24 October 2018 - Daily Current Affairs
1. PM Narendra Modi awarded Seoul Peace Prize 2018
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been awarded prestigious Seoul Peace Prize 2018 for contribution to high economic growth in India.
- According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Mr. Modi’s contribution to world peace and improving the human development of the people of India were the reasons for him getting the award.
- The award will be presented by the Seoul Peace Prize Foundation at a mutually convenient time.
- Earlier, PM Narendra Modi had received the United Nation’s highest environmental honor, the ‘Champions of the Earth Award’ for his unprecedented pledge to eliminate all single-use plastic in India by 2022.
Note:
- The Seoul Peace Prize was established in 1990 to commemorate the success of the 24th Olympic Games held in Seoul, Republic of Korea.
- The Seoul Peace Prize was established to crystallize the Korean people’s yearning for peace on the Korean Peninsula and in the rest of the world.
2. Invest India wins UN Investment Promotion Award
- Invest India has received the top UN Investment Promotion Award in recognition of its efforts to boost investments in the renewable energy sector in India.
- The award was presented by Armenian President Armen Sarkissian to Deepak Bagla, the CEO of Invest India, in Geneva, Switzerland.
- Invest India is the official Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency of the Union Government, mandated to facilitate investments in the country.
Important Days
3. 24 October: United Nations Day
- The United Nations Day is being observed globally on 24th October to make people aware of the aims and achievements of the United Nations Organization.
- The 2018 UN Day Concert will be held today in the General Assembly Hall at United Nations Headquarters in New York.
- The theme of this year’s concert, which is sponsored by the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations, is “Traditions of Peace and Non-violence”.
Note:
- In 1971, the United Nations General Assembly had declared 24th October as the United Nations Day by adopting Resolution 2782.
4. 24 October: World Development Information Day
- World Development Information Day is being observed every year on 24th October to inform and motivate young people.
- In 1973, The United Nations General Assembly decided to institute a World Development Information Day coinciding with United Nations Day on 24th October.
5. Valmiki Jayanti being observed today
- Valmiki Jayanti (Pragat Diwas) is being observed today and people pay their respects towards the first poet of Sanskrit literature Maharishi Valmiki.
- He authored the epic Ramayana.
- The processions called Shobha Yatra is also taken out to mark the occasion.
National Affairs
6. Railways’ scheme for buying unreserved tickets online to go nationwide from 1st November
- From 1st November 2018, Indian railways’ UTS mobile app for buying unreserved tickets online will be available nationwide.
- The scheme is also open for those who want to buy tickets for traveling long distance.
- Earlier, the scheme was started four years ago in Mumbai.
- As of now, the railway has already implemented the scheme in 15 of its zones with the Northeast Frontier Railway and West Central Railway.
- In the last four years, there were around 45 lakh registered users of this app with around 87,000 tickets being bought per day on it on average.
Note:
- Railways passengers need to be around 25-30 meters away from the station to avail the application and allowed to book only four tickets at a time through it.
7. PM Modi interacts with IT and electronic manufacturing professionals in New Delhi
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi has interacted with IT and electronic manufacturing professionals and key industry leaders from across the country in New Delhi.
- Professionals from about 100 locations across India have joined the event through video-conference.
- Prime Minister Modi also launched the “Main Nahin Hum” Portal and App on the occasion.
- The portal which works on the theme "Self for Society" will enable IT professionals and organizations to bring together their efforts towards social causes, and service to society on one platform.
8. 3rd Decadal International year of Reefs-2018
- The Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Dr. Harsh Vardhan has inaugurated the International Conference on Status and Protection of Coral Reefs (STAPCOR – 2018) at Bangaram coral Island of Union Territory of Lakshadweep (22-24 Oct 2018).
- The theme of the conference is “Reef for Life”.
- About 150 delegates both International and National, are participating in this mega event.
Banking & Finance
9. RBI lifts a ban on Fino Payments Bank to open new accounts
- RBI has lifted the prohibition on Fino Payments Bank to open new accounts after it submitted a compliance report.
- Earlier, Fino Payment Bank had been unable to enrol new customers (since the end of May) after RBI found the bank to be non-compliant with its operational guidelines.
- According to RBI’s operating guidelines for payments banks (India Post Payments Bank Ltd, Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank, Airtel Payments Bank and Jio Payments Bank), a customer can make deposits of up to Rs. 1 lakh per account in a year.
Note:
- Currently, Fino bank has more than 400 banking outlets and over 50,000 access points.
10. Paytm launches ‘PayPay’ mobile wallet in Japan
- Paytm has launched a QR-based smartphone payment settlement service in Japan in collaboration with SoftBank and Yahoo Japan Corporation.
- It is a smartphone-based settlement service that allows users to store money from a bank account in their 'PayPay' wallet and make payments with it.
- It is built around its QRtech which it has deployed in India to allow customers to make offline payments.
National Appointments
11. M Nageshwar Rao appointed interim CBI director
M Nageshwar Rao (presently working as Joint Director at the CBI) has been appointed as interim Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) director with immediate effect.
- Mr. Rao (1986 batch Odisha cadre officer) joined the CBI as Joint Director and was promoted as Additional Director in 2018 itself.
- Earlier, ‘Alok Verma’ (CBI Director) and Rakesh Asthana (Special Director-CBI) were sent on leave.
- The development has come at a time when there is an internal war going on within the agency.
- Asthana (1984 batch IPS -Gujarat cadre) is accused of accepting a bribe of Rs 2 crore from a Hyderabad-based businessman Sathish Babu Sana.
Note:
- The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the premier investigating agency of India, headed by the Director.
- CBI Operating under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.
- The CBI headquarters are located at Lodhi Road in New Delhi.
