10th National Cultural Festival to be held in Madhya Pradesh till Oct 21

NATIONAL NEWS

10th National Cultural Festival to be held in Madhya Pradesh till Oct 21

• The 10th edition of the Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav-National Cultural Festival is being organized by the Union Ministry of Culture till 21st of October under the 'Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat' campaign.
• Governor Lalji Tandon and Union Minister of State for Culture and Tourism Prahlad Singh Patel will be present at the inaugural ceremony of the Festival being held in Jabalpur.
• The National Cultural festival will display diverse forms of folk, art and culture of 22 states. The concept of National Cultural Festival was conceived in the year 2015. So far, the Ministry of Culture has organized nine such Festivals.

Pope Francis elevates Indian nun Mariam Thresia to sainthood

• Indian nun Mariam Thresia and four others were declared saints by Pope Francis at a grand ceremony at the Vatican City.
• The nun from Kerala was canonised along with English cardinal John Henry Newman, Swiss laywoman Marguerite Bays, Brazilian sister Dulce Lopes and Italian sister Giuseppina Vannini.
• Mariam Thresia, who founded the congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family in Thrissur in May 1914, was raised to the highest position within the centuries-old institution during the ceremony at the St Peter's Square.

PM Modi launches commemorative stamp to honour Marshal of IAF Arjan Singh

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi released a commemorative stamp in honour of Marshal of the Indian Air Force late Arjan Singh at an event here.
• The commemorative stamp was launched during Prime Minister Modi's visit to the IAF exhibition on 'Self Reliance Through Innovation and Indigenisation' at Air Force Chief RKS Bhadauria's residence.

First National Hindi Science writers conference starts in Lucknow

• The first National Hindi Science writers conference started today in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh with an aim to promote use of Hindi and other Vernacular languages in science writing.
• The conference being organised at Dr. Shakuntala Mishra National rehabilitation university was inaugurated by speaker of the state assembly Hriday Narayain dixit.

IIT Madras inks pact with ExxonMobil to boost biofuel research

• The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT M) has on October 14, 2019, signed an agreement with ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company for conducting collaborative research on energy and biofuels.
• The five-year agreement is focused on data analytics, gas conversion and transport and is aimed towards finding low-emission solutions.  One of the projects being taken up is for developing novel approaches to convert agro residue biomass to sugars and high value chemicals.

DPIIT launches website, mobile app for IPR

• The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has launched a website and mobile application on Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs).
• The website and app have been developed by Cell for IPR Promotion and Management (CIPAM)-DPIIT in collaboration with Qualcomm and National Law University (NLU), Delhi.
• both the website and app will be very useful to the startup community.

BANKING

ICICI Bank’s new FD scheme: Fixed deposit with critical illness insurance cover

• Private sector lender ICICI Bank launched of FD Health, a fixed deposit (FD) offering the dual-benefit of investment growth via FD and protection through a critical illness coverage. For investors in FD Health, ICICI Bank will offer the insurance cover free of cost for the first year and thereafter, they can renew it.

APPOINTMENT

Mastercard India elevates Vikas Varma to COO

• Payment technology major Mastercard India has elevated Vikas Varma to the position of chief operating officer.
• In his new role, Vikas will lead initiatives related to new partnerships and development of digital payments solutions in the country.
• These initiatives will further accelerate Mastercard's ongoing focus on technology

Satish Reddy appointed Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance president

• K Satish Reddy, Chairman of Dr Reddy’s has been appointed as President of the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) for 2019-2021.
• Rajesh Jain, Managing Director of Panacea Biotec Limited, will continue as the Vice President.
• He was a past president of IPA (2013-2015), a member of the Drugs Technical Advisory Board of India, etc.
• innovation, merchant acceptance, and consumer adoption of digital payments.

AWARD

Chipko Movement Founder Chandi Prasad Bhatt to Get Congress' Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration

• Noted environmentalist and social activist Chandi Prasad Bhatt has been awarded the Indira Gandhi award for national integration for the years 2017 and 2018.
• The award was instituted by the Congress in the memory of the former prime minister and it would be presented on October 31 in a function at Jawahar Bhawan.
• This award consists of a citation and Rs 10 lakh in cash to be given to the awardee by chairperson Sonia Gandhi, the Congress president. It would be presented on October 31; the day former prime minister Indira Gandhi was killed.
• Bhatt (85), who hails from Uttarakhand, had founded the Dasholi Gram Swarajya Sangh (DGSS) in Gopeshwar in 1964, which later became a mother organisation to the Chipko Movement, in which he was one of the pioneers.

Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo, Michael Kremer win 2019 Nobel Economics Prize for study on poverty

• Indian-American Abhijit Banerjee, his wife Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer jointly won the 2019 Nobel Economics Prize on Monday "for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty."
• Banerjee, 58, was educated at the University of Calcutta, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Harvard University, where he received his Ph. D in 1988.
• He is currently the Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, according to his profile on the MIT website.

SPORTS

Dutch Open: Lakshya Sen wins maiden BWF World Tour title

• Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen clinched his maiden BWF World Tour title by winning the Dutch Open men's singles title after beating Yusuke Onodera of Japan in the summit clash.
• The Dutch Open is a BWF World Tour Super 100 tournament.

Women's Boxing Worlds: Debutant Manju Rani makes history by reaching final

• Manju Rani became the first Indian woman boxer in the past 18 years to enter the finals of the World Boxing Championships in her maiden appearance as she beat Thailand’s Chuthamat Raksat 4-1.
• Sixth-seeded Rani is now the lone Indian boxer remaining at the tournament in Ulan-Ude, Russia, after Mary Kom, Manju Rani, Lovlina Borgohain signed off with bronze medals.
• Rani, who hails from Haryana, made the national camp only this year.

BOOK AND AUTHOR

Bill Gates’ new book is about climate change

• He founders of Microsoft Corporation and American philanthropist Bill Gates’ new book will be about climate change, and will look at possible solutions to prevent an environmental crisis.
• In “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need”, Gates will explain why he cares so deeply about climate change and what makes him optimistic that the world can prevent the worst impacts of the climate crisis.

IMPORTANT DAY

International Day of Rural Women -15 October

• The crucial role that women and girls play in ensuring the sustainability of rural households and communities, improving rural livelihoods and overall wellbeing, has been increasingly recognized.
• As the world faces a critical need to act against climate change, this year’s theme highlights the important role that rural women and girls play in building resilience to face the climate crisis.
• This will be a timely conversation that leverages the momentum garnered by the UN Climate Action Summit held in September 23rd in New York.