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• On 20th October 2018, World Osteoporosis Day was observed all over the world.


• World Osteoporosis Day is observed every year on October 20. It is organized by the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF).


• This day creates awareness about the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis and metabolic bone disease.


• Osteoporosis is a disease in which bones become weak and brittle and increases the risk of a broken bone.


• World Osteoporosis Day 2018 campaign calls for global action to improve bone health and prevent fractures due to osteoporosis, including vertebral (spine) fractures.

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• On 17th October 2018, Canada became the second country after Uruguay to legalise possession and use of recreational cannabis.


• Now, Canadians can grow up to 4 plants in their own home and carry up to 30 grams of dried cannabis for personal use.


• Cannabis possession became a crime in Canada in 1923. But the medical use of cannabis was legalised in 2001.


• Canadians can order marijuana (cannabis) products through websites of provinces or private retailers and it will be delivered to their homes.


• Canada has become the second and largest country with a legal national cannabis marketplace.

Source: Cick Here

• On October 19, 2018, the 3-day 8th European Congress on SMEs concluded in Kotawice, Poland.


• The motto of the Congress was: “ Science- Business-Self Government TOGETHER FOR ECONOMY”.


• This would engage in the challenges and possibilities of development of SMEs as Small and Medium-size Entrepreneurship is the most important sector of Polish Economy.


• It would see participation from representatives of Science, Politics and Economy as well as various foreign delegates.

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• India has imposed anti-dumping duties of up to 185.51 US dollars per tonne for 5 years on some varieties of Chinese steel to protect domestic players from cheap imports from China.


• The revenue department has imposed the duty based on the recommendations of the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR).


• A joint application was filed by domestic steel industries like JSW Steel Ltd, Sunflag Iron & Steel Co, Usha Martin, Gerdau Steel India, Vardhman Special Steels and Jayaswal Neco Industries before DGTR to initiate investigation on this issue.


• The DGTR performed investigations and made recommendations on anti-dumping duties on some steel products.


• The goods have been exported to India from China below normal value and the domestic industry has been affected due to this.


• The anti-dumping duty has been imposed in the range of $ 44.89 to 185.51 per tonne on import of alloy bars and rods.

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• On October 18, 2018, Kerala became the first state in the country to have 100% penetration of LPG in public sector oil companies. To make the state smoke-free.


• With three bottling plants at Kochi, Kozhikode, and Kollam, LPG is being brought to 49.79 lakh customers through 308 distributors.


• The Indian Oil is also prepared to provide with new generation fuels like CNG and other green fuels.


• Indian Oil has 50% of the market share with the remaining being shared by HPCL and BPCL.

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• On October 18, 2018, Assam celebrated its 3rd Bihu festival known as the ‘Kati Bihu’ festival across the state.


• The name of the other 2 Bihu festivals are: Rongali and Bohagi Bihu.


• The festival derives its name from the Assamese month of Kati.


• The festival is held at this time of the year since the granaries of the farmers usually remain empty and therefore it is known as Kongali (poor) Bihu.


• On the occasion of Kati Bihu, women, both in urban and rural areas, try to ward off evil and pray for a rich harvest by lighting earthen lamps.


• As a part of the festival, farmers also tie a special kind of lamp, known as Akash Bati, to poles and the poles are placed in the paddy fields.

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• On 19th October 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Shirdi, in Maharashtra.


• Mr. Narendra Modi unveiled the plaque to mark the laying of foundation stone of several development works of Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust.


• He also attended the valedictory function of centenary celebration of Shri Saibaba. He released a silver coin to commemorate the Centenary year of Shri Saibaba Samadhi.


• He handed over keys to mark the Grihapravesh of over 2 lakh Prime Minister Awas Yojana- Grameen (PMAY-G) beneficiaries in Maharashtra.


• He also interacted with beneficiaries from several districts of Maharashtra like Satara, Latur, Nandurbar, Amaravati, Thane, Solapur, Nagpur via video conference.


• He announced that in line with the Government’s ‘Housing for All’ by 2022 initiative, more than 1.25 crore houses have been built in the last 4 years.

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• On October 19, 2018, virtual currency exchange Unocoin set up a first of its kind kiosk — Bitcoin ATM at Kemp Fort mall in Bengaluru.


• This will be followed by 2 more kiosks in Mumbai and Delhi.


• According to Unocoin, users can withdraw Indian rupee obtained on selling the cryptocurrencies on its platform.


• Following this, a 12- digit reference number will be sent to the user to withdraw the INR.


• While, for deposits, the user id of the customer and OTP (one-time password) sent on registered mobile number would be required and the amount will get deposited upon confirmation of respective account details.

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• On 19th October 2018, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) increased lenders’ single borrower exposure limit for Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) which do not finance infrastructure, from 10% to 15% of capital funds, until 31st December 2018.


• RBI also relaxed liquidity norms for banks, allowing them to calculate government securities held by them up to an amount equal to their incremental outstanding credit to NBFCs, and Housing Finance Companies (HFCs).


• This will be over and above the amount of credit to NBFCs and HFCs outstanding in their books as on October 19, 2018.


• RBI has made this move to meet liquidity coverage ratio requirements and increase credit flow to NBFCs.


• Liquidity coverage ratio refers to highly liquid assets that financial institutions have to hold in order to meet short-term obligations.

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• On October 19, 2018, the need for equity infusion for State-owned carrier Air India came to an end after the government guaranteed to raise Rs 3,500 crore as loan.


• Air India has raised Rs 3,000 crore so far which includes Rs 1,000 crore to the airline from the National Small Savings Fund (NSSF) on behalf of the government.


• Another Rs 500 crore will be raised by the airline through a loan from the unused sovereign guarantee.


• It is a part of the Rs 4,200 crore debt of AI to oil companies.


• Out of this, AI had sought Rs 2,121-crore equity infusion from the government of which the government had sought Parliament nod for infusing Rs 980 crore into the airline this financial year.

Source: Cick Here

• Mexican boxer Canelo Álvarez has signed the richest contract in the history of sports, which is a 5-year deal worth $365 million (over Rs 2,680 crore) with streaming service DAZN.


• As per the deal, 28-year-old Canelo Álvarez will participate in 11 fights, from December 15, 2018.


• The previous richest contract was a 13-year, $325-million deal signed by baseball player Giancarlo Stanton of New York Yankees’ team in 2014.

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• On October 17, 2018, Prasar Bharti CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati distributed Rajbhasha awards to Prasar Bharti employees in New Delhi.


• The ceremony was held during Hindi Pakhwada organized by Prashar Bharti Secretariat.


• It was aimed to promote the use of Hindi in day-to-day work.

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• On 16th October 2018, Arshdeep Singh won the 2018 Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year (Asia) Award for his photograph ‘Pipe Owls’, at the Natural History Museum, London.


• Arshdeep Singh is 10 years old. He hails from Jalandhar, Punjab. He was one among the winners of the 2018 Wildlife Photographer of the Year award in the 10-years-and-under category.


• The Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition is organised by the Britain’s Natural History Museum. This is the 53rd edition of the awards.


• Arshdeep Singh started taking photographs at the age of 6. Recently, he won the Junior Asian Wildlife Photographer of the Year award.


• His work has been published in national and international publications like Lonely Planet UK, Lonely Planet Germany, Lonely Planet India, BBC Wildlife UK etc.

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• On 19th October 2018, Minister of Railways & Coal and former Minister of Power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy and Mines Piyush Goyal was awarded the 4th annual Carnot Prize 2018 by Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania School of Design, United States.


• The award was presented to Piyush Goyal as a recognition to the major transformations in India’s energy sector under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which aims to eliminate energy poverty with sustainable energy solutions.


• It also recognises India’s climate conscious and development driven energy governance.

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• On October 19, 2018, The European Space Agency’s (ESA) BepiColombo mission will send two orbiters to explore Mercury.


• The orbiters are: Esa’s Mercury Planet Orbiter (MPO) and the Japanese space agency Jaxa’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO).


• MPO was built by Airbus in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, and MMO was constructed in Japan.


• The UK-built spacecraft will set off from the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on October 20.


• It will take seven years to reach Mercury, arriving in 2025 to complete a 5.2 billion miles journey.

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• On October 19, 2018, Former Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand chief minister Narayan Dutt Tiwari died of a cardiac arrest in Delhi.


• He was 93 years old.


• He is the only politician to have served as chief minister of two states.


• He was Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh from 1976-77, 1984-85 and 1988-89.


• He became the chief minister of Uttarakhand from 2002-2007.


• He also became the governor of Andhra Pradesh from 2007-09.


• Mr. Tiwari had played important responsibilities like the country’s Finance Minister, Commerce Minister and External Affairs Minister during the period of 1986 and 1987.