DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: OCTOBER 19, 2018

Daily Current Affairs ( Oct 19, 2018) like many other sections is inevitable and this also helps to score in the Banking awareness , Static GK and Financial Awareness sections. Remember, Banking Awareness and Static Awareness Questions are asked from the General Awareness section. This will also help you to ride your preparations for the forthcoming exams.

NATIONAL

Indo-Japan Joint Exercise ‘Dharma Guardian’ To Be Held In Mizoram

aThe Armies of India and Japan will hold their first ever joint exercise from November 1 at a jungle warfare school in Mizoram’s Vairengte with a focus on strengthening counter-terror cooperation.

The focus of the two-week-long exercise ‘Dharma Guardian” will be to increase interoperability between the two forces and enhance coordination in dealing with various security challenges.

The Indian contingent will be represented by 6/1 Gorkha Rifles while the Japanese contingent will be represented by 32 Infantry Regiment of the Japanese Ground Self Defence Force.

Kati Bihu festival celebrated across Assam

Assam’s third Bihu festival, known as Kati Bihu or Kongali Bihu, was being celebrated across the state.

The festival derives its name from the Assamese month of Kati. On the occasion of Kati Bihu, women, both in urban and rural areas, try to ward off evil and pray for a rich harvest by lighting earthen lamps.

As a part of the festival, farmers also tie a special kind of lamp, known as Akash Bati, to poles and the poles are placed in the paddy fields.

Govt launches ‘Swastha Bharat Yatra’ campaign to create awareness about safe food

The government has launched a national campaign ‘Swasth Bharat Yatra’ on the World Food Day in New Delhi.

It aims to sensitise people about eating safe food and be healthy.  A pan-India cycle rally is also being organised. It propagate a powerful message ‘Eat Right India’.

The FSSAI is leading this campaign to create consumer awareness about eating safe and nutritious food for becoming healthy.

The government is also making available foods at a cheaper rates to people through a public distribution system and other welfare schemes with an annual subsidy of about Rs 2 lakh crore.

FSSAI chief executive: Pawan Kumar Agarwal

North Central Railways launches two mobile app

The North Central Railways (NCR) launched two mobile apps, ‘NCR RASTA’ and ‘Yatri RASTA’, for its employees and passengers, respectively, for locating assets and stations.

“NCR RASTA (Railway assets Summarized Tracking Application) and Yatri RASTA (Railway Approach to Station Tracking Application) were launched by NCR General Manager Rajiv Chaudhry.

The ‘NCR RASTA’ app is for the use of railway officers and staff and has exact mapping of all railway assets.

The ‘Yatri RASTA’ app will allow general public to locate the railway stations easily.

INTERNATIONAL

Maeen Abdulmalik Sworn In As Yemen’s New PM

Yemen’s newly appointed Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik was sworn in to lead the internationally-backed government.

Maeen was appointed as Prime Minister by Yemen’s President Abdu-Rabbu Mansour Hadi replacing predecessor Ahmed Obeid bin Daghr.

Yemen

Capital: Sana’a

Currency: Yemeni rial

Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa To Form New Government In Bhutan

The Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa (DNT) will form new government in Bhutan.

This is the first time in Bhutan’s decade old parliamentary democracy that a new party has been chosen to form the government.

The party has won 30 seats in 47 member National Assembly, the lower house of the parliament.

The centre-left Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa (DNT), which was only formed in 2013, won 30 of the national assembly’s 47 seats.

Bhutan

Capital: Thimphu

Currency: Bhutanese ngultrum

World’s longest sea bridge between China-Hong Kong to open

The world’s longest sea bridge Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge has been opened.

The 55-kilometer-long bridge, situated in the Lingdingyang waters of the Pearl River Estuary, will be the world’s longest sea bridge.

It will slash the travel time between Hong Kong and Zhuhai from three hours to just 30 minutes, further integrating the cities in the Pearl River Delta.

Europe, Japan send spacecraft on 7-year journey to Mercury

The European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency as successfully lifted a spacecraft through Ariane 5 rocket carrying two probes into orbit for a joint mission to Mercury, the closest planet to the sun.

The unmanned BepiColombo spacecraft successfully separated and was sent into orbit from French Guiana as planned to begin a seven-year journey to Mercury.

The spacecraft was named after Italian scientist Giuseppe “Bepi” Colombo and it was in the right orbit and has sent the first signal after the liftoff.

When it arrives, BepiColombo will release two probes — Bepi and Mio — that will independently investigate the surface and magnetic field of Mercury.

Piyush Goyal to receive US university award for rural electrification effort

The Union Minister for Railways, Coal and Corporate Affairs Piyush Goyal has received  the prestigious Carnot prize for his contribution towards sustainable energy solutions.

The former power minister will be awarded by the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania School of Design.

The Carnot Prize is the Kleinman Center’s annual recognition of distinguished contributions to energy policy through scholarship or practice. The award in the energy sector is named after French physicist Nicolas Sadi Carnot.

BANKING AND ECONOMY

RBI announces steps to boost liquidity for NBFCs

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has allowed banks to lend more to non-banking finance companies (NBFC), by increasing the single borrower exposure limit from 10 per cent to 15 per cent.

The increase has been limited up to December 31, 2018, and has excluded NBFCs that lend to the infrastructure sector.

Bank’s have also been allowed to use government securities equal to their incremental outstanding credit to NBFC lenders, over and above their outstanding credit to them as on October 19, to meet liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) requirements.

AWARDS AND HONOURS

Wildlife Photographer Of The Year 2018 Bagged By Marsel Van Oosten

Marsel van Oosten from Netherlands has won the Wildlife Photographer Of The Year 2018 title. It is the portrait of two endangered golden snub-nosed monkeys in China’s Qinling mountains.

The Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition showcases the best nature photography from around the world. This year, the annual competition, developed by the Natural History Museum in London, England, attracted over 45,000 entries from across 95 countries.

Jalandhar boy Arshdeep Singh is only 10 years old, who has won the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award in the category, 10 years and under age. ‘Pipe owls’ is the winning photograph which was clicked outside Kapurthala, Punjab.

Minal Patel Davis honoured with Presidential Medal for Combating Human Trafficking

An Indian-American woman has been honoured with a Presidential award by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for her extraordinary contribution towards combating human trafficking in Houston.

Minal Patel Davis, Special Advisor on Human Trafficking to Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, received the ‘Presidential Medal for Combating Human Trafficking’ in the White House.

OBITUARY

Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister N.D. Tiwari Passes Away

Former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand , N D Tiwari, passed away .

Mr. Tiwari who began his career with the erstwhile Praja Socialist Party (PSP) to then serve his entire career in the Congress.

Mr. Tiwari was thrice elected Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and was for one term the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand.

IMPORTANT DAYS

World Osteoporosis Day – October 20

World Osteoporosis Day is observed annually on October 20th, and launches a year-long campaign dedicated to raising global awareness of the prevention diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis and metabolic bone disease.

It is Organized by the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF).

International Osteoporosis Foundation

Headquarters: Nyon, Switzerland

President: Prof. Cyrus Cooper