October 24 – World Polio Day

The World Polio Day is observed on October 24 every year to commemorate the fight against poliomyelitis. In 1988, UNICEF joined the Global Polio Eradication Initiative along with Rotary International and other partners, launching a campaign to rid the world of polio. At the time, the highly-infectious disease was at a peak, affecting more than 350,000 children in 125 countries annually.

October 24 – United Nations Day

24 October has been celebrated as United Nations Day since 1948. In 1971, the United Nations General Assembly recommended that the day be observed by Member States as a public holiday. UN Day marks the anniversary of the entry into force in 1945 of the UN Charter. United Nations Day, celebrated annually on 24 October, is dedicated to the global efforts and achievements of the UN.

United Nations Day 2015 Theme – ‘Turn the World UN Blue’

Iconic monuments, buildings, statues, bridges, and other landmarks across the world will be lit up blue to help unite global citizens and promote the message of peace, development and human rights.

YAI Senior National Championship-2015 Conclude at Mumbai

The Yachting Association of India (YAI) Senior National Championship – 2015, being organised by the Indian Naval Watermanship Training Centre, Mumbai has concluded.

Winners

• Nethra Kumanan from Tamil Nadu, who is vying for Olympic 2016 qualification, scheduled at Oman in mid November 15, walked away with a gold medal in Laser Radial Class of boat.
• In the Laser (Standard) Upamanyu Dutta, the No 1 ranked sailor from INWTC, Mumbai has won the Gold.
• In the Laser (Radial), Nethra Kumanan was won the Gold Medal.
• In RSX, Dyne Coelho from GBSA won sealed his Gold medal.
• Sandip Jain and Pawan Kumar from Shekhar Singh Yadav and Rahul Yadav won the Gold and Silver respectively in the Enterprise Class.

Advanced Landing Ground(ALG) at Walong Becomes Operational

Advanced Landing Ground at Walong has been inaugurated by Air Marshal C Hari Kumar , Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Air Command, Indian Air Force. Walong ALG was operational during 1962 Chinese aggression. Thereafter, it remained abandoned for a long time till it was decided in 2013 to reconstruct the ALG to make it fully Air Operational.

The project was very closely monitored by the Chief Engineer, Northeastern Projects and Works Department at Headquarters Eastern Air Command resulting in its completion in a record time of 21 months. Close supervision and active monitoring by Project Monitoring Group (PMG) made it possible despite of its difficult location and natural obstacles in sustaining supply of material and machinery.

Hurricane Patricia: Mexico awaits ‘strongest ever’ storm

Mexican authorities have begun evacuating residents ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Patricia. The storm is comparable to Typhoon Haiyan, which killed 6,300 people in the Philippines in 2013, the World Meteorological Organization says. A state of emergency has been declared in three states in Patricia’s path.

Some 400,000 people live in vulnerable areas, according to Mexico’s National Disaster Fund. The hurricane, which will bring torrential rain, could trigger flash floods and mudslides.  Patricia will make landfall in the western state of Jalisco, home to the resort town of Puerto Vallarta, which could lie directly in its path.

FinMin imposes anti-dumping duty on Chinese auto parts

The finance ministry has imposed anti-dumping duties on imported Chinese parts used in commercial vehicles for a period of five years with effect from October 21, 2015. The duties were slapped on Chinese items imported into India at prices less than even cost of production, such as front-axle beam and steering knuckles meant for heavy and medium commercial vehicles.

Anti-dumping duty has also been levied on fully-drawn or fully-oriented yarn, spin-drawn yarn, and flat yarn of polyester (non-textured) imported from China and Thailand. Similar duty was also imposed on plain medium density fibre board of thickness 6 mm and above, imported from China, Malaysia, Thailand and Sri Lanka for a period of five years.

National Capital Goods Policy Draft Ready

A draft National Policy on Capital Goods has been prepared and put in public domain for comments/suggestions of stakeholders and general public. The Department of Heavy Industry, in active consultation with industry associations & bodies has drafted a National Policy on Capital Goods.  This is the first time that a policy on Capital Goods is being framed. This National Policy on Capital Goods is envisaged to unlock the potential for this promising sector and establish India as a global manufacturing powerhouse.

The policy seeks to raise India’s share of global exports in capital goods to 2.5% and increase the share of domestic production of capital goods from 56% to 80% by 2025. Capital goods account for a significant portion of India’s imports, adding up to nearly $20 billion. The policy aims to shift some of that production to India, raising share of capital goods in total manufacturing to 20% by 2025 from 12% now.

Obama names Brett McGurk as Envoy to US-led coalition fighting ISIS

President Barack Obama has named Brett McGurk as the new official in charge of the US led coalition against the Islamic State group. Retired Marine Gen. John Allen is stepping down after 13 months overseeing the effort as the president’s special envoy for the global coalition to counter IS. McGurk was Allen’s deputy.

Virat Kohli became the fourth player to register hundred against all the Test playing countries in ODIs

Virat Kohli has made a remarkable achievement by scoring the century against South Africa. The century at Chennai was his first ODI century against South Africa and with this he completed the set of scoring ODI centuries against all the Test playing nations. This achievement by Kohli is quite remarkable as only four batsmen have done this in the past. And those four are Ricky Ponting, Herschelle Gibbs, Sachin Tendulkar and Hashim Amla.

Kohli made his ODI debut in August 2008, scored his maiden century in December 2009 and by July 2013 he had scored centuries against eight of the nine Test playing oppositions of India. The only team left out was South Africa. Till October 2015, his number of centuries against South Africa remained nil.

Indian mountaineers climbed an untouched mountain peak, named it after APJ Abdul Kalam

Mountaineers Arjun Vaipai and Bhupesh Kumar have created history by scaling a ‘virgin peak’ as they call it, near Bara Shigri glacier, Himachal Pradesh. They have named it Mount Kalam in memory of late President of India APJ Abdul Kalam. This is also the largest glacier after Gangotri in Himachal.  They are the first to leave a mark in the ‘six thousander’ peak that overlooks the Spiti Valley, Himachal. ‘Six thousander’ refers to the peak that is 6,000 metres high or tall.

India third-largest student market in London

India is the third-largest international student market in London after China and the US. International students studying at London universities last year provided a 3 billion pounds boost to the UK economy and helped support 37,000 jobs. Of those figures, Indian students spent an estimated 130 million pounds in 2013-14 compared to 407 million pounds by the Chinese and 217 million pounds by the Americans. Of the 130 million pounds total, Indians spent 43% at 56 million pounds on tuition fees, 56% at 74 million pounds on subsistence and less than 1% on visiting friends and relatives.

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