Daily updates 22 October 2019

National

1. Union Culture Minister launches E-Portal, YouTube Channel of CCRT

• Union Minister of State for Culture & Tourism (IC), Prahlad Singh Patel launched the E-Portal of Centre for Cultural Resources and Training (CCRT) ‘Digital Bharat Digital Sanskriti' and CCRT YouTube Channel in New Delhi.
• For this initiative, CCRT has tied up with Routes 2 Roots, an NGO, for connecting seamlessly all the CCRT Regional Centres i.e., Guwahati, Udaipur and Hyderabad.
• On this Occasion Union Minister also released a film ‘Rahas’ directed by Sunil Shukla.
• Rahas is basically Raaslila of Chhattisgarh. Subsequently, he released a book “Dewas ki Sanskritik Parampara” written by  Jeewan Singh Thakur.
• CCRT should provide a platform for specifically dropout children so that they can join the mainstream and pursue their dreams.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RBI Grade ‘B’ 2019:

• Director of CCRT: Rishi Kumar Vashist; CCRT Established: 1979.

2. United Nations WFP launches 'Feed Our Future' cinema ad campaign

• The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has launched a cinema advertisement campaign 'Feed Our Future' to raise awareness and take steps against hunger and malnutrition in India.
• This programme held in Facebooks Mumbai office, Maharashtra with support from UFO Moviez India Limited and Indian digital cinema distribution network.
• The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization committed to saving lives in emergencies and changing lives through sustainable development.
• In India, WFP has been working in partnership with the Government for more than 50 years to contribute to its efforts to achieve food and nutrition security.
• WFP does this by demonstrating scalable pilots, providing specialised knowledge and international experience for effective implementation of food safety nets and supporting research and monitoring efforts.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB NTPC/SSC CGL:

• Executive Director of WFP: David Beasley; Formed: 19 December 1961.
• Headquarters: Rome, Italy.

3. Siachen base camp to Kumar Post opened for tourism purposes

• Government of India has decided to open the entire area from Siachen base camp to Kumar Post for tourism purposes. The step has been taken to boost tourism in Ladakh.
• It will also give people a window to appreciate the tough work done by Army jawans and engineers in extreme weather and inhospitable terrains.
• The Siachen Glacier at the height of around 20,000 ft in the Karakoram range is known as the highest militarised zone in the world where the soldiers have to battle frostbite and high winds.
• The Glacier came under the strategic control of India in 1984 following 'Operation Meghdoot'.

International

4. World’s oldest pearl ‘Abu Dhabi Pearl’ discovered on Abu Dhabi Island

• The world's oldest natural pearl named ‘Abu Dhabi Pearl’ has been discovered on an island off Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
• The 8,000-year-old pearl was found during excavations at Marawah Island which also revealed the earliest architecture in the UAE.
• Archaeologists used radiocarbon dating to determine that the pearl dated back to between 5800 and 5600 BC, during the Neolithic period.

Awards

5. Jennifer Aniston to receive People's Icon Award 2019

• Jennifer Aniston to receive People's Icon Award 2019 at the 2019 People's Choice Awards.
• The actress would be the 2nd-ever recipient of the title. 50-year-old Aniston has played the most iconic, unforgettable characters and has conquered comedy and drama on both the small and big screen.
• She is a 7-time People's Choice Award winner.

6."Gully Boy" & "Delhi Crime" wins at Asian Academy Creative Awards

• "Gully Boy" & "Delhi Crime" have won awards at the Asian Academy Creative Awards.
• Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt-starrer "Gully Boy" won the best film from India award in the regional finals at the Asian Academy Creative Awards ceremony.
• Netflix series "Delhi Crime" has won in a number of categories at the Asian Academy Creative Awards. Delhi Crime won for Best Actress, Best Direction, Best Drama Series, Best Editing and Best Original Programme.

Defence

7. DAC cleared indigenous projects worth Rs 3,300 crore

• The Defence Acquisition Council has approved 3 projects worth Rs 3,300 crore of “indigenously designed and developed equipments".
• The projects include 3rd generation Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGM) and Auxiliary Power Units (APUs) for the T-72 and T-90 Tanks to be executed by the Indian industry.
• This is the first time the Ministry of Defence has offered complex military equipment to be designed, developed and manufactured by the Indian private industry.
• The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) meeting was chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

Banking

8. SBI Card launches contactless mobile phone payments facility

• SBI Card announced the launch of 'SBI Card Pay', a feature which allows contactless payment using mobile phones at PoS terminals.
• Using SBI Card Pay, customers can make contactless payments at near field communication (NFC) enabled point of sale terminals with just one tap of their mobiles, without using the physical credit card or entering any PIN.
• SBI Card Pay is a payment feature based on Host Card Emulation (HCE) technology for faster, convenient and more secure card payments using mobile phones.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RBI Grade ‘B’ 2019:

• CEO of SBI Card: Hardayal Prasad; Founded: October 1998.
• Headquarters: Gurugram, Haryana.

Summit and Conference

9. The 18th NAM Summit to be held in Baku, Azerbaijan

• The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit has been scheduled to be held between 25 October and 26 October 2019 in Baku, Azerbaijan.
• The 18th NAM summit 2019 will be preceded by Ministerial meetings and senior official meetings.
• The 18th Summit Conference of the NAM will be hosted by H.E. Mr Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Nepal PM Oli and Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina will be attending the summit.
• The Non-Alignment Movement was founded in 1961. India is a founding member of the NAM summit.
• NAM was based on Bandung principles that were adopted at the Belgrade Summit, an Afro-Asian Conference, in 1955. The movement worked towards the attainment of independence for many countries.
• The principles of non-alignment constitute one of the basic tenets of Nepal's foreign policy NAM. The 17th NAM Summit was held in 2016 at the Island of Margarita, Venezuela.

Ranks and Reports

10. NCRB releases Crime in India Report 2017

• National Crime Records Bureau has released the annual "Crime in India Report 2017". The report has been released after a delay of 2 years.

Key findings of the report are:

• According to the report, 3.59 lakh cases of crime against women were reported in the country. Uttar Pradesh topped the list with 56,011 cases followed by Maharashtra with 31,979 cases and West Bengal 30,002 in cases of crime against women.
• Majority of cases under crimes against women were registered under ‘Cruelty by Husband or his Relatives’ (27.9%) followed by ‘Assault on Women with Intent to Outrage her Modesty’ (21.7%), ‘Kidnapping & Abduction of Women’ (20.5%) and ‘Rape’ (7.0%).
• The NCRB report also cited 58,880 incidents of rioting in 2017. Maximum incidents of rioting were reported from Bihar (11,698), followed by Uttar Pradesh (8,990) and Maharashtra (7,743).
• The incidents registered under the Scheduled Caste Prevention of Atrocities Act saw an increase from 5,082 incidents reported in 2016 to 5,775 in 2017.
• Incidents of crime related to Scheduled Tribes dipped from 844 in 2016 to 720 in 2017.
• A total of 95,893 cases of kidnapping and abduction were registered during 2017.
• The NCRB for the first time collected data on circulation of “false/fake news and rumours”. Under the category, maximum incidents were reported from Madhya Pradesh (138) followed by Uttar Pradesh (32) and Kerala (18).
• A total of 28,653 murder cases were registered across the country in 2017 and enmity cited as the maximum triggers for such murders. Among Union Territories, Delhi recorded the most murder cases in 2017 at 487.

Sports

11. Raunak Sadhwani becomes India's 65th Grandmaster

• Raunak Sadhwani has becomes India's 65th Grandmaster. He defeated Russian GM Alexander Motylev to become the Grandmaster at the age of 13 years, 9 months and 28 days.
• Sadhwani’s first GM norm came in the 2019 Aeroflot Open and the 2nd in the 2019 Porticcio Open and the final norm at FIDE-Chess Grand Swiss.
• With the victory, Sadhwani has joined the growing list of country’s teenaged GMs that includes enormously-talented Nihal Sarin, R. Praggnanandhaa and D. Gukesh, among others.

12. Denis Shapovalov wins the Stockholm Open

• Canadian player Denis Shapovalov has won the Stockholm Open title.
• He defeated Filip Krajinovic by 6-4, 6-4 in the Stockholm Open final. Denis Shapovalov has become the first Canadian ATP singles champion since Milos Raonic won at Brisbane in January 2016.

13. Riya Bhatia wins ITF title in Nigeria

• Riya Bhati has won the ITF women’s tennis tournament in Lagos, Nigeria.
• She defeated Slovenian player Nastja Kolar of Slovenia 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 in the summit clash of the $25,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament.
• This was the 3rd singles title in the professional circuit for Riya, who had won her last two titles in 2016 and 2017.

14. Rohit Sharma set a record of highest average in Test cricket

• Indian cricketer Rohit Sharma smashed the former Australia cricketer Don Bradman's record of highest average in Test cricket on home soil.
• He set the record on day two of the third Test match against South Africa.
• He broke the 71-year-old record that was previously held by Bradman by scoring an average of 99.84.
• Bradman, the legendary Australia cricketer had an average of 98.22.

Obituaries

15. Dhyanchand award recipient Wrestler Dadu Chougule passes away

• Dadu Chougule, wrestler and recipient of Major Dhyanchand award, passed away.
• In 1973, Chougule had won the titles ‘Rustum-e-Hind’ and ‘Mahan Bharat Kesari’ in national-level tournaments.
• In the 1974 Commonwealth Games, he won the silver medal. He won the ‘Maharashtra Kesari’ title twice in 1970 and 1971  and was awarded by the state government with ‘Shivchattrapati Puraskar’.

Miscellaneous

16. World fastest ant "Saharan silver ant" found in northern Sahara

• The Saharan silver ant is the fastest of the world's 12,000 known ant species, clocking 855 millimetres nearly a metre per second. Its scientific name is Cataglyphis bombycina.
• Silver ants travel 108 times their body length per second and have a stride rate 10 times that of Usain Bolt.
• A team of German researchers from the University of Ulm and Freiburg(Germany) discovered the ant in Douz area of Tunisia in Northern Sahara.