DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS : October 17, 2019

Daily Current Affairs (October 17, 2019) 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.

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NATIONAL NEWS

Food Safety Mitra scheme launched on the World Food Day

Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dr Harsh Vardhan launched Food Safety Mitra Scheme, Eat Right Jacket and Eat Right Jhola. Addressing a gathering in New Delhi he said, Eat Right India and Fit India Campaign can prove to be a big success with the right strategy and implementation.
Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has introduced scheme of Food Safety Mitra (FSM) through which it plans to engage motivated individuals with the food safety ecosystem at ground level.
A FSM is an individual professional certified by FSSAI who assists in compliances related to FSS Act, Rules & Regulations with three avatars- Digital Mitra, Trainer Mitra and Hygiene Mitra depending upon their respective roles and responsibilities.
During the event, the Minister also launched Eat Right Jhola which is a reusable, washable and bio-degradable bag. Eat Right Smart Jacket has been introduced to giving an identity to FSSAI staff to ensure transparent inspection. It is embedded with an RFID tag and QR code. It is linked to software to capture entry of inspection staff into premise for monitoring.

Government imposes ban on tricolour import

The government has banned the import of National Flag from across the border by amending the import policy. The move by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry Government aimed to support khadi artisans. Ban on import of National Flag is because the importers are violating import policy norms by importing machine-made flags.
According to the specifications under Part 1, Section 1.2 of Flag Code of India, 2002, the National Flag of India must be made of hand-spun and handwoven wool, cotton, silk khadi bunting.
The ban on the import of the National Flag will help Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC). KVIC reported that the sale of the National Flag was going down. The Khadi had sold National Flags for Rs.3.69 crore in the year 2017-18. This has registered a decline of more than 14% to Rs.3.16 crore in 2018-19.

Shirui Lily Festival inaugurated in Manipur

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Tourism and Culture Prahlad Singh Patel inaugurated Shirui Lily Festival, 2019 at Shirui Vangayan Ground of Ukhrul in Manipur.

Mr Patel along with State Chief Minister N. Biren Singh inaugurated the Strength of Unity Statue as a mark of opening the third edition of the four-day state festival.

Folk dances and folk songs of different ethnic groups and performance by rock bands will be the main attractions of the Festival which will showcase the rich cultural heritage of the State.

Textiles Secretary Inaugurates IHGF-Delhi Fair

Delhi Textiles Secretary, Ravi Capoor, inaugurated the 48th edition of the Indian Handicrafts and Gifts Fair (IHGF) at the India Expo Centre & Mart at Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh.

He further said that with the skills of Indian artisans and the crafts heritage of India the handicrafts industry has the potential to achieve greater growth for not only the sector but for the artisans and the exporters and increase the handicrafts exports of India to Rs. 100,000 crore from the exiting Rs. 26,590 crore.

5th edition of World Coffee Conference comes to India for the first time

International Coffee Organization (ICO) under the aegis of United Nations is organizing its 5th Edition of World Coffee Conference to be held at Bengaluru from September 7th to 9th 2020. The Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India will host the 3-day event themed, ‘Sustainability Through Consumption’ that will celebrate all things of coffee in an immersive experience.
WCC 2020 will address the challenges that farmers across the world are battling with such as climate change, increasing cost of production and falling prices and will focus on economic, agriculture, commercial, environmental, social & cultural impact of Coffee.

Five-day youth festival ‘Sangam 2019’ concludes

The 5-day Youth Festival ‘SANGAM 2019’ organized by Jammu University concluded with the multi dimensional cultural bonanza and distribution of prizes among the winners and participants on the final day of the mega event, here.

The SANGAM 2019, with the tag line of ‘Let’s Build Our Nation’ was organized by Bhadarwah Campus in collaboration with Rastryia Rifles based at Bhadarwah, to promote everlasting peace and prosperity in the Chenab Valley and to also give youth a platform and exposure to showcase their skills in different fields.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

India halved its poverty rate since 1990s: World Bank

India has halved its poverty rate since the 1990s and achieved a seven plus growth rate over the last 15 years, the World Bank said on October 15.
India’s rapidly growing economy needs investment in infrastructure, an estimated 8.8 percent of GDP or $343 billion a year until 2030, it said. Second, sustained growth will also need to accelerate inclusion, especially to create more and better jobs. While an estimated 13 million people enter the working age population each year, only three million new jobs are being generated on an annual basis, the financial institution said.
The World Bank said a particular challenge lies in India’s declining female labour force participation, which at 27% is among the lowest in the world despite overcoming gender gaps in education.

BANKING AND BUSINESS ECONOMY

Curbing black money: Printing of Rs 2,000 notes stopped

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced that it has stopped the printing of Rs.2,000 currency notes.
The Central Bank also revealed that not even a single Rs.2,000 note had been printed in the current financial year, FY 2019-20.
In the financial year 2016-17, the RBI printed 3,542.991 million notes. In the financial year 2017-18, the RBI reduced the printing of the Rs.2000 currency notes to 111.507 million note.
In the financial year 2018-19, the central bank printed 46.690 million notes. No Rs.2000 currency notes were printed in the financial year 2019-20.

PMC Bank Admin meets RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, discusses bank’s operations

RBI-appointed administrator of crisis-hit Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative – PMC Bank, J B Bhoria, met Governor Shaktikanta Das and other senior officials in Mumbai to discuss the bank’s operations.
Mr Bhoria informed that PMC is in the process of recasting its balance sheet to present a true and fair picture of its accounts. It further assured that the bank will make all efforts to safeguard the interests of depositors and other stakeholders.

With deposits of over 11,000 crore rupees and total loan assets of over 9,000 crore rupees, the bank is reported to have given over 6,500 crore rupees in loans to realty firm HDIL.

GOVERNMENT SCHEMES AND MOUS

Facebook launches second phase of digital literacy project for tribal girls

Facebook is extending a programme aimed at inspiring, guiding and encouraging tribal girls from across India to become village-level digital young leaders for their communities for a second phase with a partnership with the ministry of Tribal Affairs Called GOAL (Going Online as Leaders), the programme was launched in March this year and connects underprivileged young women from tribal areas with senior expert mentors in the areas of business, fashion and arts to learn digital and life.
Union Minister of Tribal Affairs Shri Arjun Munda launched the Van Dhan Internship Programme. It was organized by the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. The program will help the tribal population to become self-reliant and entrepreneurs.

Indian Railways launches 09 ‘Sewa Service’ Trains

Indian Railways launches 09 ‘Sewa Service’ Trains to connect smaller towns around major cities.

These services were launched by the Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal along with Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, Dr. Harsh Vardhan and Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Steel, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, from New Delhi by inaugurating Delhi-Shamli passenger train.

These Sewa trains will provide connectivity to the far-flung areas where stoppages of premiere trains were not possible.

Madhya Pradesh State government is to sign an MoU with the National Organization of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM)

Madhya Pradesh State government is to sign an MoU with the National Organization of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) on 17 October.
The agreement aims to create more jobs for the youth by promoting investment in information technology, sector. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath has approved the proposal. The move has been considered as an important step for the IT sector.
The MoU will be signed by Debjani Ghosh, President of NASSCOM. It will be signed in the presence of NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant on 18 October at Indore.

Maharashtra highway police launch app for analysis of road accidents

“The mobile application – MRADMS Maharashtra – has been developed by the Maharashtra Highway Police for its personnel to collect and analyse the data related to road accidents in the state, Additional Director General of Police, Maharashtra (Highway Police), Vinay Kargaonkar, said.
As per the statistics provided by the highway police, road accidents claimed the lives of 13,261 people in the state in 2018.
On this app, the police personnel will have to provide detailed information about every accident, including case number, date, time, sections, road type, vehicle category, reason of the accident, number people killed or injured, etc.

APPOINTMENTS

Shri J.P.S. Chawla assumes charge as new Controller General of Accounts

Shri J.P.S. Chawla assumed charge as the new Controller General of Accounts, Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure.
Government of India has appointed Shri J. P. S. Chawla, 1985-batch Indian Civil Accounts Service (ICAS) Officer as the new Controller General of Accounts (CGA), Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure with effect from October 15, 2019 on regular basis. Shri J. P. S. Chawla has however been officiating as CGA with effect from September 1, 2019.

RANKING AND INDEX

India ranked 82nd in the 2019 World Giving Index (WGI)

India ranked 82nd in the 2019 World Giving Index (WGI).The survey ranking was released by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), an international organization.
It aims to promote giving to transform lives and communities across the World.
As per the WGI report, India showed that 34% of people helped a stranger, 24% donated money, and 19% volunteered or donated their time.
USA topped the WGI 2019 list. It is followed by Myanmar, New Zealand, Australia, Ireland, Canada, UK, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia. Nepal ranked 53, and Pakistan ranked 69.
The bottom three countries on the list are Yemen, Greece, and China.

Charities Aid Foundation (CAF):

Founded: UK, 1974

Headquarters: Kent, UK

CAF is a registered UK charity. It promotes general donation to charities.

With 21 unicorns, India third on list of billion-dollar tech start-ups; US, China lead

India, with 21 unicorns, stands a distant third to China and the US in the inaugural Hurun Global Unicorn List 2019, a ranking of the world’s billion-dollar tech start-ups compiled by the China-based Hurun Research Institute.
China, with 206 unicorns and the US, with 203, dominate the list with over 80% of the world’s known unicorns, despite representing only half of the world’s GDP and a quarter of the world’s population.

IMPORTANT DAY

International Day for the Eradication of Poverty 17 October 2019

The General Assembly declared October 17 as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, through resolution 47/196 adopted on December 22, 1992.

This year marks the 27th anniversary of the declaration by the General Assembly and the theme is ‘Acting together to empower children, their families and communities to end poverty’.

OBITUARY

Death Anniversary of Lalon observed in Bangladesh

The 129th death anniversary of the mystic bard Fakir Lalon Shah is being observed in Bangladesh.

A three-day-long programme started at the shrine of the saint at Chheuriya on the bank of river Kaliganga in Kushtia district of Bangladesh.

Lalon is believed to be born in 1774 though no written records exist. He died in 1890.His songs talk about humanism, love and equality going beyond the limitations imposed by religion, caste and creed. His songs also express anguish at the social reality of his times.

SPORTS NEWS

Army Wife Achieves Individual Guinness World Records

Kiran Uniyal, w/o a serving Colonel of Indian Army has created Individual Guinness World Records for “The most full contact knee strikes in three minutes (one leg) (female), 263 strikes” & “The most full contact knee strikes alternate legs in one minute(female),120 strikes”. The earlier records were of 177 strikes and 102 in female category respectively.
The objective of both her records were to promote martial arts for girls and women safety and self-defence. While creating the record for the most full contact knee strikes for three minutes, she surpassed the existing male category record of 226 knee strikes.

World Record: Mumbai’s Yashasvi Jaiswal, youngest cricketer to score 200 in One Day cricket

Mumbai teenager Yashasvi Jaiswal ed history as he became the youngest cricketer in the world to score a double century in One Day cricket. His is the ninth instance of an Indian scoring a List A double-ton.
Playing in his debut Vijay Hazare season, the 17-year-old scored 203 off 154 balls against Jharkhand at Alur, Karnataka. His score comprised 12 sixes and 17 fours.

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