Source: Cick Here

• On October 16, 2018, Nepal celebrated the festival of Fulpati.


• In Nepalese, “Phool” means flower and “Pati” means leaves and plants.


• It is observed on the seventh day of Dashain festival.


• The tradition in Nepal is to bring nine types of Fulpati into the home on the seventh day of Navaratri.


• More than 21 lakh people have left Kathmandu valley to celebrate Dashain at their native places with family, relatives and friends.


• The main function was held at Basantpur Durbar Square in Kathmandu, where Fulpati was brought to Dashainghar from Jamal in a traditional procession with Vedic rituals.


• A special parade was also held at Army Pavilion in Kathmandu.


• President Bidya Devi Bhandari, Vice President Nanda Bahadur Pun, Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli, Heads and representatives of diplomatic missions, senior army and government officers attended the programme.

Source: Cick Here

• On October 18, 2018, the famous Shahi litchi of North Bihar has got the 4th Geographical Indication (GI) tag.


• Earlier, Jardalu mango, Katarni rice and Magahi paan from the state got the GI tag.


• Shahi Litchi is mainly cultivated in Muzaffarpur, Samastipur, Vaishali, East Champaran and Begusarai.


• The GI registration was done in the name of Litchi Growers Association of Bihar, which had applied for the tag.


• Bihar produces 40 per cent of the litchi grown in the country on 38 per cent of the area.

• On October 18, 2018, the Punjab Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, approved extension of the enhanced 50 per cent reservation for women the office of the chairperson of panchayat samitis and zila parishads.


• Earlier,the reservation for women in these bodies are 33%.


• Along with this, reservation in subsequent elections will start from the first non-reserved constituency in this roster in the order Scheduled Caste-Scheduled Caste Women-Women.

Source: Cick Here

• On 17th October 2018, the Punjab Cabinet approved policy changes to enable the government to grant contracts by auction of mining blocks in strategically established clusters through progressive bidding.


• Earlier, auction was done by individual mines. This move has been made to improve transparency. This decision was taken at the Cabinet meeting on 17th October 2018.


• The new policy will come to force in 2 months after the Cabinet approval to the Punjab State Sand and Gravel Policy, 2018 and amendment to the Punjab Minor Mineral Rules, 2013.


• This will increase the royalty receipt of the state exchequer, offer necessary supply at fair price to the consumer and eliminate illegal mining.


• The department of mining will launch an online Punjab Sand portal for sale of sand to consumers.


• The mining rights of concession quantity of sand and gravel in mining blocks would be put to bidding through transparent e-auction process.

Source: Cick Here

• Punjab government has decided to amend the Industrial and Business Development Policy 2017 to give investment incentive through ‘Net SGST (Net State Goods And Services Tax) Incentive’ on intrastate sale.


• It has also approved global tendering for the upcoming hi-tech Cycle Valley on a 100-acre industrial park in Ludhiana.


• These decisions were taken at the Cabinet meeting, to enhance industrial development in Punjab.


• The incentive under current policy will only be applicable for investment proposals where Common Application Form has been submitted by March 31, 2020.


• Plan for implementing the Cycle Valley project and layout plan of the project has been finalised and approved by the competent plan approval committee.


• Punjab government will also construct an 8.8-kilometre road linking Hi-Tech Cycle Valley to the Chandigarh-Ludhiana highway.

Source: Cick Here

• On 17th October 2018, Punjab government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Centre to implement the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) in Punjab.


• By implementing PMJAY in Punjab, the scheme will be extended to cover more than 43 lakh families, instead of the proposed 14.96 lakh families.


• On October 3, 2018, Punjab cabinet approved the merger of Punjab’s Bhagat Puran Singh Sehat Bima Yojana (BPSSBY), with PMJAY. Through this, the existing cover of Rs 50,000 per year per family was extended to Rs 5 lakh per year per family.


• The period of BPSSBY, expiring on October 31, has been extended to December 31, 2018.


• The MoU was signed by Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Satish Chandra, on behalf of Punjab with Ayushman Bharat CEO Dr Indu Bhushan.


• PMJAY will be launched on January 1, 2019 in Punjab. The cost of PMJAY will be shared between the central government and Punjab in the ratio of 60:40.

Source: Cick Here

• On October 18, 2018, NBFC Bajaj Finance increased its FD rates.


• The changes will be effective from October 17, 2018.


• Another NBFC, Sundaram Finance too has announced increase in interest rates.


• The changes would be effective from October 19, 2018.

Source: Cick Here

• On October 18, 2018, Dutch photographer Marsel van Oosten has won Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2018.


• It was awarded by London’s Natural History Museum.


• He got the award for his photo titled “The Golden Couple,” which is the striking photo of a pair of endangered golden snub-nosed monkeys in central China’s Qin Ling Mountains.


• Second place in the competition was awarded to Skye Meaker, 16, who won the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2018 award.


• The two winning images will be showcased in an exhibition featuring 98 other entries at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition, running from 19 October until 1 July 2019, by the Natural History Museum in London.

Source: Cick Here

• On October 18, 2018, Rachana – Catholic Chamber of Commerce and Industry selected 5 eminent people for the Rachana Awards 2018.


• The award ceremony would take place in at Milagres Jubilee Hall on November 17, 2018 in Mangaluru.


• The 5 selected awardees are Aloysius Richard Lobo for Rachana NRI of the Year award, Lawrence Pinto for Rachana Agriculturist of the Year award, Ronald Castelino for Rachana Entrepreneur of the Year award, Faye D’Souza from Mirror now for Rachana Professional of the Year award, Sr Maria Jyothi AC for Rachana Woman of the Year award.


• These awards would be given by Rev Peter Paul Saldanha, Bishop of Mangaluru Diocese.

Source: Cick Here

• On 16th October 2018, Canara Robeco Mutual Fund elevated Nimesh Chandan as the Head – Investment, Equity with immediate effect.


• This position has been newly created. In this role, Nimesh Chandan will guide the equity team in providing a strategy for equity funds.


• Nimesh Chandan has over twenty years of experience in the financial services sector. He had joined Canara Robeco Mutual Fund as a senior fund manager.


• Earlier, he had worked with ICICI Prudential Asset Management, SBI Mutual Fund and Birla Sunlife Mutual Fund, Strategic Capital (Stratcap) Securities.


• Recently, Canara Robeco Mutual Fund appointed Krishna Sanghavi as Head of Equity, replacing Ravi Gopalakrishnan.

Source: Cick Here

• On October 17, 2018, Minister of state for external affairs MJ Akbar resigned on the account of rising amount of sexual allegations against him.


• PM Narendra Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind accepted his resignation.


• He was inducted into the Union Council of Ministers by PM Narendra Modi on 5 July 2016.


• He is also a veteran Indian journalist and author.


• He also launched, as editor, India’s first weekly political news periodicals in India including India Today, Headlines Today, The Telegraph, The Asian Age and Deccan Chronicle among others.

Source: Cick Here

• Scientists at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) have discovered a galaxy proto-supercluster named “Hyperion”, the largest and the most massive structure in the early universe known so far.


• The discovery was made by astronomers led by Olga Cucciati of Bologna’s National Astrophysics Institute.


• Hyperion was found using data from VIMOS Ultra-Deep Survey done by VIMOS instrument on European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope in Chile.


• VIMOS is an instrument that measures objects at a distance of billions of light years away. It enables scientist to see what the early universe was like.


• Hyperion’s mass is estimated to be a million billion times that of our own Sun (nearly 1,048 Jupiters, or 333,000 Earths).


• Hyperion is located in the constellation of Sextans. It has a very complex structure. It has at least 7 high-density regions connected by filaments of galaxies.

Source: Cick Here

• Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Indian Institute of Toxicology Research (CSIR-IITR), Lucknow, has developed an innovative technology for “Drinking Water Disinfection System” with the trade name “OneerTM”.


• The “OneerTM” technology was transferred to M/s Bluebird Water Purifiers, New Delhi, on 17th October 2018.


• It will be used in continuous treatment of water and will eliminate disease causing pathogens like virus, bacteria, fungi, protozoa and cyst.


• It will provide safe drinking water to domestic use and communities as per National and International standards for potable water (BIS, WHO etc.).


• It will offer safe and clean drinking water at a cost of 2 Paise / Ltr. The Community level model is of 450 LPH capacity. It can be scaled up to 5000 to 1 lakh L/day. It is maintenance and membrane free.


• The smaller unit of Oneer will be suitable for homes, street food vendors, and small establishments.

Source: Cick Here

• On October 18, 2018, Stephen Hawking’s final work “Brief Answers to the Big Questions” was launched.


• It has been completed by the theoretical physicist’s family and academic colleagues, with material drawn from his vast personal archive.


• It tackles various issues including existence of God , potential time travel and human intelligence during the next 100 years.