First helicopter summit held in Dehradun

NATIONAL NEWS

First helicopter summit held in Dehradun

• The Ministry of Civil Aviation organised India's first-ever helicopter summit the Indian Air Force (IAF).
• The Indian Air Force was invited at the summit to talk on the "role of IAF helicopters in MEDEVAC (Medical evacuation) at the national level".
• The conclave was attended by Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, the Aviation Secretary, and the Chief Secretary of Uttrakhand, amongst others.

Over 6,000 participate in world’s highest marathon in Ladakh

• The eighth edition of Ladakh Marathon with more than 6,000 participants from different parts of India and 25 foreign countries was held in Leh.
• There was hustle and bustle in Leh town as a large number of runners and people from all walks of life, from within the country and abroad, were camping there.
• It is known as the highest marathon in the world as all four categories of marathon are held at over 11, 000 feet above the mean-sea level.

Visakhapatnam railway station sets up ‘fun zone’ for kids

• With an aim to cut down the monotony of prolonged waiting periods on railway stations and to make it an enjoyable experience, particularly for children, a fun zone has been set up by the Railways at the Visakhapatnam railway station.
• The gaming zone has various sets of interesting games to enthral children as well as adults. The games ranging from video shooting to other indoor games aim to keep children engaged during long waiting hours at platforms. The fun zone will have all the high-tech gaming activities at par with game parlours.

IIT Madras to collaborate with CII to promote innovative green startups

• IIT-Madras announced its partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to nurture and promote innovative green start-ups across the country.
• That the initiative would enable close interaction between academia and industry to create deep-tech and disruptive research ideas and help start-ups demonstrate their clean-tech ideas.

University of Hyderabad establishes new Animal research Facility

• The University of Hyderabad (UoH) has established a new Animal Facility to promote experimental research.
• This facility, one of the largest in the country has been created to cater to the needs of research investigators working with small animal models like rodents and rabbits.

FINANCE AND ECONOMIC

Centre to infuse ₹12,000 crore in state general insurance firms

• The recapitalisation of public sector banks (PSBs), now public sector insurance companies -- National Insurance, Oriental Insurance and United India Insurance -- are going to be infused with funds worth ₹12,000 crore to boost their capital base and meet regulatory norms.
• The Budget had provisioned ₹70,000 crore for PSB recapitalisation and ₹55,250-crore infusion was announced in several PSBs for regulatory and growth requirements.
• The nodal Department of Financial Services has approved the ₹12,000 crore capital infusion plan in the three state-run general insurance companies as their financial conditions are very weak.

BANKING

IPPB rolls out of Aadhaar-enabled payment services

• India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) that it has rolled out Aadhaar enabled payment system (AePS) services. With this, IPPB has now become the single largest platform in the country for providing interoperable banking services to the customers of any bank.
• With AePS services, any person with a bank account linked to Aadhaar can perform basic banking services such as cash withdrawals and balance enquiry irrespective of the bank they hold their account with.
• To avail these Aadhaar enabled payment services, a customer can simply authenticate his/her identity with fingerprint scan and Aadhaar authentication to complete a transaction.

IDBI to launch co-branded credit card with LIC

• To further strengthen its relationship with parent Life Insurance Corporation of India, IDBI Bank is planning to launch a co-branded credit card, which will be marketed to customers, agents, and employees of the corporation and its subsidiaries.
• The co-branded credit card will be launched in association with LIC’s wholly-owned subsidiary, LIC Credit Cards Services (LIC CSL), before the festival season of Diwali.

DEFENCE

Indo-Lanka maritime fleet exercise - SLINEX 2019

• Sri Lankan Navy is sending two ships to India to participate in the SLINEX 2019, the joint maritime naval exercise with the Indian Navy. The offshore patrol vessels, SLNS Sindurala and Suranimala left Trincomalee and are scheduled to arrive at the port of Visakhapatnam.
• The week-long exercise will be attended by 323 Sri Lankan navy personnel including the commanding flag officer of the naval fleet. The exercise features wide-ranging naval exercises including helicopter operations.
• The exercise signifies the desire of both countries to enhance co-operation and to further strengthen mutual trust and interoperability between the two navies. it will enable both navies to rehearse and improve own capabilities and enhance operational effectiveness required to maintain maritime security in the Indian Ocean region.

APPOINTMENT

Rajiv Kumar appointed as MD of Microsoft India R&D

• Microsoft has appointed Rajiv Kumar as the new managing director of Microsoft India (R&D) Pvt Ltd (MIRPL).
• Rajiv, who is currently the Corporate Vice-President of Microsoft's Experiences and Devices (E+D) Group, will replace Anil Bhansali, who held this role for six years. Anil will continue as the Corporate Vice President of Cloud & Enterprise and will be relocating to Redmond, USA.

Vikram Nath appointed Gujarat HC chief justice

• Justice Vikram Nath has been appointed as the chief justice of the Gujarat High Court, the Law Ministry.
• The Supreme Court Collegium had recommended the name of Justice Nath for the top post in the Gujarat High Court on August 22 after the government returned its earlier recommendation to appoint him as the Andhra Pradesh High Court's chief justice.
• He is at present posted as a judge in the Allahabad High Court.

AWARD

Odia writer Pradeep Dash conferred with Sarala Puraskar

• Noted Odia writer Pradeep Dash will be conferred with the 40th edition of prestigious Sarala Puraskar for his poetry work ‘Charu Chibar O Charjya’.
• The annual award, comprising a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh and a citation, will be presented at a special function to be held October 26.

OBITUARY

Freedom fighter Heeralal Sharma dies at age 95

• Freedom fighter Heeralal Sharma has passed away at the PBM government hospital here at the age of 95.
• Sharma, who took an active part in the freedom struggle and was also jailed for two years.

SPORTS

Malinga first T20 bowler to claim 100 wickets

• Sri Lanka's Lasith Malinga wreaked havoc after becoming the first bowler in Twenty20 internationals to claim 100 wickets as he struck four times in four balls during the third match against New Zealand.
• Malinga returned career-best figures of 5-6 in his four overs to give Sri Lanka a consolation wins by 37 runs in Kandy. The Black Caps won the series 2-1.

India Red clinch Duleep Trophy after Akshay Wakhare, Abhimanyu Easwaran star in innings win

• Right-arm off-spinner Akshay Wakhare picked up a brilliant five-wicket haul to hand India Red the Duleep Trophy title as they defeated India Green by an innings and 38 runs in the final.
• On the final day of the match, India Red bowled out India Green for a mere 119 runs inside 40 overs at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Only Siddhesh Lad (42) and Akshath Reddy (33) could manage to stay at the crease for a while as none of the India Green batters were able to cope with the pressure created by Wakhare and Avesh Khan. The duo finished with figures of 5/13 and 3/38 respectively.