Current Affairs - October 25, 2020 Current Affairs

Andorra has joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to become its 190th member. Andorra is a microstate situated between France and Spain. However, it is the largest microstate in Europe.

Union Minister of State for Culture and Tourism (I/C) Shri Prahlad Singh Patel virtually launched "Life in Miniature" project, a collaboration between the National Museum, New Delhi, Ministry of Culture, and Google Arts & culture today. Speaking at the launch of the project, Shri Prahlad Singh Patel emphasized the importance of the Prime Minister's 'Digital India' initiative and the role of technology in the preservation of India's heritage. He commended Google for its leadership in the technology sector and its focus on product innovation, stating that Google's commitment to driving social empowerment and inclusion is a true asset to India.

Haryana has been ranked at the top in the Anemia Mukt Bharat (AMB) Index among the 29 states in India. The news was shared during the State Health Society of the National Health Mission's 8th Governing Body Meeting in Chandigarh. Rajeev Arora, Additional Chief Secretary of Health Department informed that Haryana has been ranked at a top slot with an AMB index of 46.7, in a recently released scorecard by the Union Ministry of Health and Welfare. He added that there is a total of 34 National Programmes that are being run under the National Health Mission (NHM).

Bank of Baroda (BoB) has entered into a tie-up with Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM), whereby the bank will be one of the preferred financiers for the entire range of vehicles sold by the latter.

The World Polio Day is celebrated annually on October 24, to raise awareness for polio vaccination and eradication of polio. World Polio Day provides an opportunity to highlight global efforts toward a polio-free world and honour the tireless contributions of those on the frontlines in the fight to eradicate polio from every corner of the globe.

Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar released the new series of Consumer Price Index for industrial workers (CPI-IW) on October 22, 2020. It was launched with 2016 as Base Year. Earlier the base year for the CPI-IW was 2001.

The first ever 'India International Cooperatives Trade Fair'(IICTF) was inaugurated today by the Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar at Pragati Maidan. The 3 day event is being held from today till 13th October, 2019. As 94% of total farmers in India are members of at least one cooperative institution, IICTF is aimed at furthering Prime Minister Narendra Modi led government's vision and goal of doubling farmers' income by promoting cooperative-to-cooperative trade within India abroad and promoting exports of key agriculture commodities and products leading to enhanced rural and farm prosperity.

The Karnataka cabinet on Thursday granted approval to implement the Bhagyalakshmi scheme, which provides financial security to girl child of BPL families, through Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana of the postal department instead of LIC, government sources said. The postal department will be the implementing agency for Bhagyalakshmi scheme, one of the flagship schemes of the Yediyurappa-led BJP government in the state.

The NATO alliance is to build a headquarters for space operations at its airbase in Ramstein in Germany, to counter a rising Russian and Chinese threat, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday. As well as a US airbase, the German facility also houses NATO's Allied Air Command. "Space is of great importance for what we can do on the earth - communications, navigation, cell phones, military communications, transmission of data. And, and a lot of activities on the earth at sea and on land is dependent on capabilities in space, not least satellites," Stoltenberg said, after the first of two days of talks with allied defence ministers.

Mastercard has entered into a partnership with Atlantis to expand the Digital First Program in India. The partnership aims to provide the users of Mastercard, a technology solution that enables them to enjoy a best-in-class digital banking experience. After the launch in India, the partnership will expand to Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. The partnership allows the users of the Mastercard to have immediate account access and convenient payments.

NITI Aayog has constituted a 14-member advisory committee to look into introducing reforms in the urban planning education system. The panel will be headed by NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar. The members of the committee include Amitabh Kant, CEO of NITI Aayog and secretaries of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs(MoHUA), Ministry of Education(MoE) and Ministry of Panchayati Raj.

24th October has been celebrated as United Nations Day since 1948. The United Nations was founded in 1945 to support collective action to realize peace, development and human rights for all. With the ratification of the UN Charter by the majority of its signatories, including the five permanent members of the Security Council, the United Nations officially came into being.

The United Nations' World Development Information Day is held on October 24 every year. The day aims to draw the attention of world public opinion to development problems and the need to strengthen international cooperation to solve them for overall growth and development.

Himachal Pradesh has also secured second position at the national level for construction of roads under PMGSY. Union Ministry of Rural Development has declared the list of top performing 30 districts in the country for implementing the PMGSY programme.

Former Lebanese Prime Minister, Saad al-Hariri has been re-appointed to the post, after winning a slim majority of votes in parliament election. Hariri received 65 parliamentary votes out of 118, giving him the mandate to form his new government. In October 2019, Hariri announced his resignation amid 2019-20 mass-protests.

Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has introduced the 'Facial Recognition System' to access the digital documents. This system has been launched for classes 10th and 12th.The system has been launched amid the Covid-19 situation in order to make things easier for students.

India today reiterated its commitment for eradication of corruption under Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. Speaking at the 1st ever Ministerial Meeting of G-20 Anti-Corruption Working Group, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge), Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space.

India has assumed the Chairmanship of the Governing Body of International Labour Organization (ILO), after a gap of 35 years. The Labour and Employment Secretary, Apurva Chandra, has been elected as the Chairperson of the Governing Body of the ILO for the period October 2020- June 2021. Chandra is a 1988 batch Indian Administrative Service officer of Maharashtra Cadre. He would preside over the upcoming the Governing Body's meeting, to be held in November 2020.

After performing the most difficult task of providing nutritional food to 74 lakh beneficiaries during Corona pandemic, Maharashtra's Women and Child welfare department has launched a new initiative to fulfil the nutritional requirements of lactating mothers and children in the state. Women and Child welfare minister Yashomati Thakur inaugurated the platform ' TARANG SUPOSHIT MAHARASHTRACHA' which is based on the interactive voice response system. The platform is expected to create more awareness about the nutritional requirements of women and children in the state.

The Mizoram government is all set to take stringent measures against the rising covid-19 cases. The state will adopt "COVID-19 : No Tolerance Fortnight" from October 26. By this, the government aims to break the chain of local transmission in Mizoram State.