1.Saral Jeevan Bima: It is a standard individual term
life insurance product unveiled recently by the Insurance Regulatory
and Development Authority (IRDAI). It will be a non-linked, non-participating
individual pure risk premium life insurance plan providing for payment of
the sum assured in lump sum to the nominee in case of the insured’s death
during the policy term.
2.India joins UK-led fight against encrypted online
messages. The UK and India are joined by the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand
and Japan. It marks an expansion of the so-called “Five Eyes” group of
nations, a global alliance on intelligence issues, to include India and
Japan. The campaign is against end-to-end encryption of messages by
social media giants such as Facebook, which they say hinder law enforcement by
blocking all access to them.
3. Nandankanan Zoological Park (NZP), The zoo has revived
its innovative ‘Adopt-An-Animal’ programme to mobilise resources for animals. Located
in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. Adjacent to Chandaka-Dampara Wildlife Sanctuary. It
is the only zoological park in India to become an institutional member of
World Association of Zoos and Aquarium (WAZA).
4. Mahila Kisan Diwas Observed on 15th October. The Union
Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare set aside this day to empower
women in the field of agriculture. The UN also observes 15th October as the ‘International
Day of Rural Women’.
5. Global Hunger Index 2020 released. The GHI ranks
countries on a 100-point scale, with 0 being the best score (no hunger)
and 100 being the worst. Values less than 10 reflect low hunger, values from 20
to 34.9 indicate serious hunger; values from 35 to 49.9 are alarming; and
values of 50 or more are extremely alarming. India ranks 94 out of 107
countries in the Index, lower than her neighbours such as Bangladesh (75) and
Pakistan (88).
6. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said it would conduct
Open Market Operation (OMO) purchase of State Developments Loans as per its
October 9 announcement. Open market operations is the sale and purchase of
government securities and treasury bills by RBI or the central bank of the
country.
The objective of OMO is to regulate the money supply in the
economy.
7. Union Transport Ministry has launched the first blasting
for construction-related work at the Zojila tunnel that will provide
all-year connectivity between Srinagar valley and Leh. The Zojila is set
to be Asia’s longest bi-directional tunnel.
8. Rashtriya Aajeevika Mission: Organizing the rural poor
women into Self Help Groups (SHGs), and continuously nurturing and supporting
them to take economic activities so that they come out of abject poverty.
9. Pakistan and Nepal were recently re-elected to the UN
Human Rights Council, China won a seat by the smallest margin while Saudi
Arabia was defeated in the elections. UNHRC was reconstituted from its
predecessor organisation, the UN Commission on Human Rights to help
overcome the “credibility deficit” of the previous organisation. Headquartered in
Geneva, Switzerland.
10. SLINEX 20, It is a series of naval exercises between the
Indian Navy and the Sri Lanka Navy.
11. As per government data, ‘Ghar Tak Fibre’ scheme is off
to a slow start in Bihar, the first state that aims to connect all its
45,945 villages by March 31. To connect all villages by March 31, the state
would need to dig trenches, lay cables, and provide connectivity to an average
of 257 villages daily, or a monthly average of over 7,500 villages. he project
will be jointly executed by the Department of Telecom (DoT), ministry of
Electronics & Information Technology and Common Service Centres (CSC).
12. The first-ever multi-modal logistic park will be built
in Assam. The park will provide direct connectivity to air, road, rail and
waterways to the people.
13. Australia will join the Malabar 2020 naval
exercise, consisting of India, Japan and the U.S., to be held next
month.
14. Ayushman Sahakar: It is a scheme to assist
cooperatives play an important role in creation of healthcare infrastructure in
the country. National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC), an autonomous
development finance institution under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers
Welfare.
15. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has held
that environmental clearance (EC) to the Kaleshwaram Lift
Irrigation Project (KLIP) was granted ex post facto. Originally
called Pranahita-Chevella project in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, it was
redesigned, extended and renamed as Kaleshwaram project in Telangana in
2014. It is aimed to make Telangana drought proof by harnessing the flood
waters of the Godavari. When completed, it will be the world’s largest
irrigation and drinking water system.