Current Affairs October 2019 - Miscellaneous

Former Haryana Congress President Ashok Tanwar has resigned from the primary membership of the party.
Jammu and Kashmir Government has taken a policy decision for twin cities of Srinagar and Jammu under Metropolitan Region Development Authorities (MRDAs) to execute mega development projects in these cities.
Crossed Swords Division of the Indian Army organised a “VEER KUTUMB RALLY” in Jammu and Kashmir, with an aim to reach out to veterans, veer naris, widows and their families as part of its activities to observe 2019 as the 'Year of the Next of Kin'.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Shri Pradipta Kumar Bisoi (IPoS:1985) to the post of Secretary, Department of Posts.
President Ram Nath Kovind presented the most effective Swachchta Ambassador award to cricketer Sachin Tendulkar on the occasion of 150^th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated the Swachh Bharat Diwas 2019 in Ahmedabad on 2^nd October. He released postage stamp and silver coin to commemorate the 150^th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. He also distributed the Swachh Bharat Puraskar to the winners.
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi declared India Open Defecation Free country on the occasion of 150^th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
Maj Abdul Quadir Khan of the Corps of Signals won a Silver Medal at the prestigious 53^rd Asian Body Building and Physique Sports Championship held at Batam, Indonesia on 2^nd October 2019.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has launched the Documentation Identification Number (DIN) on 1^st October with the generation of about 17,500 communications with DIN on the very first day.
Union Minister for Home Affairs, Shri Amit Shah inaugurated the first North East Handloom and Handicraft Exhibition in Aizawl, Mizoram.
India’s N. Wilson Singh and Satish Kumar Prahapati won the gold medal in the 10m platform synchronised diving event at the Asian Age Group Championships held in Bengaluru.
Indian fencer Bhavani Devi won the silver medal in the women’s sabre individual event at the Tournoi satellite competition in Belgium.
Muktesh Kumar Pardeshi (IFS:1991), presently High Commissioner of India to New Zealand, has been appointed as the next High Commissioner of India to Niue, with residence in Wellington.
Bank of Baroda (BoB) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Army under which the bank would offer customised services along with a host of facilities to account holders.
Axis Bank has launched the ‘Express FD’, a digital fixed deposit (FD) product that allows a customer to open an FD account in 3 minutes through the digital mode without opening a savings account with the bank.
Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Trivendra Singh Rawat launched an awareness campaign “Urjagiri” which aims at stopping power theft and saving.
Amrit Lugun (IFS:1989) has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to Greece.
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur launched the Pragati Rath of the HDFC bank to provide financial and digital literacy to the people during a month-long initiative by moving to different parts of Himachal Pradesh.
The National Basketball Association has launched India's first-ever Floating Basketball Court in the Arabian Sea near Bandra Worli Sealink in Mumbai.
The 5^th World Parliament of Science, Religion and Philosophy was held at the MIT World Peace University in Pune, Maharashtra.
Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu embarked on a five-day visit to Comoros and Sierra Leone for the first high-level visit from India to the two African countries.
The 8^th Joint Commission Meeting between India and Thailand was held in New Delhi.
Singapore will become the first country in the world to ban advertisements for the unhealthiest sugary drinks.
The first National Hindi Science Writers conference was held in Lucknow at Dr. Shakuntala Mishra National Rehabilitation University with an aim to promote use of Hindi and other Vernacular languages in science writing.
The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, laid the foundation stone for the campus of JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research at Varuna Village, Mysuru.
‘Spirit of Kerala’, a short film based on a boat race from Kerala directed by Arun Joseph, won the People’s Choice Award 2019 at My RØde Reel Film Competition 2019 which is the world’s largest short film competition.
The 1^st Government-sponsored and operated Day-Care cum Recreation Centre for senior citizens has been inaugurated in Leh.
The Government of India is planning to set up a National Coordination Center (NCC) that will function as a data bank of Maoists.
The Union Cabinet approved a one-time payment of Rs 5.5 lakh as a resettlement package for the 5,300 displaced families which had come from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and initially settled outside Jammu and Kashmir but later relocated.
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi released a commemorative stamp in honour of Marshal of the Indian Air Force late Arjan Singh.
The C40 Summit took place in Copenhagen between 9^th October and 12th October, 2019.
Senior IPS officer of Gujarat cadre Anup Kumar Singh has been appointed as Director-General of the National Security Guard (NSG).
British member of parliaments (MPs) voted to delay a decision on Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Brexit deal, arguing that, they needed more time to study its contents before an October 31 deadline.
Industrial output declined by 1.1 per cent in August due to poor performance by manufacturing, power generation and mining sectors.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has changed the super over rule for all its major events. As per new rule, in case of a super over tie there will be a repeated super over until one team has more runs than the other.
Typhoon Hagibis strikeed Tokyo, capital of Japan after fierce rain and wind paralysed the capital.
Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom has won the bronze medal in the 51kg event of World Women’s Boxing Championships held in Ulan-Ude, Russia.
K Satish Reddy, Chairman of Dr Reddy’s has been appointed as President of the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) for 2019-2021.
Kishan Dan Dewal (IFS officer of 2003 batch), has been concurrently accredited as the next Ambassador of India to Georgia. He will replace Yogeshwar Sangwan.
Mastercard India, payment technology company, elevated Vikas Varma as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the firm.
Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Harsh Vardhan released a postal stamp to commemorate the centenary celebrations of the city-based ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition (NIN).
Indian nun Mariam Thresia from Kerala and four other nuns were declared Saints by Pope Francis in a grand ceremony at the Vatican City.
Noted director and producer Priyadarshan, who has made several blockbuster Malayalam and Hindi films, was conferred the Madhya Pradesh government’s National Kishore Kumar Samman for 2018-19.
Over 1,500 students from 32 different colleges and university participated in the ‘Sangam Youth Festival’ being organised by the Indian Army in collaboration with Jammu University Campus.
As part of Indian Navy's Overseas Deployment, four indigenously built ships of Indian Navy's First Training Squadron, Indian Naval Ships Tir, Sujata and Shardul and Indian Coast Guard Ship Sarathi, visited Tanzania.
The third edition of India Mobile Congress 2019 was held from 14 October 2019 to 16 October 2019 in Delhi.
The Central Government will grant 75% subsidies for food processing industries in the North-Eastern states.
Kais Saied has been sworn-in as the President of Tunisia.
Jammu and Kashmir Government ordered the winding up of Jammu and Kashmir District Consumer Forums constituted under Jammu and Kashmir Consumer Protection Act, 1987 with effect from October 31, 2019.
Kuhoo Garg and Dhruv Rawat won the mixed doubles title at the Egypt International 2019 in Cairo after they defeated Utkarsh Arora and Karishma Wadkar by 21-16, 22-20 in an all-Indian final.
Joko Widodo was re-elected as the President of Indonesia.
Justin Trudeau was re-elected as the Prime Minister of Canada.
The Government e-Marketplace (GeM) signed a MoU with Federal Bank to offer a number of services including transfer of funds through GeM Pool Accounts (GPA), advising of Performance Bank Guarantees (e-PBG) and Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) to the registered users on the portal.
Football Club Mohun Bagan conferred their Life Membership to Nobel Prize winner Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee.
Vreedhi Financial Services (VFS) has secured a non-banking finance company licence from the Reserve Bank of India.
The Vijaya Bank Heritage Museum has been inaugurated at the headquarters of the erstwhile Vijaya Bank i.e. Bengaluru.
Grasim Industries Limited has signed a definitive agreement to form a joint venture company in India with Maschinenfabrik Reinhausen GmbH (MR) of Germany.
Godavarthi Venkata Srinivas (IFS:1993), presently Ambassador of India to the Republic of Senegal, has been concurrently accredited as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Cabo Verde, with residence in Dakar.
The 1^st India-Bangladesh Stakeholders’ meet was held in Guwahati.
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India has imposed penalties of Rs 1.01 crore on an insurance company Cholamandalam MS GIC for violations observed during an inspection.
Government of India has decided to open the entire area from Siachen base camp to Kumar Post for tourism purposes. The step has been taken to boost tourism in Ladakh.
Raunak Sadwani became the 65^th Grandmaster of India at the age of 13 years 9 months and 28 days.
Canada's Denis Shapovalov won his first Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tour title after he captured the Stockholm Open with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Serbian Filip Krajinovic.
Saharan silver ants (Cataglyphis bombycina) have been crowned as the world’s fastest known ants. These speedy silver ants travel 108 times their body length per second.
Upender Singh Rawat (IFS: 1998), Ambassador of India designate to the Republic of Panama, will be concurrently accredited as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Nicaragua, with residence in Panama City.
Indian cyclist Ronaldo Singh bagged a gold medal in the men’s junior Keirin event at the Asian Track Cycling Championships being held at Incheon in South Korea.
Philosopher and writer K B Siddaiah passed away at the age of 65 years. He was one of the founder members of Dalitha Sangharsha Samithi (DSS) during the 80s and co-authoured many songs to inspire the movement.
IIT Kharagpur graduate Debayan Saha has invented a device called “PM 2.5” which he claimed when fitted near the silencer pipe in vehicles will curb air pollution.