Daily Current Affairs 15th October 2019

Table of Contents

Dear Aspirants,

General awareness section is the most important part of every competitive exam, it can help you score well in the exam if you are updated with all the current news. Banking Awareness, Static GK and the current news are the parts that make the GA section complete. It is important to know what is happening in and outside of India. GK updates are incorporated with the important news that made the headlines today. It is the complete bag of the important news that held all day long. One should have complete knowledge about the banking terms, current affairs news, etc. So, here is the GK update of 15th October to help you prepare the Current affairs part. After reading this section, you can successfully attempt Current Affairs Quiz.

हिंदी में पढ़ें

National

1. Nation pays homage to former President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam on his 88th birth anniversary

The nation pays homage to former President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam on his 88th birth anniversary and remembered his contributions to the country.
The birthday of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam the most popular President of India is celebrated as World Students Day.
Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, better known as the ‘Missile Man of India’ for his contributions towards the development of the country’s missile projects was born on October 15, 1931, at Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu.
Dr Kalam made innumerable contributions to Indian defence. Dr Kalam’s commitment, patriotism and vision to make India a strong nation will continue to inspire people.
In 2002, Dr Kalam became the 11th President of India and famously became the ‘People’s President’ for his friendly nature to one and all. The former President suffered a cardiac arrest on July 27, 2015, and passed away while giving a lecture at the Indian Institute of Management Shillong.

2. Air India becomes first airline to use Taxibot on A320 aircraft

Air India became the first airline in the world to use a Taxibot on a A320 aircraft with passengers on board. Taxibot is a robot-used aircraft tractor for taxiing an aircraft from parking bay to runway and vice versa.
The national carrier’s Chairman and Managing Director Ashwani Lohani flagged off flight AI665, which was carried to runway using Taxibot at terminal 3 of the Delhi airport to Mumbai.
It is a pilot-controlled semi-robotic towbarless aircraft tractor used as alternate taxiing equipment.
Taxibots will also help in decongesting boarding gates and the apron area by providing efficient pushbacks. it is the first such usage on any Airbus aircraft worldwide.

International

3. Kais Saied elected as new President of Tunisia

Kais Saied is elected as the new President of Tunisia after a landslide victory in recently concluded Presidential runoff. The Independent law professor Kais Saied won against his rival, Nabil Karoui.
He won Tunisia’s presidential election with 73% of votes. The elections followed the death of President Beji Caid Essebsi in July 2019.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB NTPC/IBPS RRB Mains:

Capital of Tunisia: Tunis; Currency of Tunisia: Tunisian Dinar.

Agreement

4. IIT Madras to collaborate with ExxonMobil for research in Energy and Biofuels

IIT Madras will collaborate with ExxonMobil on Research in Energy and Biofuels. The 5-year joint-research agreement focuses on biofuels, data analytics, gas conversion and transport, and is intended towards finding low-emission solutions.
ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company (EMRE) for research on energy and biofuels is the research and engineering arm of ExxonMobil Corporation, a leading global oil, natural gas, and petrochemicals company. ExxonMobil works with over 80 universities around the world.
India is the 3rd highest producer of agro-residues globally with the surplus potential of over 230 million tonnes per year after China and Brazil.
India’s huge biofuel potential is expected to get realized shortly with the ‘new biofuel policy’ of Government of India, which targets to convert the country’s biofuel industry into a $15.6 billion economy.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For IBPS RRB Main 2019:

Chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil: Darren W. Woods.
Headquarters of ExxonMobil: Texas, United States.

Banking

5. ICICI Bank launches new FD scheme “FD health”

ICICI Bank has launched a fixed deposit scheme called FD Health, that comes with an in-built critical insurance policy. The FD Health – Critical illness Cover will be provided to only the primary holder of the FD account.
Anyone in the age bracket of 18-50 years, gets this complimentary insurance cover for a year on 33 critical illnesses. For the first year, free of cost insurance cover will be provided which can be renewed later.
The new FD scheme from ICICI bank offers a complimentary critical illness cover of Rs. 1 lakh from ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company on opening an FD of Rs. 2 lakh to Rs. 3 lakh for a tenure of at least two years.
The critical illness cover will be available on Cumulative FDs opened for a period of a minimum of 2 years.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB NTPC/IBPS RRB Mains:

MD & CEO of ICICI Bank: Sandeep Bakhshi.
Tagline: Hum Hai Na, Khyal Apka.
Headquarters: Mumbai.

Awards

6. Director Priyadarshan gets MP govt’s Kishore Kumar award

Noted director and producer Priyadarshan, who has made several blockbuster Malayalam and Hindi films, was conferred the Madhya Pradesh government’s National Kishore Kumar Samman for 2018-19 at a function in Khandwa, MP.
The award, instituted by MP Department of Culture, carries a cash prize of Rs 2 lakh and a citation.
Khandwa is the birthplace of the legendary singer-actor Kishore Kumar and he had expired on October 13, 1987, in Mumbai.

7. Margaret Atwood and Bernardine Evaristo jointly win Booker Prize

Margaret Atwood and Bernardine Evaristo have jointly won the 2019 Booker Prize after judges flout the rules by declaring a tie.
The Booker rules say the prize must not be divided, but the judges insisted they could not separate Atwood’s – ‘The Testament’ and ‘Girl, Woman, Other’ by Evaristo, who is the first black woman to win the prestigious award since its creation in 1969.
British Indian novelist Salman Rushdie’s tragicomic ‘Quichotte’ was among the six books shortlisted for the prize.
This was the fifth time that the Mumbai-born novelist was shortlisted, including the 1981 win where he bagged the award for “Midnight’s Children”.

8. Nobel Prize Winners 2019 – Check Here Complete List

The Nobel Prize 2019 were announced recently in 6 different fields viz. Physiology or Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Peace, and Economic Sciences.
The Nobel Prize distribution was first done on 1901. The winners will receive a full cash prize, valued this year at 9-million kronor ($918,000), a gold medal and a diploma.

Chronicle of the Nobel Prize:

On November 27, 1895, Alfred Nobel signed his 3rd and last will at the Swedish-Norwegian Club in Paris in which he specifically designated the institutions responsible for the prizes he wished to be established: The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for the Nobel Prize in Physics and Chemistry, Karolinska Institutet for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, the Swedish Academy for the Nobel Prize in Literature, and a Committee of five persons to be elected by the Norwegian Parliament (Storting) for the Nobel Peace Prize.
In 1968, the Sveriges Riksbank established the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.
The Nobel Foundation, a private institution established in 1900, has the ultimate responsibility for fulfilling the intentions in Alfred Nobel’s will. Each year, thousands of members of academies, university professors, scientists, previous Nobel Laureates and members of parliamentary assemblies and others, are asked to submit candidates for the Nobel Prizes for the coming year.
After receiving all nominations, the Nobel Committees of the 4 prize awarding institutions are responsible for the selection of the candidates.

Complete list of the winners of Nobel Prize 2019: Click Here

Summit and Conferences

9. 1st National Hindi Science writers conference begins in Lucknow

The first National Hindi Science writers conference 2019 started in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh with an aim to promote the use of Hindi and other Vernacular languages in science writing.
The conference is organised at Dr Shakuntala Mishra National rehabilitation university was inaugurated by the speaker of the state assembly Hriday Narayain Dixit.
A dedicated website WWW.VIGYANLEKHAN.COM has been prepared for this event.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For IBPS RRB Main 2019:

Chief Minister of UP: Yogi Adityanath; Governor: Anandiben Patel; Capital: Lucknow.

10. Nitin Gadkari inaugurates conference on ‘One Nation One Tag – FASTag’ in New Delhi

Union Road Transport & Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari inaugurated a conference on ‘One Nation One Tag – FASTag’ in New Delhi to roll out the process for having a unified electronic system across the country.
Under this system the same FASTag affixed on the windscreen of a vehicle can be used to pay toll across all toll plazas in the country.

Important Days

11. International Day of Rural Women: 15 October

The International Day of Rural Women is observed on 15th October. The day recognizes the crucial role of women and girls in ensuring the sustainability of rural households and communities, improving rural livelihoods and overall wellbeing.
This year’s theme is “Rural Women and Girls Building Climate Resilience”.
This year’s theme highlights the important role that rural women and girls play in building resilience to face the climate crisis.

12. World Students’ Day 2019

World Students’ Day is celebrated every year on October 15 on former president APJ Abdul Kalam’s birthday.
The day is commemorated on his birth anniversary because of Dr Kalam was a dedicated teacher and identified himself foremost in that role before anything else.
Due to the former President’s love for students, various educational institutions in India observe Kalam’s birthday in their own way. In 2010, the United Nations declared October 15 to be World Students’ Day.

Sports

13. Priyanshu Rajawat wins men’s singles title at Bahrain International Series

Indian shuttler Priyanshu Rajawat wins the men’s singles title at the Bahrain International Series Badminton at Isa Town, Bahrain. 17-year-old Rajawat beat top-seed Jason Anthony Ho-Shue from Canada in the finals 16-21, 21-7, 21-12 in the summit clash.
Indian mixed double pair of Juhi Dewangan and Venkat Gaurav Prasad also finished at the top.
They defeated Thailand’s Pannawat Theerapanitnun and Kanyanat Sudchoeichom 21-18, 21-16 in 34 minutes to bag the gold medal.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB NTPC/IBPS RRB Mains:

King of Bahrain: Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa; Capital: Manama.

14. ICC changes super over rule for all its major events

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has changed the super-over rule for all its major events following the uproar over the outcome of the men’s World Cup final this year when England was declared winners against New Zealand on boundary count.
As per new rule, in case of a super over tie, there will be a repeated super over until one team has more runs than the other.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For IBPS RRB Main 2019:

ICC Chairman: Shashank Manohar; Headquarters: Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The 13th edition of ICC Cricket World Cup will be held in India from February 9 to March 26, 2023.

Miscellaneous

15. Sangam Youth Festival organised by Indian Army

Over 1,500 students from 32 different colleges and university participated in the ‘Sangam Youth Festival’ being organised by the Indian Army in collaboration with Jammu University Campus in a bid to spread the message of peace, prosperity, communal harmony and national integration.
During this festival, several events are being organised so the students can showcase their talents and skills.

16. 2nd phase of LOTUS-HR launched in New Delhi

The 2nd phase of an Indo-Dutch project called Local Treatment of Urban Sewage Streams for Healthy Reuse, or LOTUS-HR was launched at Barapullah drain in New Delhi.
This project was launched by Minister of Science and Technology Harsh Vardhan and the Dutch Royal couple, Netherlands King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima.
The (LOTUS-HR) project was set up in 2017 at the Sun Dial Park here as part of a collaboration between the governments of India and the Netherlands.

17. DPIIT launches website, mobile app for IPR

Secretary Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Guruprasad Mohapatra launched the website and mobile application L2Pro India [Learn to Protect, Secure and Maximize Your Innovation] 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.
The website and app will be very useful to the startup community which holds great promise for India and its economy.
The modules of this e-learning platform will aid and enable youth, innovators, entrepreneurs and small and medium industries (SMEs) in understanding IPRs for their ownership and protection, integrate IP into business models and obtain value for their R&D efforts.
The L2Pro has been successfully implemented in Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy and France, benefiting immensely from close collaboration with respective IP organizations and public research institutions.
The learning app has been customized for India in order to ensure that innovation which is fundamental to startups are protected, managed and commercialised.