# Union Government directs car makers to declare emission details of every vehicle
# Indian Railways has declared the Okha-Kanalus (141 Kms) and Porbandar-Wansjaliya (34 Kms) sections of Gujarat in Western Railway as the Green Train Corridors (installation of bio-toilets in all coaches)
- 114-km stretch in Tamil Nadu between Rameswaram and Manamadurai had been identified as a Human Waste Discharge Free Train Corridor and was formally inaugurated as the first green corridor in July this year.
# Central Government has announced opening of at least one Krishi Vigyan Kendra in all districts of the country
# First ever Global Conference to Strengthen Arbitration and Enforcement in India begins today in New Delhi
- Chief Justices of six countries are participating at the first ever Global Conference on Arbiration in India to share their thoughts
# Ministry of Tourism launched the Implementation of the Sustainable Tourism Criteria for India (STCI) in association with Ecotourism Society of India (ESOI)
# Union Home Minister, Mr. Rajnath Singh will chair the 22nd Meeting of the Western Zonal Council in Mumbai today (Oct 21, 2016)
- 21st Meeting of the Western Zonal Council was held at Panaji (Sep 2015)
- Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi chaired the Inter-State Council Meeting in New Delhi (Jul 2016)
# Ministry of State for Culture and Tourism, Dr. Mahesh Sharma released a publication on International Conference on Indus Saraswati Civilization in New Delhi
# US asks India to liberalise retail, financial services
# Telangana: State Cabinet to discuss Krishna Water Tribunal Verdict
# West Bengal: All Singur farmers to get back their land by Nov 10
# Fire at Sivakasi shop kills 8
# Ex - IAS Officer, Mr. R. Christodas Gandhi said sorry for his remark on Thanthi TV debate; he said that, he will slap Lord Rama with Slippers
# Tamil Nadu leads in selling of power (electricity) mainly to Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka
# TANGEDCO floats tender for 500 MW solar power
# After DMK, now it is the run of PWF leaders to meet President, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee on the Cauvery River Row
# Iraq: ISIS leaves the City of Mosul
# Pakistan: Supreme Court issued notice to Prime Minister, Mr. Nawaz Sharif in Panama Papers case
# UK: Will continue to play a full role in EU till we leave - Prime Minister, Ms. Theresa May
# USA: Third and Final round of debate of Presidential candidates; Democratic nominee, Ms. Hillary Clinton leads the race
# As per the forecast by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), India will become the third largest aviation market in the world displacing the UK by 2026
- China will displace the US as the world’s largest aviation market around 2029
# No member country hs sought long - standing issues, including food security - relatedd, to be taken off the negotiating table of the Doha round: WTO Chief, Mr. Roberto Azevedo
# Kochi (Kerala) becomes the first Indian city to be officially declared as one of the venues for hosting the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup
# Indian woman wrestler Geeta Phogat was appointed as a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) in Haryana Police by Haryana Government
# The Indian Boxing Council, a licensing body for the country’s professional boxers, has been inducted into the World Boxing Organisation with voting rights in the WBO’s annual convention at Puerto Rico.
# Indian football team acchieved its best FIFA ranking in over six years; it is now placed at 137th place; jumpedd 11 places after it defeated Puerto Rico in an international friendly in Mumbai
# Noted British statistician Sir David Cox was named the inaugural recipient of the International Prize in Statistics. He is honoured for Survival Analysis Model Applied in Medicine, Science, and Engineering.
# Qualcomm announces the world’s first 5G Modem, called the Snapdragon X50
# Book "From Darkness towrds the Light" by Union Finance Minister, Mr. Arun Jaitley (his selective speeches and articles)
# Oct 21: Police Commemoration Day
Date: Oct 16, 2016
(01) Name the LWE or Maoist affected States in India (as per Union Home Ministry Report)
(02) Name the three stamps (what pictures) issued at first by India in 1947
(03) Indian Railways in UNESCO World Heritage Site lists
(04) United Nations designated the __ as World Tsunami Awareness Day.
(05) National Rail Museum is located in the cities of
Date: Oct 17, 2016
(01) Host country for World Environment Day 2016 is
(02) India's first National Security Advisor is
(03) Who is appointed as the chief of NSAB (National Security Advisory Board)
(04) Author of the boook "The Ministry of Utmost Happiness" is
(05) Maitree Volleyball Cup match is played between the countries of India and ____
Date: Oct 18, 2016
(01) Author of the Book "Modi's Midas Touch in Foreign Policy" is
(02) World Post Day is observed on
(03) The first country in the world to ban plastic cups and plates with effect from 2020 is
(04) Who led the high level technical team to visit the Cauvery River basins of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu?
(05) The First airport in India to go all solar in 2015 was
Kochi International Airport
Date: Oct 19, 2016
(01) The Two Indian Prime Ministers who not attended the Non Aligned Movement (NAM) so far are
(02) The Pakistani American who became the first Muslim Federal Judge of USA
(03) India became ____ country to ratify Paris Deal on Oct 02, 2016
(04) INS Arihant is capable of carrying nuclear tripped ballistic missiles, the class referred as SSBN. What is full form of SSBN?
(05) BRICS 2017 Summit will be held in
Date: Oct 20, 2016
(01) World Bank has pledged 2 billion US dollars aid to tackle climate change to the country of
(02) 2017 world athletics championships will be held in
(03) Government constituted seven-member expert committee that said that the Saraswati River was not mythical and it existed was headed by
(04) Theme of BRICS 2016 was
(05) Centre has constituted a four-member Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) under the Chairmanship of
Date: Oct 21, 2016
(01) Which Commission / Committee on Centre - State Relations made a strong case for the establishment of a permanent Inter - State Council under Art. 263 of the Constitution?
(02) Inter State Council was established in the year of
(03) Who is the Chairman of the Zonal Councils?
(04) "Supreme Court held that the proclamation of a National Emergency can be challenged in a court on the ground of a malafide or that the declaration was based on wholly extraneous and irrelevant facts ot is absurd or perverse". Which case judgement is this?
(05) Under which Article, Vice - President to act as President or to discharge functions?
Date: Oct 22, 2016
(01) What is the name of the joint tactical exercise, between Indian and China was recently held in Ladakh in Oct 2016?
(02) BRICS Friendship Cities Conclave 2016 was held in the City of
(03) RBI will administer the Sovereign gold bonds on through this e-portal. Name of this e-portal is
(04) On the occasion of the 96th birth anniversary of __________ Bharathiya Mahila Bank was launched in 2013?
(05) National summit on innovation and technology 2016 was held at
For More Questions...
# In a major initiative, railway stations and adjoining areas will be redeveloped on Smart City lines for enhancing passenger amenities
- MoU was signed between the Ministry of Urban Development and Ministry of Railways
- At first 100 railway stations across the nation will be developedd
- Presently, railway stations in 10 cities could be taken up for the redevelopment with the involvement of the National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC)
- 10 cities are: Varanasi, Sarai Rohilla (Delhi), Bhubaneswar, Lucknow, Jaipur, Kota, Thane, Margao(Goa), Tirupati and Puducherry
- redevelopment of railway stations will be undertaken in AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) and HRIDAY (Heritage Infrastructure Development and Augmentation Yojana) cities extending the scope of the MoU to over 500 cities
# Union Ministers, Ms. Smriti Irani and Mr. D. V. Sadananda Gowda have been dropped from the Inter - State Council (ISC)
- Union Ministers, Mr. Prakash Javadekar has been included in the new Council
- ISC was established in 1990 with a mandate to act as a coordinating body between the States and the Centre
# Union Government has formally granted a licence to BP Plc to set up 3500 petrol pumps in India
- It was granted licence to market Motor Spirit (petrol) and High Speed Diesel (diesel).
- With this, BP became the 10th company to enter the fuel retailing sector.
# Chief Election Commissioner, Dr. Nazim Zaidi inaugurated two-day International Conference on ‘Voter Education for Inclusive, Informed and Ethical Participation’ at New Delhi
- Titled as "New Delhi Declaration on Voter Education"
# Idea of compulsory voting was not found to be practical in India: CEC, Dr. Nasim Zaidi
# Indian Navy commissioned the highly manoeuvrable fast attack craft INS Tihayu at the Eastern Naval Command (on Oct 19, 2016)
# Union Power Minister Mr. Piyush Goyal, laid the foundation stone for Atal Akshay Urja Bhawan (HQ building for the Ministry of New & Renewable) Energyin New Delhi
- The building has been named after former Prime Minister of India,Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, as he laid the foundation stone for the Wind Turbine Testing Station of the National Institute of Wind Energy at Kayathar, Thoothukudi District, Tamil Nadu on 5th September, 2000.
# Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) launches ‘e-integrity pledges’ for common people and private sector employees
# Government had nor role in the move to boycott Pakistani artistes or interfered with Indian film makers who hire them, but there is an atmosphere of anger at Pakistan in India and people from all waks of life have to be mindful about it: Ulnion Information and Broadcasting Minister, Mr. Venkaiah Naidu
# The Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal II, headed by Just Brijesh Kumar has decided to confine the reallocation of Krishna Water to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana
# Supreme Court reserves its order on Cauvery river dispute appeals
# Enforcement Directorate submitted before a Special Court in New Delhi said that charges on the ground of suspicion could be framed in the money laundering case against former Union Minister for Communications, Mr. Dayanidhi Maran
# India, Myanmar signed 3 MoUs including Cooperation in the field of Power Sector
# Indian and Chinese armies held Second Joint Exercise “Sino India Cooperation 2016” in Ladakh
# India and Russia reached an agreement on the lease of a second nuclear submarine; India had earlier leased an Akula - II class attack submarine for 10 years
# Delhi: Zoo has been closed temporarily after some birds died from suspected avian influenza (H5N1)
# Maharashtra: Government launched ‘Kaushalya Setu’ skill development programme for students
# Acting Governor, Mr. Vidyasagar Rao has promulgated two ordinances to amend laws relating to rural and urban local bodies in the state for the appointment of special officers to discharge functions of elected representatives until newly elected representatives take over after the civic polls are held
# Tamil Nadu had witnessed 1752 dengue cases this year (3.4% of total number of cases reported in the country): State Health Secretary, Mr. J. Radhakrishnan IAS
# Madurai Bench of Madras High Court said that, SBI can't seize farmers' tractors
# Farmers in Tirunelveli urged the Dt. Collector, Mr. M. Karunakaran to stop planting of eucalyptus trees (one of the raw materials for manufacturing newsprint) on over 1000 acres of land belonging to Swami Nellaiyappar Gandhimathi Ambal Temple in Nanguneri Taluk; farmers said that, this move would wipe out grasslands
# AIADMK retained its candidates for Aravakurichi and Thanjavur Constituencies; while it announced the candidate for Tiruparankundram by-poll too; PMK to contest polls in all the three constituencies
# Saudi Arabian Prince Turki bin Saud al-Kabir was executed in October 2016 for shooting a man, Adel al-Mohaimeed, dead. He Prince shot the man during a brawl three years ago in the capital Riyadh.
- As per a report, he became the 134th person to be put to death in 2016
# Pakistan: to enforce complete ban on Indian TV contents
# Philippines: Typhoon Sarika; also in China and Vietnam
# No decision yet on GST rates as States oppose cess
# RBI asks banks to replace 17.5 lakh debit cards
# Bengaluru FC becomes the 1st Indian club to reach the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup final
# Ex-billiards world champion Michael Ferreira taken into custody in connection with Ponzi scam
# International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is all set to declare the Kashmiri Red Stag, also known as Hangul, a Critically Endangered species
# Book "Driven: The Virat Kohli Story" authored by Vijay Lokapally
# Kigeli V Ndahindurwa, the last king of Rwanda, passed away
# South African struggle icon and Gandhian activist Mewa Ramgobin passed away
# Mr. Amandeep Singh Gill appointed as India's Ambassador to UN Conference on Disarmament, Geneva
# Prime Minister, Mr.Narendra Modi launched the National SC/ST hub, and the Zero Defect, Zero Effect (ZED) scheme for MSMEs at Ludhiana in Punjab
- He also presented National Awards to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
- He distributed 500 traditional wooden charkhas (spinning wheels) among women.
# Prime Minister, Mr. dedicated to the nation three hydropower projects – namely, Koldam, Parbati and Rampur (all in Himachal Pradesh)
# Supreme Court tells Karnataka to continue releasing 2000 cusecs per day to Tamil Nadu till further orders
- Court also warned the States of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to maintain the law and order situation and said that it will not tolerate any acts of violence from its citizens over the Cauvery Water Dispute
# Mr. Virendra Kumar Malhotra is the new Chief of ICSSR (Indian Council of Social Science Research)
# Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi saluted the Army for its recent surgical strikes along the LoC in Kashmir and said the action had won it worldwide accolades
# CBI charged that the former Union Minister for Communications, Mr. Dayanidhi Maran had delayed approval of licenses to Aircel to pressure it to transfer the ownership to Malaysian company Maxis; CBI also allegedd that the Minister had done this to get money for Sun Direct TV, owned by his brother, Mr. Kalanidhi Maran who is also one of the accused in the case
# 10th India-United States Trade Policy Forum (TPF) in New Delhi (Oct 19 - 20, 2016)
# India to lend a helping hand to Myanmar's reconciliation efforts
# Manipur: activist Irom Sharmila Chanu forms political party “People’s Resurgence and Justice Alliance”
# Odisha: has decided to roll out biometrics authentication for receiving food grains for beneficiaries of National Food Security Act (NFSA) from January 2017
# In a major relief, the Supreme Court allowed the TANGEDCO and BHEL to go ahead with the construction of the 2 * 600 MW Ennore SEZ Supercritical Thermal Power Plant; Supreme Court was also critical of the Madras High Court's judgement that favoured the Chinese company
# Finance Minister, Mr. O. Panneerselvam (who also looks the portfolio of Chief Minister, Ms. J. Jayalalithaa) will chair a cabinet meeting today
# Income Tax department conducted raids at the premises of Pothys Private Ltd, a firm that runs a chain of textile showrooms in South India
# Sixteen countries participated in the 5th Physical Agility and Combat Efficiency System military exercises began on October 18, 2016 in Lahore
- Nepal, United Kingdom, Kazakhstan, China, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Maldives, Bahrain, Australia, USA, Turkey, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Turkey and Pakistan.
# ISIS loses ground around Mosul, Iraq
# Chinese plant's failure causes nationwide power cut in Sri Lanka
# India’s Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme praised at OECD conference on anti-corruption in Paris
# Centre has proposed a four-slab rate structure for the Goods & Services Tax, ranging from 0% to 26%
# Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal was appointed as a member of the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Athletes' Commission.
- The Athletes' Commission is chaired by Angela Ruggiero and it comprises nine vice presidents and 10 other members.
- A rare honour for Indian Sportpersons
# Indian shuttler Sourabh Verma won the Men's Singles title at the Chinese Open Badminton
# ATP Rankings: - (1) Novak Djokovic (2) Andy Murray (3) Stan Wawarinka (4) Milos Raonic (5) Kei Nishikori
# India became the first country to play 900 ODIs.
# The Maharajas’ Express, the world’s most luxurious train owned and operated by Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), received the 2016 Seven Star Luxury Hospitality and Lifestyle Awards at Marbella in Spain.
# Robert De Niro to award with 44th annual Chaplin Award at the annual Chaplin Award gala announced by The Film Society of Lincoln Center
# Scientists have developed a new world-first optical sensor that could quickly detect vitamin B12 deficiency, a condition linked to an increased risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
# According to data provided by the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), under the United States’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the month of September 2016 was the hottest September on record.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Nepal's Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal met on the sidelines of the BRICS-BIMSTEC Outreach Summit in Goa, marking the first such trilateral meeting between leaders of the three countries.
The three leaders discussed issues of common interests during the 20-minute meeting, according to Prakash Dahal, son of the Nepalese PM.
During the talks, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who is also known as Prachanda, recalled how he had emphasized on the need of a strategic under standing between Nepal, India and China during his earlier term as the prime minister of Nepal, people aware of development said.
“Nepal lies in between two giant neighbours--India and China. We wish to reap benefits of this geographical speciality by working as a dynamic bridge between the two countries,“ Prachanda is understood to have said at Sunday's meeting. Modi and Xi are learnt to have welcomed the proposal.
Prachanda also said Nepal wants to establish balanced, friendly and strategic relationships with both the neighbours for itself to reach its development goal.
The theme was terrorism all the way at the Brics summit meeting as PM Narendra Modi used the forum to keep up his attack on Pakistan, describing it as the “mothership“ of terrorism that posed a direct threat to the “eco prosperity“ of the region.
With India labelling Pakistan a terrorist state in the wake of the attack on the Army camp at Uri, Modi has used multilateral forums like the G-20 meeting at Hangzhou and the ASEAN conclave in Laos to target Pakistan's support for terrorism. “Tragically , its (terrorism) mother ship is a country in India's neighbourhood,“ Modi said in the presence of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Pakistan's long-standing ally, at a restricted BRICS meeting. Like at Hangzhou and Laos, where he accused “one country“ of spreading terrorism, PM Modi stopped just short of directly naming Pakistan.
“We agreed that those who nurture, shelter, support and sponsor forces of violence and terror are as much a threat to us as the terrorists themselves,“ Modi said, as he insisted there was unanimity within BRICS on the issue of terrorism. But the Chinese articulation was more muted.
Speaking during the plenary session, Xi said it was imperative to step up coordination on major international issues, “regional hot spots“ and find a political solution to these. Interestingly , Chinese reports on Modi-Xi meeting did not contain any reference to counter-terrorism.
Modi's words of admonition spilled over to the BRICS outreach with BIMSTEC countries in the evening when he said that in south Asia and BIMSTEC, all nations barring one were motivated to pursue a path of peace, development and economic prosperity for their people. BIMSTEC, the Bay of Bengal Initiative for MultiSectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation, brings together Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal.
While the Goa Declaration issued after the BRICS summit did not mention cross-border terrorism mainly due to China's resistance, it contained some significant differences from previous outcome documents. It noted the responsibility of all states to prevent terrorist activities in their territories. And importantly , in the context of India's surgical strikes across the Line of Control, it listed dismantling of terrorist bases among measures needed for a comprehensive approach to fighting terrorism. The document also noted that “political“ causes were not acceptable reasons to condone terror.
MEA secretary (economic relations) Amar Sinha, who coordinates diplomacy relating to BRICS, said India was satisfied with the outcome document even though the group couldn't arrive at a consensus on naming Pakistan-based terror groups like Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba. In the context of international issues like climate change, terrorism and natural disasters, Xi called for a multi-pronged approach which sought to address “both symptoms and root causes“. Sinha, however, said he did not believe Xi was referring to root causes of terrorism.
As the host, Modi had the last word when he said in his closing remarks that combating terrorism, including cross-border terrorism and its supporters, would be a key BRICS priority .
