Current Affairs Today 31st October 2019 | Current Affairs News

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Daily Current Affairs PDF of 31st October  2019

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CURRENT AFFAIRS: DAYS

Rashtriya Ekta Diwas or National Unity Day

• Rashtriya Ekta Diwas or National Unity Day is observed on 31 October every year to commemorate the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhai Patel.
• He had played an important role in unifying the country.
• Since 2014, October 31st is observed as the National Unity Day and people from all walks of life participate in the ‘Run For Unity’.

 World Cities Day

• The UN designated every 31 October as World Cities Day.
• Events to mark the Day focus on promoting the international community’s interest in global urbanization, pushing forward cooperation among countries in meeting opportunities and addressing challenges of urbanization, and contributing to sustainable urban development around the world.

USEFUL INFO
Theme 2019	Changing the world: innovations and better life for future generations.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL

Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh come into existence

• The state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) ceased to exist at midnight on October 30 and was converted into two Union Territories (UTs). This comes 86 days after Parliament abrogated its special status provided under Article 370.
• The UTs of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh will be headed by Lieutenant Governors GC Murmu and RK Mathur, respectively. They will take oath early on October 31.
• This is for the first time that a state is being converted into two UTs. The total number of states in the country is now 28, while the total UTs has gone up to nine.
• The UT of Jammu and Kashmir will have a legislature like Puducherry while Ladakh will be a UT without legislature like Chandigarh. Both UTs will be headed by separate Lieutenant Governors (LG), as per the Act.

Dr. Harsh Vardhan releases the 14th National Health Profile, 2019

• Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare released the 14thNational Health Profile (NHP) 2019 & its e-book (digital version).
• The NHP is prepared by the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence (CBHI) and covers comprehensive information on demographic, socio-economic health status, health finance indicators, health infrastructure and health of human resources in the country.
• This 14th edition of NHP is the continuation of the publication since 2005.
• It helps in understanding the goals, our strengths and weaknesses and is also an important means to strategize area specific interventions.
• Good quality data enables the policymakers to make evidence-based policies and aids effective implementation of various schemes.

OCI can now apply for National Pension System

• Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) will now be eligible to apply for the National Pension System at par with Non Resident Indians (NRIs). Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has permitted Overseas Citizen of India to enrol in NPS.
• OCI may subscribe to NPS provided such person is eligible to invest as per the provisions of the PFRDA Act and the accumulated saving will be repatriable, subject to Foreign Exchange Management Act guidelines.
• PFRDA in its endeavour to promote and develop NPS has taken several initiatives towards increasing the pension coverage in the country.
• Now, any Indian citizen, resident or non-resident and OCIs are eligible to join NPS till the age of 65 years.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: INTERNATIONAL

Sheikh Sultan inaugurates Sharjah International Book Fair 2019

• The much-anticipated new edition of Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) 2019 opened to the public at the Sharjah Expo Centre.
• Ahmed Bin Rakad Al Ameri, Chairman of Sharjah Book Authority opened the event.
• An Italian publishing house won the Sharjah Translation Award for translating a small book into Italian.
• The event will see the participation of 2,000 publishers from 81 countries at Sharjah Expo Centre.
• In celebration of Sharjah World Book Capital 2019 title, the book fair has assumed its theme, ‘Open Books. Open Minds.’

CURRENT AFFAIRS: STATES

Over 2,000 panchayats brought under natural farming in HP

• A total of 2,209 panchayats out of the total 3,226 have been brought under the ambit of natural farming in Himachal Pradesh.
• This fact came to light at a meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Shrikant Baldi of the state-level Task Force for Promotion of Organic and Zero Budget Natural Farming under Prakritik Kheti Khushhal Kissan Yojana.
• Horticulture has an important role to play in adoption of natural farming by farmers.
• Natural farming is a technique of farming that requires no ploughing or tilting or use of chemical fertilizers.
• Approval was also given for an additional amount of Rs 2,500 per month for block technology manager and assistant technology manager recruited under Agricultural Technology Management Agency on performance basis till March 2020.

Delhi Police doubles ‘PRAKHAR’ anti-street crime vans

• Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik flagged off 15 ‘PRAKHAR’ vans, with the latest addition taking the number of such special vehicles to curb street crimes in the national capital to 30.
• These patrol vans tasked especially to curb street crimes as well as crimes against women in the vulnerable areas are specially designed and equipped with latest gadgets for quick transmission of information about any crime.
• Each ‘PRAKHAR’ van is also equipped with Mobile Data Terminal (MDT) with inbuilt GPS besides the wireless set.
• The MDT immediately transmits the calls related to street crimes as soon as it is received in Command Room to the concerned nearest PRAKHAR’ van for immediate action.
• These vans conduct intensive patrolling and dedicated checking at the vulnerable points in the crime-prone areas of the districts.
• The deterrent presence of these patrol vans has substantially helped in curbing crime, as the number of calls related to incidents of snatching and robbery have decreased in the localities covered by ‘PRAKHAR’ MPVs during the one month.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

Twitter to ban all political advertising

• Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced that the company will soon ban all political advertisements on the platform globally. That decision provides a stark contrast to Facebook and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who has spent recent weeks defending his decision to allow political ads of all kinds on its platform—even ones that contain falsehoods.
• While internet advertising is incredibly powerful and very effective for commercial advertisers, that power brings significant risks to politics, where it can be used to influence votes to affect the lives of millions.
• The new policy applies to political candidates as well as advertising around political issues, but will include exceptions for things like voter registration. The company plans to reveal a detailed version of the policy on November 15, and it will go into effect on November 22.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATION

Argentine diplomat Rafael Grossi appointed chief of UN nuclear watchdog

• Argentine diplomat Rafael Grossi was appointed to succeed late Yukiya Amano as the new director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a United Nations’ nuclear watchdog.
• He will be appointed for a term of four years and assume office on January 1, 2020. He will be the sixth head of the IAEA.
• Grossi is a nuclear and diplomatic veteran from Buenos Aires in Argentina.

Lebanon PM Saad Hariri resigns

• Lebanon Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced resignation from the post amid a wave of protests against his government.
• The resignation plunges Lebanon deeper into turmoil and uncertainty as it grapples with a severe economic and financial crisis that has led to a scarcity of hard currency and the local currency losing value for the first time in more than two decades.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: AWARDS AND HONOURS

Fourteen start-ups selected for 2019 SEED Awards

• The awards, an annual affair, are granted to organisations working on sustainable development. For 2019, out of 906 applications across nine countries, 14 winners and 52 finalists have been selected for innovative and locally-led start-up eco-inclusive enterprises.
• The award highlights the contribution of green and social enterprises to advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Every year, awards are decided under various categories.
• This year’s categories includes SEED Low Carbon, SEED Africa Awards, SEED South Africa Climate Adaptation Awards and SEED Gender equality award.
• SEED was founded by the United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg.
• It is a global partnership for action on sustainable development and the green economy. This initiative works in Asian and African countries including Ghana, India, Indonesia, South Africa, Thailand and Uganda and supports small and growing enterprises with business and capacity-building support.
• Under the SEED Low Carbon category, an organisation called Aikya Organics, located in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh has won the award from India.
• Similarly, Fang Thai, an organisation from Thailand, has also been awarded. It manufactures paper and packaging material from rice straw.
• Another awardee, Mycotech, a company based in Indonesia, makes leather-like materials from a fungi, which are further converted to bags, wallets etc.

28th Vyas Samman conferred on Leeladhar Jagoori

• The 28th Vyas Samman for the year 2018 was conferred on well-known Hindi writer Leeladhar Jagoori at a function in New Delhi.
• Mr Jagoori has been chosen for the prestigious award for his poetry collection- Jitne Log Utne Prem.
• It carries an award money of four lakh rupees along with a citation and plaque.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: MOU

India and Saudi Arabia to sign dozen agreements during PM Modi’s two day visit

• India and Saudi Arabia are likely to sign a dozen agreements on energy, defence procurement and civil aviation during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to the West Asian nation.
• There are 12 agreements being signed. The important ones pertain to the defence procurement industry, renewable energy and then there is one in civil aviation.
• He addressed the Future Investment Initiative Forum organised by the Saudi Arabia’s Sovereign Wealth Fund – the Public Investment Fund.
• The forum is popularly known as the ‘Davos in the Desert’ and has been hosted by Riyadh since 2017 to project the kingdom as the future investment hub in the region.

The list of MoUs/Agreements are given below.

• Strategic Partnership Council Agreement
• MoU on Cooperation in the Field of Renewable Energy between Saudi Ministry of Energy and Ministry of New & Renewable Energy of India
• Agreement on Security Cooperation
• MoU for Cooperationin the field of combating illicit trafficking and smuggling of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and chemical precursors.
• MoU between Saudi General Authority of Military Industries (GAMI) and Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence concerning collaboration in military acquisition, industries, research, development and technology
• MoU for Cooperation in the field of Civil Aviation
• MoU between Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO), Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and Saudi Food & Drug Authority (SFDA) for Cooperation in the field of medical products regulations
• Letter of Intent between Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority (Monshaat) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog, of the Republic of India
• Cooperation Programme between Foreign Service Institute, MEA and Prince Saud Al Faisal Institute of Diplomatic Studies (IDS) of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia
• MoU between Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited (ISPRL) and Saudi Aramco.
• MoU for Cooperation between National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul)
• MoU between National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and Saudi Payments.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: SUMMITS AND CONFERENCE

French minister visiting India to co-host 2nd ISA assembly

• French Deputy Minister for Ecological and Inclusive Transition Brune Poirson is visiting India to co-preside over the second Assembly of the International Solar Alliance.
• Poirson, who is on a three-day India visit, will co-president the ISA event along with Raj Kumar Singh, Minister of State (IC) of Power, and New and Renewable Energy.
• The International Solar Alliance brings together 80 States and offers concrete solutions that help reduce the cost of solar installations, particularly in developing countries.
• This meeting is also aimed to prepare the COP25 Climate Change and the COP15 Biodiversity conferences.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: DEFENCE

DRDO’s AIP system gets boost with the operation of land-based prototype

• The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) programme to build a fuel cell-based Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) system for Indian Naval Submarines has crossed several milestones in technology maturity.
• Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) has a force multiplier effect on the lethality of a diesel-electric submarine as it enhances the submerged endurance of the boat, several folds. Fuel cell-based AIP has merits in performance compared to other technologies.
• Operation of the land-based prototype engineered to the form-and-fit of a submarine was witnessed by Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Karambir Singh in the presence of Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and Chairman DRDO Dr G. Satheesh Reddy at the Naval Materials Research Laboratory in Ambernath, Maharashtra

CURRENT AFFAIRS: SPORTS

BCCI orders 6 dozen pink balls for day-night test match at Eden

• The BCCI has asked manufacturer SG to deliver 72 pink balls by next week for India’s first-ever day night Test, to be held at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
• Producing a ball fit for a Test match under lights is a big challenge for SG as its pink ball is yet to be tested in a competitive game. The Duleep Trophy was played with Kookaburra pink balls for three seasons.