Current Affairs - October 1, 2018 Current Affairs

Assam Government has become the first Indian state to offer a Wage Compensation Scheme for pregnant women working in the tea gardens of the state. The scheme will be launched by Assam Chief Minister Sarbanand Sonowal in Guwahati. The announcement was made by the state's Health and Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. Under the scheme, an amount of Rs 12,000 will be given to the pregnant women so that they can take care of themselves and the unborn baby. The compensation of wages to pregnant women will be given in 4 instalments - Rs 2,000 in the first trimester, Rs 4,000 in the second trimester, Rs 3,000 for institutional delivery and Rs 3,000 for registration of the child's birth.

Ministry of AYUSH has set up an AYUSH Information Cell at the premises of the Indian Embassy in Romania to disseminate authentic information about AYUSH system of medicine and encourage Ayurveda practice in Romania. The AYUSH Information Cell, Romania will help to organise lectures, consultation, conduct seminars, training courses and facilitate associations of AYUSH stakeholders for networking conducting meetings, develop awareness of AYUSH system among public in Romania.

The MoU between the Portuguese Environment Ministry and Goa Public Works Department (PWD) was signed. It will help Goa manage its water resources better. The signing of the two-year long arrangement is a significant move to work in tandem to develop common initiatives for water supply and wastewater management in the state. The projects would include: 1. Opa water supply project in north Goa, 2. Sewage water treatment plant in Valpoi and 3. Manganese-removal efforts in Selaulim Reservoir.

Odisha Bhawan, the official guest house of Odisha Government in Chennai, was inaugurated by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. This will be the fifth official guest house of the State Government outside Odisha. The Chennai guest house has 16 double-bed rooms and five suits. It has also an auditorium with a capacity for 300 people. It has been constructed with an investment of nearly Rs 22 crore.

30 September is the International Translation Day. This day marks the feast of St. Jerome, the Bible translator who is considered the patron saint of translators. The theme for International Translation Day 2018 is "Translation: promoting cultural heritage in changing times".

The United Nations has designated the first Monday of October of every year as World Habitat Day. The theme for World Habitat Day 1 October 2018 is Municipal Solid Waste Management. World Habitat Day was established in 1985 by the United Nations General Assembly through Resolution 40/202 and was first celebrated in 1986. The purpose of World Habitat Day is to reflect on the state of our towns and cities, and on the basic right of all to adequate shelter.

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, under the aegis of Swachh Bharat Mission - Urban (SBM - U) partnered with Google to launch the Loo Review campaign. This would encourage all local guides in India to rate and review public toilets on Google Maps. 500+ cities in India with more than 30,000 toilets with the name of "SBM Toilet" are currently live on Google Maps.

Minister of Railways and Coal, Shri Piyush Goyal has launched the first of its kind "Rail Heritage Digitisation Project" of Indian Railways in collaboration with Google Arts & Culture. It aims to showcase India's Rail Heritage to National and International audience in an online story-telling platform. It is considered to be the largest cultural heritage digitization project in the Asia Pacific Region. The project would digitize National Rail Museum, Rewari Steam Centre, three World Heritage Railways, CSMT Mumbai building among others. 22 digital screens across different locations in India will be set up for showcasing this historic project.

Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) launched a Flood Forecasting and Early Warning System (FFEWS) for Kolkata City. It is also India's first comprehensive city-level FFEWS. It will reduce economic loss and impacts on livelihood and improve flood awareness and safety at the community level. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded the design and implementation of the FFEWS through a $1 million technical assistance to KMC from its Urban Climate Change Resilience Trust Fund under the Urban Financing Partnership Facility.

Walmart Foundation announced that it is to invest Rs.180 crore in India over the next five years to improve farmers' livelihood. The funds would be used to support farmer organisations to develop knowledge of sustainable farming practices, share business best practices and add value to primary agricultural commodities. The money will also be used to improve access to finance and markets. Walmart India would grow its direct sourcing from farmers to 25% of the products sold in its Cash & Carry stores over the same period.

The Nobel Medicine or Physiology Prize has been awarded to James P Allison and Tasaku Honjo "for their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation". This is for the first time that no Literature Prize will be given in 70 years because of a #MeToo scandal. The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded by the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.

Argentina has received $57.1 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), for boosting the country's struggling economy. Argentina originally secured a $50 billion loan back in June, when an initial $15 billion tranche was handed over.

The Reserve Bank of India has imposed a penalty of Rs 5 crore on Karur Vysya Bank for non-compliance of its directives. According to RBI statement, the penalty was imposed for non-compliance with its directions on "Income Recognition and Asset Classification (IRAC) norms, reporting of frauds, and on the need for discipline at the time of opening of current accounts".

FTC-2000G, China's indigenously built new multi-role combat aircraft, for exports has made its debut flight. The aircraft was developed for export by the State-owned Aviation Industry Corp of China (AVIC). The aircraft flew for about 16 minutes. More than 1,000 people, including provincial leaders as well as Ambassadors and military, attaches from several nations, took part in the ceremony marking the flight. The aircraft is tasked mainly with air strikes against ground targets.

Gujarat-based industrial groups are set to invest more than Rs.20,000 crore in Tamil Nadu. The investment is mainly in a city gas distribution network, pharmaceuticals, food processing and engineering, according to K.Gnanadesikan, Additional Chief Secretary, Industries Department of Tamil Nadu. The MoUs for investments will be inked during the second edition of Global Investors Meet to be held in Chennai on January 23-24 in 2019.

According to Association of Mutual Funds of India's (AMFI) statistics, Maharashtra tops the chart for state with the maximum penetration and Assets Under Management (AUM). Also, as per August, average assets under management (AUM) of mutual funds rose to an all-time high of Rs 25.2 lakh crore across the country. For Maharashtra, it touched Rs 10.35 lakh crore, about 41.1% of the all-India total. It is followed by Delhi having Rs 2.35 lakh crore and Karnataka having Rs 1.76 lakh crore.

India is to gift three MiG-21 fighter jets to Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin is to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi be in New Delhi on October 4 and 5 for the annual summit. The handing over of 3 MiG-21s is based on a request from Russian Defence Minister to Indian Defence Minister. The gifts comprise of one Type 75 aircraft and two Type 77 aircraft. This is a major symbolic gesture to showcase the all-weather friendship and deep strategic partnership between India and Russia, which has been put to test in recent times due to changing geopolitical conditions. About MiG-21: Design Group: Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau in the 1950s Type: Fighter and interceptor aircraft National Origin: Soviet Union MiG-21 is a product of the Soviet Union It made first flight in 1956 and entered service in 1959. From 1985, Russia stopped producing the aircraft while India continued operating the upgraded variants.