Notes:
The bilateral maritime exercise “JIMEX 18” has started between Japan and India at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh on October 7. The aim of the 8-day exercise is to enhance interoperability, improve understanding and imbibe the best practices of each other. The Japanese vessels, under the command of Rear Admiral Tatsuya Fukada, Commander, Escort Flotilla-4 (CCF-4), are participating in the third edition of Japan-India Maritime Exercise (JIMEX 2018) with the ships of Indian Navy’s Eastern Fleet. The Indian Navy would be represented by three indigenously designed and built warships and a fleet tanker. The ships participating are INS Satpura, multipurpose stealth frigate, INS Kadmatt, Anti-Submarine Warfare Corvette, Missile Corvette and INS Shakti, the Fleet Tanker.

Notes:
Eminent Gandhian Natwar Thakkar (86), popularly known as ‘Nagaland’s Gandhi’, has passed away in Guwahati on October 7, 2018. The social activist had founded the Nagaland Gandhi Ashram at Chuchuyimlang village in Mokokchung district. His efforts to spread Gandhian philosophy and peace had earned him the sobriquet ‘Nagaland’s Gandhi’. He has also built a library in a remote village. In recognition of his selfless service and contributions towards the society, Thakkar was honoured with numerous awards including India’s fourth higher Civilian Award Padma Shri in 1999 by the then President of India, K.R. Narayan. He belongs to the Maharashtra state of India but migrated to Nagaland for social work at the age of 23 in 1955.

Notes:
Keerthana Pandian from India has won the girls’ title in the IBSF World Under-16 Snooker Championships by defeating Belarussian rival Albina Leschuk 3-1 in the final. It’s her first international crown. In the corresponding boys category, Ben Martens of Belgium clinched the title in St Petersburg, Russia, according to information received from the media cell of International Billiards & Snooker Federation (IBSF).

Notes:
The 2018 Under-19 Asia Cup cricket tournament was held in Bangladesh from September 29 to October 07 at Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar. In the final, India defeated Sri Lanka by 144 runs to win the tournament for the 6th time. India outplayed Sri Lanka in all departments by first scoring an imposing 304 for six after skipper Prabh Simran Singh won the toss and elected to bat. Openers Yashasvi Jaiswal (85) and Anuj Rawat (57) made solid foundation with 121-run stand. Ayush Badoni’s unbeaten knock of 52 off 28 balls helped India to reach a mammoth total. The island nation were never in the chase as they were all out for 160 in 38.4 overs losing wickets at regular intervals with left-arm spinner Harsh Tyagi’s registering brilliant figures of 6 for 38 in 10 overs. For his consistency (318 runs in the tournament), Jaiswal was adjudged man-of-the-tournament.

Notes:
The Arunachal Pradesh Government has recently launched the Chief Minister’s Sashakt Kisan Yojana (SKY) and Chief Minister’s Krishi Samuh Yojana (KSY) in Itanagar. The Sashakt Kisan Yojana (SKY) will subsume three state flagship programmes, namely – CM’s Employment Generation Scheme (EGS), CM’s Agri-Mechanization Programme (AMP) and CM’s Flagship Programme on Tea and Rubber. The aim of the KSY is to empower the farmers through cooperative approach, by providing timely supports and marketing interventions of the government for better price realization and doubling farmers’ income.

Notes:
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has recently launched the Nirman Kusuma scheme for providing financial assistance to the children of construction workers for their technical education in the State. In it, an ITI student will be entitled to get financial assistance of Rs. 23,600 & a diploma student to get Rs. 26,300 per annum. A total of 1,878 students will get benefit from the programme. The total cost of the project is around Rs. 1.09 crore that has been deposited to the accounts of the beneficiaries.

Notes:
R N Ravi, the former Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC), has been redesignated as the deputy National Security Advisor (NSA). He is also the Central government interlocutor for talks with Naga insurgent group National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM) and will continue to be the centre’s interlocutor for Nagaland. He has been shaping a peace accord with the NSCN (IM). Now, Mr. Ravi will be the third deputy reporting to national security adviser Ajit Doval after former RAW chief Rajinder Khanna and former diplomat Pankaj Saran. A 1976-batch IPS officer of the Kerala cadre, Ravi retired as Special Director in the Intelligence Bureau in 2012.

Notes:
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.

Notes:
India have opened their medal account in the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games with two Silvers in Buenos Aires, Argentina on October 7. The first went to Tushar Mane in shooting and later Tababi Devi Thangjam in Judo in Girl’s 44kg category. With this, Thangjam from Manipur has created history by becoming the India’s first judoka to win a medal at the Olympics – junior or senior. While Mane bagged silver in the men’s 10m air rifle event with a score of 247.5. India is being represented by 46 athletes in 13 sports in the prestigious event. This is India’s largest ever contingent at the Youth Olympics. Earlier, India won two medals – a silver and a bronze – in the 2014 Youth Olympics in Nanjing in China.

Notes:
US duo William D. Nordhaus and Paul M. Romer have won the 2018 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for research “about innovation, climate and economic growth”. Laureate Romer was honoured for his work on the endogenous growth theory, which has generated vast amounts of new research into the regulations and policies that encourage new ideas and long-term prosperity. While Laureate Nordhaus was specifically honoured for “integrating climate change into long-run macroeconomic analysis”. His research shows that the most efficient remedy for problems caused by greenhouse gas emissions is a global scheme of carbon taxes uniformly imposed on all countries. Nordhaus was the first person to create a quantitative model that describes the global interplay between the economy and the climate. His model is now widespread and is used to examine the consequences of climate policy interventions, for example carbon taxes. & The pair will share the 9 million Swedish kronor (S$1.3 million) prize.