05 October 2019 - Daily Current Affairs

06 October 2019 - Daily Current Affairs

1. Sushil Chandra Mishra Appointed as the MD & CEO of Oil India Limited

• Oil India Limited has appointed Sushil Chandra Mishra as the new Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company.
• Mishra replaces Utpal Bora, who ceased to be Chairman & Managing Director of the company on 30th September.
• Mishra started his professional journey as an executive trainee with OIL in 1984.
• He played a key role in framing and implementing procurement policies and procedures for inventory management, vendor development, framework agreement and its related strategies.
• He acquired significant Board level exposure at corporate office at the time of launch of OIL's IPO in 2009 and developing the Strategic Plan 2020.

2. Govt launches portal for monitoring coal supply to power plants

• The government has launched ‘PRAKASH’ -Power Rail Koyla Availability through Supply Harmony-  portal for better coordination among the ministries of power, coal and Indian Railways for coal supply to power plants.
• The Prakash portal will enable all stakeholders to monitor coal right from mines to transportation.
• This is a laudable project in ensuring adequate availability optimum utilisation of coal at thermal power plants.
• The Portal is designed to help in mapping and monitoring the entire coal supply chain for power plants.

3. India's first private train Lucknow-Delhi Tejas Express flagged off

• The country's first corporate train Tejas Express has been flagged by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow.
• The train will run on the Lucknow-New Delhi route. The Tejas Express will reach the destination in 6.15 hours
• According to the schedule, the train will leave Lucknow at 6.10 am and reach New Delhi Railway station at 12.25 pm. On its return journey, the train will leave Delhi at 3.35 pm and reach Lucknow at 10.05 pm.
• The Tejas Express will have only two halts — Kanpur and Ghaziabad.
• Tejas is the first train run by IRCTC the subsidiary of the Indian Railways.

4. 300 mn Indians lifted above the poverty line in the last 14 years: NITI Aayog

• According to the NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, as many as 300 million Indians were lifted above the poverty line between 2004 and 2018.
• He shared this information at the inauguration of the Micron Technology Inc Global Development Centre in Hyderabad.
• He claimed that every Indian today has a biometric ID card, mobile phone and bank account.
• "The mobile data of India today is more than the mobile data of the US and China put together.

5. PM Modi and his Mauritian counterpart jointly inaugurated two projects in Mauritius

• Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth jointly inaugurated two landmark projects in Mauritius via video conference.
• The projects are the phase-1 of the Metro Express and a new ENT Hospital in Mauritius.
• The Indian Government has granted $275 million for the Metro Express project and a grant of $14 million for the new Hospital Project.
• These projects are being developed under a $353 million grant awarded by the Government of India to Mauritius in March 2017.

6. India's Largest Spinning Wheel made of Waste Plastic inaugurated in Noida

• On the eve of Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary, India's largest charkha or spinning wheel, made of used plastic waste was inaugurated in Uttar Pradesh's Noida.
• It was inaugurated by Union Minister Smriti Irani, Gautam Buddh Nagar MP Mahesh Sharma, Noida MLA Pankaj Singh and Noida Authority CEO Ritu Maheshwari.
• The 1,650-kg spinning wheel has been installed in Sector 94 near the Mahamaya flyover.
• According to officials, the charkha, which symbolises Mahatma Gandhi's dream of Swadeshi (self-sufficing and self-reliance), measures 14 ft by 20 ft by 8 ft and is made of 1,250 kg of used plastic.
• The charkha has been recognised as the largest made of used plastic waste in the country by India Book of Records.

Science and Technology

7. Enzyme technology for cheaper bio-fuel developed by Indian scientists gets US patent

• A process to produce a cocktail of enzymes that enhances the production of biofuels from agricultural waste developed by scientists in a New Delhi lab has received a patent from the US Patent and Trademark Office.
• This technology is discovered by Syed Shams Yazdani, a microbial engineering researcher at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) in New Delhi.
• This is likely to provide a better alternative for making commercial cellulase enzyme that can produce ethanol for second-generation (G2) biofuel.
• Estimates show that India produces around 500 million tonnes of agricultural waste annually.

 State Affairs

8. Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik launched ‘Mo Sarkar’ to make governance people-centric

• With an aim to make the governance people-centric, Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik has formally launched the Mo Sarkar programme, a first of its kind initiative in the country.
• The objective of the programme is to provide service to people, coming to government offices, with dignity.
• All the departments dealing with the delivery of public services will implement the Mo Sarkar programme by March 5, 2020.
• As part of the initiative, the government will collect feedback on the behaviour and professionalism of government officers.
• The employees will be ranked as good and bad based on the feedback received from the people.

Source: Times of India

9. Andhra Pradesh: CM Reddy launches YSR Vahana Mitra scheme

• Andhra Pradesh CM, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on 4^th October launched the YSR Vahana Mitra scheme.
• Under this scheme, the government will provide Rs 10,000 allowance to self-employed drivers of autos, taxis and taxi cabs.
• The amount of Rs 10,000 is for the recurring expenses like insurance and maintenance of the vehicle to procure fitness certificate.
• The allowance of Rs 10,000 would be given every year and the amount will be credited into the bank accounts directly.

Note:

• Andhra Pradesh Governor: Biswa Bhusan Harichandan
• Currently, AP has five deputy CM namely

1. Pilli Subhash Chandra Bose
2. Alla Nani
3. Narayana Swamy
4. Pamula Pushpasreevani
5. Amzath Basha Shaik Bepari

Source: Business Standard

 Sports News

10. Avinash Sable qualifies for Tokyo Olympics in men's 3,000 m steeplechase event

• India's Avinash Sable has qualified for Tokyo Olympics in men's 3,000-metre steeplechase event by shattering his own national record at the World Championships in Doha.
• Avinash clocked 8 minutes 21.37 seconds to breach the Olympics qualifying standard of 8 minutes 22 seconds. He also bettered his own national record of 8 minute and 25.23 seconds.
• The 25-year-old Avinash is from Mandwa in Maharashtra.

Source: AIR News

11. Ravindra Jadeja becomes second fastest Indian to 200 wickets in Test cricket

• Jadeja became the second Indian bowler to take the fastest 200 wickets in Test cricket.
• Jadeja achieved the feat when he dismissed centurion Dean Elgar (160) during South Africa's first innings on the third day, in reply to India's 502 for 7 declared.
• R Ashwin is the fastest Indian bowler to take 200 wickets in Tests cricket. He took 200 wickets in 37 Tests. Whereas, Jadeja took 44 Tests to reach the milestone.
• Former India spinners Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble needed 46 and 47 matches respectively to reach the milestone.

Conference and Summit

12. Goa Maritime Conclave– 2019 Inaugurated

• The Goa Maritime Conclave (GMC)-2019 was inaugurated by the National Security Advisor, Shri Ajit Kumar Doval, at Goa on 4th October 2019.
• The Conclave was conducted by Naval War College.
• The 31^stedition of the Naval War College Journal was also released by the NSA on the occasion.
• The theme for the conclave is “Common Maritime Priorities in IOR and need for Regional Maritime Strategy”. 
• The sub-theme for the first session was “Opportunities and Challenges in IOR”.

Source: PIB

13. Kochi to host national health informatics meet in 2020

• The 20th National Health Informatics conference will be held in Kochi on February 7 and 8 next year.
• The conference will be jointly organised by the Health Informatics and Information Management Association (HIIMA), Kerala, and the Health Records Association of India (HERAI).
• The theme of the conference – Medrecon 2020 – is ‘Value of Data in Health Care Ecosystem’.

 Economy and Banking Affairs

14. Uco Bank launches 3 new digital products

• Public sector lender, the Uco Bank has launched three new digital products namely UCash, Digilocker and an App.
• These new products were launched by the bank's managing director and CEO, A K Goel.
• UCash enables customers to withdraw money from ATMs through mobile banking without using debit card.
• Digilocker aims to eliminate the use of physical documents and enables sharing of verified electronic documents.
• The third product, the new mobile app, integrates four existing apps of the bank - UCO Mbanking, UCO UPI, UCO Mpassbook and UCO Secure- in a single interface.
• The UCO bank recently became the regional bank for the east.

About UCO Bank:

• MD & CEO of UCO Bank: Atul Kumar Goel
• Headquarters: Kolkata, West Bengal
• Tagline: “ Honours Your Trust”

 Obituaries

15. Centenarian philatelist Krishna Gopalkrishna Kadekodi passes away

• Centenarian philatelist and coin collector Krishna Gopalkrishna Kadekodi (102) passed away at his residence on 3^rd October 2019.
• He started his career as a revenue inspector and retired as a special deputy commissioner at the Regional Commissioner’s Office in Belagavi.
• He was the first tahsildar of Panaji after the liberation of Goa from Portuguese occupation.
• On his 90^th birthday, the United States government had released a stamp for 41 cents, in his honour.
• He was a recipient of a gold medal from the Government of India for having a unique collection of stamps of Mahatama Gandhi released by 64 countries.
• He had founded the Philatelic and Currency Collectors Association in Belagavi.
• Gold Mohar of East India Company, all note and coins released by the British Empire from 1835 to 1947 were part of his collections.

Source: Business Standard

16. Indian-Origin Journalist in South Africa, Farook Khan passes away

• Farook Khan, a prominent Indian-origin journalist in South Africa and cultural activist passed away in his hometown Durban after battling cancer.
• He was famous for his investigative reporting during apartheid.
• His ancestors were from Maharashtra.
• Farook Khan started the Miss India South Africa Pageant as part of the Miss India Worldwide Pageant.

Source: NDTV

Important Dates

17. World Teachers’ Day 2019 celebrated

• World Teachers’ Day or International Teachers’ Days is being celebrated all across the world on October 5.
• It is being held annually since 1994 to commemorates the anniversary of the adoption of the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers.
• The Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher-Education Teaching Personnel was adopted in 1997 to complement the 1966 Recommendation by covering teaching and research personnel in higher education.
• World Teachers’ Day is co-convened in partnership with UNICEF, UNDP, the International Labour Organization, and Education International.
• This year’s International Teachers’ Day Theme is “Young Teachers: The future of the Profession.”

Source: UNESCO