Current Affairs in English – October 17 2022

National Events:

Apoorva Srivastava:

Apoorva Srivastava , a diplomat in the Indian Foreign Service , has been appointed as India’s next Ambassador to the Slovak Republic. She is currently serving as Consul – General at the Consulate of India in Toronto.
Earlier , Partha Satpathy & Adarsh Swaika were appointed as India’s next Ambassadors to Bosnia and Herzegovina & Kuwait respectively. Slovak Republic ( Slovakia ) Capital : Bratislava.

75 DBUs:

PM Modi on 16th Oct 2022 dedicated 75 Digital Banking Units ( DBU ) across 75 districts to the nation. These DBUs have been set up with the objective to ensure that the benefits of digital banking reach every nook and corner of the country.
It will provide a variety of digital banking facilities to people like opening of savings accounts , investing in fixed deposits , pay taxes and bills.

Forex exchange reserves:

India’s forex exchange reserves rose for the first time in over two months by $ 204 million to $ 532.867 billion for the week ending on 7th Oct 2022.
Gold reserves rose by $ 1.35 billion to $ 38.955 billion and ( Special Drawing Rights ) SDRs rose by $ 155 million to $ 17.582 billion.
In the previous week , the overall reserves had dropped by $ 4.854 billion to $ 532.664 billion.

PMJAY – MA:

PM Modi will kickstart the distribution of Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana – Mukhyamantri Amrutam ( PMJAY – MA ) Ayushman cards in Gujarat on 17th Oct 2022.
50 lakh coloured printed Ayushman cards will be distributed to all the beneficiaries across Gujarat.
In 2019 , Gujarat govt integrated Mukhyamantri Amrutam Vatsalya with the Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana scheme.

GAME & NRLM:

Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship ( GAME ) has signed an MoU with National Rural Livelihood Mission ( NRLM ) to enable financial access for the growth of 10 lakh women entrepreneurs over 3 years.
As per the MoU , GAME and NRLM will strengthen non – farm livelihoods by building the capacity of women entrepreneurs to access finance and grow their enterprises. NRLM launched : 2011.

First Aluminum Freight Rake:

Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw on 16th Oct 2022 inaugurated India’s First Aluminum Freight Rake at Bhubaneswar Railway Station in Odisha. It has been developed indigenously in collaboration with RDSO , Hindalco and Besco Wagon.
It will reduce carbon footprint due to lower consumption of fuel. A single rake can reduce 14,500 tonnes CO2 emissions during its lifetime.

INTERPOL:

India will host the 90th General Assembly of the International Criminal Police Organization ( INTERPOL ) from 18th to 21st of Oct in New Delhi. The General Assembly is the INTERPOL’s top governing body & meets once a year to take key decisions.
It was last held in India in 1997. India is one of the oldest members of INTERPOL & joined the organization in 1949. INTERPOL HQ : Lyon , France.

Indian Army:

The Indian Army has signed historic MoU with 11 Banks for providing banking facilities to Agniveers on enrollment.
The Banks are SBI , PNB , Bank of Baroda , IDBI Bank , ICICI Bank , HDFC Bank , Axis Bank , Yes Bank , Kotak Mahindra Bank , IDFC First Bank and Bandhan Bank.
The first batch of Agniveers under Agnipath Scheme will be joining Training Centres by January 2023.

NEP-2020:

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on 16th Oct 2022 launched the National Education Policy – 2020 for the academic session 2022-23 in higher education in Dehradun , Uttarakhand.
Uttarakhand was the first state in the country to implement the New Education Policy at the pre – primary level with Bal Vatikas in July 2022. The NEP 2020 has replaced the National Policy on Education , 1986.

Indian Navy Sailing Championship 2022:

Indian Naval Academy , Ezhimala will conduct Indian Navy Sailing Championship 2022 at Marakkar Watermanship Training Centre in Kerala from 18th Oct 2022.
This mega championship is the largest intra – Navy sailing regatta in which nearly 100 yatchpersons from all three Indian Naval Commands will participate.
It is being held to commemorate Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav and Khelo India.

India – Africa Defence Dialogue:

India – Africa Defence Dialogue will be held on 18th Oct 2022 on the sidelines of DefExpo 2022 in Gandhinagar , Gujarat.
The dialogue will explore new areas of convergence for mutual engagement. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will host the Defence Ministers of African Nations.
The first – ever India – Africa Defence Ministers Conclave was held in Lucknow , Uttar Pradesh in 2020.

MBBS in Hindi:

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on 16th Oct 2022 launched an MBBS course in Hindi for the first time in the country in Bhopal , Madhya Pradesh.
The books released by Mr Shah have scientific biological terms written in Devanagari script and explanations in Hindi.
Recently , a committee of Parliamentarians had recommended Hindi as language for higher education in Hindi speaking states.

Contractual hirings:

Abolishing contractual hirings . for state government posts , Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik on 15th Oct 2022 announced that all 57,000 contract employees will be regularised.
The state government will spend an additional Rs 1,300 crore per year to implement this decision.
The contractual hirings in Odisha were started in 2013. Odisha Capital : Bhubaneswar. Statehood : 1 April 1936 ( Utkal Divas ).

International Events:

International Day for the Eradication of Poverty : 17th October:

International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is observed every year on 17th October and aims to raise awareness about people living in poverty.
The UN General Assembly established this day in 1992. According to the World Data Lab , by 2030 , 359 million people will be living in extreme poverty. 2022 Theme : ‘ Dignity for all in Practice ‘.

World Anaesthesia Day : 16th October:

World Anaesthesia Day , also known as Ether Day , is celebrated annually on the 16th of October. It marks the discovery of anaesthesia 176 years ago which made it possible for patients to undergo surgical procedures without the pain involved.
The use of anaesthesia was demonstrated for the first time by American dentist William T. G. Morton on October 16 , 1846. 2022 Theme : ” Medication Safety”.

Sports Events:

2023 Asian Cup football tournament:

The Asian Football Confederation ( AFC ) has announced that the 2023 Asian Cup football tournament will be held in Qatar.
China in June 2019 won the bid to host the event but pulled out in May 2022 because of its “Zero – Covid ” policy.
Also , India and Saudi Arabia have been shortlisted to host the 2027 Asian Cup. The Asian Cup is held every four years & Qatar won the last edition in 2019.

ICC & UNICEF:

The International Cricket Council ( ICC ) & UNICEF(United Nations International Children’s Emergency) have launched a global partnership to empower women & girls & promote inclusion and gender equality through cricket.
UNICEF and the ICC will launch Criiio 4 Good , a cricket – for – development curriculum giving girls and boys the opportunity to have a first experience of the game whilst learning gender – based life skills essential for gender equity.