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• In 1992, United Nations General Assembly declared 17 October as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.


• In 17 October 1987, more than a hundred thousand people gathered at the Trocadéro in Paris , where the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed in 1948, to honour the victims of extreme poverty, violence and hunger.

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• India and Australia announced to have enhanced citizen media avenues irrespective of the platforms in collaboration with Australian University.


• The Mou has been signed by the Deakin University, Australia.


• This will allow implementing parallel initiatives in India and Australia, where citizens and students will receive media production training.


• Through this they would be able to report significant Socio-Economic issues in their respective communities, be it through community radio and/or online community media sites.

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• On October 13, 2018, the 2-day 6th RCEP Inter-sessional Ministerial Meeting (IMM) concluded in Singapore.


• It was Ministers from 16 RCEP countries including the Minister of State for Commerce Industry and Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution C. R. Chaudhary, on behalf of India, attended the meeting.


• Here, comprehensive and mutually beneficial economic partnership agreement among ASEAN and ASEAN’s FTA partners was discussed.


• The Ministers reviewed developments since the 6th RCEP Ministerial Meeting held on 30-31st August, 2018 in Singapore. It was attended by Union Minister of Commerce Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu from India.

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• India and France agreed to resolve and operationalize their Bilateral Military Logistics as per the MOU in March 2018.


• The 2 countries will be holding a joint tri-Service exercise sometime in 2019-2020. This will be the 3rd such tri-lateral agreement after Russia and US.


• India already participated in a tri-service exercise with Russia which happened in October 2017.


• Recently, India inked a reciprocal agreement after the first one called ‘The Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA)’ was inked with the US.

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• Sri Lanka constituted a 8-10 member ‘Break Into India Strategy Committee’ to formulate strategy to help Sri Lankan businesses invest more into the Indian market.


• This was constituted by the Ministry of Development strategies and International trade of Sri Lanka.


• It would be led by Export Development Board (EDB) Chairperson Indira Malwatte and Former Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Suresh Shah.

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• According to a report called Breach Level Index by digital security firm Gemalto, data breach incidences in India were the second highest globally.


• It is due to compromises in the Aadhaar database.
  
• India is second to the US which represents more than 57 per cent of global breaches.


• 945 data breaches led to 4.5 billion data records being compromised worldwide in the first half of 2018.


• Out of this, India accounted for over 1 billion data during the first six months of 2018.

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• World Food Day, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Radha Mohan Singh inaugurated a two-day Agri-startup and Entrepreneurship event, in New Delhi.


• The theme of the event was Unleashing potentials in agriculture for young agri-preneurs. More than 100 agri-preneurs participated in the event.


• Several issues faced by young agri-preneurs in production of seasonal crops were discussed in the conclave.


• Radha Mohan Singh announced that 45 models on integrated farming for 15 different climate zone in India have been developed.

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• Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Dr. Harsh Vardhan launched the air quality early warning system for Delhi.


• A 41 member-team constituted by the Central Pollution Control Board has been deployed in Delhi and NCR cities of Ghaziabad, NOIDA, Gurugram and Faridabad to monitor and supervise dust mitigation and other air pollution.


• Additionally, for the promotion of agricultural mechanization for in-situ management of crop residue, the Centre has already released Rs. 591.65 crore to Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and NCT of Delhi.

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• Minister for Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Radha Mohan Singh announced that 30% government’s policies have been formulated to enhance women participation in the agriculture sector.


• Speaking at the Mahila Kisan Diwas programme in New Delhi, he said that the involvement of women in the sector has risen to 18% according to a NSSO ( National Sample Survey Office) report.


• Additionally, women have taken lead roles in horticulture, fisheries, animal husbandry, beekeeping and other allied sectors.

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• Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu announced setting up of a special UAE desk to facilitate investments and resolve any business issues between the two nations.


• It was co-chaired by Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince’s Court, Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan along with the Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu.
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• It reviewed the progrees made based on the agreed actions of the previous meeting held in Abu Dhabi in January 2018.


• The UAE is the tenth largest investor in India. In 2017-18, India received USD 1.05 billion foreign direct investment from that country.

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• Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh laid the foundation stones for five infrastructural projects, worth Rs 127.86 crore, in Amritsar.


• Out of the total Rs 127.86 crore, Rs 111.56 crore would be borne by the Amritsar Improvement Trust (AIT), with the Railways contributing Rs 16.30 Crore.


• The ROB to be built at Vallah Phatak would cost Rs 34 crore and the ROB to be built at Khajana Gate would cost Rs 25 crores.

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• Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Sunil Lanba inaugurated The Goa Maritime Symposium – 2018, the second edition of the Goa Maritime Symposium (GSM) at INS Mandovi at Goa.


• The international seminar was attended by delegates from many countries such as Bangladesh, Myanmar, Mauritius, Sri-Lanka, Singapore, Thailand etc.
  
• The “Naval War College Journal”, an academic compendium with ideas and papers from writers and thinkers on maritime strategy and security was released.

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• West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, on the occasion of World Food Day, launched ‘Khadya Sathi’ scheme.


• The people of Jangalmahal and Hill areas besides Aila-affected areas and farmers of Singur, tea garden workers as well as the Toto tribe.


• It is celebrated worldwide on 16th October to celebrate founding of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations in 1945.

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• RBI laid down norms for the efficient functioning of Central Counterparties (CCPs).


• These norms provide framework for guaranteed settlement services in the markets offered by them and lessen counterparty risks.


• It must maintain effective written organisational and administrative arrangements so as to avoid potential conflicts of interest between itself and its members.

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• Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) were signed between Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE), Dehradun, with Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS) and Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS).


• Exchanges of visits of students/teachers of NVS and KVS schools will be arranged and field/experiments of ICFRE institutes will be conducted.

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• RailRestro in partnership with Yescom Global Kart Pvt Ltd, launched their very own food delivery fleet brand named Railivery.


• To promote e-catering, RailRestro entered into partnerships with multiple brands like service aggregator named ‘ Global Garner’.


• It would offer its very own cash back model for every purchase made to promote trying on e-catering services while traveling in trains.

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• From 6th to 13th October 2018, 2018 Asian Para Games was held in Jakarta, Indonesia.


• 302 members participated from India. Rio Paralympic gold medallist Mariyappan Thangavelu was the flag-bearer of the Indian contingent.


• China topped the medal tally with 319 medals including 172 gold medals. Second place was occupied by Korea with 144 medals and third position by Iran with 136 medals.

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• World Konkani Centre announced that writer, journalist and critic, H M Pernal bagged the prestigious ‘Vimala V Pai Vishwa’ Konkani best book award for the year 2018.


• Konkani poet Sharathchandra Shenoyfrom Kochi won the Vishwa Konkani best poetry award for his book ‘Idam Na Mama,’


• Vishwanath M Shet from Uttara Kannada bagged the Vishwa Konkani lifetime achievement award. Each award carries a purse of Rs one lakh each, a certificate, memento and shawl.

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• BankBazaar appointed former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor S S Mundra as an advisor.


• S S Mundra will help BankBazaar achieve 100 per cent paperless and presence-less financing in India.


• He was a deputy governor at the RBI (Reserve Bank of India) for three years till July 2017.

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• HMD Global, which designs and sells phones under the Nokia brand, appointed actress Alia Bhatt as the‘face of Nokia phones’ in India.


• As part of the partnership, a print campaign featuring Alia Bhatt has already started to mark the festive season.

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• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has announced that its Chandra X-ray Observatory went into safe mode on 10th October 2018, possibly due to a gyroscope problem.


• NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope also went offline on 5th October 2018 due to a gyroscope failure. Flight controllers are trying to bring back both to operation.
  
• Hubble and Chandra were launched by space shuttles in the 1990s. They are part of NASA’s Great Observatories series.

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• China successfully launched twin BeiDou-3 navigation satellites into space from a Long March-3B carrier rocket from Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in Sichuan province of China.


• The satellites were launched to strengthen China’s satellite navigation network which aims to surpass the US’ Global Positioning System (GPS).
  
• The satellites entered their planned orbit after flying for more than 3 hours. They will work with the 14 BeiDou-3 satellites that are already in orbit.


• These satellites are the 39th and 40th of the BeiDou navigation system, and the 15th and 16th of the BeiDou-3 family.

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• On 15th October 2018, billionaire philanthropist Paul G. Allen, who co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates, passed away after suffering from Hodgkin’s lymphoma in United States.


• Paul G. Allen and Bill Gates established Microsoft in 1975. They founded Microsoft in Albuquerque, New Mexico.


• Paul G. Allen served as Microsoft’s executive vice president of research and new product development till 1983.