Current Affairs Daily Digest – October 28 2019
1. World Guinness Record for lighting 4 lakh diyas
On October 26, 2019, in the city of Ayodhya 4 lakh earthen lamps were lit along the banks of Sarayu river. The event was organized by the Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath. It was the third and largest Deepotsav in Ayodhya after he came to power.
Last year around 3 lakh lamps were lit. The lamp lighting festival comes ahead of SC judgement on Ram Jan Bhoomi.
2. India approaches ICAO
India has approached the world body ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) after Pakistan denied permission for PM Modi to use its air space. The overflight clearances are granted by other countries according to ICAO guidelines.
3. UPI to be launched globally after hitting One Billion transactions in October
The Government of India in its major boost towards cash less digital economy launched the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) channel. The transactions through the channel has reached One Billion in the month of October.
UPI
The UPI was launched before demonetization in 2016. It enables the users to send money from their account to any account without entering bank details. The transactions in UPI are made using email ids and QR codes. The main objective behind the launch of UPI was to promote digital payments.
4. ASI finds 2,000-year-old trade center in Andhra Pradesh
The ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) recently discovered that the present-day state of Andhra Pradesh had a maritime center near the banks of Swarnamukhi river around 2,000 years ago.
5. Union Cabinet Approves Cadre Review Of Indo-Tibetan Border Police
The Union Cabinet approved the cadre review of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), an exercise that was pending for almost 18 years. The decision for the cadre review of Group ‘A’ General Duty (Executive) cadre and Non-General Duty cadre of ITBP taken by the Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The last cadre review of ITBP took place in 2001 when the strength of the force was 32,000.
The current power of the ITBP is approximately 90,000.The cadre review creates new posts and will help to improve the efficiency and working of the personnel of ITBP, which is mandated to guard the 3,488 km India-China border.
6. Centre plans to run Ladakh completely on renewable energy
The Union government plans to make Ladakh the first Indian union territory (UT) to run entirely on renewable energy. The newly carved out union territory has already about 30 megawatts (MW) of small hydro projects, and the government wants to install solar generation units to meet all its power demand from renewable energy sources. Ladakh was made an independent union territory after the government recently revoked Article 370.
7. India and France explore 3rd country projects in Western Indian Ocean region
India and France have taken concrete steps to firm up their strategic partnership in the western Indian Ocean part of their Indo-Pacific strategies, within two months of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s trip to Paris.
They consisting of Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, and Seychelles in the western Indian Ocean currently meeting for the first time in the Reunion Islands (French territory) for exploring economic and development partnership.
8. Tata Sons board okays 6,500 cr equity infusion in Tata Motors
Tata Motors Ltd its board approved an equity infusion of ₹6,500 crores from its promoter Tata Sons Pvt. Ltd. Tata Motors will allot ordinary shares and warrants to the developer in return, subject to shareholder approval.
The board approved raising ₹3,500 crores via external commercial borrowing, which will be used to refinance its existing debt. The total debt stands at around ₹50,000 crores, of which ₹20,000 crore is in its stand-alone business.
9. Roger Federer Wins 10th Swiss Open Crown, Career Title No. 103
The Swiss Open is played in Roger Federer’s hometown of Basel, and has always had special significance for him. As a 12-year-old in 1993, Federer received a medal from Basel champion Michael Stich when he served as a ball boy.
10. Mahindra to acquire 100% stake in Peugeot Motocycles to explore new markets
Mahindra Two Wheelers Europe, a subsidiary of Mahindra & Mahindra, will acquire 100 per cent ownership of Peugeot Motocycles (PMTC) to drive future growth in core European markets and expand into new geographies, including select Asian markets.
11. Pranav Mistry appointed as President and CEO of STAR Labs
Computer scientist Pranav Mistry has been appointed as the President and CEO of STAR Labs (Samsung Technology & Advanced Research Labs), an independent entity of Samsung Electronics. Mistry has been working with Samsung in various roles when he joined it in 2012 and was the global vice president at Samsung Electronics since May 2017.
12. Manoj Jain selected as CMD of GAIL
Manoj Jain, currently the Director (Business Development) at GAIL (India) Ltd, was selected by government headhunter PESB to helm India’s biggest natural gas company. The Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB) picked Jain for the post of Chairman and Managing Director of GAIL, a maharatna PSU, after interviewing eight short-listed candidates, a notification from the headhunter said.
