'Mahatma Lives': UNESCO, DD Join Hands for TV Show on Gandhi's 150th Anniversary

Shankar School of Banking October 3 , 2019 561

NATIONAL NEWS

'Mahatma Lives': UNESCO, DD Join Hands for TV Show on Gandhi's 150th Anniversary

  • Rarely heard audio clips of Mahatma Gandhi will be featured as part of an hour-long television programme jointly hosted by the UNESCO and Doordarshan to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation.
  • The bilingual programme - 'Mahatma Lives'/'Bapu Zinda Hain' - will be telecast on October 1 at 10 pm and repeated on October 2 at 5 pm across the country on DD News

FACTS

Director-General of UNESCO-Audrey Azoulay

UNESCO Headquarters- Paris, France.

Gandhi Film Festival to be organised in Mumbai

  • Film Division in association with India Tourism will organise a Gandhi Film Festival at JB Hall in Mumbai from 2nd to 6th October.
  • The festival as part of Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary will showcase select films focussing on Swachh Bharat and non-violence.
  • Movies to be screened include ‘Gandhi’ by Richard Attenborough, ‘The Making of Mahatma’ by Shyam Benegal and ‘Maine Gandhi to Nahi Maara’ by Jahnu Barua.

Kerala tops Niti Aayog’s School Education Quality Index; U.P. is worst performer

  • There are huge differences in the quality of school education across the country, according to a Niti Aayog ranking.
  • Among 20 large States, Kerala was the best performer with a score of 76.6%, while Uttar Pradesh came in last with a score of 36.4%.
  • Haryana, Assam and Uttar Pradesh showed the most improvement in their performance in 2016-17, in comparison to the base year of 2015-16.
  • The School Education Quality Index assesses States on the basis of learning outcomes, access, equity and infrastructure and facilities, using survey data, self-reported data from States and third-party verification.

Odisha govt aims at people-centric governance with Mo Sarkar initiative

  • In a bid to make governance more people-centric, the Odisha government has launched an initiative in which ministers would dial common citizens to seek feedback on the kind of response they get during recent visits to police stations and district headquarter hospitals (DHH)
  • The 'Mo Sarkar' or 'My Government' programme was launched by Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patniak as he called a few citizens to seek feedback on the kind services they received.

FACTS

Odisha Chief Minister- Naveen Patnaik

Rajasthan bans certain categories of pan masala

  • The Rajasthan government announced a ban on paan masala containing magnesium carbonate, nicotine, tobacco, mineral oil and flavoured ‘supari’ in the state.
  • All such products will now be banned in the State under the Food Safety Act. This is an important decision taken to curb addiction among youth, Health.

BANKING

SBI becomes first Indian bank to have office in Australia

  • The State Bank of India opened its Melbourne office, becoming the first Indian bank to have a branch in the Australian state of Victoria.
  • The Melbourne office will assist the growing trade and investment relations between Victoria and India and is the outcome of the state's 10-year India Strategy.

FACTS

SBI Chairperson-Rajnish Kumar

Headquarters- Mumbai

Tagline- A Bank of Common Man.

Bank of Baroda signs MoU with Indian Army for new, customised banking experience

  • Bank of Baroda, the country's second largest public sector bank, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Army.
  • Through this MoU, the bank has assured a new and customised banking experience for both serving and retired personnel of Indian Army.
  • The MoU provides for free personal accident insurance cover (death and permanent total disability); free air accident insurance cover of Rs 15 lakhs to Rs 50 lakhs and overdraft facility up to three times of monthly net salary.
  • The features are also applicable for pensioners of Indian Army up to the age of 70 years.

Axis Bank launches Express FD

  • Private sector lender Axis Bank, announced the launch of a digital fixed-deposit product. Called ‘Express FD’, a customer can open an Express FD account in three minutes through the digital mode without opening a savings account with the bank.
  • ‘Express FD’ offers attractive interest rates, zero issuance fees and no penalty on pre-mature withdrawal of up to 25% of the amount.
  •  A customer can open an Express FD account by investing a minimum Rs 5,000 up to Rs 90,000, for a tenure of 6 to 12 months.

FACTS

Chairman of Axis Bank- Rakesh Makhija

DEFENCE

Land-attack version of BrahMos supersonic missile successfully test-fired

  • India successfully test fired a land-attack version of BrahMos supersonic missile from Chandipur coast in Odisha’s Balasore district.
  • The test met all flight parameters, a source in the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO).
  • The missile, with a strike range of 290km, can be fired from land as well as sea-based platforms.

FACTS

DRDO Chairman-G Satheesh Reddy

Headquarters- New Delhi.

APPOINTMENT

KS Dhatwalia named new PIB DG

  • The Centre appointed senior Indian Information Service (IIS) official KS Dhatwalia as the new Director General of the Press Information Bureau (PIB).
  • Dhatwalia will become the 28th DG of the PIB succeeding incumbent Sitanshu Ranjan Kar.
  • Dhatwalia, who is currently posted as the Principal DG, Training and Research, in New Delhi, would continue to hold the additional charge of DG, Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC).

Economist Surjit S Bhalla appointed as Executive Director for India at IMF

                                   

  • Eminent economist Surjit S Bhalla was appointed as the Executive Director for India on the board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
  • Bhalla (71) will succeed former RBI deputy governor Subir Gokarn, who died in the US on July 30 after a brief illness.
  • Gokarn, who died at the age of 59, was appointed as the executive director for India on the board of the IMF in November 2015. He was to complete his term in October.
  • The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the appointment of Bhalla for a period of three years from the date of assumption of charge of the post or until further orders.

Air Marshal S K Ghotia takes over as chief of South Western Air Command

  • Air Marshal S K Ghotia has taken over as the new Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C) of the South Western Air Command (SWAC) of the Indian Air Force (IAF), at Gandhinagar.
  • Air Marshal Ghotia replaced Air Marshal H S Arora, who moved to Air Headquarters as the Vice-Chief of Air Staff. Prior to assuming the present appointment, Air Marshal Ghotia was the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Training Command.

OBITUARY

Jessye Norman, Grammy-winning opera star, dies at age 74

                                     

  • The renowned international opera stars whose passionate soprano voice won her four Grammy awards and the national medal of arts.

SPORTS

Bhavani Devi clinches silver in Belgium meet

                                              

  • Indian fencer C. A. Bhavani Devi clinched the silver medal in the women’s sabre individual category in the Tournoi satellite competition (World level) at Ghent, Belgium, Bhavani lost 15-10 to Anna Bashta of Azerbaijan in the final.

Wilson Singh-Satish Kumar pair wins gold at Asian Age Group Championships

  • India’s N. Wilson Singh and Satish Kumar Prahapati produced impressive performances to win the gold medal in the 10m platform synchronised diving event at the ongoing 10th Asian Age Group Championships.
  • India, thus, extended its total tally to 60 medals (17 gold, 23 silver and 20 bronze) in the prestigious championships, which is the largest aquatic event in Asia.
  • The duo of Wilson and Satish scored 290.19 score to beat Uzbekistan’s Zaynetdinov Marsel and Khasanov Botir, who scored 280.53 points.

Datewise Archives - Current Affairs