Current Affairs Daily Digest – October 26 2019
1. Naveen Patnaik launches Odisha Mo Parivar programme
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik launched a social service initiative aimed at encouraging environment protection, blood donation, and the welfare of Odias in distress.
The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) under the ‘Odisha Mo Parivar’ (Odisha, my family) program, party leaders will dedicate themselves to protect the environment and undertake extensive planting of trees and create awareness among the public. The initiative will also come to the rescue of Odias stranded in foreign countries.
2. Indians will No Longer Require Visas To Visit Brazil
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, the South American nation will drop its requirement that visiting Chinese and Indian tourists or businesspeople obtain visas.
Bolsonaro, a far-right politician, came to power at the beginning of the year and has made it a policy to reduce visa requirements from several developed countries. The announcement, made during an official visit to China, is the first he has made expanding that policy to the developing world.
3. Jailed Uighur intellectual won Sakharov Prize
European Parliament awarded the Sakharov Prize for human rights to Uighur intellectual Ilham Tohti who has been sentenced to life imprisonment in China for separatism. The outspoken former Professor of economics at a Beijing university was convicted in 2014.
European Parliament head David Sassoli urged China to immediately release Ilham Tohti announced the award, which was sure to sow diplomatic tensions with Beijing.
4. Shri Pramod Kumar Das assumes charge as Secretary of Ministry of Minority Affairs
Shri Pramod Kumar Das assumed charge as Secretary, Ministry of Minority Affairs. He was serving as the Special Secretary, Department of Expenditure in the Ministry of Finance. Shri Das is a Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS officer of 1986 batch. He has held several other vital positions in the Union as well as State Governments.
5.Bio Bricks from Agri waste
The researchers from IIT Hyderabad and School of Architecture, Bhubaneswar have developed bio-bricks from agricultural waste. The product serves dual purposes of development of eco-friendly sustainable material and also waste management.
6. DEFCOM 2019 to be held in New Delhi
The DEFCOM 2019 is scheduled to be held on 26 and 27 November 2019 at Manekshaw Centre, New Delhi. The curtain raiser ceremony for event was held on 22 October 2019 at India Habitat Centre (IHC) New Delhi. DEFCOM 2019 will seek to deliberate on theme, ‘Communications as a Decisive Catalyst for Jointness’.
7. Indians no longer require Visa to visit Brazil
Indian tourists will be now be exempted from visas to enter Brazil for tourism or business purposes. The exemption is also available for Chinese tourists. Both India and China are part of BRICS, an association of 5 major emerging national economies. Other three are Brazil, Russia and South Africa.
8. Lucknow-based school enters Guinness Book of World Records
Lucknow-based City Montessori School (CMS) has won the Guinness World Record for becoming the ‘world’s largest school’ in terms of strength of students.
City Montessori School (CMS) has won the global award for having largest number of students in 2019-20. At present, the CMS has 18 branches and approximately 56,000 students all over the city.
9. Rudrashila-The White-Water Rafting Expedition
On 25 October, 2019, at the Jodhpur Military station, the white-water rafting expedition called the “Rudrashila” was flagged in by Lt General VS Sreenivas. It was undertaken by the Kalidhar Battalion. The aim of the expedition is to prepare the soldiers to overcome adversities with grit and determination. The team will also spread awareness on social issues of “Swachh Bharat” campaign and “Preservation of river eco-system”
10. Vigilance Awareness Week
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is to observe Vigilance Awareness Week between 28th October, 2019 and 2nd November, 2019. The directions for the observance will be issued by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC). Every year last week of October is observed as Vigilance Awareness Week.
Theme: Integrity-a way of life.
11. Girish Chandra Murmu to be LG of J&K
IAS officer Girish Chandra Murmu has been appointed as the Lt Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, according to an official spokesperson. A 1985-batch IAS officer with a reputation for industriousness, Girish Chandra Murmu currently holds the post of Expenditure Secretary in the finance ministry.
12. India improves five positions in Global Innovation Index 2019, ranks 52
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal released Global Innovation Index (GII) 2019 in New Delhi on July 24, 2019. India gained five ranks benefit to get 52nd rank, earlier in 2018 India was at 57th position. It ranked the innovation performance of 129 countries and economies around the world.
13. Gandhinagar becomes first kerosene-free district
Union home minister and BJP president Amit Shah said that Gandhinagar district has become the first kerosene-free district in the state. Shah, who is the member of Parliament from Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat, said this while distributing LPG connections to 1,000 rural women of the district under the central government’s ‘Ujjwala’ yojana.
14. India, Germany to explore partnership in AI during Merkel-Modi meet
India and Germany will explore possibilities for cooperation in green urban mobility and Artificial Intelligence during their Fifth Biennial Inter Governmental Consultations (IGC) here on November 1.
During the IGC led by top leaders, the two sides will also discuss the deepening of cooperation in traditional sectors such as transport, skill development and energy.
15. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos loses world’s richest man title to Microsoft’s Bill Gates
Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos has lost the title as the world’s richest man, paving the way for tenacious Bill Gates to grab the top spot after Amazon’s lacklustre Q3 results resulted in Bezos losing nearly $7 billion in stock value. Amazon shares fell 7 per cent in after-hours trading, leaving Bezos down to $103.9 billion.
16. India, US to collaborate on drone swarms & other military hi-techs
India and the US are now getting set to collaborate on futuristic military technologies to develop drone swarms, which can overwhelm and destroy the air defences of an adversary, as well as the counter-measures to thwart such attacks launched by an enemy.
