Current Affairs Update – 26th October, 2016

Hello and welcome to exampundit . Here are the important Current Affairs of 26th October, 2016. These are important for the upcoming IBPS PO Mains, IBPS Clerk Mains, IBPS RRB OA & OS-I Mains and NICL AO & IPPB PO 2016 Exams.

• BSE Institute Ltd has entered into a memorandum of
  understanding (MoU) with New Zealand’s University of Otago to offer programs at
  the undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
• The MoU between BSE Institute and University of Otago will
  give the students an opportunity to study overseas.
• The offerings are the Master of Professional Accounting
  (MProfAcct), which is a professionally accredited accounting program aimed at
  graduates of any discipline who want to pursue a career in accounting, and MBA
  and The India Immersion Program, whereby the students from New Zealand will get
  the opportunity to visit India and learn about the Indian Financial Markets,
  about the Indian economy and also the Indian culture, according to a release.

• The Union Ministry of Urban Development on 25 October 2016
  signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with National Buildings Construction
  Corporation (India) Ltd and Central Public Works Department (CPWD).
• The MoU was signed for the redevelopment of General Pool
  Residential Accommodation (GPRA) colonies in New Delhi.

• The NBCC will redevelop Sarojini Nagar, Netaji Nagar,
  Nauroji Nagar and CPWD will redevelop Kasturba Nagar, Thyagraj Nagar,
  Srinivaspuri and Mohammadpur.
• The total estimated cost of the project is 32835 crore
  rupees including maintenance and operation costs for 30 years.
• The cost of works assigned to NBCC will be 24682 crore
  rupees and to CPWD will be 7793 crore rupees.
• The project will be implemented on self-financing basis by
  sale of commercial Built up Area (BUA) of 8.07 lakh sqm constructed in Nauroji
  Nagar and parts of Sarojini Nagar by NBCC as a part of the project.
• Under the Project, the existing housing stock of 12970 will
  be replaced by approximately 25667 dwelling units, with supporting social
  infrastructure facilities.
• The construction of the project will be completed in five
  years in a phased manner.

• The fourth edition of the India-Sri Lanka Joint Military
  Exercise Mitra Shakti 2016 began on 24 October 2016 at Sinha Regimental Centre
  in Ambepussa, Sri Lanka. The exercise will continue till 6 November 2016.
• The main focus of this edition of the joint exercise is to
  enhance inter-operability while carrying out Counter Insurgency (CI)/Counter
  Terrorism (CT) operations under the United Nations Mandate.
• Highlights of Mitra Shakti 2016
• The Indian Contingent is represented by a platoon from the
  Rajputana Rifles Regiment and the Sri Lankan Army is represented by a platoon
  from the Sinha Regiment.
• In the initial two stages, both armies will get familiar
  with the respective methodology of such operations, each other’s arms and
  equipment and the command and control systems. 
• It will then graduate towards tactical understanding to
  enhance inter operability while carrying out Counter Insurgency (CI)/Counter
  Terrorism (CT) operations.

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• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 25 October 2016 inaugurated
  2016 National Tribal Carnival at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi. The
  carnival aims at promoting a sense of inclusiveness amongst the tribals.
• About 1600 Tribal Artists from the various States/UTs
  performed carnival parade in their traditional attire during the inaugural
  ceremony.

• It was organised by Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs
• The four-day long National Tribal Carnival was planned to preserve
  and promote various facets of the tribal life relating to culture, tradition,
  customs and their skills.
• The carnival will showcase and promote various facets of
  tribal culture on a large scale.
• More than 1600 tribal artists and around eight thousand
  tribal delegates from across the country are expected to take part in the
  carnival.

• The Uttarakhand High Court on 25 October 2016 ordered a
  complete ban on the sale of whitener in the state. The decision came following
  the death of a teenager (14-year-old) in Bhowali town of Nainital district
  after he sniffed an excess of whitener for a kick.
• The single bench of Justice Rajeev Sharma directed the state
  government to put a complete ban on its sale.
• Besides, the court also ordered that items such as Iodex and
  Feviquick should not be sold to children below 18 years of age in view of
  prevalent abuse of these among teenagers. The court said, it must also be
  ensured that no minor gets entry into hookah clubs.
• Earlier in October 2016, while rejecting the bail plea of an
  alleged drug peddler, the court had directed the Principal Secretary of the
  state to constitute a special task force to combat drug abuse.

• All India Radio’s (AIR’s) entry Diary of a Tiger (एक बाघ
  की डायरी) in October 2016 won the first prize in the
  Community Service Announcement category of the prestigious Asia-Pacific
  Broadcasting Union (ABU) awards for the year 2016.
• Dairy of a Tiger was declared the winner at an award
  ceremony held in Bali, Indonesia, on the sidelines of ongoing 53rd ABU General
  Assembly and Associated Meetings. The award includes a trophy, certificate and
  cash prize of 2000 US Dollars.
• Abhinay Srivastava received his award by Asia-Pacific
  Broadcasting Union (ABU) in association with RRI (Radio Republic Indonesia)
  & MMIT (Ministry of Communication and Informatics), Indonesia.

• Paul Beatty on 25 October 2016 became the first US author to
  win the Man Booker Prize. He won the award for his racial satire, ‘The Sellout’
  at a ceremony in London’s Guildhall.
• The novel tells the story of a young black man who tries to
  reinstate slavery and racial segregation in a suburb of Los Angeles. Chair of
  the Judges, Amanda Foreman, said the book managed to eviscerate every social
  taboo.

• Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) on
  21 October 2016 unveiled the Official Mascot for the 2018 World Cup.
• The Official Mascot for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia is
  named Zabivaka, which means ‘the one who scores’ in Russian. The mascot is the
  wolf developed by student designer Ekaterina Bocharova.
• The selected mascot had received 53 per cent of the votes,
  followed by the tiger (27 per cent) and the cat (20 per cent).

• The International Hockey Federation (FIH) on 25 October 2016
  appointed New Zealand’s Jason McCracken as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
• McCracken will take over FIH in February 2017. He will
  replace Kelly Fairweather, who is leaving for the International Tennis
  Federation after six years in the role.
• McCracken is a renowned figure in hockey family. He served
  as an Olympic and World Cup umpire, FIH committee member and technical official
  for over 20 years.
• McCracken’s most recent appointments were technical delegate
  at the Rio 2016 Olympics and tournament director at the 2014 men’s hockey World
  Cup in The Hague, Netherlands.

• The World Bank Group on 25 October 2016 released the report
  titled Doing Business 2017: Equal Opportunity for All. It is the 14th report in
  a series of annual reports measuring the regulations that enhance business
  activity and those that constrain it.
• Data in Doing Business 2017 Report are current as of 1 June
  2016. The indicators are used to analyze economic outcomes and identify what
  reforms of business regulation have worked, where and why.

• It finds that entrepreneurs in 137 economies saw
  improvements in their local regulatory framework last year. Between June 2015
  and June 2016, the report documented 283 business reforms.
• Reforms reducing the complexity and cost of regulatory
  processes in the area of starting a business were the most common in 2015/16.
• The next most common reforms were in the areas of paying
  taxes, getting credit and trading across borders.
• In its global country rankings of business efficiency,  the report awarded its coveted top spot to
  New Zealand, Singapore ranked second, followed by Denmark at third position.
• Hong Kong SAR, China, Korea, Norway, United Kingdom, United
  States and Sweden were among the top 10 countries in global country rankings.

• India moved one rank up to the 130th position in the Report.
  This marginal improvement came on the back of slight improvement in four indicators-
  getting electricity, enforcing contracts, trading across borders and
  registering property.
• In the 2017 rankings, the only major improvement for India
  was seen in the area of getting electricity. The report recognised the efforts
  of Tata Power in Delhi to make it faster and cheaper to obtain a connection.
• In terms of starting a business, India’s ranking went down
  to 155th position from 151st last year. This was also true for registering a
  property.
• In terms of resolving insolvency, the country’s position
  slid a single rank to 136 from 135 last year.
• India’s ranking in trading across borders also fell by 10
  spots to 143 though the World Bank recognized India’s reforms in making imports
  and exports easier through the launch of the ICEGATE portal.
• For India, the ranking covers data from Delhi and Mumbai,
  with weights of 53 percent and 47 percent, respectively.

• In keeping with the tradition of promoting group company
  CEOs to the Tata group holding company, Tata Sons’ board, Ralf Speth, CEO of
  Jaguar Land Rover, and N Chandrasekaran, CEO & Managing Director of Tata
  Consultancy Services (TCS), were appointed as additional directors on its
  Board.
• Both Chandrasekaran, 53, and Speth, 61, are running the most
  successful operations of the Tata group.
• Earlier during the tenure of Ratan Tata, RK Krishna Kumar,
  MD of Tata Tea and JJ irani, MD of Tata Steel were also appointed on Tata Sons
  board. Similarly, late JRD Tata had appointed late Sumant Moolgaokar and late
  Darbari Seth on the TSL board.

• Legendary footballer Carlos Alberto Torres passed away on 25
  October 2016 at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was 72.
• Carlos was known for scoring one of the greatest goals in
  World Cup history in the 1970 final against Italy.

Regards

Team ExamPundit