joining Aditya Birla Group as president (corporate strategy and business development).

76. President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated 5th edition of India Water Week (IWW) with theme “Water and Energy for Inclusive Growth” in New Delhi.  About 1500 delegates from India and 13 other countries will attend five day international event.

77. The Union Ministry of Science and Technology’s Visiting Advanced Joint Research (VAJRA) Faculty Scheme has received 260 applications from foreign scientists of whom 70 will be shortlisted.

The scheme is meant to attract top international talent to country’s research and development (R&D) ecosystem. The applicants will be screened now and the shortlisted scientists will begin work by December 2017.

78. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA) at Gandhinagar in Gujarat.

PMGDISHA is expected to make 6 crore rural households digitally literate by March 2019, making it one of the largest digital literacy programmes in the world.

79. United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved ‘Cbas Zika test’ for detecting Zika virus in donated blood. It is first of kind test approved by FDA for detecting Zika virus in donated blood.

80. 21-member Committee on corporate governance headed by banker Uday Kotak has submitted its report to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

81. As per the World Payments Report 2017, China is likely to be ahead of India in digital payment. It is a stunning remark in the backdrop of a major push in digital payment by Indian government following the Demonetisation. The World Payments Report 2017 states that china will see a stable growth of 36 percent in digital transactions during 2016-20 while India is likely to grow up at an average of 26.2 percent during the same period.

82. Iceland becomes the smallest country ever to qualify for the final stage of the FIFA World Cup, after topping its qualifying group.

83. Noted journalist Bismoy Kumar Mohanty has died following a heart attack at Puri.

84. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the setting up of India’s first marine police training institute at Gujarat’s Devbhumi Dwarka district.

85. Mizoram’s Dampa Tiger Reserve now holds the distinction of housing the highest number of clouded leopards in Southeast Asia, the state government has claimed.

86. The “Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav (RSM) – 2017″ was started in India’s 1st World Heritage City i.e Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

87. India and South Africa are celebrating Celebrating 20 years of Cooperation in the field of Science and Technology.

88. • The first state to incorporate skill development programme in higher education- Rajasthan

89. • This person will succeed D Shivakumar as new CEO of PepsiCo India- Ahmed El Sheikh

90. • Scientists belonging to this nation have developed a smart bandage that can cause better and faster healing – The United States of America

91. • This is the theme of the Bachao Beti Padhao Week that is going to be celebrated from 10-14 October - The Daughters of New India

92. • The Smart City project is being implemented in Puducherry in cooperation with this nation – France

93. • Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu wants this city to be turned into a world centre of excellence for financial technologies – Visakapatnam

94. • NABARD has bought an additional 7 per cent stake in this Indian bank - Small Industries Development Bank of India (Sidbi)