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• On October 31, 2018, Rashtriya Ekta Diwas, the birthday of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel also known as the ‘Iron Man of India’, was celebrated across the Nation.


• On the eve of 143rd birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, India’s first Home Minister, a 182-metre high Statue of Unity was unveiled by PM Narendra Modi.


• It was built at a cost of Rs. 2989 crore and is located in Gujarat, 3.2 kms downstream of Narmada Dam.


• The statue was designed by Padma-Bhushan winning sculptor Ram V Sutar and was built by Larsen and Toubro and the state-run Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd. It also has a 153-metre-high observation deck.


• On October 31, 2018, Union Minister for Defence Nirmala Sitaraman flagged off ‘Run for Unity’ event on the occasion of Rashtriya Ekta Diwasat Chennai.


• Textiles Minister Smriti Zubin Irani unveiled the Fabric of Unity on the occasion of the 143rd birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in Gurugram in Haryana.

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• On October 31, 2018, in the latest ranking of the Global Passport Index, he Indian passport was ranked 65th in the world.


• The position of 65 has been improved nine notches since the previous year and means that the Indian passport holders has been granted visa-free access to 65 countries.


• Other than India, Kyrgyzstan and Zimbabwe share the 65th rank.


• Singapore and Germany have the world’s “most powerful” passport with access to 165 countries.


• In the last place of the list is Afghanistan, ranked 90 with a score of 22, followed by Iraq at 89, Pakistan at 88 and Syria at 87 and Somalia at 86.

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• On October 28, 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi started his 2-day official visit to Japan. PM reached Tokyo and was received by Japan PM Shinzo Abe.


• Both the prime ministers visited the FANUC industrial facility, one of the largest makers of industrial robots in the world in Yamanashi.


• Japan agreed for a 2+2 dialogue between our Foreign Ministers and Defence Ministers.

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• On October 31, 2018, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Science & Technology, Earth Sciences, Environment, Forest and Climate Change announced that the Kingdom of Netherlands will be the Partner Country 25th DST – CII Technology Summit to be organized in 2019.


• This was announced at the Silver Jubilee edition of Technology Summit – 2019.


• This is due to the cooperation between India and Netherlands in sectors such as affordable medical devices, urban water systems, big data and Internet of Things (IoT).


• The 25th Technology Summit -2019 will be made a global event and the visit of their Prime Minister to India in May 2018 has marked the 10th anniversary of Science, Technology & Innovation collaboration between the two countries.

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• On October 31, 2018, India and Russia inked a $950 -million deal for inducting two new warships equipped with Brahmos missiles in the India Navy.


• The two frigates of the Project 11356 class will be bought directly from Russia and 2 more will be built in an Indian Shipyard.


• The two ships to be brought from Russia are expected to be delivered by 2022 and have been designed to work with Ukraine-made gas turbines.


• These are under a ‘2+2’ scheme which was under the works since 2015.


• The gas turbines will be built at a local yard and the state-owned Goa Shipyard has been nominated for building the 2 more frigates.

• On October 30, 2018, the Uttar Pradesh cabinet presided over by UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath cleared a proposal for the development of ‘Food Value Chain’ in the state.


• The ‘Food Value Chain’ will be developed by UP government and Japan’s agriculture, forestry and fisheries department.


• Under the agreement, in the first five years, Japanese companies will invest in agri-related and food-related industries.

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• On October 30, 2018, Chief Minister of Odisha Naveen Patnaik launched ‘Soura Jalanidhi’ scheme.


• To increase use of solar energy for helping farmers in irrigation.


• ‘Soura Jalanidhi’ is a dug well based solar pump irrigation system in convergence mode.


• The total cost of the scheme allocated by the state government is: Rs. 27.18 crore in the 2018-19 financial year.


• Under this scheme, 5,000 solar pumps will be provided to farmers at a subsidy of 90 per cent to irrigate 2,500 acres of land.


• The Chief Minister distributed four go-ahead orders for installation of solar pump to the farmers.

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• On October 31, 2018, Karnataka Social Welfare Department launched the Samruddhi scheme to boost employment opportunities for SC/ST youth through entrepreneurship.


• To impart skill development and benefit aspiring, young citizens from rural and tier II cities.


• The scheme, targeted at socially marginalized communities to provide them with skill development and alternate means of employment has a total cost of Rs.800 crore.


• For this, the government is partnering with private enterprises to train the youth from backward communities.


• The training will include: retail management, taxation policies and GST, inventory management, soft skills and logistics.


• To create industry owned private enterprise, the State government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with 30 retail companies.


• This will provide self-employment opportunities for around 25,000 beneficiaries from the SC/ST communities.


• Additionally, the government will also provide a seed grant upto Rs. 10 lakh to deserving youth to start their own franchises.


• Further, the department aims to create around 10,000 entrepreneurs annually in the next three years.

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• On October 31, 2018, the sail training ship of Indian Navy, INS Tarangini based at Kochi, returned after a seven-month sail across the world.


• The ship sailed over 22000 nautical miles across 15 ports in 13 countries in 205 days.


• The voyage named ‘Lokayan 18’ was flag-ged off on April 10 from Kochi to sail acr-oss the Arabian Sea, Red Sea, Suez Canal, Mediterranean Sea, Strait of Gibraltar, North Atlantic Ocean, Bay of Biscay, English Channel and North Sea, right up to Norway.


• It also participated in the culminating event of the ‘Three Festival Tall Ships Regatta’ at Bordeaux, France, as well as the ‘Tall Ships Races Europe 2018’.


• The ship was received by Rear Admiral RJ Nadkarni, VSM, Chief of Staff, Southern Naval Command.

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• On October 30, 2018, the 19th Meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) was held under the Chairmanship of the Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Shri ArunJaitley in New Delhi.


• To review the current global and domestic economic situation and financial sector performance.

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• On October 30, 2018, Ministry of Defence awarded contract for design, construction and supply of four Survey Vessels for Indian Navy to Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE) Limited, Kolkata.


• The order value for these four vessels is Rs. 2435.15 crore.


• The first ship is to be delivered within 36 months and remaining within an interval of six months for each vessel. The project completion time is 54 months from date of signing the contract.


• With this prestigious contract, GRSE’s Order Book as on date stands at Rs. 22,604 crore. The GRSE is currently handling a major project to make three Stealth Frigates for Indian Navy under P17A Project.

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• On 31st October 2018, Pankaj Advani won the 2nd leg of the Asian Snooker Tour title in Jinan, China.


• Pankaj Advani beat China’s Ju Reti 6-1 in the final. Pankaj Advani has become the first Indian to win an Asian Snooker Tour event.


• Pankaj Advani is a nineteen-time world champion. He is 33 years old. He hails from Pune, Maharashtra.

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• On 29th October 2018, Tata Steel was named as official partner for the Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup 2018 to be held from November 28 to December 16, at the Kalinga Stadium, in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.


• Tata Steel signed the agreement with the Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup 2018 to promote development through sports in India.


• The upcoming 14th edition of the FIH (International Hockey Federation) World Cup will be the 3rd time it is held in India and the first time it is held in the eastern part of India.


• Earlier, India had hosted the tournament in 1982 in Mumbai and in 2010 in New Delhi. 16 countries will take participate in the tournament.


• Tata Steel is the first private sector company in India to start a hockey academy.

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• Sanjoy Gaddipati, Founder, CEO, and Managing Director of International CryptoX Pte. Ltd, INCX, received Excellence in FINEXT Award 2018 at the Finextcon conference held at Las Vegas, USA on 25th & 26th October 2018.


• The Finextcon 2018 awards recognize the innovative, creative and successful projects in financial technology from various parts of the world. It honours companies in the financial markets.


• International CryptoX (INCX)’s advanced next generation crypto trading platform will be launched in the last week of November.

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• Nobel Prize Winner Malala Yousafzai will be conferred the 2018 Gleitsman Award on 6th December 2018.


• This announcement was made by Harvard’s Kennedy School. Malala Yousafzai will be honoured by Harvard University for her work in promoting girls’ education.


• Malala Yousafzai became the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014. She was awarded for her global work in supporting schooling for all children.


• When she was residing in Pakistan she survived an assassination attempt by the Taliban. She founded the nonprofit Malala Fund.


• She is 20 years old. She is a student at Oxford University in England.


• The Gleitsman Award offers 125,000 US dollars for activism that has improved quality of life around the world.

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• On 30th October 2018, Justice Vijai Kumar Bist was sworn in as the Chief Justice of Sikkim High Court.


• Sikkim Governor Ganga Prasad administered Justice Vijai Kumar Bist the oath of office at Ashirwad Hall, Raj Bhavan.


• Justice Vijai Kumar Bist replaces Justice Satish Kumar Agnihotri, who superannuated on June 31, 2018.


• Justice Vijai Kumar Bist was a senior judge of the Uttarakhand High Court. He was made chief justice of Sikkim High Court on the recommendation of the Supreme Court Collegium.


• He was born on 17 September 1957 at Powdi Garwal district in Uttarakhand. He practiced at Allahabad High Court till 2000.


• Then he practiced at Nainital. He was appointed as one of the judges in Uttarakhand High Court in November 2008.

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• On 29th October 2018, HDFC Bank announced that, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has approved re-appointment of Aditya Puri as managing director and CEO of the bank for another 2 years.


• RBI has approved the re-appointment of Aditya Puri, as MD & CEO of HDFC Bank from November 1, 2018 to October 26, 2020 i.e. until he attains 70 years of age.


• Shareholders had approved his appointment in 2015 for a period of 5 years subject to RBI approval.


• Aditya Puri joined HDFC Bank in 1994. He is the longest-serving head of any private bank in India.

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• On 31st October 2018, actor Anupam Kher resigned as the chairman of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII).


• He has resigned due to his commitments to an international TV show for which he will be staying in the U.S.


• His resignation letter has been accepted by Information and Broadcasting Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore.


• Anupam Kher Kher had replaced Gajendra Chauhan, as Chairman of FTII on October 11, 2017.

• PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) has appointed Nitin Bhatnagar as Associate Director, India, to lead its India outreach efforts to promote PCI Security Standards.


• Nitin Bhatnagar will be responsible for creating awareness and adoption of the PCI Security Standards for payment card security in India.


• He will work with merchants, acquirers, financial institutions, security practitioners, law enforcement and other stakeholders in the Indian payment Eco-system to promote PCI standards.


• Earlier, Nitin Bhatnagar was AVP of India payment security firm SISA Information Security.


• PCI SSC is a set of security standards for companies that accept, process, store or transmit credit card information to maintain a secure environment.

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• NASA’s “supersonic parachute” that will have a major role in landing its Mars 2020 rover has created a world record by deploying in just four-tenths of a second and surviving 37,000 kg load.


• Following the launch of a 17.7-metre Black Brant IX sounding rocket, in less than 2 minutes a payload separated and started diving back through Earth’s atmosphere.


• When the payload had reached the appropriate height (38 km) and Mach number 1.8, the payload deployed a parachute.


• Within four-tenths of a second, the 180-pound parachute fully inflated. It was the fastest inflation in history of a parachute of this size. It created a peak load of nearly 70,000 pounds of force.


• The 37,000-kilogramme load was the highest ever load survived by a supersonic parachute.


• The mass of nylon, Technora and Kevlar fibre of the parachute will play a major role in landing NASA’s Mars 2020 rover on Mars in February 2021.

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• On 29th October 2018, Facebook launched a ‘Digital Literacy Library’ providing safety tips for users in 6 Indian languages.


• This launch is a part of Facebook’s efforts to train 3,00,000 people in India on digital literacy by the end of 2018.


• Digital Literacy Library will help educators in addressing digital literacy and young people in skill development regarding digital safety.


• The library will be available in 6 Indian languages: Bengali, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.


• Facebook is also organising a 2-day child safety hackathon at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi.


• The training is mainly for women and youth. It is organized in collaboration with Cyber Peace Foundation, Learning Links Foundation, Internet and Mobile Association of India, Gaon Connection, and Centre for Social Research, etc.

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• On October 31, 2018, India’s indigenously developed nuclear-capable Agni-1 ballistic missile had a successful 2nd time night time test, conducted from Dr Abdul Kalam Island off the Odisha coast.


• The surface-to-surface missile has a strike range of 700 km.


• The test was undertaken as a part of periodic training activity by the Strategic Forces Command (SFC).


• The 15-metre-long Agni-I missile weighs 12 tonnes, and can carry payloads up to 1000 kg. It has already been inducted into the Indian Army.


• It was developed by advanced systems laboratory of the DRDO with Defence Research Development Laboratory and Research Centre Imaratand integrated by Bharat Dynamics Limited, Hyderabad.

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• On October 31, 2018, NASA’s Kepler space telescope has retired after running out of fuel.


• It has served a nine-and-a-half year mission in which it discovered over 2,600 intriguing exoplanets.


• The unmanned space telescope, which launched in March 6, 2009 was a part of NASA’s first planet-hunting mission.