Current Affairs Daily Digest – October 19 2019
1. 7th Military World Games being held in China
The 2019 Military World Games (also known as Olympic Games for military) is being held from 18–27 October 2019 in the capital of Hubei Province, Wuhan, China. Its opening ceremony was held on 18 October 2019 and the event was officially inaugurated by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
2. India and Philippines sign agreements
President Ram Nath Kovind is on his official tour to Philippines and Japan. In the first leg of his visit he reached Manila, Philippines on October 17, 2019. He met his Philippines counter part and signed four agreements on science and technology, culture, tourism and maritime. The agreement includes sharing of white shipping data. White shipping includes information about identification and movement of commercial and non-military vessels.
3. Pepe: India-UK collaborated hand-washing robot
A team of researchers from India and United Kingdom collaborated to create a new robot named Pepe which encourages children to wash their hands. The research project outcomes were presented at 28TH IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (held in New Delhi) on Global Handwashing Day 2019 (marked on 15 October every year).
4. RIL becomes first Indian company to hit Rs. 9 lakh crore m-cap
Mukesh Ambani-led Oil-to-telecom major Reliance Industries (RIL) has become the first company in India to hit the market capitalisation (m-cap) of Rs.9 lakh crore. RIL was also the first company to reach Rs.8 lakh crore mark in August 2018. IT giant Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) was at a distant second with a m-cap of Rs.7.66 lakh crore. It was the also second company to reach Rs.8 lakh crore mark.
5. Raunak at 13, becomes India’s 65th Grand Master
Raunak Sadhwani will be the 65th Indian Grand Master (Chess) at the age of 13 years! On October 18, 2019, Sadhwani with a rating of 2479 has already gained 23 points to cross the stipulated mark of 2500 in live ratings. He just needs to turn up for the next two rounds to gain his final norms.
6. Army Commanders Conference
The October 2019, iteration of the Army Commander Conference was conducted between October 14 and October 18, 2019. Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh addressed the conference. All important issues such as operational readiness of the field formation, issues related to higher defence management, aspects of organizational restructuring and reforms were debated in the conference
7. Indian Banks Association elects Rajnish Kumar as chairman
SBI’s head Rajnish Kumar has been elected as the chairman of the banking industry lobby Indian Banks Association for fiscal 2019-20. The body, which represents banks’ interests with the government and regulators, said it has three top bankers from various lenders as its deputy chairmen.
8. Anil Kumar Gautam takes over as Director (Finance) at NTPC
Anil Kumar Gautam has taken over as Director (Finance) at NTPC Limited. A company statement said that Gautam (aged 57 years) is a Certified Management Accountant & LLB with over 34 years of experience in the power sector.
9. Dr Jitendra Singh inaugurates 11th Nuclear Energy Conclave
The Union Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region (I/C), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said that we have been able to fulfil the vision of Homi Bhabha.
He added that Homi Bhabha had then said that India’s nuclear power will be for peaceful purposes. The Government has diversified the applications of nuclear energy in various social fields. He was speaking at the inauguration of 11th Nuclear Energy Conclave, being held here.
10. Defence of Andaman and Nicobar Islands exercise 2019 (Danx-19) 14 Oct to 18 oct 19
Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) has conducted the second edition of Defence of Andaman & Nicobar Islands 2019 (DANX-19), a large scale joint services exercise from 14 Oct to 18 Oct 19.
Spanning over a period of five days, components of the Indian Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard carried out mobilisation and field manoeuvres to validate defensive plans of Headquarters ANC towards pursuance of the Command’s responsibility, namely ensuring territorial integrity of the A&N Islands.
11. Telangana tops in capex on irrigation during 2015-19: Study
Telangana stands seventh among the top 10 States in terms of expenditure incurred on capital outlay/asset creation (capex) by State governments during 2015-2019.
However, in total capex on irrigation it is ahead of all other States in the country.
12. Ghaziabad’s Loni town emerges as country’s most polluted
Ghaziabad’s Loni (rural) emerged as the most polluted in the country, a day after stringent measures under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) was implemented in the city to tackle air pollution.
Ghaziabad’s Loni town topped the list of 108 most polluted cities as per Central Pollution Control Board’s AQI figures.
13. Asian Junior C’ships: Indians bag 21 medals
Indian boxers packed quite a heavy punch at the Asian Junior Championships, clinching 21 medals — including six gold and nine silver — to end with the best medal haul among 26 competing countries in Fujairah, UAE.
The Indian men’s squad fetched two gold, three silver and an equal number of bronze, while the women claimed four gold, six silver and three bronze medals to round off a stupendous performance on Thursday evening. The team ended top in terms of medals won but finished second behind Uzbekistan (20) which had a better gold count of eight.
14. Renowned painter Kalidas Karmakar dies in Dhaka
Internationally acclaimed painter of Bangladesh Kalidas Karmakar passed away in Dhaka. He was 73. Karmakar had suffered a cardiac arrest in the afternoon at his residence.
Born on January 10, 1946, in Faridpur district, he completed his graduation from the Government College of Fine Arts and Crafts in Kolkata in 1969.
15. Finance Minister led the Indian delegation at G20 Finance Ministers
Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman led the Indian delegation at G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors as well as the BRICS Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meetings held in Washington, D.C
Aim:
The focus of discussions in the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting was on the current challenges to the global economy and possible responses to mitigate them.
