India hosted 19th Meeting of SCO Ministers of Foreign Economy & Foreign Trade

India hosted 19th Meeting of SCO Ministers of Foreign Economy & Foreign Trade

India hosted the 19th Meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Ministers of Foreign Economy and Foreign Trade.
 
India said cooperation should be continued to enhance intra-SCO trade and investment which would be critical in ensuring the speedy recovery from the aftermath of the pandemic.
 
The virtual meeting was attended by the Secretary General of SCO and Ministers from,  Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan,   Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

10th India-UK Economic & Financial Dialogue

 10th India-UK Economic & Financial Dialogue

India and UK reached a number of agreements to deepen the economic relationship  focusing on financial services, infrastructure and sustainable finance.

the trade between the two countries has more than doubled since the first EFD (eFunds corporation) in 2007, with bilateral investment supporting over half a million jobs across both countries.

this session on sharing of experiences on domestic priorities and policies for economic recovery will help both countries refine their policies and help in learning to ensure better outcomes.

India’s Global Himalayan Expedition won UN Climate Action Award

 India’s Global Himalayan Expedition won UN Climate Action Award

Global Himalayan Expedition, an Indian organisation that leverages tourism and technology to help remote communities access solar energy has won the 2020 UN Global Climate Action Award.

GHE is one of the world’s first organisations using tourism and technology to bring solar energy to remote communities.

GHE conducts “Impact Expeditions” to remote Himalayan villages and uses a portion of the expedition fee to fund the capital cost of the hardware, transportation, installation and training of village-scale solar micro-grids.

The micro-grid infrastructure set up by GHE is owned and operated by the community.

the GHE has solar electrified more than 131 villages in three regions of India, directly impacting the lives of more than 60,000 villagers.

World Day for Audiovisual Heritage

 World Day for Audiovisual Heritage

The World Day for Audiovisual Heritage takes place every 27 October.

This commemorative day was chosen by UNESCO in 2005 to raise awareness of the significance and preservation risks of recorded sound and audiovisual documents.

ents are held in many countries, organised by national and regional sound and film archives, broadcasters, museums and libraries, and major audiovisual associations

Indian-origin Wavel Ramkalawan is elected Seychelles President

 Indian-origin Wavel Ramkalawan is elected Seychelles President  

Wavel Ramkalawan is a politician of the Seychelles.

He is the newly elected President of the Republic of Seychelles, as of 25 October 2020.

The Seychelles is an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, off East Africa.

It's home to numerous beaches, coral reefs and nature reserves

Capital: Victoria

Currency: Seychellois rupee

World Polio Day

 World Polio Day is observed every year on 24 October to commemorate the birth of Jonas Salk, the American virologist who helped create the world’s first safe and effective polio vaccine.

Salk’s vaccine was invented in 1955 but it was with the establishment of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) in 1988 by the World Health Organization

polio has been successfully eradicated from most parts of the world, including India which achieved polio eradication in 2014.

India's foreign exchange reserves touch all time high of 555.12 billion dollars

 India's foreign exchange reserves touch all time high of 555.12 billion dollars

India's foreign exchange reserves have surged by 3.615  billion dollars to touch a fresh lifetime high of 555.12  billion dollars in the week ended 16th October.

Foreign currency assets, a major part of the overall reserves, increased by 3.539 billion dollars to 512.322 billion dollars.

Gold reserves went up by 86 million dollars in the reporting week to reach 36.685 billion dollars.

The country’s special drawing rights with the International Monetary Fund remained unchanged at 1.480 billion dollars; while reserve position with the IMF declined by 11 million dollars to 4.634 billion dollars.

Saad Hariri named as Lebanon PM

 Saad Hariri  named as Lebanon PM

Former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri has been tasked with forming his fourth government

Saad El-Din Rafik Al-Hariri is a Lebanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Lebanon from 2009 to 2011 and 2016 to 2020.

Lebanon, officially known as the Lebanese Republic, is a country in the Levant region of Western Asia.

It is bordered by Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus lies west across the Mediterranean Sea.  

Capital: Beirut

Continent: Asia

Currency: Lebanese pound
 
President: Michel Aoun

Principality of Andorra becomes IMF’s 190th Member

 Principality of Andorra becomes IMF’s 190th Member

The Principality of Andorra joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF) today when Ambassador Elisenda Vives Balmaña signed the IMF’s Articles of Agreement at a ceremony in Washington D.C. Andorra had applied for membership to the IMF in January 2020

Andorra is a tiny, independent principality situated between France and Spain in the Pyrenees mountains.

Capital: Andorra la Vella
Currency: Euro

Global Iodine Deficiency Disorders (IDD) Prevention Day

  Global Iodine Deficiency Disorders (IDD) Prevention Day or World Iodine Deficiency Day is observed every year on 21st October.

Iodine is an essential micronutrient required for normal thyroid function, growth, and development.

Iodine deficiency can lead to a variety of health and developmental consequences known as iodine deficiency disorders (IDDs).

Iodine deficiency is a major cause of preventable mental retardation. Iodine deficiency is especially damaging during pregnancy and in early childhood.

In their most severe forms, IDDs can lead to cretinism, stillbirth and miscarriage; even mild deficiency can cause a significant loss of learning ability.

 In August, 1992 the National Goitre Control Programme (NGCP) was renamed as National Iodine Deficiency Disorders Control Programme (NIDDCP) with the inclusion of wide spectrum of Iodine Deficiency Disorders(IDD)

World Statistics Day

 World Statistics Day

World Statistics Day is an international day to celebrate statistics. Created by the United Nations Statistical Commission, it was first celebrated on 20 October 2010.

The day is celebrated every five years.

As of 2010, 103 countries celebrate a national Statistics Day, including 51 African countries that jointly celebrate African Statistics Day annually on 18 November

India celebrates its statistics day on 29 June, the birthday of the statistician Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis

The Royal Statistical Society in the UK also launched its getstats statistical literacy campaign on the same day at 20:10 (on 20.10.2010)

Nozomi Okuhara won Women's Singles title at Denmark Open

Nozomi Okuhara won Women's Singles title at Denmark Open

former World Champion Nozomi Okuhara won the Denmark Open title beating three-time world champion Carolina Marin in women's singles in two games 21-19, 21-17.

In the men's singles final, world number seven Anders Antonsen of Denmark defeated his compatriot Rasmus Gemke by 18-21, 21-19, 21-12

n the mixed doubles, fourth seeds Mark Lamsfuss and Isabel Herttrich became the first German mixed doubles players to win a Super Series event after defeating Chris and Gabby Adcock of England in the final 18-21, 21-11, 21-14.
 
In an all-Japan women's doubles final, top seeds Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota downed second seeds Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara 21-10, 16-21, 21-18.
 
Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge of England defeated Russian pair Valdimir Ivanov and Ivan Sozonov 20-22, 21-17, 21-18, becoming the first England pair to clinch the title of men's doubles in the Denmark Open for 45 years.

 

International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

 International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is an international observance celebrated each year on October 17 throughout the world.

Through resolution 47/196 adopted on 22 December 1992, the General Assembly declared 17 October as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty and invited all States to devote the Day to presenting and promoting, as appropriate in the national context, concrete activities with regard to the eradication of poverty and destitution.

October 17th presents an opportunity to acknowledge the effort and struggle of people living in poverty, a chance for them to make their concerns heard, and a moment to recognize that poor people are the first ones to fight against poverty.

New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern's Labour Party registers landslide victory in general elections

 New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern's Labour Party registers landslide victory in general elections

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern won in New Zealand’s general elections.

With 87 per cent of the vote counted, Ardern’s Labour Party won a landslide victory with 49 per cent support, heading to its biggest share of the vote since the 1930s.

 The opposition National Party slumped to 27per cent.

Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern is a New Zealand politician who has served as the 40th prime minister of New Zealand and leader of the Labour Party since 2017.

First elected to the House of Representatives as a list MP in 2008, she has been the member of Parliament for Mount Albert since March 2017.

New Zealand is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses the North Island and the South Island  and around 600 smaller islands, covering a total area of 268,021 square kilometres

Capital: Wellington
Population: 48.9 lakhs (2018) World Bank
Continent: Oceania
Currency    :New Zealand dollar

 

World Food Day

World Food Day

World Food Day is an international day celebrated every year worldwide on 16 October to commemorate the date of the founding of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in 1945.

The day is celebrated widely by many other organizations concerned with hunger and food security, including the World Food Programme and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

WFP received the Nobel Prize in Peace for 2020 for their efforts to combat hunger, contribute to peace in conflict areas, and for playing a leading role in stopping the use of hunger in the form of a weapon for war and conflict

World Students' Day

 World Students' Day

World Students' Day is marked on Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam's birthday, 15 October.

In 2010 the United Nations declared 15 October "World Students' Day".

Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam was an Indian aerospace scientist  who served as the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007.

2020 Theme     "Learning for people, planet, prosperity, and peace"

World Standards Day

 World Standards Day

World Standards Day   is an international day celebrated internationally each year on 14 October.

The day honours the efforts of the thousands of experts who develop voluntary standards within standards development organizations such as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)  International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA), International Organization for Standardization (ISO), International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).

The aim of World Standards Day is to raise awareness among regulators, industry and consumers as to the importance of standardization to the global economy.

14 October was specifically chosen to mark the date, in 1946, when delegates from 25 countries first gathered in London and decided to create an international organization focused on facilitating standardization

2020 Eifel Grand Prix

 2020 Eifel Grand Prix

The 2020 Eifel Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 11 October 2020 at the Nürburgring in Nürburg, Germany.

It was the first Formula One race held at the Nürburgring since 2013.

 The race was the eleventh round of the 2020 Formula One World Championship and the first running in history of the Eifel Grand Prix

The race was won by Lewis Hamilton from second on the grid.

With the win he equalled Michael Schumacher's record for most Grand Prix wins.

World Arthritis Day

World Arthritis Day (WAD) was established in 1996 by Arthritis and Rheumatism International (ARI) to raise awareness of issues affecting people with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs).

 It is celebrated every year on 12th October.

the theme of the World Arthritis Day 2020 is “Time2Work”.

 

World Migratory Bird Day

 World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) is an awareness-raising campaign highlighting the need for the conservation of migratory birds and their habitats.

 It aims to draw attention to the threats faced by migratory birds, their ecological importance, and the need for international cooperation to conserve them.

International Migratory Bird Day is a conservation initiative that brings awareness on conserving migratory birds and their habitats throughout the Western Hemisphere.

This program is dedicated to international conservation efforts and environmental education in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean. Originated by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, it is now coordinated by Environment for the Americas

International Migratory Bird Day (IMBD) officially takes place on the second Saturday in May in the U.S. and Canada and on the second Saturday of October in Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean each year.

Recognizing that this date does not work well for all places or for the migratory birds themselves- sites host these programs at their convenience throughout the year.

Louise Glück won Nobel Prize for Literature

 Louise Glück won Nobel Prize for Literature

The 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to the US poet Louise Glück  

She is the first American to win the prestigious award since Bob Dylan was honored in 2016.

 Toni Morrison was the last American to receive the prize before him, winning in 1993.

Glück, the 16th woman to win the literature prize, has published 12 collections of poetry and several volumes of essays on poetry.

Gluck previously won the Pulitzer Prize in 1993 for her collection The Wild Iris, and the National Book Award in 2014.

World Post Day

 World Post Day

World Post day happens each year on October 9, the anniversary of the Universal Postal Union (UPU), which started in 1874 in Switzerland.

The UPU was the start of the global communications revolution, introducing the ability to write letter to others all over the world. World Post Day started in 1969.

Since then, countries all over the world take part in celebrations to highlight the importance of the postal service.

Post offices in some countries hold special stamp collection exhibitions; there are open days at postal measures and there are workshops on postal history.

The UPU organises an international letter writing competition for young people.

world Sight Day

 world Sight Day, observed annually on the second Thursday of October, is a global event meant to draw attention on blindness and vision impairment.

 It was originally initiated by the SightFirstCampaign of Lions Club International Foundation in 2000.

It has since been integrated into VISION 2020 and is coordinated by IAPB in cooperation with the World Health Organization.

theme 2020     Hope In Sight

 

World Cotton day

 The World Cotton day is celebrated on 7 October as a global celebration of cotton and its stakeholders, from field to fabric and beyond.

World Cotton Day will celebrate the many advantages of cotton, from its qualities as a natural fibre, to the benefits people obtain from its production, transformation, trade and consumption.

At the initiative of the Cotton-4 (Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali), the World Trade Organisation made the launch of World Cotton Day on 7 October 2019. The event is organised in collaboration with the Secretariats of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the International Trade Centre (ITC) and the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC).

World Space Week

World Space Week

World Space Week is an annual holiday observed from 4 to 10 October in over 95 nations throughout the world.

World Space Week is officially defined as "an international celebration of science and technology, and their contribution to the betterment of the human condition".

On December 6, 1999, The United Nations General Assembly declared World Space Week as an annual event celebration to be commemorated between October 4 and 10.

The choice of dates was based on recognition of two important dates in space history: the launch of the first human-made Earth satellite, Sputnik 1, on October 4, 1957; and the signing of the Outer Space Treaty on October 10, 1967

World Animal Day

 World Animal Day

World Animal Day is an international day of action for animal rights and welfare celebrated annually on October 4.

The mission of World Animal Day is "to raise the status of animals in order to improve welfare standards around the globe. Building the celebration of World Animal Day unites the animal welfare movement.

the first World Animal Day was organized on 24 March 1925 at the Sport Palace in Berlin, Germany. Over 5,000 people attended this first event.

SBI appointed Charanjit Attra as CFO

SBI appointed Charanjit Attra as CFO

The State Bank of India (SBI) has appointed Charanjit Singh Attra as its new Chief Financial Officer (CFO) with effect from 01 October 2020.

The post was lying vacant after the former Deputy MD & CFO Prashant Kumar, was appointed as the CEO of Yes Bank in March 2020.

C Venkat Nageshwar was serving the post on interim capacity.

Attra is a former Partner at global consulting firm EY India and had also served as the CFO at the ICICI Securities.

India and Bangladesh to set up monitoring committee to review project implementation

India and Bangladesh to set up monitoring committee to review project implementation

India and Bangladesh have agreed to set up a ‘High Level Monitoring Committee’  headed by the Secretary, Economic Relations Division of Bangladesh and High Commissioner of India in Bangladesh to regularly review the progress of implementation of projects being run with Line of Credit (Loc) provided by India.
 
The decision was taken during the 6th meeting of the Joint Consultative Commission (JCC) which was held on a virtual platform .

A Joint Statement on JCC was released by the External Affairs Ministry to highlight the important issues discussed during the meeting and decisions taken.

2nd edition of Indian, Bangladesh Navy Bilateral Exercise 'Bongosagar' scheduled to commence on Oct 3

 2nd edition of Indian, Bangladesh Navy Bilateral Exercise 'Bongosagar' scheduled to commence on Oct 3

The 2nd edition of Indian and Bangladesh Navy Bilateral Exercise Bongosagar is scheduled to commence in Northern Bay of Bengal tomorrow.

Exercise is aimed at developing interoperability and joint operational skills through conduct of a wide spectrum of maritime exercises and operations.

ships from both navies will participate in surface warfare drills, seamanship evolutions and helicopter operations.

This exercise will be followed by the 3rd edition of Indian and Bangladesh Navy  Coordinated Patrol in Northern Bay of Bengal from 4th to 5th October , wherein both the units will undertake joint patrolling along the International Maritime Boundary Line.

This edition of Exercise Bongosagar assumes greater significance since it is being conducted during Mujib Barsho, the 100th birth anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

International Coffee Day

International Coffee Day

International Coffee Day is an occasion that is used to promote and celebrate coffee as a beverage, with events now occurring in places across the world.

The first official date was 1 October 2015, as agreed by then International Coffee Organization and was launched in Milan.

 This day is also used to promote fair trade coffee and to raise awareness for the plight of the coffee growers

On this day, many businesses offer free or discounted cups of coffee.

film director Shekhar Kapur has been appointed as the president of the Film and Television Institute of India

 film director Shekhar Kapur has been appointed as the president of the prestigious Film and Television Institute of India (FTII)

Shekhar Kapur is an Indian film director, actor, and producer, known for his works in Hindi cinema and international cinema.

The Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) is an autonomous institute under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India and aided by the Central Government of India.

It is situated on the premises of the erstwhile Prabhat Film Company in Pune.

Since its beginning in 1960, FTII has become India's premier film and television institute, with its alumni becoming technicians, actors and directors in the film and television industry.

FTII is a member of the International Liaison Centre of Schools of Cinema and Television (CILECT), an organisation of the world's leading schools of film and television