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Context: PFRDA has now permitted Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) to enroll in National Pension Scheme (NPS) at par with Non-Resident Indians.

• An OCI may subscribe to the National Pension System governed and administered by PFRDA, provided such person is eligible to invest as per the provisions of the PFRDA Act and the annuity/accumulated saving will be repatriable, subject to FEMA guidelines.


• Contributions made towards NPS are eligible for an additional tax deduction under section 80CCD(1B) upto Rs. 50,000 which is over and above the Rs 1,50,000 limit of deduction available under sec 80CCD(1).

• PFRDA is the statutory authority established by an enactment of the Parliament, to regulate, promote and ensure orderly growth of the National Pension System (NPS) and pension schemes to which this Act applies.


• NPS was initially notified for central government employees joining service on or after 1st Jan 2004 and subsequently adopted by almost all State Governments for its employees. NPS was extended to all citizens of Indian on a voluntary basis from 2009 and to corporates in 2011 and to Non-Resident Indians in 2015.

Context: Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan released the 14th National Health Profile (NHP), 2019 and its e-book in New Delhi.

• The NHP is prepared by the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence (CBHI).


• This 14th edition of NHP is the continuation of the publication since 2005.


• It covers comprehensive information on demographic, socio-economic health status, health finance indicators, health infrastructure and health of human resources in the country.


• The NHP highlights substantial health information under major indicators viz. demographic indicators (population and vital statistics), socio-economic indicators (education, employment, housing, and amenities, drinking water and sanitation) and health status indicators (incidence and prevalence of common communicable and non-communicable diseases and RCH), etc.

Context: According to research published in Nature Communications, the number of people in India threatened by rising sea-levels is at least seven times more than previously estimated.

• Researchers of Climate Central, an independent organization of climate scientists, have developed a new tool that measures the elevation of land from mean sea levels with much greater accuracy than earlier models.


• Their new tool, called CoastalDEM (or Coastal Digital Elevation Model), which uses artificial intelligence and machine learning on 51 million data samples, brought down this error to less than 2.5 inches on an average.

• Around 300 million people and not 80 million as estimated earlier, across the globe were currently living in areas that were below the annual coastal flood line.


• Almost 80 percent of these 300 million people live in China, Bangladesh, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand. China alone accounted for 43 million.


• Around 36 million people along the Indian coastlines currently live on land that will fall below the annual flood level by 2050, exposing them to risks of flooding, damage to infrastructure, loss of livelihood, or permanent displacement. The previous estimate was of 5 million people.


• West Bengal and coastal Odisha are projected to be particularly vulnerable, as is the eastern city of Kolkata.


• Except for some areas near Kakinada, the threats to the coastlines of the southern states have not been affected by the new measurements.

Context: A new study, commissioned by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM), and undertaken by Laveesh Bhandari of Indicus Foundation and Amaresh Dubey of Jawaharlal Nehru University, has highlighted the broad trends for employment in India between 2004 and 2018.

• A key feature of this study is that instead of focusing on unemployment, it focuses only on the “employment” data.


• It does so by looking at three comparable surveys conducted by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) — the Employment-Unemployment Surveys (EUS) of 2004-05 and 2011-12, and the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) of 2017-18.

• The total employment in the country grew by 4.5 crore in the 13 years between EUS 2004-05 and PLFS 2017-18. This represents a growth of just 0.8 percent — less than half the rate at which the overall population grew, which was 1.7 percent.


• Of the 4.5 crore increase in employment, 4.2 crores happened in the urban areas while rural employment either contracted (by 0.01 percent between 2004 and 2011) or was stagnant (grew by 0.18 percent between 2011 and 2017).


• Male employment grew by 6 crore but female employment fell by 1.5 crores.


• Youth employment (those between the ages of 15 and 24) has fallen from 8.14 crore in 2004 to 5.34 crore in 2017. However, employment in the 25-59 age group and the 60 years and above group has gone up.


• The share of organised sector in the total employed has risen from 8.9 percent in 2004 to 14 percent in 2017. The share of unorganised sector in the total employed has gone up from 37.1 percent in 2004 to 47.7 percent in 2017.


• Both these sectors – Organised and Unorganised – have grown at the expense of the agri-cropping sector, where employment has fallen from 21.9 percent in 2004 to 17.4 percent in 2017. In essence, those who are poor, illiterate, and unskilled are increasingly losing out on jobs.

Context: In a new research paper, Scientists have explained the biological reasons why fish species will shift towards the poles due to impact of climate change. Scientists have described this with the Gill-Oxygen Limitation Theory(GOLT).

• According to Gill-Oxygen Limitation Theory (GOLT), warming waters have less oxygen. Therefore, fish have difficulties breathing in such environments. Additionally, such warming, low-oxygen waters also increase fish’s oxygen demands because their metabolism speeds up.


• This is because, as fish grow, their demand for oxygen increases. However, the surface area of the gills (two-dimensional) does not grow at the same pace as the rest of the body (three-dimensional). The larger the fish, the smaller it's surface area relative to the volume of its body.


• So, the fish move to waters whose temperatures resemble those of their original habitats and that satisfy their oxygen needs.


• As the global sea surface temperature has increased by approximately 0.13°C per decade over the past 100 years, “suitable” waters are more and more found towards the poles and at greater depths.

Context: Citing data from its Sentinel-3 World Fire Atlas, the European Space Agency (ESA) has announced that compared to August 2018, there were almost five times as many wildfires across the world in August 2019.

• The ESA’s Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission recorded 79,000 fires in August this year, compared to just over 16,000 fires detected during the same period last year.


• The data revealed that 49% of the fires were detected in Asia, around 28% were detected in South America, 16% in Africa, and the remaining were recorded in North America, Europe, and Oceania.

• Sentinel-3 is an Earth observation satellite constellation developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) as part of the Copernicus Programme.


• The Sentinel-3 World Fires Atlas Prototype product has been developed by ESA over the southern countries of the ESA member states.


• It aims to provide continuity to ESA ATSR World Fire Atlas (operating from June 1995 to March 2012) taking on board all the improvements of Sentinel-3 SLSTR instrument.

Context: Indo-French Joint Exercise Shakti-2019 will be conducted from 31 October 2019 to 13 November 2019 at Foreign Training Node at Mahajan Field Firing Ranges, Rajasthan.

• Series of 'Exercise SHAKTI' between Indian and France commenced in year 2011.


• It’s a biennial exercise and is conducted alternately in India and France.


• As part of Exercise SHAKTI – 2019, a contingent of the Sikh Regiment of Sapta Shakti Command will represent the Indian Army in this exercise. The French Army delegation will be represented by troops of 21st Marine Infantry Regiment of 6th Armoured Brigade.


• The joint exercise will focus on Counter-Terrorism operations in the backdrop of semi-desert terrain under the United Nations Mandate. The training will focus primarily on the high degree of physical fitness, sharing of a drill at a tactical level and learning of best practices from each other.

Context: On the recommendation of the Election Commission of India (ECI), the Central Government has amended the Rules to facilitate the process of postal ballot paper for Absentee voters of essential services, Senior citizens of more than 80 years and marked PwD electors.

• A concept of ‘absentee voter’ has been introduced and defined for the elections.


• ‘Absentee voter’ means a person belonging to such class of persons as may be notified, under clause (c) of section 60 of the Act, and who is employed in essential services as mentioned in the said notification, and includes an elector belonging to the class of senior citizen or persons with disability [rule 27 A (aa)].


• ‘Person with Disability’ means a person flagged as person with a disability in the database for the electoral roll.


• ‘Senior Citizen’ for the purpose of this Part means an elector belonging to the class of absentee voters and is above 80 years of age.


• In case of an absentee voter, the application shall be made in Form 12D, and shall contain such particulars as specified therein, and shall be duly verified by the Nodal Officer for the absentee voter, other than senior citizen or persons with disability, which shall reach the Returning Officer within five days following the date of notification of election.


• In the case of the absentee voter, the postal ballot paper shall be returned to the center provided for recording of the vote under sub-rule(3) of rule 27F, subject to any direction that may be issued by the Election Commission in this behalf.

Context: On 27 October 2019, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi killed himself and three children by detonating a suicide vest during the Barisha raid conducted by the Delta Force, in Syria's northwestern Idlib Province, according to a statement by President Donald Trump.

• Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (1971 – 2019) was the leader of the Islamic State (ISIS) militant terrorist organisation.


• In 2014, the ISIS announced the establishment of a worldwide caliphate. Al- Baghdadi was named its caliph, to be known as "Caliph Ibrahim".


• He was designated by the United States Department of State as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.

• The Barisha raid was a United States military operation in Barisha, Idlib Governorate, in northwestern Syria targeting Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) leadership, notably its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, on October 26-27, 2019.


• The special forces raid was officially code-named Operation Kayla Mueller after the American humanitarian worker who was held captive, tortured, and sexually abused by Baghdadi before her death in 2015.


• According to U.S. officials, including President Donald Trump, Baghdadi killed himself when he detonated a suicide belt.

Context: The President of India will present the National Corporate Social Responsibility Awards (NCSRA) to select companies for their outstanding contribution in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on 29th October 2019 in New Delhi.

• The National CSR Awards are the highest recognition in the domain of CSR by the Government of India.


• The Awards have been instituted in 2017 by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.


• To recognize corporate initiatives in the area of CSR to achieve inclusive growth and inclusive and sustainable development.


• Total number of awards of National CSR Awards is 20 in 3 categories which are as follows –


• Corporate Awards for Excellence in CSR


• Corporate Awards in CSR in Challenging Circumstances: Up to Eleven Awards to be given based on contribution to National Priority Schemes so as to motivate corporates to spend in these areas.

Context: On October 17, the Lebanese government proposed a plan to tax calls made through the internet and other similar services.

• Lebanon is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus is west across the Mediterranean Sea.


• Capital: Beirut.


• Voice Over IP (VoIP) calls in Lebanon would be charged at 20 cents everyday, from January 2020 onwards, which totals to $6 per month. These VoIP services include calls made through Facebook, WhatsApp, Skype and Viber.


• While the proposal has since then been withdrawn, if it were to pass, Lebanon would be the first country in the world to do so. The move, however, has triggered mass anti-government protests in the West Asian country.

Context: Union Minister for Science & Technology, Harsh Vardhan announced details of the IndiGen Genome project.

• The Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) has conducted Whole Genome Sequencing of 1,008 Indians from different populations across the country under the IndiGen Genome project.


• The IndiGen initiative was undertaken by CSIR in April 2019, which was implemented by the CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), Delhi and CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad.


• This has enabled benchmarking the scalability of genome sequencing and computational analysis at population scale in a defined timeline. The ability to decode the genetic blueprint of humans through whole genome sequencing will be a major driver for biomedical science.


• The outcomes of the IndiGen will have applications in a number of areas including predictive and preventive medicine with faster and efficient diagnosis of rare genetic diseases.

Context: The Ministry of Personnel notified the Right to Information (Term of Office, Salaries, Allowances and Other Terms and Conditions of Service of Chief Information Commissioner, Information Commissioners and State Information Commissioners) Rules, 2019.

• According to activists, the rules had been drafted and promulgated in violation of the procedures laid down in the Pre-Legislative Consultation Policy of 2014.


• The policy requires all draft rules to be placed in the public domain for comments/suggestions of people. The draft was not available in the public domain and no consultations were held with members of the public.


• The changes would affect the independence of ‘Information Commissions who will function like caged parrots.’

• The rules have reduced the tenure of Information Commissioners from five years to three.


• It gives the government the discretion to decide on “conditions of service” for which no express provisions are made in the rules.


• The Chief Information Commissioner’s salary has been fixed at ₹2.5 lakh and an Information Commissioner’s at ₹2.25 lakh.

Context: Astronomers accidentally discovered the footprints of a monster galaxy in the early universe that has never been seen before.

• Like a cosmic Yeti, the scientific community generally regarded these galaxies as folklore, given the lack of evidence of their existence, but astronomers in the United States and Australia managed to snap a picture of the beast for the first time.


• Published in the Astrophysical Journal, the discovery provides new insights into the first growing steps of some of the biggest galaxies in the universe.


• The researchers estimate that the signal came from so far away that it took 12.5 billion years to reach Earth, therefore giving us a view of the universe in its infancy.


• They think the observed emission is caused by the warm glow of dust particles heated by stars forming deep inside a young galaxy. The giant clouds of dust conceal the light of the stars themselves, rendering the galaxy completely invisible.

Context: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has approved the issuance of two Open General Export Licences (OGELs) for export of certain parts and components and intra-company transfer of technology to select countries. The decision will give a boost to defense exports.

• Following a demand by the exporters, the DPP held extensive consultations with various stakeholders and formulated this OGEL policy and submitted for Defence Minister’s approval.


• The OGEL is a one-time export license to be granted to a company for a specific period which is two years initially.


• The application for grant of OGEL will be considered by Department of Defence Production (DPP) on a case-to-case basis.


• For acquiring the licenses, the applicant is mandatory to have Import-Export certificate.


• The items permitted under OGEL includes components of ammunition and fuse setting device without energetic and explosive material, firing control and related ing and warning equipment and related system and body protective items.


• Complete aircraft or complete unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and any components specially designed or modified for UAVs are excluded under this license.


• The countries allowed under the OGELs are Belgium, France, Germany, Japan, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, UK, USA, Canada, Italy, Poland, and Mexico. Export of items to a Special Economic Zone is not permitted.

Context: The World Bank released its latest Doing Business Report (DBR, 2020).

• India has recorded a jump of 14 positions against its rank of 77 in 2019 to be placed now at 63rd rank among 190 countries.


• India’s Distance to Frontier (DTF) scores improved to 71 from 67.23 in the previous year.


• For the third consecutive year India is amongst the top 10 improvers. As a result of continued efforts by the Government, India has improved its rank by 79 positions in the last five years [2014-19].


• India continues to maintain its first position among South Asian countries. It was 6th in 2014.


• India has improved its rank in 7 out of 10 indicators. India saw the biggest jump in ranking in “resolving insolvency" category, to 52nd rank from 108th, while its ranking improved substantially in Dealing with Construction Permits (to 27th from 52nd) and “Trading across Borders" (to 68th from 80th).

• Doing Business 2020 measures regulations across 190 economies in 12 business regulatory areas to assess the business environment in each economy. Ten of these indicators were used to estimate the ease of doing business scores this year.


• The DBR ranks countries on the basis of Distance to Frontier (DTF), a score that shows the gap of an economy to the global best practice.


• The top 10 best places in the world to do business are New Zealand (with a score of 86.8 out of 100), Singapore (86.2), Hong Kong SAR, China (85.3), Denmark (85.3), the Republic of Korea (84), the United States (84), Georgia (83.7), the United Kingdom (83.5), Norway (82.6), and Sweden (82).

Context: In an announcement by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on World Polio Day (October 24), an independent commission of experts declared that wild poliovirus type 3 (WPV3) has been eradicated worldwide.

• Polio (poliomyelitis) is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus. The virus is transmitted by person-to-person spread mainly through the fecal-oral route.


• It invades the nervous system, and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours. 1 in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis. Among those paralysed, 5% to 10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilized.


• Polio mainly affects children under 5 years of age.


• There is no cure for polio, it can only be prevented. Polio vaccine, given multiple times, can protect a child for life.

• This follows the eradication of smallpox and wild poliovirus type 2. With this, 2 out of 3 wild poliovirus strains have been eradicated.


• Efforts are being taken to eliminate the wild poliovirus type 1. This virus remains in circulation in just two countries, Afghanistan and Pakistan.


• There are three individual and immunologically distinct wild poliovirus strains: wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1), wild poliovirus type 2 (WPV2) and wild poliovirus type 3 (WPV3).


• Symptomatically, all three strains are identical, in that they cause irreversible paralysis or even death. But there are genetic and virological differences, which make these three strains three separate viruses that must each be eradicated individually.

Context: India has signed the agreement with Pakistan on the modalities for operationalisation of the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor to facilitate pilgrims to visit Gurudwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur through Kartarpur Sahib Corridor.

• Gurdwara Darbar Sahib is located at Kartarpur in Pakistan’s Narowal district. It stands on the bank of the River Ravi, about 120 km northeast of Lahore.


• It was here that the First Sikh Guru (Nanak Dev) assembled a Sikh community and lived for 18 years until his death in 1539. It is the final resting place of Guru Nanak.


• The Union Cabinet passed a resolution on November 2018 to celebrate the historic occasion of the 550th Birth Anniversary of Sri Guru Nanak Devji. It also


• approved the development of the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor from Dera Baba Nanak to the International Boundary, to facilitate pilgrims from India to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur.

• Indian pilgrims of all faiths and persons of Indian origin can use the corridor.


• The travel will be Visa-Free; Pilgrims need to carry only a valid passport.


• Persons of Indian Origin need to carry OCI card along with the passport of their country.


• The Corridor is open from dawn to dusk. Pilgrims traveling in the morning will have to return on the same day.


• The Corridor will be operational throughout the year, except on notified days, to be informed in advance.


• The Pakistan side has assured India to make sufficient provision for ‘Langar’ and distribution of ‘Prasad’. However, there has been no progress on resolving the disagreement over a $20 fee that Pakistan intends to levy on each traveler.

Context: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the Review of Guidelines for Granting Authorization to market Transportation Fuels. This marks a major reform of the guidelines for marketing of petrol and diesel.

• Non-oil companies can also invest in setting up retail outlets for fuel, regardless of whether they have prior investments in the oil and gas sector.


• There is much lower entry barrier for private players. The entities seeking


• authorisation would need to have a minimum net worth of Rs.250 crore vis-à- vis the current requirement of Rs. 2000 crore prior investment.


• The companies have been given flexibility in setting up a Joint Venture or Subsidiary for market authorisation.


• In addition to conventional fuels, the authorized entities are required to install facilities for marketing at least one new generation alternate fuel, like CNG, LNG, biofuels, electric charging, etc. at their proposed retail outlets within 3 years of operationalization of the said outlet


• The authorised entities are required to set up minimum 5% of the total retail outlets in the notified remote areas within 5 years of the grant of authorisation.

Context: The union Health Ministry has released guidelines for establishing peritoneal dialysis services under the Pradhan Mantri National Dialysis Program (PMNDP).

• The Ministry has requested all States to include proposals for establishing peritoneal dialysis under their respective program implementation plans.


• The guidelines also envisage providing training to community health workers to provide support to persons for peritoneal dialysis at home or in primary healthcare settings.


• This move will instantly benefit the 2 lakh Indians who develop end-stage kidney failure every year in India.


• The Health Ministry had announced the National Dialysis Programme in 2016 and the first phase of the program envisaged setting up of hemodialysis centers in all districts.

• Peritoneal dialysis is a treatment for kidney failure that uses the lining of your abdomen, or belly, to filter your blood inside your body. Health care providers call this lining the peritoneum.


• Peritoneal dialysis is a process to remove excess fluid, correct electrolyte problems and remove toxins using the lining of the abdomen, or peritoneum, in patients suffering from renal failure.


• This process does away with the substantial costs of infrastructure, maintenance, and staffing, reduces the demand on the healthcare system and offers patient autonomy.

Context: Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu will represent India at the 19th Non Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Baku, Azerbaijan on October 25 and 26, marking the second time in a row that PM Modi will give the summit a miss.

• The theme for the XVIII NAM Summit is “Upholding the Bandung Principles to ensure concerted and adequate response to the challenges of the contemporary world”.


• The Ten Principles of Bandung, a political statement encapsulating the need to promote world peace and cooperation were formulated at the Asian-African Conference in 1955.


• The theme is significant as it relates to the forthcoming 65th anniversary of Bandung Principles in 2020 and the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the Movement in 2021.


• India is one of the founding members of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), which was established in 1961 with 29 members. It has since grown to 120 members to become one of the largest groupings of nation-states.

• In 2016 as well, India was represented by then Vice-President at the NAM summit in Venezuela.


• Since it was inaugurated in 1961, the Indian Prime Minister has always attended the NAM summit, except in 1979, when Chaudhury Charan Singh was the caretaker PM and hence missed it, and in 2016.


• Modi’s absence indicates a decisive move away from past practice at the 60- year-old organisation that India was a founding member of, by the NDA government.

Context: The annual Crime in India Report 2017 was published by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

• A total of 50,07,044 cognizable crimes — 30,62,579 Indian Penal Code (IPC) crimes and 19,44,465 Special & Local Laws (SLL) crimes — were registered in 2017, an increase of 3.6 per cent in registration of cases over 2016.


• The NCRB for the first time collected data on the circulation of “false/fake news and rumors.” Under the category, maximum incidents were reported from Madhya Pradesh (138), Uttar Pradesh (32) and Kerala (18).


• A new category of offenses committed by various categories of “Anti- National Elements” showed that the maximum offenses were committed by


• Left Wing Extremist (LWE) operatives (652), followed by North East insurgents (421) and Terrorists (Jihadi and other elements) (371).


• 3,59,849 cases of crime against women were reported in the country. Uttar Pradesh topped the list with 56,011. Majority of cases under crimes against women were registered under ‘Cruelty by Husband or his Relatives’ (27.9%).


• In percentage terms, major crime heads under ‘Crime Against Children’ during 2017 were kidnapping and abduction (42.0 percent) and cases under


• the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (25.3 per cent) including child rape.


• 58,880 incidents of rioting were reported, of which the maximum incidents were reported from Bihar (11,698). Of the total riots reported, communal and sectarian riots accounted for 723 and 183 incidents respectively. There were 805 riots due to caste conflict and 1909 riots occurred due to political reasons.


• Incidents of atrocities against Scheduled Castes jump from 5,082 in 2016 to 5,775 in 2017.


• Incidents of crime related to Scheduled Tribes dipped from 844 in 2016 to 720 in 2017.


• Delhi recorded a 40.4% share of total Indian Penal Code (IPC) crimes registered across 19 metropolitan cities in the county in 2017 with Bengaluru taking the second position at 8.9% followed by Mumbai at 7.4%.


• There has been a 30 percent rise in incidents of offences against the state in 2017 as compared to 2016. This category includes offences such as sedition, waging war against the country and damage to public property among others.


• The maximum number of sedition cases were reported from Assam (19) followed by Haryana (13). Jammu and Kashmir recorded just one case of sedition.


• Data collected under the new sub-heads of death due to mob lynching, murder by influential people, killing ordered by khap panchayat and murder committed for religious reason have not been published, resulting in a partial delay of the agency’s report for 2017.


• A total 21,796 instances of cyber-crime were recorded in 2017, an increase of 77% over the previous year’s number of 12,317. nearly every fifth cyber- crime in 2017 was committed against a woman.

Context: The Credit Suisse Group, a Switzerland-based multinational investment bank, has released the 10th edition of its annual Global Wealth Report.

• The report tracks both the growth and distribution of wealth – in terms of the numbers of millionaires and billionaires and the proportion of wealth that they hold – as well as the status of inequality around the world.


• Wealth is defined in terms of “net worth” of an individual. This, in turn, is calculated by adding up the value of financial assets (such as money) and real assets (such as houses) and then subtracting any debts an individual may have.

• Just 47 million people – accounting for merely 0.9% of the world’s adult population – owned $158.3 trillion, which is almost 44% of the world’s total wealth.


• At the other end of the spectrum are 2.88 billion people – accounting for almost 57% of the world’s adult population – who owned just $6.3 trillion or 1.8% of the world’s wealth.


• China has overtaken the United States this year to become “the country with most people in the top 10% of global wealth distribution”.


• The report singles out India, along with China and Vietnam as the best examples of how wealth can be increased by pushing for higher economic growth.

Context: Minister for Minority Affairs has decided to organise about 100 'Hunar Haat' in the next five years across the country to provide employment to lakhs of craftsmen.

• Hunar Haat is being organised across the country by the Ministry of Minority Affairs under a mission to provide a platform to master artisans and craftsmen to display as well sell their products.


• More than 2 lakh 50 thousand master artisans, craftsmen, and culinary experts have been provided employment opportunities in the last 3 years under the Hunar Haat program.


• The next Hunar Haat will be organised at North Central Zone Cultural Centre in Prayagraj from 1st to 10th of November 2019. All Hunar Haat, to be organised this year and next year will be based on the theme of 'Ek Bharat Shresth Bharat'.

Context: The Delhi High Court has said that giving judgment on the policy framework of an organisation and directing change of policies are not envisaged under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

• The observation came as the court set aside a Central Information Commission (CIC) direction to the Centre to revise the present policy for selection of meritorious students under the 'Bal Shree scheme'.


• The Court quashed the CIC's November 2018 order to the Human Resource Development Ministry as the directions were clearly beyond the statutory framework and powers of the CIC.


• The CIC order had come on an RTI applicant's plea to the National Bal Bhawan, seeking details regarding the age limit for Bal Bhawan membership and whether it was necessary for being eligible for a 'Bal Shree award'.


• The Ministry filed an appeal, contending that the CIC order was bad in law as the direction is given was beyond the scope, purview, and ambit of the RTI Act.

Context: Researchers from the University of Bristol in partnership with Telecomm ParisTech and the Sorbonne University in France have developed a skin-on interface that mimics the appearance of human skin and its ability to sense.

• The interface is made up of layers of silicone membrane. It is, therefore, more


• natural than the hard casing of phones, and can detect gestures made by end- users.


• The artificial skin allows the device it is on to “feel” the user’s grasp, including its pressure and location. Therefore, it can detect interactions such as tickling, caressing, twisting and pinching. Significance:


• While artificial skin has been studied in the field of robotics, the aim of those studies was either cosmetic or focussed on safety. This is the first time that the uses of “realistic” artificial skins are being considered for augmenting devices.


• This development could take touch technology to the next level for interactive devices such as phones, wearables and computers.

Context: Furqan Ali, a headmaster of a government primary school in Uttar Pradesh was suspended after his students recited a poem written by Muhammad Iqbal in 1902 titled, “Lab pe aati hai dua”. This happened after a complaint was filed by local Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) workers who alleged that asking students to recite it in a government school is “anti-national”.

• Muhammad Iqbal (1877 – 1938), widely known as Allama Iqbal was a poet- philosopher whose work promoted the philosophy of self-hood and dealt with


• the intellectual and cultural reconstruction of the Islamic world.


• His best known Urdu works are The Call of the Marching Bell, Gabriel's Wing, The Rod of Moses and a part of Gift from Hijaz.


• "Sare Jahan se Accha", formally known as "Tarānah-e-Hindi", is an Urdu language patriotic song for children written by poet Muhammad Iqbal in the ghazal style of Urdu poetry. The poem was published in 1904.

• He is widely regarded as having inspired the Pakistan Movement. He is called the "Spiritual Father of Pakistan."


• In 1930, during the 25th Session of the All-India Muslim League in Allahabad, he delivered his most famous presidential speech known as the Allahabad Address in which he pushed for the creation of a Muslim state in north-west India.


• Iqbal is considered to have given the vision for the creation of Pakistan, whereas Jinnah is considered to be the one who shaped this vision.


• The Pakistan government officially named him "National Poet of Pakistan".

Context: Australia's flag carrier Qantas completed the world’s longest commercial airplane journey from New York to Sydney, researching how the world's longest potential commercial airplane journey of nearly 20 hours would impact pilots, crew and passengers.

• QF7879, a Qantas Airways aircraft flying from New York to Sydney, landed after a historic non-stop test flight that lasted 19 hours and 16 minutes.


• The world’s longest commercial airplane journey had 50 passengers and crew on a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner for the 16,200-kilometre (10,066-mile) journey.


• Qantas has announced three long-haul flights as part of its Project Sunrise that aims to fulfil its goal of running non-stop commercial flights on a regular basis from the east coast of Australia to London and New York.


• A final approval for this project is subject to aircraft economics, regulatory approvals and industrial agreements, for which certainty is expected by December this year.

Context: The Home Ministry has constituted two committees comprising legal luminaries to overhaul the Indian Penal Code (IPC) introduced by the British in 1860.

• The Indian Penal Code (IPC) is the official criminal code of India. It is a comprehensive code intended to cover all substantive aspects of criminal law.


• The code was drafted in 1860 on the recommendations of the first law commission of India established in 1834 under the Charter Act of 1833 under the Chairmanship of Lord Macaulay. It was passed into law in 1860. The Code came into operation in 1862.

• Rebooting the code introduced by the British in 1860 was necessary as it is primarily based on the spirit of “master and servant”.


• After it was framed, the IPC has never been amended in totality. Some additions and deletions have been made.


• There are uneven punishment for crimes of grievous nature. E.g. snatching of chains could be life-threatening in some cases but the punishment is not commensurate with the gravity of the crime. Depending on the whims of the police, it is booked under robbery or theft.

Context: Veterinarians have confirmed anthrax as the cause of death of two Asiatic water buffaloes in central Assam’s Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary.

• Anthrax is a serious infectious disease caused by gram-positive, rod-shaped bacteria known as Bacillus anthracis which can be found naturally in soil.


• It can occur in four forms: skin, lungs, intestinal, and injection.


• It is characterised by blisters around swellings on the skin, chest pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, and fever.


• It commonly affects domestic and wild animals around the world. Cattle, sheep, goats, antelope, and deer can become infected when they breathe in or ingest spores in contaminated soil, plants, or water.


• People can get sick with anthrax if they come in contact with infected animals or contaminated animal products. Contact with anthrax can cause severe illness in both humans and animals.


• Anthrax is not contagious, which means you can’t catch it like the cold or flu.

Context: The Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) of the Environment Ministry has clarified that the States need not take the Centre’s approval to define what constitutes unclassified land as forest.

• The Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) of the Environment Ministry is a statutory body.


• The advisory body considers questions on the diversion of forest land for non- forest uses such as mining, industrial projects, townships and advises the


• the government on the issue of granting forest clearances.


• it comprises official members in the Centre’s forestry division and independent experts, who are the non-official members.

• States, having well-established forest departments, are in a better position, rather than Union Environment Ministry, to understand their own forests and needs, and should frame criteria for their forests; criteria so finalized by a State need not be subject to approval by Union Environment Ministry.


• The freedom to define the land, not already classified as forests by the Centre or State records, as forest has been the prerogative of the States since 1996 and stems from a Supreme Court order.

• The 1996 Supreme Court judgment expanded the definition of the forest to include lands that were already notified by the Centre as forests, that appear in government records as forests as well as those that fell in the “dictionary definition” of forest.


• The latter clause allows the States to evolve their own criteria and define tracts of land as forest, and these would then be bound by forest conservation laws.


• An all-encompassing definition of the forest wasn’t possible for India because the country has 16 different kinds of forest. A tract of grassland in one State might qualify in one region as forest, but not in another.

Context: A new book titled 'The Number of the Heavens' written by science journalist Tom Siegfried explores how the concept of the multiverse has evolved.

• The multiverse is a scientific concept under which some scientists believe that our universe may indeed be just one of many.


• A multiverse is a hypothetical group of multiple universes. Together, these universes comprise everything that exists: the entirety of space, time, matter, energy, and the physical laws and constants that describe them.


• The multiverse is also known as a maniverse, metaverse, metaverse, omniverse, or meta-universe. The different universes within the multiverse are called "parallel universes", "other universes", "alternate universes", or "alter verses".


• Prominent physicists are divided about whether any other universes exist outside of our own. Stephen Hawking was one of the proponents of the multiverse hypotheses.

Context: Recently released documents from Tasmania’s Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment show that thylacine, which is said to have gone extinct over 80 years ago, has been spotted across Tasmania 8 times during 2016 -2019.

• The thylacine, now extinct, is one of the largest known carnivorous marsupials, evolving about 4 million years ago.


• The thylacine is commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger because of its striped lower back, or the Tasmanian wolf because of its canid-like characteristics.


• The last known thylacine died in captivity over 80 years ago, in Tasmania’s Hobart Zoo in 1936.


• It was native to Tasmania, New Guinea, and the Australian mainland.


• The thylacine appeared like a medium-to-large-size dog, except for its stiff tail and abdominal pouch similar to a kangaroo, and dark transverse stripes that radiated from the top of its back, reminiscent of a tiger.

Context: Two groups of the Kuki militants; the Kuki National Organisation (KNO) and the United People’s Front (UPF) have sought the intervention of PM Modi to subdue the rising tension between the Kukis and the Nagas in Manipur.

• Tensions between the two (Nagas and Kukis) are not new. It is believed that Kukis came to Manipur in the late 18th/early 19th century from neighboring Myanmar. While some of the Kukis settled next to the Myanmar border, others settled in Naga villages, which ultimately became a contentious issue between the two tribes.


• The latest trigger is a decision by the Manipur government to take down stone memorials installed by the Kukis to mark the centenary of the Anglo-Kuki War.


• October 17 marked the culmination of a three-year observation of a centenary since the “Anglo-Kuki War” (1917-1919) in Kangpokpi district of Manipur. The Anglo-Kuki War began when the Britishers asked the Kukis to get enrolled in their labour corps in France and the latter resisted.


• The Naga bodies objected to the Kukis installing stone memorials to commemorate the war on the Naga’s ancestral land. The Nagas claimed that the Kukis have been trying to distort history as there has been no “Anglo-Kuki War” but a “Kuki Rebellion” in 1917.

• The Kukis constitute one of several hill tribes within India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. In Northeast India, they are present in all states except Arunachal Pradesh.


• Some fifty tribes of Kuki peoples in India are recognised as scheduled tribes.


• The first resistance to British hegemony by the Kuki people was the Kuki Rebellion of 1917-19 after which their territory was subjugated by the British and divided between the administrations of British India and British Burma. Up until their defeat in 1919, the Kukis had been an independent people ruled by their chieftains.


• The majority of Kukis are Christians. Traditionally, the Kukis were animists.

Context: Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) has conducted the second edition of Defence of Andaman & Nicobar Islands 2019 (DANX-19), a large scale joint services exercise from 14 Oct to 18 Oct 19.

• Spanning over a period of five days, components of the Indian Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard carried out mobilization and field maneuvers to validate defensive plans of Headquarters ANC towards ensuring the territorial integrity of the A& N Islands.


• In addition to internal forces from ANC, accretional forces from Mainland comprising ships and aircraft, Special Forces from the newly formed Armed Forces Special Operations Division (AFSOD), also participated in this edition.

Context: The Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) released the National Milk Sample Safety Quality Survey.

• Aflatoxin M1 is a chemical compound of the aflatoxin class, a group of mycotoxins produced by three species of Aspergillus - Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus parasiticus, and the rare Aspergillus nomius - which contaminate plant and plant products.


• Aflatoxin-M1 comes in the milk through feed and fodder that are currently not regulated in the country. There is no proper lab to test this residue in the country.


• In large doses, aflatoxins can be life threatening, usually through damage to liver.


• Problem of Aflatoxin-M1 is more dominant in processed milk than raw milk. Tamil Nadu, Delhi, and Kerala were the top three States where Aflatoxin residue was found the most.

• Milk samples from Telangana, followed by Madhya Pradesh and Kerala, showed the highest number of cases of adulteration.


• In terms of safety parameters, 4% of the total processed milk samples (of 2,607) failed to comply with the FSSAI norm as contaminants like aflatoxin M1 were found. In the case of raw milk, non-compliance was at an even higher rate of 47% of the total samples of 3,825.


• In terms of quality, 7% of the total sample of processed milk did not comply with quality parameters because the presence of contaminants such as fats, Maltodextrin, and sugar was above permissible limits.

Context: NITI Aayog with Institute for Competitiveness as the knowledge partner released the India Innovation Index (III) 2019.

• There seems to be a west-south and north-east divide across the country. The top ten major states are majorly concentrated in southern and western India.


• Karnataka is the most innovative major state in India. Karnataka’s number one position in the overall ranking is partly attributed to its top rank in the Performance dimension.


• Among the major states, Maharashtra performs the best in the dimension of Enablers.


• Sikkim and Delhi take the top spots among the north- eastern & hill states, and union territories/city states/small states respectively.


• Delhi, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh are the most efficient states in translating inputs into output.

• The study examines the innovation ecosystem of Indian states and union territories.


• The aim is to create a holistic tool which can be used by policymakers across the country to identify the challenges to be addressed and strengths to build on when designing the economic growth policies for their regions.


• The states have been bifurcated into three categories: Major States, North-East & Hill states, and Union territories/City States/Small States.


• The Index is calculated as the average of the scores of its two dimensions - Enablers and Performance.


• The Enablers are the factors that underpin innovative capacities, grouped in five pillars:


1. Human Capital


2. Investment


3. Knowledge Workers


4. Business Environment


5. Safety and Legal Environment.


• The Performance dimension captures benefits that a nation derives from the inputs, divided in two pillars:


1. Knowledge Output


2. Knowledge Diffusion.

Context: Union Minister of Tribal Affair announced the second phase of Going Online as Leaders (GOAL).

• Going Online as Leaders (GOAL) is a Facebook program in association with Union Ministry of Tribal Affair.


• It was launched in March 2019.


• It aims at inspiring, guiding and encouraging tribal girls from across India to become village-level digital young leaders for their communities.


• GOAL connects underprivileged young tribal women with senior expert mentors in the areas of business, fashion and arts to learn digital and life skills.


• In the second phase, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and Facebook together will digitally mentor 5000 young women in India’s tribal-dominated districts. The program will include weekly one-to-one mentoring sessions, focused on digital literacy, entrepreneurship and online safety.

Context: According to WIPO’s annual World Intellectual Property Indicators (WIPI) report, China accounted for nearly half global patent filings in 2018.

• WIPO is a specialized agency of the United Nations.


• It is the global forum for intellectual property policy, services, information, and cooperation. WIPO assists its 192 member states in developing a balanced international IP legal framework to meet society's evolving needs.

• In all, innovators worldwide filed 3.3 million patent applications (up 5.2% for a ninth straight yearly increase), 3 million trademark applications, and 1.3 million industrial design applications.


• Asia has become a global hub for innovation. Asia accounted for more than two-thirds of all patent, trademark and industrial design applications in 2018.


• China ranked first in all three categories and had as many patent filings as the next 10 places combined, including Japan (3rd), South Korea (4th) and the European Patent Office (5th).


• China accounted for nearly half of global patent filings last year, with a record 1.54 million applications, led by telecoms and computer technology. The number of patents filed by China increased by 11.6 % in 2018 from 2017.


• The US ranked second with almost 600,000 patent applications, down 1.6 percent on the previous year and the first drop in a decade.

Context: On the occasion of World Food Day, Union Health Minister launched Food Safety Mitra Scheme, Eat Right Jacket and Eat Right Jhola.

• Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has introduced scheme of Food Safety Mitra (FSM) through which it plans to engage motivated individuals with the food safety ecosystem at ground level.


• A FSM is an individual professional certified by FSSAI who assists in compliances related to FSS Act, Rules & Regulations with three avatar digital Mitra, Trainer Mitra and Hygiene Mitra depending upon their respective roles and responsibilities.

• During the event, the Minister also launched Eat Right Jhola which is a reusable, washable and bio-degradable bag.

• Eat Right Smart Jacket has been introduced to giving an identity to Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) staff to ensure transparent inspection.


• It's embedded with an RFID tag and QR code. It is linked to software to capture entry of inspection staff into premise for monitoring.

Context: Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying has released the 20th Livestock Census report.

• The Livestock Census has been conducted in the country periodically since 1919-20. The Livestock Census covers all domesticated animals and its headcounts.


• The 20th Livestock Census was conducted in participation with all States and Union Territories. The enumeration was done both in rural and urban areas.


• Various species of animals (Cattle, Buffalo, Mithun, Yak, Sheep, Goat, Pig, Horse, Pony, Mule, Donkey Camel, Dog, Rabbit and Elephant)/poultry birds (Fowl, Duck, Emu, Turkeys, Quail and other poultry birds) possessed by the households, household enterprises/non-household enterprises and institutions have been counted at their site.

• The total Livestock population is 535.78 million in the country showing an increase of 4.6% over Livestock Census-2012


• Total Bovine population (Cattle, Buffalo, Mithun, and Yak) is 302.79 Million in 2019 which shows an increase of about 1% over the previous census.


• The total number of cattle in the country in 2019 is 192.49 million showing an increase of 0.8 % over previous Census.


• The Female Cattle (Cows population) is 145.12 million, increased by 18.0% over the previous census (2012).


• The total buffaloes in the country is 109.85 million showing an increase of about 1.0% over previous Census.


• The Indigenous/Non-descript female cattle population has increased by 10% in 2019 as compared to previous census. The population of the total Exotic/Crossbred Cattle has increased by 26.9 % in 2019 as compared to previous census.


• The total milch animals (in-milk and dry) in cows and buffaloes is 125.34 million, an increase of 6.0 % over the previous census.


• The total sheep in the country is 74.26 million in 2019, increased by 14.1% over previous Census.


• The Goat population in the country in 2019 is 148.88 million showing an increase of 10.1% over the previous census.


• The total Pigs in the country is 9.06 Million in the current Census, declined by 12.03% over the previous Census.


• The other livestock including Mithun, yak, horses, ponies, mule, donkeys, camel together contribute around 0.23% of the total livestock and their total count is 1.24 million.


• The total poultry in the country is 851.81 million in 2019, registered an increase of 16.8% in the total poultry.


• The backyard poultry has increased by around 46% as compared to the previous Census. The total birds in the backyard poultry in the country are 317.07 million.


• The total Commercial Poultry in the country is 534.74 million in 2019, increased by 4.5% over previous Census.

Context: The latest Global Hunger Index (GHI) has ranked India a lowly 102 among the 117 countries it has mapped.

• On the whole, the number of hungry people has risen from 785 million in 2015 to 822 million. Multiple countries have higher hunger levels now than in 2010.


• In 2019, India is ranked 102 among the 117 countries it has mapped. In 2018, India was pegged at 103 but last year 119 countries were mapped.


• With an overall score of 30.3, India falls in the “serious” category.


• India has the highest percentage of children who suffer from acute undernutrition. On other parameters, where India has improved, the pace has been relatively slow.


• Among the BRICS grouping, India is ranked the worst, with China at 25 and a score of just 6.5.


• Within South Asia, too, India is behind every other country. Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan (in that order) are all ahead of India.

• The GHI has been brought out almost every year by Welthungerhilfe (lately in partnerships with Concern Worldwide) since 2000; this year’s report is the 14th one.

• Undernourishment (which reflects inadequate food availability);


• Child Wasting (which reflects acute undernutrition);


• Child Stunting (which reflects chronic undernutrition);


• Child Mortality (which reflects both inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environment).


• Each country’s data are standardised on a 100-point scale and a final score is calculated after giving 33.33% weight each to components 1 and 4, and giving 16.66% weight each to components 2 and 3.


• Countries scoring less than or equal to 9.9 are slotted in the “low” category of hunger, while those scoring between 20 and 34.9 are in the “serious” category and those scoring above 50 are in the “extremely alarming” category.

Context: At the London Zoo, a fern has started taking its own selfies. The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) achieved this feat by installing microbial fuel cells in Pete, a maidenhair fern, with the ultimate aim of using plants to power camera traps and sensors in the wild.

• Microbial fuel cells are devices that use bacteria as the catalysts to oxidize organic and inorganic matter and generate current. Electrons produced by the bacteria are transferred to the negative terminal and flow to the positive terminal.


• Plants naturally deposit biomatter as they grow, which in turn feeds the natural bacteria present in the soil, creating energy that can be harnessed by fuel cells and used to power a wide range of vital conservation tools remotely, including sensors, monitoring platforms and camera traps.


• Among conventional power sources, batteries must be replaced while solar panels rely on a source of sunlight. On the other hand, plants can survive in the shade, naturally moving into position to maximize the potential of absorbing sunlight.

Context: In 2019, India and the Netherlands will commemorate Rembrandt’s 350th death anniversary with a showcase that will celebrate the two countries’ culture and heritage. The art on display will feature some of Rembrandt’s original works.

• Rembrandt was interested in Mughal miniatures, especially around the 1650s.


• He made 25 drawings based on Mughal miniatures from India from 1656 to 1661, at the height of his career. This is in spite of the fact that the Dutch artist never set foot on Indian soil.


• These miniatures include paintings of Shah Jahan, Akbar, Jahangir and Dara Shikoh.


• They may also have influenced the costumes and other aspects of his works.

• Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606 – 1669) was a Dutch draughtsman, painter and printmaker. he is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in the history of art and the most important in Dutch art history.


• The Night Watch is a 1642 painting by Rembrandt van Rijn. It is one of the most famous Dutch Golden Age paintings.


• Rembrandt's foremost contribution to the history of printmaking was his transformation of the etching process from a relatively new reproductive technique into a true art form. He is regarded as the greatest etcher in the history of the medium.

Context: Kurdish fighters in northern Syria have served as a crucial U.S. ally in the fight against the Islamic State. But U.S. troops stepped aside last week as Turkey launched an offensive against the U.S.-backed Kurdish forces. Kurdish forces have described the U.S. departure as “a stab in the back.”

• The Kurds are members of a large, predominantly Muslim ethnic group.


• They live in the highlands of southern and eastern Turkey, northern Iraq, northeastern Syria, northwestern Iran, and parts of south Armenia, and are a minority in each of these countries.


• They have their own cultural and linguistic traditions, and most speak one of two major dialects of the Kurdish language.


• There are an estimated 25 million to 35 million of them.


• After World War I, Western powers promised Kurds their own homeland in the agreement known as the Treaty of Sèvres. But a later agreement instead divided them among Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran.


• Today, there are about 30 million Kurds living across the region, with about half of them in Turkey. Iraq is the only country in the region to have established an autonomous Kurdish region, known as Iraqi Kurdistan. Its parliament was founded in 1992.


• Over the decades, the Kurds made repeated attempts at establishing a de facto Kurdistan with defined national borders — and in the process attracted massive Turkish repression, including bans on the Kurdish language, names, songs, and dress.

Context: According to the National Blindness and Visual Impairment Survey of India (2015-19), Cataract is the principal cause of blindness for people above 50 years in India.

• The survey was conducted by Dr. Rajendra Prasad Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, for Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.


• It was conducted in 31 districts of 24 States.

• Cataract is the principal cause of blindness for people above 50 years in India.


• Cataract is the cause for 66.2% cases of blindness, 80.7% of cases of severe visual impairment, and 70.2% cases of moderate visual impairment in the age group.


• Blindness is more pronounced among illiterate (3.23%) than literates (0.43%) and more prevalent in the rural population (2.14%) than urban (1.80%).


• Approximately 93% of cases of blindness and 96.2% visual impairment cases in this age group were avoidable.


• Barriers to accessing treatment includes no one to accompany [the patient], seasonal preferences, and financial constraints.


• Among men, the most important barriers are financial constraints (31%) and local reasons (21.5%).


• Among women, local reasons (23.1%) and financial constraints (21.2%) were the most important barriers.

Context: The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, graced and addressed the birth centenary celebrations of Maharaja Jayachamaraja Wadiyar of Mysore in Mysuru.

• Maharaja Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar (1919 – 1974), was the 25th maharaja of the Kingdom of Mysore from 1940 to 1971, ruling from 1940 until the monarchy was abolished in 1950 and continuing to hold the title of maharaja until princely titles were abolished in 1971.


• He was a noted philosopher, musicologist, political thinker, and philanthropist.


• As the ruler of the Mysore state, he actively encouraged the establishment of an industrial facility in Bengaluru by a company called Hindustan Aircraft in 1940 which become Hindustan Aeronautics.


• His donations helped the government set up the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) in Mysore, the National Tuberculosis Institute in Bangalore and the All India Institute of Speech and Hearing at Mysore.


• He was the first president of the Philharmonia Concert Society, London in 1948.


• He was the Fellow and president of Sangeet Natak Academy, New Delhi, 1966.


• He was the First Chairman of the Indian Wild Life Board.


• He was the Founder-president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.

Context: Union Minister of Consumer Affairs inaugurated the celebrations of ‘World Standard Day’ by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) on the theme “Video Standards create a global stage” in New Delhi.

• World Standards Day (or International Standards Day) is an international day celebrated internationally each year on 14 October.


• The date marks the day in the year 1946 when delegates from 25 countries gathered in London for the first time and decided to create an international organization focused on facilitating standardization.


• While ISO was formed one year later, the first World Standards Day was celebrated in the 1970s.


• The day honours the efforts of the thousands of experts who develop voluntary standards within standards development organizations such as the ASME, IEC, ISO, ITU, IEEE and IETF.


• The aim of World Standards Day is to raise awareness among regulators, industry and consumers as to the importance of standardization to the global economy.

Context: According to the data for the “Quick Estimates of Index of Industrial Production” released by the Ministry of Statistics, India’s industrial sector production contracted by 1.1 per cent in August when compared to the production in the same month in 2018.

• Broad sectors: The first is to look at sectoral performance. In this the whole industrial economy is divided into three sectors; manufacturing (with a weight of 77.63 % in the index), mining (14.37 %) and electricity (7.99 %).


• Use-based sectors: The second way is to look at the way such industrial products are used, namely Basic Goods, Capital Goods and Intermediate Goods.

• The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) is an index which shows the growth rates in different industry groups of the economy in a stipulated period of time.


• The IIP index is computed and published by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) on a monthly basis.


• Currently, IIP figures are calculated considering 2011-12 as the base year. Besides the new base year, different sectors have been amended based on National Industrial Classification (NIC), 2008.

• The un-organised sector was included in the existing series


• Mining sector basket now comprises of 29 minerals as opposed to 61 minerals in the old series.


• Under the ‘Electricity’ sector, electricity generation from renewable energy sources has been included.

Context: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said the stick-like object he was holding in his hand while plogging on the Mamallapuram coastal beach in Tamil Nadu was an acupressure roller. Mr Modi said that he often uses it as it is very helpful.

• Acupressure is a kind of touch therapy. It uses the same concept as acupuncture, which targets the pressure points. But acupressure treatment is used through fingers. It helps in relieving pain, increases blood circulation among other benefits.


• Acupuncture and acupressure use the same points, while acupressure uses the gentle but firm pressure of hands or any blunted objects, but acupuncture employs needles.


• Other than fingers, there are different tools that are used for acupressure. There are acupressure wristbands and bracelets available that are accompanied by a button. it helps with nausea and motion sickness.


• There are also hand rollers and foot rollers that are known to provide instant relief.

Context: The annual Ganges river dolphin census began in Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh.

• Ganges river dolphin is among the four ‘obligate’ freshwater dolphins in the world. Its presence indicates the health of the riverine ecosystem.


• The animal is known to make strange sounds when it breathes, earning it the sobriquet 'Susu'. Being a mammal, it has to come to the surface to breathe.


• It is also called a blind dolphin because it doesn’t have a crystalline eye lens and uses echolocation to navigate and hunt.

• The annual Gange's river dolphin census is undertaken by World Wide Fund for Nature-India in collaboration with the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department.


• It will be conducted along a 250-km-long riverine stretch of Upper Ganga between Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary and Narora Ramsar site.


• This year the upstream of Bijnor Ganga barrage up to Balawali has also been included. It has added around 30 km to the area being covered by the census which will conclude on October 15.

• Unlike previous years, when direct counting method was used, this year the tandem boat survey method is being used.


• Here the officials use two inflated boats which move in tandem to count the dolphins. After collating the data, statistical tools are employed to arrive at the final count. In this process, we don’t announce the number of sightings on a daily basis.


• The method, developed by the renowned river and marine ecologist Gill Braulik, provides a more accurate count of the endangered species. The new method is likely to yield a more accurate count of the endangered species

Context: Chinese President Xi Jinping covered the 57-km journey to Mamallapuram from Chennai by road, travelling in a specially flown in Hongqi limousine, instead of helicopter.

• The Hongqi is a luxury Chinese car used by leaders of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) from the time of its founder Mao Zedong.


• In Chinese, hongqi means the red flag.


• A symbol of “Made in China”, Hongqi’s history dates back to 1958, when the state-owned First Automotive Works (FAW) launched it for the Communist Party of China (CPC) elite.


• Xi had introduced the practice of using the Hongqi, similar to the U.S. President traveling in a specialised Cadillac vehicle named ‘The Beast’.


• The move was seen as an attempt to promote the Chinese brand on the international stage, in line with Xi’s own 2012 directive to Communist Party cadre that they must eschew foreign wheels in favour of Chinese vehicles.

Context: Kadri Gopalnath, the famous saxophone player passed away in Mangaluru, Karnataka. He was 69.

• Kadri Gopalnath (1949 – 2019), also known as Saxophone Chakravarthy, was an Indian saxophonist and one of the pioneers of Carnatic music on the saxophone.


• He was awarded the Padma Shri in 2004. he was presented with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Carnatic Music - Instrumental (Saxophone), by President Abdul Kalam, in 2004.


• He had the distinction of being the first Carnatic musician to be invited in the BBC Promenade concert in the Royal Albert Hall at London in 1994.

Context: Joint Military Exercise DHARMA GUARDIAN-2019 between India and Japan will be conducted at Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School, Vairengte (Mizoram) from 19 October 2019 to 02 November 2019.

• Exercise DHARMA GUARDIAN is an annual training event which is being conducted in India since 2018.


• The scope of this exercise covers platoon level joint training on counter-terrorism operations in the jungle and urban scenario.


• Indian Army and Japanese Ground Self Defence Forces (JGSDF) comprising 25 soldiers each will participate in the exercise with an aim to share experience gained during various Counter-Terrorism Operations in respective Countries.

Context: The World Health Organization (WHO) released its first World Vision Report, proposing ways to address challenges such as integrating eye care into healthcare systems.

• Globally, over 2.2 billion people have a vision impairment. Out of these 2.2 billion, 1 billion people are suffering from conditions that are preventable, or unaddressed.


• A majority of the cases among these 1 billion cases are of unaddressed presbyopia, at 826 million. This is followed by unaddressed refractive error, at over 120 million.


• Rural communities, low-income countries and older people bear the brunt of these impairments. For instance, the age-specific prevalence of presenting distance vision impairment in an urban population of Delhi was one-third lower than that of a rural population in Northern India (28%).


• Surgeries for cataract, which is the leading cause of blindness globally, have shown improvements over time, in low middle-income countries.


• In India the rate of cataract surgery has increased nine-fold between 1981 and 2012. This has been possible due to the National Programme for Control of Blindness, which was launched in 1976 and under which cataract surgeries were performed on 6.5 million people in 2016-2017.

Context: Google Doodle celebrated the 155th birth anniversary of women’s rights activist Kamini Roy.

• Kamini Roy (1864 – 1933) was a leading Bengali poet, social worker and feminist in British India.


• She was the first woman honours graduate in British India.


• She published her first collection of verses Alo Chhaya in 1889, and two more books after that. She was president of the Bengali Literary Conference in 1930.


• In 1921, she was one of the leaders of the Bangiya Nari Samaj, an organization formed to fight for woman's suffrage. The Bengal Legislative Council granted limited suffrage to women in 1925, allowing Bengali women to exercise their right for the first time in the 1926 Indian general election.


• She was a member of the Female Labour Investigation Commission (1922 – 23).

Context: As the RTI Act marks its 14th anniversary, a report card analysing its performance showed that government officials face hardly any punishment for violating the law by denying applicants the legitimate information sought by them.

The failure of the commissions to impose penalties in clearly deserving cases, sends a signal to the PIOs [Public Information Officers] that violating the law will not invite any serious consequences.

• The ‘Report Card on the Performance of Information Commissions in India’ was prepared by the Satark Nagrik Sangathan and the Centre for Equity Studies.


• It analysed information from 22 commissions, which disposed of almost 1.17 lakh cases between January 2018 and March 2019.

• The State and Central Information Commissions, which are the courts of appeal under the Act, failed to impose penalties in about 97% of the cases where violations took place in 2018-19.


• The State Commissions of Tamil Nadu, Sikkim, Mizoram and Tripura did not impose penalties in any cases at all.


• The commissions also have the power to recommend disciplinary action against officials for persistent violations. Only 10 states invoked these powers.


• There were 2.18 lakh cases pending with the commissions in March 2019. As of October 11, 2019, the Central Information Commission alone had over 33,000 pending cases. Any new appeal would have to wait more than one-and-a-half years for resolution. The backlog is exacerbated by the fact that four out of 11 CIC posts are yet to be filled.

Context: Austria’s Peter Handke won the 2019 Nobel Prize for Literature, and the postponed 2018 award went to Polish author Olga Tokarczuk.

• Austria’s Peter Handke won the 2019 prize for “for an influential work that with linguistic ingenuity has explored the periphery and the specificity of human experience,” the Academy said in a statement.


• Polish author Olga Tokarczuk won the 2018 prize – delayed by one year after a sexual assault scandal rocked the award-giving Academy – for “a narrative imagination that with encyclopaedic passion represents the crossing of boundaries as a form of life.”


• Olga Tokarczuk, the 15th woman to win the Nobel Literature Prize, also won the International Booker Prize in 2018.

• The Nobel Prize in Literature is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901.


• It is awarded to an author from any country who has produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction". Nobel's "vague" wording for the criteria for the prize has led to recurrent controversy.


• Though individual works are sometimes cited as being particularly noteworthy, the award is based on an author's body of work as a whole.

Context: Union Minister for Health along with several State Health Ministers launched Surakshit Matritva Aashwasan (SUMAN) initiative for Zero Preventable Maternal and Newborn Deaths.

According to government, India’s maternal mortality rate has declined from 254 per 1,00,000 live births in 2004-06 to 130 in 2014-16. Between 2001 and 2016, the infant mortality rate came down from 66 per 1,000 live births to 34.

• The initiative aims at assuring dignified, respectful and quality health care at no cost and zero tolerance for denial of services for every woman and newborn visiting the public health facility in order to end all preventable maternal and newborn deaths.


• Under it, pregnant women, mothers up to 6 months after delivery, and all sick newborns will be able to avail free healthcare benefits. The government will also provide free transport from home to health institutions.


• The pregnant women will have a zero expense delivery and C-section facility in case of complications at public health facilities

Context: The GST Council has set up a committee of Central and State tax officers to look into a “wide range of reforms” to boost Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue collection.

This development took place ten days after the collection for the month of September was found to dip to ₹91,916 crores, the lowest after February 2018. The Government has set a target of collecting over ₹1 lakh crore every month during the current fiscal.

• Officers from the Centre will include Joint Secretary (Revenue), Principal Commissioner (GST PW), Joint Secretary (Tax Research Unit), Additional Director General (ARM) and Additional Director General (Systems).


• SGST (State Goods & Services Tax) Commissioner from Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Punjab will represent the States. Any other State could also join the committee on a voluntary basis.


• Changes in GST including checks and balances to prevent misuse, measures to improve voluntary compliance, measures for expansion of tax base and anti-evasion measures using better data analytics and better administrative coordination.


• The panel has been asked to submit the report within 15 days.

Context: The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) announced its partnership with Indian Institute of Management (IIM)- Bangalore to launch a new programme 'Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship (MGNF)'.

• Launched by the Government of India in January 2018, SANKALP is a World Bank loan assisted project that aims to strengthen institutional mechanisms for skill development and increase access to quality and market-relevant training for youth across the country.


• Four key result areas have been identified under SANKALP :


• Institutional Strengthening.


• Quality Assurance.


• Inclusion.


• Expanding Skills through PPPs.

• It is aimed to train individuals, who will leverage the IIMB ecosystem in entrepreneurship and public policy and work with the district administration in strengthening the process of skilling to create a vibrant local district economy.


• The two-year Fellowship program will be delivered by IIMB’s Centre of Public Policy (CPP), an independent public interest-oriented policy think-tank engaged in research, teaching, training, and capacity-building.


• The program will be launched on a pilot basis in 75 districts in 6 states including Gujarat, Karnataka, Meghalaya, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.


• Those who have a graduate degree from a recognised university and are citizens of India in the age group of 21-30 years will be eligible to apply for it.


• It has been Designed under Skills Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion (SANKALP).

Context : The 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry are awarded to John B Goodenough of the University of Texas; M Stanley Whittingham of the State University of New York at Binghamton; and Akira Yoshino of Asahi Kasei Corporation and Meijo University in Japan.

At the age of 97, Professor John B Goodenough of the University of Texas is the oldest ever Nobel laureate.

• The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2019 rewards the development of the lithium-ion battery, which "laid the foundation of a wireless, fossil-fuel-free society."


• The lithium-ion battery is a lightweight, rechargeable and powerful battery that is now used in everything from mobile phones to laptops and electric


• vehicles. It can also store significant amounts of energy from solar and wind power, making possible a fossil fuel-free society.


• The foundation of the lithium-ion battery was laid during the oil crisis of the 1970s.


• M Stanley Whittingham discovered an energy-rich material called titanium disulfide, which he used to make a cathode - the positive terminal - in a lithium battery.


• Sony released the first commercial lithium-ion batteries in 1991, based on Yoshino's configuration.

Context : Union Minister for Health, Dr Harsh Vardhan launched ‘The WHO India Country Cooperation Strategy 2019– 2023: A Time of Transition’.

• The Country Cooperation Strategy (CCS) provides a strategic roadmap for WHO to work with the Government of India towards achieving its health sector goals. The CCS outlines how WHO can support the Ministry of Health and other allied Ministries to drive impact at the country level.


• WHO's support to the government will fall under four strategic priorities:


• accelerating progress on universal health coverage.


• promoting health and wellness.


• protecting the population against health emergencies.


• enhancing India's global leadership in health.


• The India CCS is one of the first that fully aligns itself with the newly adopted WHO 13th General Programme of Work and its 'triple billion' targets, the


• Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and WHO South-East Asia Region’s eight Flagship Priorities.


• It captures the work of the United Nations Sustainable Development Framework for 2018–2022.

Context: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) will collaborate with meteorological agencies in China and Pakistan to provide climate forecast services to countries in the Hindu-Kush-Himalayan (HKH) region.

• Earlier this month, the IMD organised a workshop to discuss ways to establish a regional climate center that will provide forecasting services and climate analyses.


• It will be under the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and take a few years to take shape.


• Alongside forecasting weather over long periods, the regional centres would provide data services, training and capacity-building, research and development.

• The Hindu-Kush-Himalayan (HKH) region spans Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.


• The HKH region is considered the Third Pole [after the North and South Poles] and has significant implications for climate.


• The Third Pole, which contains vast cryospheric zones, is also the world’s largest store of snow and ice outside the polar region, and the source of 10 major rivers, and, therefore, particularly sensitive to climate chang.

Context : Defence Minister Rajnath Singh formally received the first Rafale fighter jet built for the Indian Air Force (IAF) at Production Unit of Dassault Aviation at Mérignac in France. He was handed over the first Indian aircraft, RB-001, by Dassault Aviation CEO Eric Trappier.

• In September 2016, India and France signed a €7.87 billion Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) for 36 Rafale multi-role fighter jets in fly-away condition following the surprise announcement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 2015.


• The first batch of the jets will arrive in India only in May 2020. By February 2021, India will receive 18 Rafale jets and by April 2022, India will get all the 36 Rafale.


• Till May 2020, three batches of IAF pilots, engineers and technicians will undergo advanced training on the Indian jets in France. So far, three IAF pilots and two technical officers have trained on French Air Force Rafale jets, as per the terms of the contract.

• The Dassault Rafale is a French twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter aircraft designed and built by Dassault Aviation. Equipped with a wide range of weapons, the Rafale is intended to perform in-depth strike, anti-ship strike and nuclear deterrence missions.


• Introduced in 2001, the Rafale is being produced by the French Air Force and has been selected for purchase by the Indian Air Force, the Egyptian Air Force, and the Qatar Air Force.


• The Rafale has been used in combat over Afghanistan, Libya, Mali, Iraq and Syria.

Context : Three scientists, James Peebles, Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz have won the Nobel Prize 2019 for Physics for their contribution to the understanding of the evolution of the universe and earth's place in the cosmos.

• Canadian-American cosmologist James Peebles, 84, won one-half of the Prize for his theoretical work helping us understand how the universe evolved after the Big Bang.


• His work is focused largely on Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation, which is electromagnetic radiation left over from the early universe once it had cooled sufficiently following the Big Bang.

• The other half went to Swiss astronomers Michel Mayor, 77, and Didier Queloz, 53, for their discovery of an exoplanet that challenged preconceived ideas about planets.


• Using a spectrograph, ELODIE, they predicted the planet by observing the “Doppler effect” — when the star wobbles as an effect of a planet’s gravity on its observed light.


• Today, exoplanets are being discovered very frequently — over 4,000 are known — which is remarkable progress from three decades ago, when not even one exoplanet was known.

Context: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman inaugurated National e-Assessment Centre (NeAC) in New Delhi.

Context : Vishnu Nandan, a 32-year-old polar researcher from Kerala, will be the only Indian among 300 scientists from across the world aboard the multidisciplinary drifting observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) expedition.

• Under it, the German research vessel Polarstern has been anchored on a large sheet of sea ice in the Central Arctic. They will allow the water to freeze around them, effectively trapping themselves in the vast sheet of white that forms over the North Pole each winter.


• They will build temporary winter research camps on the ice, allowing them to perform tests that wouldn’t be possible at other times of the year or by satellite sensing.

• The MOSAiC mission stands for Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate.


• Objective is to study the impact of climate change on the Arctic and how it could affect the rest of the world.


• MOSAiC, the largest ever Arctic expedition in history, will be the first to conduct a study of this scale at the North Pole for an entire year. Previous studies have been of shorter periods as the thicker sea ice sheets prevent access in winter.

• Spearheaded by the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany, scientists from 17 nations will take part in the year-long mission.


• The mission has received funding from U.S. institutions such as the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and NASA.


• Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) labs have been successful in developing various environment-friendly fireworks such as sound-emitting crackers, flowerpots, pencils, chakkar and sparklers.


• The emissions testing facilities for the new fire crackers have been set up at CSIR-NEERI.


• Further, a Raw Materials Compositional Analysis (RACE) facility has been launched in Sivakasi to facilitate manufacturers for testing their raw materials and chemicals.

Context : The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) tweeted that an instrument on Chandrayaan-2, CLASS, designed to detect signatures of elements in the Moon’s soil, had detected charged particles during the mission. This happened in September, during the orbiter’s passage through the “geotail”.

• The Sun emits the solar wind, which is a continuous stream of charged particles. These particles are embedded in the extended magnetic field of the Sun.


• Since the Earth has a magnetic field, it obstructs the solar wind plasma. This interaction results in the formation of a magnetic envelope around Earth.


• On the Earth side facing the Sun, the envelope is compressed into a region that is approximately three to four times the Earth radius.


• On the opposite side, the envelope is stretched into a long tail, which extends beyond the orbit of the Moon. It is this tail that is called the geotail.

• The geotail is a region in space that allows the best observations. The region exists as a result of the interactions between the Sun and Earth.


• Once every 29 days, the Moon traverses the geotail for about six days. When Chandrayaan-2, which is orbiting the Moon, crosses the geotail, its instruments can study the properties of the geotail.

Context: According to recent reports, India’s planned defence procurement from Russia could get adversely affected due to implementation of Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).

• First, India’s planned procurement from Russia, particularly the S-400 air defence system, Project 1135.6 frigates, and Ka226T helicopters, will come under the immediate scanner of US authorities (as they are mandated to deter exports of key Russian defence entities)


• Second, CAATSA is likely to affect all the joint ventures (JVs) – existing or planned — between Indian and Russian defence companies. Existing JVs that may come under the scanner are: Multi-Role Transport Aircraft Ltd and Brahmos Aerospace.


• Third, it will also affect India’s purchase of spare parts, components and raw materials for which India is dependent on Russia for maintenance of existing equipment and domestic licence manufacturing.

• CAATSA is a United States federal law, that was enacted on August 2017 with the objective of countering the aggression by Iran, Russia and North Korea through punitive measures (e.g. imposing sanctions)


• Section 231 of the Act empowers the US President to impose sanction on persons engaged in a “significant transaction” with Russian defence and intelligence sectors. Two of the most stringent of these sanctions are:


• Suspending export licences related to munitions, dual-use and nuclear related items.


• Ban on American investment in equity/debt of the sanctioned person.


• Under Section 231, the Department of State has notified almost all of the major Russian companies (such as Rosoboronexport, Sukhoi Aviation, MiG), dealings with which could make third parties liable to sanctions if it adversely affects US national security and foreign policy interests.

Context : In a bid to resolve the crisis of air pollution, the Government of India launched green firecrackers.

• In October, 2018, the Supreme Court pronounced its verdict on firecrackers ban. The court said that only green crackers would be allowed for sale.


• What the Supreme Court essentially means is that a low-polluting firecracker within the permitted decibel and emission norms is a green cracker.

• Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) labs have been successful in developing various environment-friendly fireworks such as sound-emitting crackers, flowerpots, pencils, chakkar and sparklers.


• The emissions testing facilities for the new fire crackers have been set up at CSIR-NEERI.


• Further, a Raw Materials Compositional Analysis (RACE) facility has been launched in Sivakasi to facilitate manufacturers for testing their raw materials and chemicals.

Context : Mumbai Police has imposed section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code in Aarey Colony banning unlawful assembly, following strong protests by activists against the felling of trees in the green zone for a Metro car shed.

• The Aarey Colony (also Aarey Milk Colony) is a neighbourhood situated in Goregaon (East), a suburb of the city of Mumbai. It was established in 1949 to revolutionize the processing and marketing of dairy products in the city.


• The clearing of forest land for the construction of a Metro car shed and Maharashtra Motor Vehicle Department's decision to establish a Regional Transport Office in Aarey are major concerns for environmentalists.

• Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) of 1973 generally prohibits public gathering.


• It authorises the Executive Magistrate of any state or territory to issue an order to prohibit the assembly of four or more people in an area. According to the law, every member of such 'unlawful assembly' can be booked for engaging in rioting.


• Section 144 is imposed in urgent cases of nuisance or apprehended danger of some event that has the potential to cause trouble or damage to human life or property.


• Section 144 also restricts carrying any sort of weapon in that area where it has been imposed and people can be detained for violating it. The maximum punishment for such an act is three years.


• No order under Section 144 shall remain in force for more than two months but the state government can extent the validity for two months and maximum up to six months. It can be withdrawn at any point of time if situation becomes normal.

Context: In a major decision to give a boost to Electric Vehicles in country, Union Minister for Power has approved amendments in Electric Vehicle Charging Guidelines and Specifications.

• At least one Charging Station to be available in a grid of 3 Km x 3 Km in the cities and one Charging Station at every 25 Km on both sides of highways/roads.


• All Mega Cities & expressways connected to these Mega Cities to be taken up for coverage in first phase, other big cities to be taken up in second phase.


• For inter-city travel, Fast Charging Station to be installed at every 100 Kms.


• Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), a statutory body under Ministry of Power has been nominated as the Central Nodal Agency to facilitate installation of Charging Infrastructure.


• These Revised Guidelines and Specifications for charging infrastructure shall supersede the earlier guidelines and standards issued by the Ministry of Power on 14.12.2018.

Context : India’s first e-waste clinic will come up in Madhya Pradesh capital.

• The Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) have joined hands to set up the country’s first e-waste clinic in Bhopal. CPCB will offer technical support.


• The clinic is being conceived in compliance with the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016.


• This would enable segregation, processing and disposal of waste from both household and commercial units.


• Electronic waste will be collected door-to-door or could be deposited directly at the clinic in exchange for a fee. Door-to-door collection will happen in two ways. Either separate carts for the collection of e-waste will be designed, or separate bins will be attached to existing ones meant for solid and wet waste.


• A three-month pilot project, the clinic, if successful, would be replicated elsewhere in the country.

Context : In a move that will enable more borrowers to avail loans from microfinance institutions (MFI), the Reserve Bank of India has decided to raise the lending limit per borrower from ₹1 lakh to ₹1.25 lakh.

• In the wake of the Andhra Pradesh microfinance crisis in 2010, a Sub- Committee of the Central Board of the Reserve Bank (Chairman: Y. H. Malegam) was constituted to study issues in the MFI sector.


• Based on the recommendations of the Committee, it was decided to create a separate category of NBFC, viz., Non-Banking Financial Company-Micro Finance Institution (NBFC-MFI) and a detailed regulatory framework for NBFC-MFIs was put in place in December 2011.


• The income and loan limits to classify an exposure as eligible asset were last revised in 2015.

• Taking into consideration the important role played by MFIs in delivering credit to poor, it is proposed to revise these criteria as under: Increase the household income limit for borrowers of NBFC-MFIs from the current level of ₹ 1.00 lakh for rural areas and ₹ 1.60 lakh for urban/semi-urban areas to ₹ 1.25 lakh and ₹ 2.00 lakh, respectively.


• Raise the lending limit from ₹ 1.00 lakh to ₹ 1.25 lakh per eligible borrower.

Context: Law schools across India launched a collaborative legal aid clinic on for people excluded from the updated National Register Citizens (NRC) in Assam.

• The clinic, named Parichay (Identity) and with headquarters in Guwahati, is envisaged to function as a “clearing house of litigation and research assistance for lawyers filing appeals against exclusion from the NRC”.


• Parichay will assist lawyers in drafting appeals, conduct research on pertinent questions of the law, assist in training lawyers and paralegals, and generate documentation on the functioning of Foreigners’ Tribunals


• The institutes include Assam’s National Law University and Judicial Academy (NLUJA), the Kolkata-based West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Hyderabad’s National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR), Delhi’s National Law University and National Law University of Odisha.


• Other law schools are in the process of formalising their collaboration with Parichay.

Context : Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik launched his government’s new governance initiative ‘Mo Sarkar’ on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti.

• The objective of the ‘Mo Sarkar’ program is to provide service with dignity to people who are coming to government offices for different purposes.


• The phone numbers of people who are coming to government offices will be collected randomly with the purpose to improve the governance system by collecting feedback on behaviour and professionalism of government officers.


• The Chief Minister, Departmental Minister, Director General of Police (in case of police stations) and Departmental Minister, Secretary, and Director (in case of hospitals) will call on random numbers to collect feedback.


• The employees will be ranked as good or bad on the basis of the feedback and those with good rank will get out-of-turn promotion and action will be taken against employees with bad rank.

Context : Since the middle of August, a rare disease has killed five elephants in Odisha. The disease is caused by a virus called Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpesvirus (EEHV).

• Four calves between the ages of six and 10 have died in Nandan Kanan Zoo in Bhubaneswar, followed by the fifth elephant that died in Chandaka forest this week.


• The four deaths in Nandan Kanan Zoo are the first reported cases of EEHV- related deaths in an Indian zoo, state government and Central Zoo Authority


• (CZA) officials said, while the death in the forest too is the first known such case in the wild in India.

• Elephant endotheliotropic herpesviruses (EEHV) is also known as Elephantid betaherpesvirus 1 (ElHV-1).


• EEHVs is a type of herpes virus that can cause a highly fatal haemorrhagic disease in young Asian elephants.


• When EEHV is triggered, the elephant dies of massive internal bleeding and symptoms which are hardly visible. The disease is usually fatal, with a short course of 28-35 hours.


• EEHV is lethal for young elephants between the ages of one and 12. If a young elephant dies before reproducing, it affects the population of the species as a whole in the concerned geography.


• There is no true cure for herpesviruses in animals or in humans, because herpes viruses go latent.

Context: The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) has issued a 15-point directive, including cordoning off ghats and imposing a fine of Rs 50,000, to prevent the immersion of idols in the Ganga or its tributaries during festivals, including Dussehra, Diwali, Chhath and Saraswati Puja.

• The large-scale immersion of idols and puja material in the Ganga and its tributaries during festive occasions, such as Ganesh Chaturthi, Vishwakarma Puja, Durga Puja, Diwali, Chhath Puja and Saraswati Puja, has led to an alarming rise in pollutants.


• In 2017, the National Green Tribunal banned the disposal of any waste in the Ganga.

• The directive has been issued to chief secretaries in 11 Ganga basin states (Uttarakhand, UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Rajasthan).


• The directive have been issued under Section 5 of The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. Key Points of directives:


• Idol immersion into river Ganga and its tributaries and on their banks is being banned.


• The officials were told to strictly implement norms against the immersion of idols and disposal of puja material in the Ganga and its tributaries, and to make suitable


• If any person violates above directions, then Rs 50,000 as environment compensation should be levied, collected and deposited with State Pollution Control Boards.


• Adequate alternative arrangements in an environmental-friendly manner should be made for designated idol-immersion sites within the municipal area or bank of river Ganga and its tributaries by constructing temporary confined ponds.

Context : The new monsoon model, called the Coupled Forecast Model (CFS), deployed by the IMD under the National Monsoon Mission (NMM) has failed to forecast the excess rainfall received during August-September 2019.

• Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Government of India has launched 'National Monsoon Mission' (NMM). MoES has bestowed the responsibility of execution and coordination of this mission to the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune.


• Objective is to build an ocean atmospheric model for – improved prediction of monsoon rainfall on extended range to seasonal time scale (16 days to one season).


• Improved prediction of temperature, rainfall and extreme weather events on short to medium range time scale (up to 15 days).

Context : According to the first-ever national nutrition survey conducted by the Centre, nearly 10% of children in the age group of 5-9 years and adolescents in the age group of 10-19 years are pre-diabetic and 5% are overweight.

• The Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey – the first-ever national nutrition survey conducted by the Centre – was conducted by the Ministry of Health and UNICEF between February 2016 and October 2018.


• It is the first study undertaken to measure malnutrition as well as details of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, cholesterol and kidney function in children and adolescents.

• The study provides for the first time concrete evidence of the coexistence of obesity and undernutrition, among school going children.


• Nearly 10% of children in the age group of 5-9 years and adolescents in the age group of 10-19 years are pre-diabetic, 5% are overweight and another 5% suffer from blood pressure. A quarter of 5-9 and 10-19 year-olds were thin for their age, one in five children 5-9 years’ old were stunted.

Context: Lal Bahadur Shastri, India's second Prime Minister's birth anniversary is being celebrated on October 2, coinciding with Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary.

• Lal Bahadur Shastri (1904 – 1966) was the 2nd Prime Minister of India and a senior leader of the Indian National Congress political party.


• He led many defiant campaigns in the civil disobedience movement and spent a total of seven years in British jails.


• He held several portfolios in the Union Cabinet – Minister for Railways; Minister for Transport and Communications; Minister for Commerce and Industry; Home Minister; and during Nehru’s illness Minister without portfolio.


• He resigned his post as Minister for Railways because he felt responsible for a railway accident in which many lives were lost. The unprecedented gesture was greatly appreciated by Parliament and the country.


• It was during his tenure as the Prime Minister that the posts of Sadar-e- Riyasat and Wazir in J&K were abolished and replaced with the positions of Governor and the Chief Minister.


• In 1965, a plutonium reprocessing plant was started in India. He gave the go-ahead for the production of nuclear explosives, which led to the launch of the Nuclear Explosive Design Group and the Study of Nuclear Explosions for peaceful Purpose (SNEPP).


• The 1964 Shastri-Bandarnaike Agreement played an important role in improving India's strained relations with Sri Lanka due to issues related to the Tamil community in that country.


• He promoted the White Revolution – a national campaign to increase the production and supply of milk – by supporting the Amul milk co-operative of Anand, Gujarat and creating the National Dairy Development Board.


• He led the country during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965. His slogan of "Jai Jawan Jai Kisan" ("Hail the soldier, Hail the farmer") became very popular during the war. The war formally ended with the Tashkent Agreement on 10 January 1966; he died the following day, still in Tashkent.

Context : In a first, IRCTC will compensate passengers of the new Lucknow-Delhi Tejas Express in case of delay in the train schedule. The train will be flagged off on 4th of this month.

• The Tejas Express is India’s first semi-high speed fully air-conditioned train Introduced by Indian Railways.


• The inaugural run of Tejas Express was in 2017 from Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus to Karmali, Goa.


• in March 2019, second Tejas Express of the country was flagged off between Chennai Egmore and Madurai Junction by PM Narendra Modi.


• The new Tejas Express will run on New Delhi-Lucknow route for six days a week. The train will be flagged off on 4 October.

• An amount of 100 rupees will be paid in case the delay is for over an hour and 250 rupees for delay of over two hours. This is the first of its kind offer from any national carrier.


• It is in addition to the 25-lakh rupees free insurance that will be given to passengers of the train. The train will be flagged off on 4th of this month.


• Many countries over the globe compensate passengers for delays - some do so as monetary compensation and some in kind.

Context : Ministry of Mines has amended the Minerals (Mining) by Government companies rules 2015.

• It has substituted “may, for reasons to be recorded” in rule 3, in sub-rule (2) and rule 4, in sub-rule (3) with “shall, for reasons to be recorded”.


• This implies that for all mining leases for minerals granted to Government companies, the State Government upon an application made to it in this regard by the Government company or corporation, shall extend the period of the mining lease for further period of up to twenty years at a time.


• As per provision of Section 8A(6) of Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) Act, 1957, the lease of 31 working mines of iron ore are expiring on 31.03.2020. Recent order will ensure effective management of the situation in wake of probable disruptions in March 2020.


• The amendment paves way for renewal of NMDC's iron ore mining lease at Donimalai in Bellari district of Karnataka. National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) suspended operations at the mine after its lease expired in November 2018. NMDC has been the leaseholder for Donimalai iron ore mine since 1968.

Context: The Union Water Ministry has excavated an old, dried- up river in Prayagraj (formerly Allahabad) that linkedthe Ganga and Yamuna rivers. The aim is to develop it as a potential groundwater recharge source.

• A palaeochannel is a remnant of an inactive river or stream channel that has been filled or buried by younger sediment. A palaeochannel is distinct from the overbank deposits of currently-active river channels, including ephemeral water courses that do not regularly flow.


• Paleochannels typically act as pathways for groundwater movement and provide a potential source of groundwater. Their presence can be helpful in identifying areas suitable for recharge.

• This “ancient buried river” is around 4 km wide, 45 km long and consisted of a 15-metre-thick layer buried under soil.


• The newly discovered river was a “buried paleochannel that joins the Yamuna river at Durgapur village, about 26 km south of the current Ganga-Yamuna confluence at Prayagraj. These paleochannels reveal the course of rivers that have ceased to exist.


• Evidence from palaeochannels suggested that the mythological Saraswati river did indeed exist.


• The discovery was made last December by a team of scientists from the CSIR-NGRI (National Geophysical Research Institute) and the Central Groundwater Board.

Context : Kerala bagged the top spot on the School Education Quality Index (SEQI) released by Niti Aayog.

• Among the large States, Kerala bagged the top spot with 76.6 percent and while Uttar Pradesh with 36.4 percent scored the lowest for 2016-17. Rajasthan bagged the second position with 72 percent, followed by Karnataka with 70 percent.


• Among the small States, Manipur (68.8 per cent) emerged as the top performer while Arunachal Pradesh (24.6 percent) came last in the category.


• Among Union Territories, Chandigarh (82.9 per cent) stood at the top position while Lakshadweep ranked lowest (31.9 per cent).


• Haryana, Meghalaya, Daman & Diu showed most improvement.

• Bodies involved: SEQI has been developed by NITI Aayog through a collaborative process, including key stakeholders such as Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD) and World Bank.


• Objective: The index aims to evaluate the performance of States and UTs in the school education sector.


• Methodology: The index consists of 30 critical indicators that assess the delivery of quality education. These indicators are categorized as below:


• Category 1: Outcomes (Domain 1: Learning outcomes; Domain 2: Access outcomes; Domain 3: Infrastructure and facilities for outcomes and Domain 4: Equity outcomes).


• Category 2: Governance processes aiding outcomes


• The data for the index was collected for three categories: large states, small states and Union Territories (UTs).

Context : The Ministry of Home Affairs has decided to commute the death sentence of Balwant Singh Rajoana, who was convicted for the assassination of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, to life imprisonment. Beant Singh, credited for ending terrorism in Punjab, was assassinated on August 31, 1995, in an explosion in Chandigarh.

• ‘Commutation’ means reducing punishment by changing the nature of punishment. For example, punishment for death may be changed to life imprisonment. It is different from Pardon and Remission.


• The effect of Pardon is to abolish punishment and to absolve the convict of all charges. If Pardon is granted, it is assured as if the convict has not committed any crime. The convict will not face any disabilities due to the allegations and charges made against him.


• ‘Remission’ means reducing the punishment without changing the nature of punishment.

Example :The imprisonment for 20 years may be reduced to the imprisonment for 10 years.