Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2019

Notes:
The World Students’ Day (WSD)  is celebrated every year on October 15 to observe the birthday of India’s former President and great scientist Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. He was the 11th President of India, who served from 2002 to 2007, and was widely referred to as the people’s President besides being credited for India’s civilian space programme and military missile systems.

Notes:
SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar has been appointed as the new chairman of Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) for 2019-20. He succeeded Sunil Mehta, who was the MD & CEO of Punjab National Bank (PNB). The IBA represents banks’ interests with the government and regulators.

Notes:
The 18th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) 2019 is being held at Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan from 25-26 October 2019. The NAM was established in 1961 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia through an initiative of the Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and the Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito. It was founded during the collapse of the colonial system and the independence struggles of the peoples of Africa, Asia, Latin America and other regions of the world and at the height of the Cold War. The NAM is a forum of 120 developing world states that are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc.

Notes:
Indo-Maldives joint military exercise ‘Ex Ekuverin – 2019’ has recently  culminated  at Foreign Training Node in Aundh military station, Pune. The 14 day exercise included joint training of the contingents in counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations in the semi-urban environment under the UN mandate, developing interoperability and cohesion between both the contingents.

Notes:
The International Osteoporosis Foundation observes the World Osteoporosis Day (WOD) every year on October 20th to raise global awareness on prevention, diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis and metabolic bone disease. The 2019 theme is ‘Love your bones and Protect your future’.

Notes:
The AYUSH ministry has signed a MoU with the Defence ministry to provide traditional medicine services at the armed forces’ hospitals and dispensaries. Under the MoU, ayurveda units will be established at palliative care centres at the Army Research and Referral Hospital, Air Force Hospital, Hindon in Ghaziabad and five identified ex-service men Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS) polyclinics in Delhi –NCR.

Notes:
The Data Security Council of India (DSCI)  in partnership with  National Cyber Security Coordinator’s office has recently launched national repository ‘TechSagar’ to facilitate new opportunities for businesses and academia to collaborate, connect and innovate, in future. The TechSagar provides insights about capabilities of more than 4000 entities from industry, academia and research across 25 technology areas like Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning, blockchain, cloud and virtualization, robotics and Automation and more. The online portal also allows one to sort startups by filtering the technology they work on, their headquarters.

Notes:
To celebrate the 550th birth anniversary of the founder of Sikhism Guru Nanak Dev, India and Pakistan have recently signed the landmark agreement to operationalise the historic Kartarpur Sahib Corridor at Zero Point, just about 4 km from the International Boundary.  It will connect the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India’s Punjab with the Gurdwara at Kartarpur in Pakistan. The agreement will allow access to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Norowal district of Pakistan where the founder of Sikhism Guru Nanak Dev spent last 18 years of his life. The highlights of the Agreement are as follows: Indian pilgrims of all faiths and persons of Indian origin can use the corridor and the travel will be Visa Free.

Notes:
India has been ranked 63rd among 190 countries, as per latest Doing Business Report (DBR, 2020) of World Bank (WB). As per report, the World Bank (WB) has recognized India as one of the top 10 improvers for the third consecutive year. India’s recovery rate under resolving insolvency has improved significantly from 26.5% to 71.6%. The time taken for resolving insolvency has also come down significantly from 4.3 years to 1.6 years. India has reduced the number of procedures in granting construction permits. Apart from this, India continues to maintain its first position among South Asian countries. 

Notes:
On the occasion of Dhanteras, the Uttar Pradesh government has launched Mukhya Mantri Kanya Sumangala Yojana to empower the girl child. As per the scheme, an amount of Rs 15,000 will be provided to every family in which a girl child takes birth. The state government will direct transfer funds in the account of the registered girls in a phased manner when a girl child will complete various achievements, like vaccination, admission in class 1, 5 and 9, graduation.