Current Affairs – October 16/2015
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1. October 16 – World Food Day
World Food Day is observed every year on 16 October in honor of the date of the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 1945. It is a day of action against hunger. First established in 1979, World Food Day has since then been observed in almost every country by millions of people.
The theme for World Food Day 2015 is “Social Protection and Agriculture: breaking the cycle of rural poverty”.
2. Former Maharashtra minister Madan Patil passes away
Former Maharashtra Minister and senior Congress leader Madan Vishwanath Patil has passed away due to illness at the age of 55. Patil was recently admitted to a private hospital in Mumbai for liver transplant. The leader was a Member of Parliament twice from Sangli Lok Sabha constituency. He had earlier also been an MLA from Sangli Assembly seat and had served as a minister in the earlier Congress-led state government. He was the grandson of Maharashtra’s former Chief Minister late Vasantdada Patil.
3. UN owes India USD 85 mln for peacekeeping
The United Nations owes India an amount of USD 85 million for its contribution towards peacekeeping operations including troops, police and equipment. The organisation owed a total of USD 1.03 billion to 86 Member States which contributed troops, police and equipment as of October 2 this year. The largest amount owed was to Pakistan at USD 97 million; followed by Ethiopia at USD 87 million; India at USD 85 million; Bangladesh at USD 84 million; Rwanda at USD 55 million; and Nepal at USD 44 million.
4. Railways launch ‘Vikalp’ scheme for waitlisted passengers
The Indian Railways has announced the launch of a scheme called Vikalp on pilot basis from November 1. Through Vikalp Indian Railways going to provide confirmed tickets to passengers on the waitlist, who are forced to travel with waiting tickets, on an alternative trains on the same route to make their travel smoother and hassle-free. The pilot project scheme would be implemented for six months on the Delhi-Lucknow and the Delhi-Jammu routes. It will initially be available for tickets booked online.
5. Maharashtra government plans launch of Mukhya Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana
In a bid to give a big push to development of roads in the state, the Maharashtra government is all set to launch `Mukhya Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana’ on the lines of the NDA government’s flagship programme `Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY)’.
The initiative will see the state government spend Rs 13,500 crore to widen 3,000 km of rural roads and another Rs 328 crore on laying 730 new roads.
6. Dr.Abdul Kalam’s birth place Rameswaram declared as AMRUT town
Rameswaram town in Tamil Naidu has been included in Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformatin (AMRUT) for providing basic urban infrastructure. This was announced by the Minister of Urban Development M.Venkaiah Naidu while speaking on the occasion of 84th birth anniversary of former President Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam at a programme organized at DRDO.
7. Consumers Will Be Paid For Call Drops From January 1. Only 3 Per Day
Telecom regulator TRAI has said that mobile operators will have to credit one rupee to a user’s account for a call drop from January 1, 2016. It said users would be compensated for no more than three dropped calls a day. The TRAI’s announcement comes as a huge relief to consumers facing call drops every day, a growing issue which has forced authorities at the highest levels to take notice and intervene.
The regulator has asked mobile phone operators to send a SMS to the user within four-hours intimating of a call drop, and the credit for such drops to prepaid users. In case, of post-paid subscribers, operators will have to adjust the compensation for call drops in their monthly bills to users.
8. SC declares NJAC Act unconstitutional
A Bench of five judges of the SC held the 99th Constitutional Amendment Act and the NJAC Act 2014 “unconstitutional and void”. The Supreme Court also held that the Collegium system as it existed before the NJAC ‘operative’.
The move left the government lawyers shocked and the proponents of the collegial system elated. The decision was given four to one by a five-judge constitution bench headed by Justice JS Khehar, who is in line to become the Chief Justice of India.
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