Current Affairs 4th October 2018
NATIONAL
- Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar announced the “Swachh Campus rankings” under various categories. The rankings were decided on the basis of a survey under the ‘Swachhta Hi Sewa’ campaign
- The government of India and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed $240 million loan for providing safe and sustainable drinking water to about 1.65 million people in three districts of the state of West Bengal affected by arsenic, fluoride, and salinity.
- Odisha government launched the State’s own food security scheme to cover the poor people. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik launched the scheme via video conferencing at the State Secretariat in Bhubaneswar.
- The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, inaugurated the first Assembly of the International Solar Alliance in New Delhi.
APPOINTMENTS
- Justice Ranjan Gogoi has sworn-in as new Chief Justice of India. President Ram Nath Kovind administered him the oath of office at a function in Rashtrapati Bhawan.
- Iraq’s Parliament has elected a veteran Kurdish Politician Barham Salih as the country’s new President. He has named Shiite Adel Abdul Mahdi as Prime Minister of the country. The move will pave the way to form a new government, nearly five months after national elections.
BANKING & ECONOMY
- Alibaba and SoftBank-backed Paytm registered over 137 million UPI transactions in September, becoming the leading contributor to Unified Payments Interface (UPI) payments with over 33% of the overall market share
- On the occasion of Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), had launched a National Level Entrepreneurship Awareness Campaign, Udyam Abhilasha in 115 Aspirational Districts identified by NITI Aayog in 28 States and reaching to around 15,000 youth.
- State Bank of India has slashed the daily withdrawal limit on its classic debit card from Rs 40,000 to Rs 20,000. There is no change in the daily withdrawal limits on other cards. The new limit will be effective from October 31st 2018.
AWARDS
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi was honoured with United Nations’ highest environmental award- UNEP Champions of the Earth, along with French President Emmanuel Macron in New Delhi
- the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2018 with one half to Frances H. Arnold (USA)“for the directed evolution of enzymes” and the other half jointly to George P. Smith (USA) and Sir Gregory P. Winter (UK) “for the phage display of peptides and antibodies”
SPORTS
- Australian midfielder Mile Jedinak announced his retirement from international football, bringing the curtain down on a 79-cap career which included leading the Socceroos at two World Cups
- The International Cricket Council released the updated version of the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) System along with the new ICC Code of Conduct and ICC Playing Conditions. These came into effect from 30 September, when the first ODI between South Africa and Zimbabwe was played in Kimberley
- Teenage shooting star Manu Bhaker was named as the flag-bearer of the Indian contingent for the 3rd Youth Olympic Games to be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina from October 6-18
