| The theme of Rashtriya Ekta Diwas observed on 31 October 2016 | Integration of India |
| The Indo-Nepal Joint Military Exercise which is being held at Army Battle School, Saljhandi, Nepal from 31 Oct to 13 Nov is named | Surya Kiran-X |
| The veteran Indian cricketer who has been named the Stroke Ambassador for India at the 10th World Stroke Congress by the Indian Stroke Association | Sunil Gavaskar |
| The Yazidi human rights activists who have been chosen for the 2016 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought by the European Parliament | Nadia Murad Basee and Lamiya Aji Bashar |
| The state which has become the second state in the country to be declared open defecation free after Sikkim | Himachal Pradesh |
| The US writer who has become the first from his country to be awarded the Man Booker Prize for his racial satire The Sellout | Paul Beatty |
| The official mascot for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia unveiled by FIFA is named (The mascot is a wolf designed by Ekaterina Bocharova) | Zabivaka |
| The comic character who has been appointed United Nations’ honorary ambassador in support of the UN’s sustainable development goal number five – "to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls" | Wonder Woman |
| The Portuguese professional football player (midfielder for Bayern Munich club) who has been chosen for the 2016 European Golden Boy Award | Renato Sanches |
| The micro satellite launched by China from the experimental space lab Tiangong-2 to take photographs of Tiangong-2 and the Shenzhou 11 spacecraft is named | Banxing-2 |
| The fourth edition of the India-Sri Lanka Joint Military Exercise being conducted at Sinha Regimental Centre in Ambepussa, Sri Lanka from 24 October to 06 November 2016 is named | Mitra Shakti 2016 |
| The rank of Indian football team (the best in 6 years) in latest rankings released by FIFA, the list is topped by Argentina, Germany and Brazil | 137 |
| The state which has launched Kausalya Setu, a skill development programme for Class 10 failed students | Maharashtra |
| The prominent British statistician who has been chosen for the first International Prize in Statistics by the International Prize in Statistics Foundation for his well-known Cox Model used in the analysis of survival data | Sir David Cox |
| The automobile company which has unveiled India's first indigenous circuit electric bus at its corporate office in Chennai | Ashok Leyland |
| The political party launched by human rights activist Irom Sharmila is named | Peoples Resurgence and Justice Alliance (PRJA) |
| The state in which the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has dedicated three hydro power stations - Kol Dam, Parvati Project and Rampur Hydro Station to the Nation | Himachal Pradesh |
| The day long exercise on Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief (HADR) held by Indian and Chinese armies in Ladakh under the provisions of Border Defense Cooperation Agreement, 2013 | Sino India Cooperation 2016 |
| The second of the four follow-on Water Jet Fast Attack Craft (FO-WJFAC) (named after an island in the Nicobar group) which was commissioned into the Indian Navy at Visakhapatnam | INS Tihayu |
| The committee which has submitted its report to the Union Water Resources Ministry concluding that Saraswati River so far considered mythical, actually existed was headed by | KS Valdiya |
| The city in Madhya Pradesh where the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated a war memorial Shaurya Stambh | Bhopal |
| The rank of India in the 2016 Global Hunger Index released by the International Food Policy Research Institute recently | 97th |
| King Bhumibol Adulyadej of the Chakri Dynasty, the world's longest serving head of state (having served for over 70 years), who passed away on 13 October 2016 was the king of | Thailand |
| The city in Jammu and Kashmir where the Union Cabinet has approved setting up of an Indian Institute of Management | Jammu |
| The country which has won the first BRICS U-17 Football tournament held in Goa defeating South Africa in the finals | Brazil |
| The city in which India's first international arbitration centre was inaugurated by Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis | Mumbai |
| The public sector undertaking which has appointed Indian badminton star P.V. Sindhu as its brand ambassador | Vizag Steel |
| The high altitude research station established by the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Reseach (NCAOR) Goa in Spiti, Himachal Pradesh to better study and quantify the Himalayan glacier responses towards the climate change is named | Himansh |
| The airport which has been conferred with IBC award and Trophy for excellence in built environment in infrastructure projects at the 21st Annual Convention Inaugural function held in New Delhi | Chandigarh International Airports Limited (CHIAL) |
| The former Portuguese Prime Minister who has been formally selected by the United Nations Security Council to be the next Secretary General succeeding Ban Ki-moon next year | Antonio Guterres |
| The theme of the first World Sustainable Development Summit 2016 being held from 05 to 08 October at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi (The 2016 'Sustainable Development Leadership Award' during the summit was conferred upon the Sikkim CM Shri Pawan Chamling) | Beyond 2015: People, Planet & Progress |
| The Professor at Ashoka University, Haryana who has been awarded the 2016 John F. Richards Prize by American Historical Association for her book Ashoka in Ancient India | Nayanjot Lahiri |
| The former chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation who has become the first Indian to be inducted into the inducted into the 2016 IAF Hall of Fame by the International Aeronautical Federation (IAF). | Prof U.R. Rao |
| The public sector bank which has become the first Indian bank to open a branch in Yangon, capital of Myanmar | State bank of India |
| The Indian wildlife Film-maker and elephant researcher who has been appointed Chevalier de l'Ordre National du Mérite (Knight in the National Order of Merit), one of the highest civilian recognitions of the French government | Prajna Chowta |
| The state in which the first BRICS U-17 football tournament was inaugurated by Union Minister of State (I/C) Youth Affairs and Sports Shri Vijay Goel | Goa |
| The Chief Guest at 2017 Republic Day celebrations as announced by the Ministry of External Affairs, GoI | Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan |
| The tributary of River Brahmaputra which has been blocked by China owing to construction of Lalho hydro-electric project on it | Xiabuqu River |
| The state which has become the first in the country implement Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) in Kerosene in four identified districts | Jharkhand (in Chatra, Hazaribagh, Khunti and Jantara dists) |
| The two Indian states which have become the first in the country to be declared ODF (Open Defecation Free) in urban areas on 02 October 2016 | Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat |
Established by : United Nations General Assembly
First Observed in: 1991
Established by : United Nations General Assembly
First Observed in: 2007
Established by : United Nations General Assembly
Theme: Housing at the Centre
First Observed in: 1986
Established by : United Nations General Assembly
Theme: Remote Sensing - Enabling our future
First Observed in: 2000
Established by : UNESCO
Theme: Valuing Teachers, Improving their Status
First Observed in: 1994
Established by : Universal Postal Union
Theme: Innovation, Integration and Inclusion
First Observed in: 1969
Established by : World Health Organisation
Theme: Psychological first aid
First Observed in: 1992
Established by : United Nations General Assembly
Theme: Girls' Progress = Goals' Progress: What Counts for Girls
First Observed in: 2012
Established by : United Nations General Assembly
Theme: Live To Tell: Raising Awareness, Reducing Mortality
First Observed in: 2010
Established by : International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness
Theme: Stronger Together
First Observed in: 2000
Established by : United Nations General Assembly
First Observed in: 2008
Established by : Food and Agriculture Organisation
Theme: Climate is changing. Food and agriculture must too
First Observed in: 1980
Established by : United Nations General Assembly
Theme: Moving from humiliation and exclusion to participation: Ending poverty in all its forms
First Observed in: 1993
The day marks the coming into effect of the UN Charter (the founding document of UNO) in 1945.
UN Day Concert was held at United Nations General Assembly Hall to celebrate and reflect on the work of the UN through the universal language of music, featuring the Hungarian State Opera with performances by soprano Andrea Rost and other notable artists. The theme of this year's concert is Freedom First.
Launch date: 05 Oct 2016
Launched from: Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana
Launched aboard: Ariane 5 ECA
GSAT-18 is India's latest communication satellite. Weighing 3404 kg at lift-off, GSAT-18 carries 48 communication transponders to provide Services in Normal C-band, Upper Extended C-band and Ku-bands of the frequency spectrum. GSAT-18 carries Ku-band beacon as well to help in an accurately pointing ground antennas towards the satellite. After its injection into GTO, ISRO's Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan took control of GSAT-18 and performed the initial orbit raising maneuvers using the Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) of the satellite, placing it in circular Geostationary Orbit. The designed in-orbit operational life of GSAT-18 is about 15 years.
| # | Venue | Winner | Man of the Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Dharamsala | India | Hardik Pandya |
| 2. | Delhi | NZ | Kane Williamson |
| 3. | Mohali | India | Virat Kohli |
| 4. | Ranchi | NZ | Martin Guptill |
| 5. | Visakhapatnam | India | Amit Mishra |
| Player of the Series - Amit Mishra | |||
Observed on 28 Oct 2016 on the occasion of Dhanwantari Jayanti.
Theme of the day: Madhumeh Mission.
National Dhanwantari Ayurved Awards
NITI Aayog has launched an index to rank States and UTs that is based on implementation of seven provisions proposed under model APMC Act, joining eNAM initiative, special treatment to fruits and vegetables for marketing and level of taxes in mandis.
The Index is named as "Agricultural Marketing and Farmer Friendly Reforms Index" and it has a score which can have minimum value 0 implying no reforms and maximum value 100 implying complete reforms in the selected areas. States and UTs have been ranked in terms of the score of the index.
| # | State | Score | # | State | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Maharashtra | 81.7 | 25. | Tamil Nadu | 17.7 |
| 2. | Gujarat | 71.5 | 26. | Meghalaya | 14.3 |
| 3. | Rajasthan | 70 | 27. | Lakshadweep | 7.4 |
| 4. | Madhya Pradesh | 69.5 | 28 | J & K | 7.4 |
| 5. | Haryana | 63.3 | 29. | Delhi UT | 7.3 |
| 6. | Himachal Pradesh | 59.5 | 30. | Puducherry | 4.8 |
The World Bank’s annual Doing Business 2017 report released recently recognizes India’s achievements in implementing reforms in four of its ten indicators – Trading Across Borders, Getting Electricity, Enforcing Contracts and Paying Taxes. This is the first time in its history that India has been recognized for improvement in four indicators.
The Doing Business report ranks countries on the basis of Distance to Frontier, an absolute score that measures the gap between India and the global best practice. India’s absolute score improved from 53.93 to 55.27 in the previous year.
Reforms Recognized by World Bank
UDAN launched by the Civil Aviation Minister Shri P Ashok Gajapathi Raju is an innovative scheme to develop the regional aviation market. The scheme UDAN envisages providing connectivity to un-served and under-served airports of the country through revival of existing air-strips and airports. The scheme would be in operation for a period of 10 years.
UDAN has a unique market-based model to develop regional connectivity. Interested airline and helicopter operators can start operations on hitherto un-connected routes by submitting proposals to the Implementing Agency. The operators could seek a Viability Gap Funding (VGF) apart from getting various concessions. All such route proposals would then be offered for competitive bidding through a reverse bidding mechanism and the route would be awarded to the participant quoting the lowest VGF per Seat. The operator submitting the original proposal would have the Right of First Refusal on matching the lowest bid in case his original bid is within 10% of the lowest bid. The successful bidder would then have exclusive rights to operate the route for a period of three years. Such support would be withdrawn after a three year period, as by that time, the route is expected to become self-sustainable.
The selected airline operator would have to provide a minimum of 9 and a maximum of 40 UDAN Seats ( subsidized rates )on the UDAN Flights for operations through fixed wing aircraft and a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 13 Seats on the Flights for operations through helicopters. On each such route, the minimum frequency would be three and maximum of seven departures per week. Route networks would also be encouraged under the scheme to achieve economies of scale and optimal usage of aircraft.
The fare for a one hour journey of appx. 500 km on a fixed wing aircraft or for a 30 minute journey on a helicopter would now be capped at Rs. 2,500, with proportionate pricing for routes of different stage lengths / flight duration.
Venue: The Arena (stadium), Ahmedabad.
Held from 07 Oct to 22 Oct 2016.
Winners: India (Captain - Anup Kumar).
Runners-up: Iran (Captain - Meraj Sheykh)
Participants: 12 (Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, Iran, Japan, Kenya, Poland, South Korea, Thailand, Argentina, United States.
197 countries including India signed an agreement to amend the Montreal Protocol in Kigali, Rwanda.
The agreement aims to phase out the use of hydrofluorocarbon or (HFC) gases, primarily found in air conditioners.
In the agreement, the countries have consented to reduce the use of HFCs by about 85% of their baselines by 2045.
The agreement binds India to reduce the use of HFC gasses by 10 per cent by 2032, while developed countries have to start making reductions by 2019. In exchange to this, India has agreed to a 'freeze year' of 2028 by when its HFC use cannot grow any further.
Since HFCs have several thousand times capacity in retaining heat in the atmosphere compared to carbon dioxide (CO2), this step has the potential to prevent a rise of about 0.5 degrees Celsius in global temperatures by the end of the century. No other intervention comes even close in terms of returns offered, ease of implementation, or cost impacts.
The Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol is legally binding and will come into force from January 1, 2019.
| # | Field | Winners | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Medicine | Yoshinori Ohsumi | for his discoveries of mechanisms for autophagy. |
| 2. | Chemistry | Jean-Pierre Sauvage | for the design and synthesis of molecular machines. |
| Sir J. Fraser Stoddart | |||
| Bernard L. Feringa | |||
| 3. | Physics | David J. Thouless | for theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter. |
| F. Duncan M. Haldane | |||
| J. Michael Kosterlitz | |||
| 4. | Literature | Bob Dylan (U.S.A.) | For having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition. |
| 5. | Peace | Juan Manuel Santos (Columbia) | for his resolute efforts to bring the country's more than 50-year-long civil war to an end |
| 6. | Economic Sciences | Oliver Hart and Bengt Holmstrom | for their contributions to contract theory. |
Akademi Fellow: C.V. Chandrasekhar for Bharat Natyam
| Krishna Bisht | Hindustani Music (Vocal) |
| Mashkoor Ali Khan | Hindustani Music (Vocal) |
| Kartick Kumar | Hindustani Music (Sitar) |
| Brij Narayan | Hindustani Music (Sarod) |
| R. N. Thyagarajan & R. N. Tharanathan (Joint Award) | Carnatic Music (Vocal) |
| Suguna Varadhachari | Carnatic Music (Vocal) |
| Lalgudi G.J.R. Krishnan | Carnatic Music (Violin) |
| Mamalam M.K. Siva | Carnatic Music (Nagaswaram) |
| Bhupinder Singh | Other Major Traditions of Music (Sugam Sangeet) |
| Hridyanath Mangeshkar | Other Major Traditions of Music (Sugam Sangeet) |
| Prafulla Kar | Other Major Traditions of Music (Sugam Sangeet) |
| Ranganayaki Jayaraman | Bharatnatyam |
| K. Kunhiraman Nair | Kathakali |
| G. Padmaja Reddy | Kuchipudi |
| Aloka Kanungo | Odissi |
| Sharodi Saikia | Sattriya |
| Mandakini Trivedi | Mohiniattam |
| Sadashiva Pradhan | Chhau |
| W. Lokendrajit Singh | Contemporary /Expeimental Dance |
| Rajkumar Bharathi | Music for Dance |
| Nand Kishore Acharya | Theatre (Playwriting) |
| Shafaat Khan | Theatre (Playwriting) |
| Parvez Akhtar | Theatre (Direction) |
| Mushtaq Kak | Theatre (Direction) |
| Manoj N. Joshi | Theatre (Acting) |
| Himani Shivpuri | Theatre (Acting) |
| Pradeep Mulye | Theatre (Allied Theatre - Scenic Design) |
| Sarojini Nangiaramma | Major Traditions of Theatre (Kutiyattam) |
| Rani Balbir Kaur | Overall Contribution/Scholarships (Theatre) |
| Khuman Lal Saav | Folk Music (Chhatisgarh) |
| Ramchandra Singh | Folk Theatre (Bihar) |
| Khem Raj | Folk Dance (Jammu & Kashmir) |
| S. R. D. Prasad | Martial Arts (Kerala) |
| Chhaya & Maya Khutegaonkar (Joint Award) | Lavani (Maharashtra) |
| Gangmei Aluna Kabuini | Traditional Dance & Music (Manipur) |
| Paramjit Singh Sidhu | Folk Music (Punjab) |
| Sayeed Sabri Jaipuri | Qawwali (Rajasthan) |
| K. K. Ramachandra Pulavar | Puppetry |
| T. N. Sankaranathan | Puppetry |
| Shanta Gokhale | Performing Arts (Overall contribution) |
| Chaman Lal Ahuja | Performing Arts (Overall contribution) |
Modi's Midas Touch in Foreign Policy written by Ambassador Surendra Kumar
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness written by Arundhati Roy
1. With which of the following fields was Yusuf Arakkal, who passed away recently, associated?
2. Which country recently became the first in the world to ban disposable plastic cups and plates?
3. Which State recently reorganised and increased the number of districts from 10 to 31?
4. Antonio Guterres, who will be taking over as the new Secretary General of the United Nations belongs to which country?
5. With which of the following sports is Neeraj Goyat associated?
6. The airport in which of the following cities has become the second eco-friendly airport in the country, after Kochi?
7. Recently Rosneft Oil Co acquired Essar Oil. Rosneft is a company based in
8. India’s first roll-on roll-off passenger ferry (Ro Pax) service is expected to be launched between Ghogha (Bhavnagar district) and Dahej (Bharuch) in Gujarat by April next year. The service will pass through
9. HE-MRO Pvt Ltd, a joint venture of HAL and Safran Helicopter Engines (SafranHE), was inaugurated by the Defence Minister at Sattari District, North Goa recently. Safran Helicopter Engines is a company based in -
10. Which country recently unveiled the first image of its nuclear missile called the RS-28 Sarmat, also known as Satan-2?
11. Air India recently flew the longest flight in the world with a flight distance of 9,389 miles. The flight was from New Delhi to