Current Affairs - October 10, 2018 Current Affairs

The Organics and Millets International Trade Fair 2019, organised by the Karnataka's Department of Agriculture, will be held in Bengaluru from 18-20 January. The three-day fair, primarily for farmers, buyers, sellers and exporters of organic produces and millets, will have about 250 exhibitors occupying an exhibition space of 10,000 square meters including stalls from other states, countries, Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) and farmer federations.

Meng Hongwei resigned as the President of International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol). Meng Hongwei is from China. He has resigned after he was detained in China and having been kept under probe for alleged involvement in criminal activities. He became the Interpol President in 2016. He is the first Chinese official to become the Interpol President. Senior Vice-President of Interpol's Executive Committee, Kim Jong Yang of South Korea, will be the acting president.

Jharkhand announced to be the partner state in Goa International Film Festival 2018 which will be held on 20th to 28th of November, 2018. The decision was taken in meeting between Secretary of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Mr. Amit Khare and Chief Secretary of Jharkhand, Sudhir Tripathy at Ranchi.

Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, J P Nadda inaugurated '2nd World Conference on Access to Medical Products: Achieving the SDGs 2030' in New Delhi. On that, Shri J P Nadda released the Position Paper and launched the Information Sharing Platform Gateway for South-East Asia Regulatory Network (SEARN) developed by Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, which will promote regulatory and health collaboration among the countries of the South-East Asia Region.

US-based Hyperloop Transportation Technologies or HyperloopTT launched the first full-scale transportation capsule which will be operational in 2019. The name of the capsule is: "Quintero One". It is a 32-metre 5 tonne capsule that has 72 sensors, 75,000 rivets and 7,200 square metres of fibre. It was constructed completely out of a specially made dual-layer smart composite material called "Vibranium" made by HyperloopTT. It can move at speeds of more than 750 miles (1,200 kilometers) per hour and has a capacity to hold 30 to 40 passengers at a time.

Japan's passport has been named the most powerful in the world, overtaking Singapore, according to the Henley Passport Index 2018. Japan has recently gained visa-free access to Myanmar, Japanese citizens now have visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 190 destinations around the world. The Indian passport has secured the 81st rank with visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 60 destinations.

Arunachal Pradesh Government launched 2 schemes called- the Chief Minister's Sashakt Kisan Yojana and Chief Minister's Krishi Samuh Yojana in Itanagar to double the income of the farmers in the country by 2022.

UNICEF and NASSCOM Foundation have signed an agreement to strengthen child rights through "meaningful business interventions. With this Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the two organisations will work collaboratively on two key areas including national sensitisation on child online protection and encouraging innovations for child rights' in the country.

Flipkart enters into pact with Bajaj Allianz to provide insurance to customers buying smartphones from its platform. Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI) gave Flipkart the license to go on a pact with Bajaj Allianz General Insurance for the scheme. According to the scheme, Customers who buy the plan will be offered either a cash payout, or a free pickup, service and drop facility if their devices get damaged or stolen. The minimum insurance price for the scheme is Rs. 99 for a year which will be operational the day the device is delivered to a customer. The insurance offering will be available from October 10, 2018.

The Government of India (GoI) has reconstituted Supreme Court-empowered Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA), which is tasked with taking various measures to tackle air pollution in the National Capital Region (NCR). The tenure of the last EPCA expired on 3rd October 2018. Former secretary Bhure Lal will continue to be the chairman of reconstituted Pollution watchdog EPCA. The purpose of the EPCA is to protect & improve the quality of the environment, and prevent & control the environmental pollution in the NCR. The EPCA is also mandated to enforce Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) in the city as per the pollution levels.

The World Bank released its East Asia and Pacific economy update October 2018 edition. According to the report, developing countries of the East Asia and Pacific region will grow at 6.3 per cent in 2018 mainly due to China's moderate growth. In 2017, the growth of the region was at 6.6 percent. China's growth will slow moderately to 6.5 per cent. Remaining East Asia and Pacific region will maintain a stable growth of 5.3 per cent between 2018-2020 mainly due to a domestic demand. Inflation is expected to rise during 2018-20.

On the occasion of 86th anniversary, the Indian Air Force has launched an innovative mobile health App named 'MedWatch' in keeping with the Prime Minister's vision of 'Digital India, Ayushman Bharat and Mission Indradhanush'. The app is conceived by the doctors of IAF and developed in-house by Directorate of Information Technology (DIT) with ZERO financial outlay. 'MedWatch' is the first mobile health app in the three Armed Services and was launched by Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj launched 'India for Humanity' initiative in New Delhi. It is a part of 150th Birth Anniversary celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi being held over the next one year. For this, MEA had collaborated with charitable organization Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti, BMVSS. This initiative comprises of a year-long series of artificial limb fitment camps in a number of countries spanning the globe fully sponsored by Ministry. Initially,the camps will be held in 12 countries identified through the Missions with financial support of Indian government.

The Corporate affairs ministry set up a 10-member panel to check on the discounts offered by the online retailers. The panel will set probe to Practices in the digital economy, Backlog of competition cases to be resolved and The fee structure followed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI). These came to the forefront as traditional retailers requested the commerce minister to impose a ban on discounted sales by online sellers. This is possible due to access of e-retailers to foreign direct investment (FDI) which allows them t offer discounts.

National Housing Bank announced increase of the Refinance limit to Rs.30,000 crore from the previous Rs. 24,000. With this eligible Housing Finance Companies & Other entities will have increased availability of funds. The initial sanctioned limit was set to Rs. 24,000 crore for the current year (July 2018-June 2019) to refinance and credit Housing Finance Companies & other Institutions. Till date, Rs.8835 crore has been sanctioned.

China is to sell 48 high-end armed drones to Pakistan. This will be the largest deal of its kind. The cost of the major defence deal hasn't been revealed yet. Wing Loong II is a high-end reconnaissance, strike and multi-role endurance unmanned aerial system, capable of being fitted with air-to-surface weapons. This type of drone is roughly equivalent to the American MQ-9 Reaper drone. The drones will also be jointly manufactured by China and Pakistan. Last year, China reportedly sold to countries like the UAE and Egypt the Wing Loong II at an estimated $1 million per unit. Till now China is the largest weapon supplier to its all-weather ally Pakistan Army. Both countries also jointly manufacture JF-Thunder a single engine multi-role combat aircraft.

Deborah Herold won gold medal in the elite women's 40 kilometre competition at Saksham Pedal Delhi, India's Premier Cyclothon. In the women's elite race, Sonali Chanu won silver, and Swasti Singh won the bronze medal. Shreedhar Savanur won gold medal in men's 50 kilometres. Silver and bronze medals were won by Manjeet Singh and Krishna Nakaodi.

Indian pair of Meghana Reddy and Tasnim Mir won the Under-15 girls doubles title in the Badminton Asia Junior Under-17 and Under-15 championships, at Mandalay, Myanmar. India won a total of 5 medals in the championships: 1 gold and 4 bronze medals.