Current Affairs Today – October 16 2016

Dear Readers, We cover some important news in Current Affairs Today Section, which are not covered in Daily Detailed News, More Current Affairs coverage will help you to Score Good Marks in Competitive Exams.

• Try our Current Affairs Quiz 2016
• Read our Current Affairs Today
• Read Our Current Affairs 2016

Click here to try Current Affairs Quiz : October 16 2016

INDIAN AFFAIRS

8th BRICS Summit held in Goa
i. The 2016 BRICS summit is the eighth annual BRICS summit, an international relations conference attended by the heads of country or heads of government of the five member countries Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
ii. The summit held from 15 to 16 October 2016 at the Taj Exotica hotel in Benaulim, Goa, India. India will hold the chair of the BRICS from February 2016 to December 2016.
iii. The BRICS Summit 2016 adopted the Goa Declaration which unanimously hit out at the growing threat of terrorism, among other issues. India was the host nation of the 8th Summit and the 9th will be organised by China
iv. The first ever BRICS-BIMSTEC outreach summit held in Goa under the chairmanship of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Renewing the BIMSTEC bond, PM Narendra Modi and BIMSTEC leaders earlier gathered for a special retreat before the BRICS-BIMSTEC Outreach Summit.

Government-constituted expert committee found Saraswatiriver did exist
i. The Saraswati river based on traditional stories existed a government-constituted expert committee has found. Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti stated that the government would take action on the report, which according to her, “cannot be challenged”.
ii. Professor K S Valdiya, who led the panel, explained that they had reached a conclusion that river Saraswati existed, it flowed.It originated in the Himalayas and met gulf at the western sea.
iii. According to a senior Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) official, Saraswati passed through Pakistan before meeting Western Sea through Rann of Kutch and was approximately 4,000 km in length.
iv. One-third of the river stretched in present-day Pakistan. The longer, two-third stretch measuring nearly 3000 km in length fell in India, the official claimed.

Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav (RSM) -2016’ begin in New Delhi
i. Home Minister Rajnath Singh would inaugurate the 10-day ‘Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav’ (RSM) at Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in New Delhi.
ii. Nearly 2,000 artists from across the country will showcase India’s cultural heritage through performances, arts and cuisines.
iii. ‘Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav’ in Delhi is one of the five such festivals planned for this year which will be organised at multiple venues, including Varanasi, Bangalore and Jammu and Kashmir, from November 15 to 25.
iv. The seven zonal cultural centres have been given slots to present their arts during the festival which would showcase an amalgamation of ‘Ek Bharat, Srestha Bharat’, ‘Hamaari Sanskriti, Hamaari Pahchaan’ and ‘Swachh India’.

Odisha celebrated Kumar Purnima festival
i. Celebrated on the last day of the Ashwin month, the Kumar Purnima festival is the occasion to observe the birthday of Lord Kartikeswara, the son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati.
ii. It is a festival of rejoicing for the girls. All of them sing and dance. The songs are of special nature. They also play a kind of game known as Puchi. They also indulge in other varieties of country-games.
iii. Odisha spirit shows its best in its delicacies prepared during their festival. Highly spritual and pious towards local traditions, every festival is an occasion to celebrate and rejoice with friends, relatives and different social groups. This cultural bond is also extended to the relationship with God. No food is considered eaten unless offered to God.
iv. Young girls of Odisha are gearing up to look their best and seek blessings of the Moon God on Kumar Purnima festival that is on 18th October 2016.It is believed that unmarried girls get a good life partner if they perform these rituals.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

Global Travel and Tourism Report released by the World Economic Forum
Finland is rated the most safe country while El Salvador was named as the least safe and secure country in the world in the Global Travel and Tourism Report 2016
Top 10:
♦ Latin American countries dominate the list, with Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico suffering from similar gang-related issues to El Salvador, and Colombia and Venezuela.Countries like Syria, Iraq and South Sudan do not appear on the list at all

AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS

Renowned writer C Radhakrishnan has been selected for the Mathrubhumi Literary Award
i. Renowned writer C Radhakrishnan has been selected for the Mathrubhumi Literary Award in recognition of his contribution to the field of literature. A sum of Rs.2 lakh, a plaque and citation constitute the award.
ii. Radhakrishnan is a writer and film director in Malayalam language from Kerala state,  South India.
iii. He was born in Chamravattom in Ponnani taluk in Malappuram district on February 15, 1939. Many of his works had garnered much attention at the publishing stage itself.

Mizoram’s Pachuau declared India’s oldest working journalist
i. The Mizoram government’s Information and Public Relations department and the Mizoram Journalists’ Association (MJA) today declared Lalbiakthanga Pachuau, the editor of ‘Zoram Tlangau’, a Mizo language daily, as the “oldest working journalist in the country.
ii. State information minister Lal Thanzara handed over a citation to Pachuau for his long innings in journalism and his contribution to social causes at a function in Aizawl.
iii. Born in Siachal, 80 km distance  from the state capital, Pachuau studied only till 8^th class before joining the Assam Regiment of the British Indian Army in 1945 at 18
iv. Under his leadership, the blood donation collection in the state rose from 22.47 per cent to 94 per cent. Pachuau’s contribution in this field has earned him three special awards of State Blood Transfusion Council, not to mention the numerous state awards.
v. He co-founded the Association for Voluntary Blood Donation in Mizoram as its general secretary and was later elected its president for a number of times from 2001 onwards.

Mangaluru International Airport rated best in Southern region
i. The Mangalore international airport here has been rated the best in southern region and won the third spot among all the 52 airports from across the country. The performances of all the airports are rated on the basis of overall customer satisfaction.
ii. The Airports Authority of India conducts survey of all the airports once in six months through external agency and in the latest survey the airport secured 4.72 marks out of 5 points.
iii. The survey ranks Chandigarh airport as the best in the country followed by Raipur. Third slot has been shared by Mangaluru and Udaipur airports.
iv.The survey covers areas like achievement of the airport, performance of the staff, facilities, customs and immigration facilities, safety etc.
v. The Tiruchi airport has ranked sixth at the all-India level in the nationwide survey that was conducted for the period January to June by an agency commissioned by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

Sonam Kapoor awarded ET Panache Trendsetter Award 2016
i. Actress Sonam Kapoor has been honoured with the Trendsetter Award 2016 by ET Panache to recognises the efforts of entrepreneurs, innovators, newsmakers and athletes whose stories “inspire millions and whose services transform lives.
ii. Sonam’s performance in ‘Neerja‘, her social endeavors and positive presence on social media was lauded through this recognition.
iii. ET Panache’s Trendsetter Awards recognizes the efforts of entrepreneurs, innovators, newsmakers and athletes, whose stories “inspire millions and whose services transform lives.”

APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNS

Amandeep Singh appointed as the next Ambassador/PR of India to the UN Conference on Disarmament, Geneva    
i. Former IAS officer Amandeep Singh Gill was appointed as the next Ambassador/PR of India to the UN Conference on Disarmament, Geneva.
ii. The Conference on Disarmament (CD) is a forum established in 1979 by the international community to negotiate multilateral arms control and disarmament agreements.
iii. It was the forum used by its member states(65) to negotiate the Biological Weapons Convention and the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Tata Communications appoints James Parker as president of global sales
i. James Parker was appointed as the president of global sales by Vinod Kumar, Managing Director and Group CEO of Tata Communications.
ii. Parker will be responsible for leading the company’s global sales organisation across all customer segments, according to a company release.
iii. He has experience in sales, commercial and marketing roles in companies including CenturyLink, Microsoft and IBM.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Central Government launches satellite-based illegal Mining Detection System
i. The central mines ministry launched a satellite-based illegal mining detection system, which will receive tip offs in the form of pictures taken from a mobile phone, automatically generate complaints to state authorities and publish the outcome of a probe in a mobile application.
ii. Mining surveillance system (MSS), a pan-India surveillance network using latest satellite technology, to check illegal mining. The technology will ensure sustainable utilisation of the country’s mineral resources.  MSS will trigger an alarm whenever there is an instance of illegal mining outside permitted areas. Karnataka, which saw large instances of illegal mining in the past, stands to gain tremendously from this technology.
iii. MSS is a satellite-based monitoring system, which aims to check illegal mining activity through automatic remote-sensing detection

US Navy Commissions Most Advanced Stealth Destroyer, Zumwalt
i. US Navy has commissioned its largest, most expensive and technologically advanced destroyer, Zumwalt.
ii. The 610-foot-long ship, commissioned in Baltimore also has an advanced power plant and weapon systems.
iii. The ship is named after Adm. Elmo R “Bud” Zumwalt, a Bronze Star winner from World War II who went on to serve in the Korean and Vietnam wars and as chief of naval operations from 1970 to 1974

SPORTS

ICC announced first-ever womens World T20 in 2020
i. The International Cricket Council (ICC) has decided to organise the first ever ICC Women’s World T20 event in 2020. A decision to this effect was taken at the ICC Board meetings which concluded in Cape.
ii. Cricket Australia, hosts for the men’s and women’s ICC World Twenty20 in 2020, proposed holding the women’s tournament as a stand-alone event six months ahead of the men’s edition.
iii. The ICC Board gave nod for this request considering it a big step forward for the women’s game in a market where there is a clear appetite for women’s cricket given the success of the WBBL.
iv. Chairman of the ICC Governance Committee and Cricket Australia David Peever announced that Women’s cricket was undoubtedly gaining in popularity around the globe and we felt that by separating the two events we could accelerate that growth.

Usain Bolt confirms retirement after 2017 world championships in London
i. World’s fastest man, Usain Bolt will retire after 2017 IAAF World Championship in London.
ii. Jamaican athlete is the first athlete in history to claim 3 consecutive Olympic gold medals in the 100, 200 and 4X100m relay events.
iii. The 30-year old has won 9 Olympic Gold medals across three games over the span 8 years and is widely regarded as the “fastest human ever timed.

Neeraj Goyat retained WBC Asia welterweight title
i. Indian boxer Neeraj Goyat out punched Australia’s Ben Kite to retain the WBC welterweight Asia title in New Delhi.
ii. The 24-year-old prevailed 120-110 119-109 115-113 in an unanimous decision for the hard 12-round contest against his 26-year-old rival, who had the experience of fighting 9 rounds.
iii. Goyat, who came into the contest with seven wins in 11 fights, is now expected to break into the WBC world rankings, which will be a step towards getting him a shot at the world title.
iv .In the undercard rounds, which were four-round contests, former Commonwealth Games bronze-medallist Amandeep Singh defeated former Federation Cup champion Sunil Sharma in the super featherweight division (59kg) to make a winning debut in the professional circuit.
v. In the cruiserweight (91kg) category, multiple-time national champion Kuldeep Singh was upstaged by Geetanand Singh, while in the super welterweight (70kg) category Deepak Tanwar got the better of DilbagThakran.

Sourabh Varma wins men’s singles title at Chinese Taipei Open
i. 23-year-old from Madhya Pradesh, Sourabh Varma defeated Malaysia’s Daren Liew 11-4 11-7 11-9 to clinch the men’s single title in the summit clash of the $55,000 Grand Prix tournament in Taipei. Sourabh, who is on a comeback trail after being on the sidelines with multiple injuries.
ii. It is his third successive summit and he had won the National championship in 2011.
Winner list:

IMPORTANT DAYS

World Food Day 2016 – October 16 2016
i. The World Food Day—a day to heighten public awareness about the interconnection of agriculture, food security and world hunger. This year’s theme is “Climate is changing. Food and agriculture must too.”
ii. One of the biggest issues related to climate change is food security. The world’s poorest – many of whom are farmers, fishers and pastoralists – are being hit hardest by higher temperatures and an increasing frequency in weather-related disaster
iii. At the same time, the global population is growing steadily and is expected to reach 9.6 billion by 2050. To meet such a heavy demand, agriculture and food systems will need to adapt to the adverse effects of climate change and become more resilient, productive and sustainable.
iv. As part of World Food Day celebrations, a ‘Crowd Funded Food and Beverage ATM (refrigerator)’ was launched in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.
v. The initiative was launched by students of Bannari Ammal Institute of Technology.Anybody can deposit food materials in the ‘Food and Beverage ATM.’