Current Affairs - October 3, 2017 Current Affairs

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu laid the foundation stone for the development of an inland waterway in the Krishna river between Muktyala and Vijayawada in the Andhra Pradesh capital region of Amaravati. The 82-km inland waterway between Muktyala and Vijayawada is the Phase-1 of the National Waterway-4 under the Sagar Mala project and will be used mainly for transportation of cement and construction material for the new capital city Amaravati.

Karnataka Chief Minister Mr.Siddaramaiah launched 'Mathru Poorna' scheme, for nutritional wellness of pregnant and lactating women in rural areas, at Vidhan Soudha, in Bengaluru, Karnataka. This aims at providing pregnant and lactating poor women in rural areas with one nutritious meal daily, for 25 days in a month.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare was awarded as the best department for its contribution during 'Swachhta Pakhwada', in New Delhi. Swachhta Pakhwada is an inter-Ministry initiative of Swachh Bharat Mission of Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation. C.K.Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, received the award.

Hyundai India has announced that it will be official transportation partner for the upcoming FIFA U17 World Cup Tournament which starts from October 6, 2017 in India. It will be offering a fleet of 63 premium cars, which includes the recently launched Verna, Tucson and the Elite i20. It will also provide additional coaches across 6 cities namely, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Kochi, Goa and Guwahati.

Russia has launched world's largest nuclear-powered icebreaker ship named Sibir (Siberia). It was launched into the water at the Baltic Shipyard in St Petersburg. Sibir has been developed by the Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation to open up crucial shipping lanes in the icy Northern Sea Route.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr.Shivraj Singh Chouhan inaugurated a community toilet for third gender, in the Mangalwara area, Bhopal. This is the first community toilet for exclusive third gender usage in India. It was built at a cost of Rs.35 lakh. It also has a change/make-up room. Different signs for men, women, handicapped and transgender people are put on the doors of the toilet.

Odisha State Government is creating a 1.2 lakh acre land bank across the state which will be allocated for industrial use and purposes. The land bank is being created to cut red tape and pre-emptively settle local issues related to the land acquisition process. So far the size of the land bank has reached 57,655 acres.

The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet decided to award the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly to the American trio of Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael W. Young for their discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm. The winners will share a prize of 9m Swedish kronor (£825,000), and each receives a medal engraved with their name. It is the 108th time the prize has been awarded and was announced at the Nobel Forum at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at Bilaspur and International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) at Una in Himachal Pradesh. AIIMS at Bilaspur will be a 750-bed hospital and will be built at a cost of about Rs 1350 crore.

Nepal and India will conduct a joint head count of tigers in the national parks, forests and sanctuaries in Nepal and those in India adjoining Nepal using the same camera tapping method. Cameras would be installed in various locations in the tiger habitats and their roaming areas. Images would be captured and animals' footsteps would be accessed. The counting starts from second week of November 2017.

President Ram Nath Kovind appointed a five member Commission under Delhi High Court's former Chief Justice G Rohini to examine sub categorization of Other Backward Classes (OBCs). This has been done to make sure that the more backward among the OBC communities avail the benefits of reservation. This decision has been taken on the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The commission will examine the extent of inequitable distribution of benefits of reservation among the communities included in the broad category of OBCs.

The Minister of Road Transport & Highways Mr.Nitin Gadkari launched the countrywide Free Eye Check-up Campaign at Panjari Toll Plaza, Nagpur Bypass, Nagpur, in Maharashtra. 50 free eye check-up camps have been set up on identified national highways. This initiative is aimed to provide clear vision and safe travel for truck drivers. Also, free spectacles up to a certain power as prescribed by the eye specialist are distributed.

As per statistics released by the Union Home Ministry, Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of active gun licences among all states and union territories of India. 12.77 lakh people in Uttar Pradesh are authorised to carry weapons. Uttar Pradesh is followed by Jammu and Kashmir with 3.69 lakh people in the state possessing gun licences.

Researchers developed a new test 'Oncotype DX', that predicts the return of cancer, thus sparing breast cancer patients from unnecessary chemotherapy, in London. The Oncotype DX test, analyses the samples of tumour that is removed during surgery. It provides a score between 1 and 100 on the chances of the cancer returning. This helps to prevent breast cancer patients from undergoing unwanted chemotherapy.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal laid the foundation stone for the first ever Industrial Training Institute (ITI) exclusively for the Dibyangans (Differently Abled) at ITI Complex in Dibrugarh. As per the guidelines of National Council for Vocational Training, the ITI will have sixty seats for three different trades with 20 seats per trade. The three different trades included in the curriculum are Computer Operator and Programming Assistant, Cutting and Sewing Technology and Hair & Skin Care.