November 02, 2018 Union Cabinet Decisions of 1st November: The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the following: Renaming of Jharsuguda Airport, Odisha as Veer Surendra Sai Airport, Jharsuguda. Agreement between India and Morocco on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters. MoU between India and the Russian Federation for the development of cooperation in transport education; and MoC between India and the Joint Stock Company "Russian Railways" on technical cooperation in the field of railways. MoU between India and Korea for strengthening cooperation in the field of Tourism, Moving a Resolution in the first Assembly of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) for amending the Framework Agreement of the ISA for opening up the ISA membership to all countries that are members of the UN. https://examprep.talentsprint.com 1
First-ever India-US Dialogue on Intellectual Property held in New Delhi The dialogue was launched by US Chamber of Commerce s Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC) and FICCI in partnership with the US- India Business Council. The main topics of discussion were: patent filing, regulatory landscape, copyright and infringement, technology transfer, and enforcement. US-India Business Council: Headquarters: Washington D.C. President: Nisha Biswal Satyajit Ray's 'Pather Panchali' is only Indian movie to feature in BBC's 100-best foreign language films Satyajit Ray's epic masterpiece 'Pather Panchali' has been included by BBC's 100 best foreign language films but it is the only film from India to feature in the list. Ray's film, released in 1955 and the first in his 'Apu' trilogy, was placed at number 15 in the list, which has been topped by Akira Kurosawa's 'Seven Samurai'. https://examprep.talentsprint.com 2
India-Japan military exercise Dharma Guardian-2018 begins in Mizoram Armies of India and Japan began their first-ever joint military exercise on 1 st November at a jungle warfare school in Mizoram s Vairengte with a focus on strengthening counter-terror cooperation, officials said. The focus of the two-week-long exercise Dharma Guardian-2018 will be to enhance tactical skills against global terrorism and increase interoperability between the two forces, the Army said in a statement. MHA approves Rs.194.44 crore Safe City Project for Lucknow The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has approved a Safe City project for Lucknow at a total cost of Rs.194.44 crore under the Nirbhaya Fund Scheme. The project would be implemented as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme with Centre and State sharing the funding in 60:40 ratio. This approval is a part of MHA s plans to implement Safe City projects in 8 selected cities, namely, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Lucknow under Nirbhaya Fund with the purpose of strengthening safety and security of women in public places. https://examprep.talentsprint.com 3
Odisha bans polythene in 6 cities Following a month-long deadline of an awareness campaign against the use of polythene and plastic bags, the Odisha government has banned the use of polythene in six major cities of the state. As per the directives, all plastic items less than 50 micromax thickness will be banned in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Berhampur, Sambalpur, Rourkela and Puri, read a statement. Odisha govt declares drought in 9 districts The Odisha government on 1 st November declared drought in nine districts in the western part of the state after an assessment of rainfall received in those areas. According to a statement by the government, 2,33,173.8 hectares of cropland in 5,633 villages of nine out of 30 districts Bargarh, Balangir, Deogarh, Jharsuguda, Kalahandi, Nabarangpur, Nuapada, Sambalpur and Sundargarh have sustained crop loss of at least 33 percent due to moisture stress. The government has declared drought of moderate/severe nature in the areas, the statement said. https://examprep.talentsprint.com 4
IIT-Madras develops India's first microprocessor Shakti India s first indigenous microprocessor may soon power your mobile phones, surveillance cameras and smart meters. Shakti, designed, developed and booted by Indian Institute of Technology Madras, and with a microchip fabricated in the Semi-Conductor Laboratory of Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) at Chandigarh, will reduce dependency on imported microchips and the risk of cyber attacks making it ideal for communication and defence sectors. Prof Kamakoti Veezhinathan, the lead researcher at IITM s RISE laboratory, said the design originated from an open source instruction set architecture, a set of basic instructions a processor understands, called RISC V, which makes it customizable to any device. GST collections cross Rs 1 lakh crore in October 2018 GST collections in October crossed the Rs 1 lakh crore mark, after a gap of 5 months, on the back of festive demand, anti-evasion measures. The Finance Ministry Thursday said 67.45 lakh businesses filed goods and https://examprep.talentsprint.com 5
services tax (GST) returns in October and deposited Rs 1,00,710 crore as taxes. GST revenue had first crossed the landmark figure in April when the collections were Rs 1,03,458 crore. Since then collections have maintained above Rs 90,000 crore mark. The collections stood at Rs 94,016 crore in May, Rs 95,610 crore in June, Rs 96,483 crore in July, Rs 93,960 crore in August and Rs 94,442 crore in September. ICICI Bank introduces instant digital credit facility PayLater ICICI Bank Ltd has launched a new short-term digital credit facility for its customers under which they can get instant pre-approved loans of up to Rs 20,000 for online shopping, paying bills and also for settling bills at offline stores using UPI platform. Currently an invite-only feature, ICICI Bank s new offering is aimed at the young and millennial customers who want everything digitally and instantaneously, including credit. Based on the eligibility of the customer, ICICI Bank offers up to 45 days interest-free credit limit of Rs 5,000 up to a maximum of Rs 20,000. Available 24X7 on all days, ICICI Bank s PayLater will use big data based algorithm for undertaking credit assessment of customers. The algorithm uses an intelligent combination of parameters including the Credit Bureau check, balance patterns, vintage with the bank, among others to ascertain the credit-worthiness of a customer. https://examprep.talentsprint.com 6
Ministry of Railways rolls out All-India Unreserved Mobile Ticketing facility (UTS on Mobile) Ministry of Railways has introduced Unreserved Mobile Ticketing with a view to promote three C s- Cashless transactions (Digital payment), Contactless ticketing (no need to physically visit the point of sale) and Customer convenience and experience. As a big leap, booking of unreserved tickets on all non-suburban sections across all Zonal Railways has been made available from 1 st November to enable seamless booking of unreserved tickets all over Indian Railways. Rahul Dravid becomes 5th Indian player to be inducted into ICC Hall of Fame Former India Captain Rahul Dravid was on 1 st November inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame at a brief function ahead of the fifth and final ODI between India and the West Indies at Greenfield International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram. With this, the former skipper has become the fifth Indian after Bishan Bedi, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Anil Kumble, to be bestowed with a Hall of Fame cap. https://examprep.talentsprint.com 7
International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists: 2 November The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2 November as the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists in General Assembly Resolution A/RES/68/163. The Resolution urged Member States to implement definite measures countering the present culture of impunity. The date was chosen in commemoration of the assassination of two French journalists in Mali on 2 November 2013. Theme for 2018: TruthNeverDies Learn Two a Day: SBI Exclusif: Wealth management service by SBI to its customers Lakshmi Vilas Bank FINFIT: Wealth management service by LVB to its customers https://examprep.talentsprint.com 8