Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2019

Notes:
The Bank of Baroda (BoB) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Indian Army under which the bank would offer customised services along with a host of facilities to account holders. The MoU offers handsome free personal accident insurance cover, free air accident insurance cover of Rs 15 lakh to Rs 50 lakh and an overdraft facility up to 3 times of monthly net salary. The features are also applicable for pensioners of Indian Army up to the age of 70 years.

Notes:
Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) has launched an Automated Real Time Performance Smart-board for effective monitoring and measurement of the key programmes of the government such as Digital India, Aadhaar, Digital Payments etc. The aim of Smart-board is to be a single window access for Centre, State or District specific projects implemented by MeitY. It will provide real-time, dynamic analytical project monitoring for critical and high priority Programme of the ministry.

Notes:
Axis Bank has launched a short-term online fixed deposit product ‘Express FD’ that allows a customer to open a FD account in 3 minutes through the digital mode without opening a savings account with the bank. The new product offers a host of features like attractive interest rates, zero issuance fees and no penalty on pre-mature withdrawal (up to 25% of the amount). A customer can now open an Express FD account by investing a minimum Rs 5,000 up to Rs90,000, for a tenure of 6 to 12 months.

Notes:
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur has launched the Pragati Rath of the HDFC bank that will provide financial and digital literacy to the people during a month-long initiative by moving to different parts of the state.

Notes:
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is hosting the first-ever World Cotton Day (WCD) in Geneva on 7th October 2019. Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani is representing India in the 5-day event of WCD. The WCD will celebrate the many advantages of cotton, from its qualities as a natural fibre, to the benefits people obtain from its production, transformation, trade and consumption. It will also serve to shed light on the challenges faced by cotton economies around the world because cotton is important to least developed, developing and developed economies worldwide. 

Notes:
India’s first e-waste clinic is being set up in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. For this noble cause, the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) have signed pact that would enable segregation, processing and disposal of waste from both household and commercial units. Initially, it will be 3-month pilot project and being successful, it would be replicated elsewhere in the country. The clinic will be formed in compliance with the Solid Waste Management Rules of 2016. 

Notes:
Indian women’s cricket captain & right-handed batswoman, Mithali Raj has become the 1st female player to complete 20 yrs in international cricket. She achieved the feat while leading India to an emphatic 8-wicket win over South Africa Women in the first ODI at Vadodara on 10th October 2019. Mithali made her ODI debut against Ireland on 26th June 1999 & completed 20 years and 105 days in the 50-over format. She has played 204 ODIs till now, the most by a female.

Notes:
The “Spirit Of Kerala”, which is directed by Arun Joseph, has become the first Indian short film that bagged the People’s Choice Award at the recently concluded My Rode Reel film competition. It is a short film by a group of Malayali youngsters on Vallamkali (boat racing) that showed the celebration of the spirit of survival in the face of disaster. My Rode Reel film competition is touted as the ‘world’s largest short film competition’.

Notes:
Indian sprinter Nirmala Sheoran has been banned for four years for doping and stripped of her 400m and 4x400m relay titles from the 2017 Asian Championships. The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has stated that she tested positive for steroids drostanolone and metenolone in sample taken at the Inter-State meet in Guwahati in June 2018. Hence, the ban was backdated to June 29, 2018 & her results from August 2016 to November 2018 were disqualified.

Notes:
NASA has recently launched its new Ionospheric Connection Explorer (Icon)  satellite  from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida to explore the mysterious, dynamic region where air meets space. The refrigerator-size Icon satellite will study the airglow formed from gases in the ionosphere and also measure the charged environment right around the 360-mile-high (580-kilometer-high) spacecraft. Apart from this, a NASA satellite ‘Gold’ ( launched in 2018) is also studying the upper atmosphere, but from much higher up.