We are here for you to provide the important Recent and Latest Current Affairs October 18 2019, which have unique updates of Latest Current Affairs 2019 from all newspapers such as The Hindu, The Economic Times, PIB, Times of India, PTI, Indian Express, Business Standard and all Government official websites.
Our complete Current Affairs October 2019 PDF will help you to get more marks in Banking, Insurance, SSC, Railways, UPSC, CLAT and all State Government Exams. Also try our Latest Current Affairs Quiz and Current Affairs PDF which will be a pedestrian to crack your exams.
Useful Links:
- Current Affairs
- Current Affairs 2019
- Current Affairs October 2019
- Current Affairs September 2019
- Current Affairs August 2019
- Current Affairs July 2019
Click here for Current Affairs October 17 2019
INDIAN AFFAIRS
Karnataka tops as the most innovative state in NITI Aayogs’ India Innovation Index 2019
October 17, 2019, The National Institution for Transforming India(NITI) along with the Institute for Competitiveness as competitive partner launched the India Innovation Index (III) 2019. According to the index, Karnataka ranked as the most innovative state in India. It was followed by TamilNadu and Maharashtra in the second and third places respectively. The index examines innovation ecosystem in the nation and aims to address the challenges in it.
Key points
i. Report: Most of the top 10 states were from southern and western parts of the country. The other states in the top 10 list were Telangana, Haryana, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Gujarat, and Andhra Pradesh in the increasing order of rank.
- Among the Northeastern & hill states, Sikkim topped the list, while Delhi topped the list in Union Territory(UT)/city states/small states category.
- The most efficient states were Delhi, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh.Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Jharkhand were the bottom performer states in the index……………………..Click here to Read more
Karnataka tops the University-Industry Linkage Index 2019
In the survey conducted by Progress, Harmony and Development Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) and the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, Karnataka topped the University-Industry Linkages (UILs) Index 2019 with the score of 7.8 out of 10. Kerala and Gujarat were ranked second and third with the score of 7.3 and 6.7, respectively.
i. The study was released by Dr Shekhar C Mande, Secretary, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), Ministry of Science and Technology.
ii. The survey considered 10 parameters.
iii. Larger states like West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, and Bihar were the poor performers………………Click here to Read more
Dr Jitendra Singh inaugurates 11th Nuclear Energy Conclave for 2019 in New Delhi
On October 18, 2019, The Union Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region (I/C), Minister of State (MoS) Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh inaugurated the 11th Edition of Nuclear Energy Conclave 2019 in New Delhi. It was held under the theme “Economics of Nuclear Power- Innovation towards Safer & Cost Effective Technologies”. It was organized by India Energy Forum (IEF).
i. A nuclear plant is being set up in the Gorakhpur of Haryana.
ii. A “Hall of Nuclear Energy” was opened in Pragati Maidan in Delhi with a view to educate the students and the general public about the applications of nuclear energy………………..Click here to Read more
Health minister Shri Harsh Vardhan launched postal stamp of Hyderabad’s National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) in New Delhi
On October 16, 2019, the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare(MoHFW) Shri Harsh Vardhan released postal stamp of Hyderabad(Telangana) city-based ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) to commemorate its centenary celebration. It is also the oldest institute of ICMR. The stamp was released in New Delhi at the Indian Council of Medical Research(ICMR). The theme for the NIN centenary year was ‘Empowering the nation through nutrition’.
ICMR-NIN-Centenary Award
The ‘ICMR-NIN-Centenary Award’, a onetime instituted award to commemorate NIN’s centenary was conferred posthumously to C. Gopalan, nutrition scientist who passed away recently at the age of 101 on October 3, 2019.
Key points
i. Stamps: 5000 stamps each with a face value of ₹5 have been printed, whereas India Posts would print 1000 stamps additionally for online sale at e-post office, display and sale them at philately (collection and study of postage stamps) exhibitions. This postal stamp was brought out under the ‘Corporate My Stamp’ scheme of India Posts.
ii. Stamp feature: the stamps would feature customized themes with centenary logo printed on them.
iii. Members present:BalramBhragava, Secretary of the Department of Health Research & Director General, ICMR; R Hemaltha, Director of NIN and other officials took part in the event.
About NIN:
♦ The Institute was founded in 1918 by Sir Robert McCarrison.
♦ It was initially called the Beri-Beri Enquiry Unit.
♦ It was originally a single room laboratory at the Pasteur Institute, Coonoor, Tamil Nadu and later moved to Hyderabad in 1958 and in 1969 was renamed the National Institute of Nutrition.
Indian defence exports set to reach Rs 35,000 crore by 2024
On October 18, 2019, During the 4th Defence Attaches Conclave for 2019 at an event of Indigenous Defence Equipment Exporters Association held in New Delhi, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat forecasted that India’s defence exports will be tripled to Rs 35,000 crore by 2024 from present Rs 11, 000 crores per annum. The 4th Defence Attaches conclave was jointly organised by the Defence Ministry and news portal Bharat Shakti.
Key Points:
i. 22 private defence firms together launched the Indigenous Defence Equipment Exporters’ Association (IDEEA) during the conclave.
ii. Indian Navy will host large multilateral exercise MILAN 2020 at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.
iii. 11th edition of DefExpo will be held for the first time in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh from February 05 – 08, 2020 under the main theme ‘India: The Emerging Defence Manufacturing Hub’ with a focus on ‘Digital Transformation of Defence’.
iv. Other members present: Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh; Vice-Chief of Army Staff Lt. Gen. M.M. Naravane; Rear Admiral Atul Anand, Head of Foreign Cooperation and Intelligence; Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) Chairman G. Satheesh Reddy.
Kerala extends maternity leave benefits to teachers & other staff of private educational institutions
On October 17, 2019 the Kerala govt, as a first in the nation has planned to extend maternity leave benefits to teachers and other staff of private educational institutions, including the people working in the unaided sector. This extension of maternity leave under the Maternity Benefit Act was approved by the Central govt and when once amended, Kerala would be the first state to provide maternity benefits in the private educational sector.
Key points
Maternity leave benefits: According to the law, employees can avail 26 weeks’ maternity leave with salary and in addition, the employer should provide Rs 1000 as medical allowance.
About Maternity benefit act:
It is an Act to protect the employment of women during the time of her maternity n entitles her of a ‘maternity benefit’ which is full paid absence from work – to take care for her child.
The maternity leave was raised from 12weeks to 26weeks by the amendment of Maternity Benefit Act 2017.
The prenatal (before birth; during or relating to pregnancy) leave is extended from earlier 6 weeks to 8 weeks and 18 weeks post childbirth.
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
UN General Assembly appoints 14 new members to the 47-member body of the UNHRC
On October 18, 2019 The United Nations(UN) General Assembly has elected 14 new members to the 47-member body of UN Human Rights Council(UNHRC). The term of these 14 new members is 3 years starting from January 2020 till December 2022. No member elected by the General Assembly can occupy the seat for more than two consecutive times.
14 members:
The 14 members are Armenia, Brazil, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Libya, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Namibia, Netherlands, Poland, Republic of Korea, Sudan and Venezuela.
Key points
i. Selected pattern: The 14 new members were elected in the following pattern: 4 seats for African States; 4 seats for Asia-Pacific States; 2 seats for Eastern European States; 2 seats for Latin American and Caribbean States; and 2 seats for Western European and other States.
ii. Outgoing members: the 14 elected nations replace the following outgoing members- China, Croatia, Cuba, Egypt, Hungary, Iceland, Iraq, Japan, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Tunisia and the United Kingdom and the United States(US).
About UNHRC:
♦ Formation- 15 March 2006.
♦ Headquarters- Geneva, Switzerland.
♦ President- Coly Seck.
Donald Trump to host 46th G7 Economic Summit for 2020 at Trump National Doral Golf Club, Miami, Florida
46th Group of Seven (G7) Economic Summit 2020 of developed world leaders will be hosted by the president of the United States (US) Mr Donald Trump at one of his own properties, the Trump National Doral golf resort near Miami, Florida on June 10-12, 2020. This was announced by the White House acting chief of staff Mr Mick Mulvaney.
About G7 countries:
The Group of Seven (G7) is an international intergovernmental economic organization consisting of the seven largest International Monetary Fund (IMF) -described advanced economies in the world: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States.
FATF granted Pakistan an ultimatum until February 2020, to curb the terror financing
On October 18, 2019, The Paris based Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an organization that monitors the financing of international terrorism, gave a 4-month extension to Pakistan & warned of action for its failure to combat money laundering and terror financing. If it does not curb the financing of terrorism by February 2020, it will be put on the blacklist. The decision has been taken by FATF after the completion of its five-day plenary session in Paris, France.
Key points:
i. Along with this, FATF members also urged to pay special attention to their financial institutions on business relations / transactions with Pakistan.
ii.Background: Pakistan was placed on the grey list in June 2018. It was given an action plan to complete by October 2019, under which it was entrusted with 27 tasks, including stopping terrorist funding, eradicating terrorism from its land. Out of this, Pakistan was able to complete only 5 tasks.
iii. Impacts of being Blacklisted: If Pakistan is blacklisted, it may adversely impact its imports, exports, remittances and limit its access to international lending.
Dark Grey list:
According to FATF rules there is one essential stage between ‘Grey’ and ‘Black’ lists, referred to as ‘Dark Grey’, which means issuance of a strong warning, so that the country concerned gets one last chance to improve.
Grey list:
FATF grey lists a country which it considers as a safe haven for terror funding and money laundering.
About FATF:
♦ Formation: 1989
♦ Headquarters: Paris, France
♦ Membership: 39
♦ President: Xiangmin Liu
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
RIL becomes the first Indian company to have a market cap of over Rs 9 lakh crore
On October 18, 2019, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has become the first Indian company to have a market capitalization (m-cap) of Rs 9,00,666 crore. RIL’s stock rose 1.76% during early trading and reached the level of Rs.1420.75. Earlier in August 2018, Reliance had set the record of the first company in the country to touch the market capitalization level of Rs 8 lakh crore.
Key points:
i. After Reliance, IT(Information Technology) major TCS(Tata Consultancy Services) is ranked second with the valuation of ₹7,69,483 crore as its shares were trading up 1% at ₹2050.70.
ii. According to Forbes’ list of 100 richest people in India 2019, Reliance Industries owner Mukesh Ambani is the richest man in India. He has got this position for the 12th consecutive year. His total assets are $ 51.4 billion.
Market Capitalization:
It is the value of a company being traded on the stock market. It is calculated by multiplying the total number of shares with the current share price of the company.
About RIL:
♦ Founded :8 May 1973
♦ Founder :Dhirubhai Ambani
♦ Headquarters :Mumbai, Maharashtra
APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNS
Sudhaker Shukla appointed as the new whole-time member of IBBI
On October 16, 2019, Sudhaker Shukla, a 1985 batch Indian Economic Service(IES) officer, was appointed as the whole-time member of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) for a period of 5 years, after the approval from Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC).
Key points
i. IBBI Board: With his appointment, IBBI now has 3 whole time members. Besides them and a chairman, IBBI board has 4 ex officio members representing Ministry of Corporate Affairs(MCA), the Reserve Bank of India(RBI), Department of Economic Affairs(DEA) and legal affairs and it also has 2-part time members, they are Chief Economic Advisor Krishnamurthy Subramanian and B Sriram, former Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of IDBI (Industrial Development Bank of India) bank. Thus there are a total of 10 members on the board.
About IBBI:
♦ Established- 1 October 2016.
♦ Headquarters- New Delhi.
♦ Chairperson- MS Sahoo.
EU leaders confirm Christine lagarde as the 1st women head of European Central Bank
On October 18, 2019, The European Union (EU) leaders confirmed the appointment of former 1st women head of the Washington based body , International Monetary Fund(IMF) Christine Lagarde (63) as the new chief of the European Central Bank (ECB) for a non-renewable term of 8 years. She will be replacing Mario Draghi (Italy) from November 1, 2019.
Key points:
i. On July 2, 2019, EU nominated France’s Lagarde as the president of the ECB in a meeting held in Brussels, Belgium.
ii. Legarde was born on 1 January 1956 & served 8-years as the head of IMF since 2011. She is often regarded as “rock star of international finance”.
About ECB:
♦ Headquarters: Frankfurt, Germany
♦ Currency: Euro
SPORTS
Overview of ASBC Asian Junior Boxing Championships 2019 held in Fujairah, UAE
The Asian Boxing Confederation (ASBC) Asian Junior Boxing Championships 2019 was held in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates (UAE) from October 11-17, 2019. 239 participants from 26 countries had participated in the events. It was organized by Asian Boxing Confederation (ASBC).
i. Indian boxers clinched 21 medals (6 gold, 9 silver, 6 bronze). It ended top in terms of medals won but finished second behind Uzbekistan (20) in the medal tally which won 8 gold medals.
ii. Indian men’s squad fetched 2 gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze while women’s team claimed 4 gold, 6 silver and 3 bronze medals………………………….Click here to Read more
Indian Women’s cricket team won ODI Series 2019 against South Africa
Indian Women’s cricket team won the One Day International (ODI) Series 2019 against South Africa by 3-0. The South African women’s cricket team toured India to play against India women’s cricket team from September 20- October 14, 2019. 
i. Indian team captain for WODIs was Mithali Raj and South African team captain was Suné Luus.
ii. The 3 matches were held at Reliance Stadium, Vadodara, Gujarat.
Mithali Raj becomes the first woman in history to have an international cricket career over 20 years
Mithali Raj became the 4th cricketer and the 1st in women’s cricket to complete 20 years and 105 days in the highest form of international cricket. She also holds the record for the most number of ODIs played by a female cricketer (204).
i. She is expected to play at least until 2021 Women’s World Cup (12th Edition) in New Zealand.
ii. Sachin Tendulkar of India (22 years and 91 days), Sanath Jayasuriya of Sri Lanka (21 years and 184 days) and Javed Miandad of Pakistan (20 years and 272 days) are the other 3 cricketers having international cricket career over 20 years.
Barcelona’s Lionel Messi won the European Golden Shoe 2018/19; 3rd consecutive win
On October 16, 2019, Barcelona captain Lionel Messi won the third straight European Golden Shoe for the 2018/19 season at a ceremony in Barcelona, Spain. He was the top league-goal scorer in the European leagues 2019, after scoring 36 goals (in 34 games). It was his sixth Golden Shoe. He is already the only player in history to get five Golden Shoes.
i. Kylian Mbappe of Paris Saint-Germain who is the closest challenger of Messi has 33 goals in his name in the leagues.
ii. Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United/ Real Madrid/Juventus clubs) has 4 golden shoes in his name and Luis Suarez (Barcelona) is one of nine players who has won 2 golden shoes.
iii. The Golden Shoe award was created in 1967 when it was won by Eusebio. It is presented in each season to the leading goalscorer in league matches from the top division of every European national league. The award is presented by European Sports Media (ESM).
Former Olympic champion Li Xuerui of china retired from international badminton
Chinese badminton player, Li Xuerui (28), who won the gold medal in the 2012 London Olympics, has announced her retirement from international badminton.
Key points:
i. Li, who was adjudged the BWF (Badminton World Federation)Female Player of the Year in 2013, came into the limelight after defeating Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and compatriot Liu Xin at the 2010 Badminton Asia Championships. At that time she was only 19 years old.
ii. She won the All England Championship 2012 & striked silver medals at the World Championships 2013 and 2014 editions.
iii. Li has won 14 Superseries titles and the last appearance came at the Korea Open in September 2019.
OBITUARY
Legendary cuban ballet dancer Alicia alonso passes away in Havana
Legendary Cuban ballet dancer & choreographer Alicia Alonso passes away in Havana, Cuba after suffering from health complications. She was 98.
i. Born on 21 December 1920 in Havana, Alicia first appeared on stage in 1931.
ii. Being recognized by the world for the stylized beauty of her choreography, she founded the Alicia Alonso Ballet Company in the year 1948 at Havana. At age 16, she moved to the United States (US).
iii. She was the only Latin-American ever to have been recognized as a “prima ballerina assoluta, a title awarded to most notable female ballet dancers.
iv. She also received prestigious awards from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization- UNESCO (Pablo Picasso Medal for her extraordinary contribution to dance in 1999) ,Spain (Gold medal from the Circulo de Bellas Artes of Madrid in 1998), and France (Grand Prix de la Ville de Paris in 1999).
BOOKS & AUTHORS
Book “The Daughter from a Wishing Tree: Unusual Tales About Women in Mythology” by Sudha Murty released
On October 18, 2019, The book titled “The Daughter from a Wishing Tree: Unusual Tales About Women in Mythology” written by Indian writer Sudha Murty released. It is published by Puffin Publishers. It is a mythology series depicting the untold stories of women in mythology (collection of myths).
i. The previous 3 books in the series of the author are “The Serpent’s Revenge: Unusual Tales from the Mahabharata”, “The Man from the Egg: Unusual Tales about the Trinity”, and “The Upside-Down King: Unusual Tales about Rama and Krishna”.
Indian Chess grandmaster Vishwanathan Anand authored a new book titled “Mind Master: Winning Lessons from a Champion’s Life
Indian first chess grandmaster and 5-time world champion, Shri VishwanathanAnand authored a new book titled “Mind Master: Winning Lessons from a Champion’s Life” which portrays his experiences in life as well as in the game. The book published by Hachette India will be released on December 11, 2019.
Vishwanathan Anand achievements
- He was the first Grandmaster from Asia and five-time world champion.
- He was the first recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 1991–92, India’s highest sporting honour.
- He was the first recipient from sportsfield to obtain India’s second highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan.
Support us by register your valuable ratings
