Current Affairs Update – 13-14 October, 2016

• India and Hungary will sign a
  Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for mutual cooperation on a wide range of
  issues in the field of water management. The proposal was approved by the Union
  Cabinet on Thursday.
• The MoU will be signed between
  Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation,
  Government of India and the Ministry of Interior, Government of Hungary.
• An official statement said that
  the ministry is signing the MoU with Hungary with wide-ranging areas on water
  sector for the first time.
• It will enhance bilateral
  cooperation in the field of water management, on the basis of equality and
  mutual benefits. This will encourage the development of bilateral relations
  between public and private organisations concerning water resources of both the
  countries, it said.

• Foreign lender Standard Chartered
  Bank (SCB) on 10 October 2016 tied-up with Uber under which its credit
  cardholders will get a cash-back of up to 25 percent for hailing cabs from the
  app across six countries.
• In India, the cardholders will
  get a 20 percent cash-back on all Uber rides, subject to a cash—back cap of 600
  rupees per month. Additionally, first-time Uber users will get a discount of 50
  rupees for the first three rides.
• The offer will be available to
  all SCB cardholders from October 2016 to 30 September 2017. Apart from India,
  the partnership was activated in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam.
• This is the first multi-market
  partnership for the two companies.

• India and Russia on 13 October
  2016 signed a bilateral agreement for cooperation in the development of a
  network of integrated infrastructure irradiation centres.
• The agreement was signed between
  the Indian Agricultural Association, Hindustan Agro Co-Op Ltd (HACL) and United
  Innovation Corporation (UIC), a subsidiary of ROSATOM State Atomic Energy
  Corporation of Russia.
• It was signed by Bharat Dhokane
  Pandurang, Chairman of HACL and Denis Cherednichenko, CEO of UIC.
• It will be implemented through a
  Joint Venture and aims to set up 25 integrated irradiation centres.
• In the first phase, seven centres
  will be set up in Maharashtra, which will begin with the upgradation of the
  current centre at Rahuri in Ahmednagar district.
• The 7 centres are likely to be
  established in Sindhurg, Satara, Solapur, JNPT, Jalana, Napur and Pune in the
  first phase.
• UIC will be a technology partner
  and will help set up the irradiation centres in India.

• Cabinet Committee on Economic
  Affairs (CCEA) on 13 October 2016 approved the mechanism for revision of
  ethanol price for supply to Public Sector Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) to
  carry out the Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Programme.
• The administered price of ethanol
  for the Programme will be 39 rupees per litre for the next sugar season from 1
  December 2016 to 30 November 2017.
• Charges will be paid to the
  ethanol suppliers as per actuals in case of Excise Duty and VAT or GST and
  transportation charges as decided by the oil marketing companies.
• The prices of ethanol will be
  reviewed and suitably revised by Government at any time during the ethanol
  supply period depending upon the prevailing economic situation and other
  relevant factors.
• The revision in ethanol prices
  will facilitate Government in providing price stability and remunerative prices
  for ethanol suppliers.

• Union Cabinet on 13 October 2016
  approved MoU between Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) on General Cooperation
  with the BRICS promoted New Development Bank (NDB), along with other
  Development Financial Institutions of BRICS nations. This will be achieved
  through the BRICS Interbank Cooperation Mechanism.
• This approval will help in
  enhancing trade and economic relations among the BRICS countries and benefit
  the participating institutions from the BRICS nation. There is no financial
  implication involved in signing of the MoU.

• The MoU is a non-binding umbrella
  agreement.
• It aims at establishing a
  cooperation framework in accordance with the national laws and regulations,
  besides skills transfer and knowledge sharing amongst the signatories.
• Establishment of the NDB reflects
  the close relations among the BRICS countries and provides a powerful
  instrument for increasing their economic cooperation and help India play an
  enhanced international role.

• Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of
  State (with Independent charge) for Petroleum and Natural Gas, on 12 October
  2016 launched the National Seismic Programme (NSP) on Mahanadi basin (onshore)
  in Odisha.
• The Programme was launched to
  carry out assessment of unappraised areas across the country for potential oil
  and natural gas reserves.
• The massive 2D seismic survey
  will cost the government more than 5000 crore rupees.
• ONGC will carry out the National
  Seismic Programme in most parts of the country.
• Oil India Ltd will undertake the
  project in north-eastern states.
• NSP will cover an estimated 48243
  line kilometre, covering 26 sedimentary basins divided into 11 units.
• The presence of gas has been
  established about 30 km offshore of Dhamra in a discovery by Reliance in the
  past.

• The National Centre for Antarctic
  and Ocean Research (NCAOR) established a high altitude research station in
  Himalaya called HIMANSH. The station is situated above 13500 feet at a remote
  region in Spiti, Himachal Pradesh.
• The station was unveiled by M.
  Rajeevan, Secretary to the Ministry of Earth Sciences, on 9 October 2016.
• The ongoing initiatives by NCAOR
  will contribute to the integrated study the glaciers in the upper Indus basin
  (Chandra basin) in Himachal Pradesh and their contribution to discharge.

• The Union Cabinet on 13 October
  2016 approved the establishment of Indian Institute of Management (IIM) at
  Jammu. The institute will from a temporary campus at Old Government College of
  Engineering and Technology from academic year 2016-17.
• The project will involve a cost
  of nearly 62 crore rupees for initial four years from 2016 to 2020.
• The student strength intake for
  this year in the Post Graduate Diploma Programme (PGDP) in Management is 54
  which will progressively go up to cumulative student strength of 120 in the 4th
  year.
• The detailed project report for
  the permanent campuses is under preparation and thereafter the process for
  setting up the campuses will start.

• The International Food Policy
  Research Institute (IFPRI) on 11 October 2016 released the 2016 Global Hunger
  Index (GHI).
• It says if hunger declines at the
  same rate as it has since 1992, more than 45 countries including India,
  Pakistan, Haiti, Yemen, and Afghanistan will still have moderate to alarming
  hunger scores in 2030.

• The Central African Republic,
  Chad, and Zambia had the highest levels of hunger in the report.
• Seven countries had alarming
  levels of hunger, while 43 countries including high-population countries like
  India, Nigeria and Indonesia had serious hunger levels.
• The level of hunger in developing
  countries has fallen by 29 percent since 2000.
• Twenty countries including
  Rwanda, Cambodia, and Myanmar have all reduced their GHI scores by over 50
  percent each since 2000. And no developing countries were in the extremely
  alarming category.

• India is ranked at 97th and
  Pakistan at 107th. All other Asian neighbours did relatively better- China
  (29), Nepal (72), Myanmar (75), Sri Lanka (84) and Bangladesh (90).
• India’s GHI score of 28.5 is
  worse than the developing country average score of 21.3.
• Although India runs two of the
  world’s biggest children’s nutrition programmes, the ICDS for children under 6
  years and the mid-day meal programme for school going kids up to the age of 14,
  still malnutrition continues to haunt India.

• The World Health Organisation
  (WHO) on 13 October 2016 released the Global Tuberculosis Report 2016
  highlighting that countries need to move much faster to prevent, detect and
  treat Tuberculosis (TB) in order to meet global targets.
• The report highlights the
  considerable inequalities among countries in enabling people with TB to access
  existing cost-effective diagnosis and treatment interventions that can accelerate
  decline in TB worldwide.

• The report signals the need for
  bold political commitment and increased funding.
• While efforts to respond to TB
  saved more than 3 million lives in 2015, however TB burden is actually higher
  than previously estimated, reflecting survey data from India.
• In 2015, there were an estimated
  10.4 million new TB cases worldwide.
• Six countries accounted for 60
  percent of the total burden, with India bearing the brunt, followed by
  Indonesia, China, Nigeria, Pakistan and South Africa.

• Inaccurate estimates of the
  tuberculosis burden in India between 2000-2015, has led the World Health
  Organisation (WHO) to underestimate the global TB epidemic.
• India had reported only 56
  percent of its TB burden in 2014 and 59 percent in 2015.
• Since India accounts for more
  than one quarter of the world’s TB cases and deaths, the revisions in the
  estimates have had a major impact on global estimates.
• The revised estimates put the
  incidence of TB in India at 217 per 100000 population in 2015 as against the
  previously estimated 127 per 100000.

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• The 2016 World Sight Day (WSD)
  was observed across the world on 13 October 2016.
• The theme for the WSD 2016 is
  Stronger Together.
• The Day is an annual day of
  awareness held on the second Thursday of October, to focus global attention on
  blindness and vision impairment.
• The day was originally initiated
  by the SightFirstCampaign of Lions Club International Foundation in 2000.
• WSD is co-ordinated by
  International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) in cooperation with
  the World Health Organization under the VISION 2020 Global Initiative.

• International Day for Disaster
  Reduction (IDDR) was observed globally on 13 October 2016 with theme Live to
  Tell: Raising Awareness, Reducing Mortality. The day encourages every citizen
  and government to take part in building more disaster resilient communities and
  nations.
• The 2016 edition marks the launch
  of the new “Sendai Seven” campaign by United Nations Office for
  Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR). Sendai Seven is centred on the seven targets
  of the Sendai Framework, the first of which is reducing disaster mortality.
  UNISDR’s campaign seeks to create a wave of awareness about actions taken to
  reduce mortality around the world.
• The Sendai Seven Campaign is an
  opportunity for all, including governments, local governments, community
  groups, civil society organisations, the private sector, international
  organisations and the UN family, to promote best practices at the
  international, regional and national level across all sectors, to reduce disaster
  risk and disaster losses.

• The First World Tsunami Awareness
  Day will be celebrated on 5 November 2016 at the Asian Ministerial Conference
  for Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) 2016.
• The event will be organised with
  Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Champions at the Conference.
• The Conference will be organised
  from 3 November to 5 November 2016 at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi by the
  Government of India in collaboration with the United Nations Office for
  Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR).

• Former Indian Foreign Service
  (IFS) officer Renu Pall was on 8 October 2016 appointed as the Ambassador of
  India to Austria. Her appointment was announced by the Union Ministry of
  External Affairs.
• She will succeed Rajiva Misra in
  Austria. Currently, Pall is serving as the Ambassador of India to the Czech
  Republic.
• Austria is a German-speaking
  country in Central Europe, characterized by mountain villages and baroque
  architecture.

• Portugal’s former Prime Minister
  Antonio Guterres was on 13 October 2016 appointed as the next Secretary-General
  of the United Nations by the General Assembly.
• The 193 member states of the UN
  General Assembly adopted a resolution by acclamation, appointing Guterres as
  the ninth U.N. Secretary-General.
• Guterres, who succeeds Ban
  Ki-moon, will assume his new role on 1 January 2017 for a five-year term that
  can be renewed by member states for an additional five years.

• Reserve Bank’s Executive Director
  Gurumoorthy Mahalingam was on 7 October 2016 appointed as a Whole-Time Member
  of market regulator SEBI. His appointment was approved by the Union Finance
  Ministry for a period of five years or till he attains the age of 65 years,
  whichever is earlier.
• Mahalingam succeeds Prashant
  Saran as the Whole-Time Member as Saran retired from the post in June 2016.
• Apart from the Chairman, the
  Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) can have three Whole-Time Members
  (WTMs).

• Bank of Baroda, the Indian public
  sector bank, has sealed a 3-year principal sponsorship contract with badminton
  players PV Sindhu and K Srikanth.
• As part of the deal, Bank of
  Baroda logo will appear on the centre chest of the two athletes’ playing jersey
  in international as well as domestic tournaments under the aegis of Badminton
  World Federation Events (BWF) and Badminton Association of India sanctioned
  events, respectively.
• Facilitated by Baseline Ventures,
  the sports marketing and a brand licensing firm that manages both Sindhu and
  Srikanth, the deal with the two players was agreed in-principle before they
  represented India on the International stage at the Rio 2016 Olympics.

• Virat Kohli on 11 October 2016
  was presented with the ICC Test Championship mace for leading his team to the
  top of the Test Team Rankings. On behalf, of ICC the mace was presented by
  former India captain and ICC Cricket Hall of Famer Sunil Gavaskar following the
  conclusion of the third and final Test against New Zealand in Indore.
• The achieved the number-one spot
  on the ICC Test Rankings after it took a 2-0 lead in Kolkata, but the Test team
  rankings are only updated at the end of the series. Thus on completion of the
  series, India formally replaced its arch rival Pakistan at the top of the table
  at the end pf Indore Test. India won the Indore Test by 321 runs.
• With this, Kohli became only the
  second India captain after Mahendra Singh Dhoni and 10th overall to receive the
  mace, even though it is for the third time since Kohli took over as captain
  that India has led the rankings table.

• Bob Dylan on 13 October 2016 won
  the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature.
• Dylan was bestowed with the
  precious award for having created new poetic expressions within the great
  American song tradition.

• Author Arundhati Roy in the first
  week of October 2016 announced her latest novel titled The Ministry of Utmost
  Happiness.
• The novel will be published by
  Hamish Hamilton UK and Penguin India. The novel will hit the stands in June
  2017.
• It is after 19 years that Roy has
  announced the release of her next novel after her Booker prize-winning novel
  The God of Small Things was published.

• Thailand’s King Bhumibol
  Adulyadej passed away on 13 October 2016 at Bangkok, Thailand. He was 88.
• King Adulyadej was the world’s
  longest reigning monarch.
• After the demise of the Thai
  King, 63-year old Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn is expected to become the
  new king.