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• On October 1, 2018, the a 14 –day 6th edition of IBSAMAR, a joint Multi – National Maritime Exercise between the Indian, Brazilian and South African Navies commenced at Simons Town, South Africa.


• The Indian Navy is represented by Guided Missile Frigate INS Tarkash, Guided Missile Destroyer INS Kolkata, Long Range Maritime Patrol Aircraft P8I, Seaking and Chetak helicopters as well as a MARCOS contingent.


• Alongside this exercise, a IBSA Joint Defence Working Group meeting will also be held in South Africa.

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• On October 3, 2018, India launched ‘Operation Samudra Maitri’ in Central Sulawesi Province of the Republic of Indonesia.


• To assist victims of earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia.


• The Humanitarian assistance operation consisted of the two IAF Aircrafts, C-130J and C-17 along with medical personnel and relief material.


• The aircrafts also had tents and equipments to set up a field hospital along with medicines, generators and water.


• Also, 3 Indian Naval Ships – INS Tir, INS Sujatha and INS Shardul set sail for the to carry out humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR).

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• On October 2, 2018, Union Minister for Micro Small & Medium Enterprises, Shri Giriraj Singh inaugurated a month long- National Khadi Festival 2018 in Mumbai. To promote Khadi products.


• This event was organized by Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC).


• Around 100 institutions from across the country participated in the event.


• Loan disbursal to successful MSMEs was enhanced to over Rs. 1 crore by the ministry from the earlier range of Rs. 25 lakh to Rs. 1 crore.


• The Minister also launched the PMEGP Portal – a tool for increasing employment in micro enterprises.


• He also inaugurated an exhibition and planted four moringa saplings in the premises of Central Office, Khadi and Village Industries Commission.


• At the Event, the various programs included were: Khadi Sangam (under which exhibitions will be organized in 300 districts to promote Khadi products), e-commerce tie-ups, designing competitions for youngsters, World Khadi Congress, Gandhi Parv.

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• On October 2, 2018, Indian Railways launched its Project ‘Utkrisht’ to upgrade 140 rakes of Mail/Express trains in the first phase.


• The project aims to do Installing ‘Swachh Rail Toilet’, Fitting of energy-efficient LED lights – in the main interior, doorway, gangway and inside toilets, Health faucets, auto janitors, odonil containers, big size mirror etc.


• The first train to have been revamped is: 12311/12312 Howrah-Kalka Mail of Eastern Railway which was coloured beige and maroon.

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• On October 3, 2018, IIT-Kharagpur was named the national coordinating institute of the Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC) under the Ministry of Human Resource Development.
  
• The Ministry also launched a dedicated web portal for SPARC which will be active from October 4 to November 15.
  
• As a national coordinating institute, it would do Routing SPARC funds, Managing the online portal, Coordinating with the other nodal institutes of India, Organising two annual SPARC conferences and Managing the intellectual output of SPARC.

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• On October 2, 2018, on the eve of Gandhi Jayanti, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu launched the ‘Mukhyamantri Yuva Nestham’ scheme in Amaravati.


• According to the scheme, an amount of Rs. 1000 will be given as monthly unemployment allowance to eligible jobless youth of the state.


• It would also provide skill training to 10 lakh youth and 260 training partners have been appointed for this purpose.


• The training partners are from the countries of: Singapore, UK and Germany.

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• On October 3, 2018, Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh declared Manipur as the 23rd state in the country to become Open Defecation Free (ODF) in India.


• It is the 5th North-Eastern state to get the tag.


• This announced during the celebration of National Cleanliness Day at Gandhi Memorial Hall in Imphal.


• He also launched the Google Toilet Locator to enable locating nearest public toilet for use.

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• On October 3, 2018, a joint exercise of ‘Sahyog-Hop Tac 2018’ commenced off Chennai coast between Vietnam and India.


• In this bilateral exercise, Vietnam Coast Guard ship CSB 8001 took part in it or the first time.


• A vessel ‘Sagar Manjusha’, owned by National Institute of Ocean Technology and vessels from Indian coast guard took part in it as well.


• This exercise enhance cooperation between the two Coast Guards in areas of maritime safety and security.

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• On October 1, 2018, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India signed a $150 million loan to finance regional connectivity projects in North Bengal and North Eastern states.


• It is the 2nd tranche of a $500 million loan agreement for the South Asia Sub regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) Road Connectivity Investment Program.


• It was approved in 2014 and was aimed to develop 500 kms of roads in India’s North Bengal and northeastern region for better regional connectivity to regional and other SASEC member countries.

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• On October 3, 2018, Bajaj Finance, the lending and investment arm of Bajaj Finserv, increased its interest rate for Fixed Deposits.


• The FDs have been accredited with highes degree of safety with ‘FAAA/Stable’ rating by CRISIL and ‘MAAA (Stable)‘ rating by ICRA.

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• On October 3, 2018, Infosys Finacle, a part of Infosys’ product subsidiary EdgeVerve Systems launched a Digital Engagement Suit for banks. To interact with customers with customized experiences.


• The digital suite for banks is on a cloud-first architecture.


• It would accelerate the speed of internal and external innovation with an ecosystem of partner innovations to engage with end customers, internal users, partners and trusted parties.


• It would also offer comprehensive capabilities to engage retail, wealth, small business and corporate customer segments.


• This has already been recognized by banks of 78 countries.

• On October 3, 2018, Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) launched a six-day national level entrepreneurship awareness campaign–Udyam Abhilasha.


• It has been launched in 115 aspirational districts identified by NITI Aayog in 28 States reaching to around 15,000 youth.


• This will help 800 trainers create and provide entrepreneurship training to the aspiring youths across these districts.


• For its implementation it has partnered with Banks, NABARD, NBFCs, SFBs, District Industries Centres, State Govt. etc.


• Also, the Ministry of Electronics & IT, Government of India had set up a Special Purpose Vehicle, (CSC SPV)- CSC e-Governance Services India Limitedto work with SIDBI.

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• On 1st October 2018, UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) conferred 2018 Nansen Refugee Award to Dr. Evan Atar Adaha in Geneva, Switzerland.


• Dr. Evan Atar Adaha is a surgeon from South Sudan. He was awarded for his 20-year medical service to refugees of Sudan and South Sudan.


• He was presented the award by Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

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• On 3rd October 2018, Justice Ranjan Gogoi was sworn-in as the 46th Chief Justice of India (CJI).


• Justice Ranjan Gogoi was administered the oath by President Ram Nath Kovind. He is the first Chief Justice of India from the north-east.


• His term will end on November 17, 2019. He replaces Dipak Misra. He hails from Dibrugarh in Assam. He was born on November 18, 1954.


• In 2001, he started his career as a Permanent Judge of the Gauhati High Court. In 2010, he was transferred to the Punjab and Haryana High Court and became its Chief Justice in 2011. In 2012, he became a Supreme Court judge.

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• Adam Mosseri has been named the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of Facebook owned Instagram.


• Adam Mosseri replaces Kevin Systrom who resigned recently. Adam Mosseri was previously the Vice President of Product at Instagram. He had joined Facebook in 2008.


• Instagram was founded in 2010 by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger. It was sold to Facebook for $1 billion in 2012.

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• MSME Joint Secretary Sudhir Garg has taken charge as interim CMD (Chairman-cum-Managing Director) of National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC).


• Sudhir Garg has been given additional charge as CMD of NSIC from October 1, 2018, till a period of 3 months or until further orders, whichever is earlier.


• NSIC is a PSU (Public Sector Unit) that functions under the administrative control of the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME).

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• Athlete Sanya Richards-Ross has been named as the event ambassador for the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon that will be held on 21st October 2018.


• Sanya Richards-Ross is a four-time Olympic gold medalist and a seven-time medalist at the World Championships.


• She is the fastest American woman in the history of 400m with her record of 48.70s timing set at the IAAF World Cup 2006.

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• On 2nd October 2018, Barham Salih was elected as 8th president of Iraq.


• Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)’s Barham Salih secured 219 votes while his rival Fuad Hussein of Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) obtained 22 votes in the presidential election.


• Barham Salih replaces Fuad Masum. Barham Salih is 58 years old. He is a former prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government and a former deputy prime minister of the Iraqi federal government.


• He has named Adel Abdul Mahdi as prime minister-designate and has bestowed him the responsibility of forming a new government.

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• On 3rd October 2018, Japan’s Hayabusa2 probe launched the French-German Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout, or MASCOT, towards asteroid Ryugu’s surface.


• MASCOT weighs 10 kg. It is box-shaped and is equipped with several sensors. It can take images at multiple wavelengths, investigate minerals with a microscope, measure surface temperatures and magnetic fields.


• MASCOT will be mostly immobile. It will jump only once on its mission and it can turn on its sides.


• It has a maximum battery life of 16 hours. It will transmit the collected data to Hayabusa2.


• Hayabusa2 mission was launched in December 2014 to study the origins of the solar system. It will return to Earth with samples in 2020.

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• On 3rd October 2018, Telugu Desam Party leader, educationist and member of Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council M V V S Murthy died in a road accident in the USA.


• M V V S Murthy was 76 yaers old. He served as member of Lok Sabha from Visakhapatnam for two terms from 1991 to 1996 and 1999 to 2004.


• He was elected to Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council in 2014. He was also Chairman of Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority from 1987 to 1989.


• He founded the Gandhi Institute of Technology and Management (GITAM) at Rushikonda, Andhra Pradesh.