Current Affairs - October 12, 2020 Current Affairs

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Sunday launch the physical distribution of property cards under the SVAMITVA (Survey of Villages And Mapping With Improvised Technology In Village Areas) scheme that enables rural masses to use property as a financial asset, the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement on Friday.

Srikant M Datar, an alumnus of Mumbai University and IIM Ahmedabad, has been named the new head of Harvard University's business school. Datar will succeed Nitin Nohria, another Indian American, and will be the second dean of Indian origin in Harvard University, with Rakesh Khurana, who heads Harvard College, one of the university's 10 graduate and professional schools.

Every year, International Day of the Girl Child is celebrated by UNICEF. It is celebrated on October 11. This year, the day is celebrated under the Theme: My voice, our equal future

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh has disclosed that so far, interview for jobs has been abolished in 23 States and 8 Union Territories of India. This, he said, is a follow up to the abolition of interview for Group-B (Non- Gazetted) and Group - C posts in the Central Government ever since 2016.

The issue price for the sovereign gold bond has been fixed at Rs 5,051 per gram of gold, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in a statement on Friday. The Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme 2020-21-Series VII will be opened for subscription from October 12 to October 16.

The Reserve Bank of India, in an affidavit, filed before Supreme Court in the loan moratorium case, said that it would not be possible to give more time as a relief for sectors hit by the coronavirus pandemic. The Centre made it clear that further relief is not possible beyond waiver of interest-on-interest for certain categories of loan account having borrowing up to Rs 2 crore.

The Environment Pollution Authority has recently directed Punjab, Delhi, Rajasthan and Haryana Governments to implement air pollution control measures under Graded Response Action Plan.

Iga Swaitek has become a Grand Slam champion at age 19. She ranked just 54th. Iga Swiatek won French Open trophy.

Amid reports of manipulations in Television Rating Points (TRP) by some channels, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology, chaired by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, has decided to take up the issue.

Amid China's growing aggressiveness, Taiwan has redesigned the cover of its passport, highlighting the words "Taiwan" and "passport", written in English. It is set to be issued for the public from next year. The new design is intended to make identifying the citizenship of Taiwan passport holders easier, according to an official statement issued by its Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Cnemaspis anandani, a rock dwelling gecko endemic to the Western Ghats; Sphaerotheca magadha, a burrowing frog discovered in the farm fields of Jharkhand; Enoplotrupes (Enoplotrupes) tawangensis, a dung beetle from Tawang; Ginger Amomum nagamiense, a wild ginger variety discovered from the forest behind Kohina Zoo in Nagaland; and Pteris subiriana, a wild fern found not just in Kerala but also in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra - these are among the 544 reasons India has to cheer, with the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) and the Botanical Survey of India (BSI) on Friday releasing Animal Discoveries 2019 and Plant Discoveries 2019.

Nepal has withdrawn a school textbook which included a contentious map of border areas with India that it earlier showed as part of its territory in its political map, a move being seen as a conciliatory step.

On October 9, 2020, India received second set of Swiss bank details under the "Automatic Exchange Pact" signed with Switzerland. The pact was a key milestone of GoI in its fight back against black money.