Daily Current Affairs, 18th October 2018

1) 12th Asia Europe Meeting Summit Begins In Brussels

•Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu is in Brussels, Belgium to attend the 12th Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit. Mr Naidu will lead the Indian delegation at the two-day Summit. The theme of this year’s ASEM Summit is “Global Partners for Global Challenges”.

•ASEM Agenda for 2018 will prioritize issues related to connectivity, trade and investment, sustainable development, climate change, terrorism, migration, maritime security and cyberspace.

2) Government Launches 'Swastha Bharat Yatra' Campaign

•The government launched a national campaign 'Swasth Bharat Yatra' on the World Food Day (16th October)under which a pan-India cycle rally is being organized to sensitise people about eating safe food and be healthy. It was announced by the FSSAI chief executive Pawan Kumar Agarwal. 

•The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is leading this campaign where about 7,500 cyclists are expected to participate in over 18,000 km relay cycle rally travelling across six tracks through almost every state and UT over 100 days to propagate a powerful message 'Eat Right India'. 

3) Muzaffarpur’s Shahi Litchi Gets GI Tag

•After huge efforts for a year, now Shahi Litchi of Muzaffarpur, Bihar has got official recognition as it receives the geographical indication (GI) tag. 

•The sweet, pulpy and juicy Litchi of Bihar is mostly grown in Muzaffarpur, and adjoining areas including East Champaran, Vaishali, Samastipur, and Begusarai districts. The GI registration was done in the name of Litchi Growers Association of Bihar, who had applied for the tag. 

4) 'Maharana Pratap: The Invincible Warrior': A Book Authored By Rima Hooja Released

•A new book on Maharana Pratap named “Maharana Pratap: The Invincible Warrior” authored by historian Rima Hooja has been released. The book narrates the life of Maharana Pratap, the great Rajput warrior and also talks about the famous battle of Haldighati. 

5) Global Competitiveness Report 2018: India Ranks 58th, US Tops

•The World Economic Forum released the Global Competitiveness Report 2018. According to the report, India has jumped five spots to become the 58th most competitive economy on the Global Competitiveness Index 2018 (GCI 4.0). India witnessed the largest gain among the G20 nations. The index covers 140 nations and it measures national competitiveness. 

•The United States ranked number one again with a score of 85.6. India ranked highest among South Asian countries with a score of 62.0. Sri Lanka was ranked 86, Bangladesh 103, Pakistan 107 and Nepal 109. As for the BRICS nations, China topped the list at 28th position with a score of 72.6 followed by Russian Federation, India, South Africa and Brazil respectively. 

•The Top 5 countries on the Index are:
1. US, 
2. Singapore, 
3. Germany, 
4. Switzerland, and 
5. Japan. 

6) RBI Issues Guidelines To Facilitate Payments Among PPI

•In a move aimed at promoting digital transactions, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has released operational guidelines to facilitate payments among prepaid instruments (PPI) such as mobile wallets. The guidelines elaborate on requirements for achieving inter-operability for mobile wallets and cards, and norms for customer protection and grievance redressal. 

•According to the notification issued by the RBI, inter-operability among mobile wallets, and between bank account and e-wallet would be enabled through the UPI system. Paytm, MobiKwik, Oxigen and Ola Money are some of the popular mobile wallets in the country. Currently, a mobile wallet does not allow customers to send or receive money from a wallet run by another company. 

7) TCS Displaces Accenture As Largest IT Firm Servicing Banks

•Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) Ltd’s quarterly earnings from the financial sector have edged past that of Accenture Plc, which is nearly double its size, making company the world’s largest pure-play information technology (IT) and consulting firm servicing megabanks and insurers. 

•During the July-September period, TCS got $2.07 billion in business from banking, financial services and insurance, or the BFSI sector. This included $1.63 billion from work across application development and maintenance, and other traditional solution offerings, besides $445.9 million from its proprietary platforms such as TCS iON. 

8) India's 1st Cryptocurrency ATM Installed In Bengaluru

•An ATM for deposit and withdrawal of money for cryptocurrencies has been installed in Bengaluru's Kemp Fort Mall by virtual currency exchange Unocoin. 

•Users can deposit money to buy currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum using an OTP received on their registered numbers. In order to withdraw money, a request has to be first made on the Unocoin website. 

9) Khayyam Named For Hridaynath Award For Lifetime Achievement

•National Award winning music director Mohammed Zahur Khayyam Hashmi, famous as 'Khayyam', has been named for this year's Hridaynath Award for Lifetime Achievement. Instituted by the Hridayesh Arts, the award carries a cash prize of Rs 100,000 and a memento and shall be conferred by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

•Hridaynath is the only and youngest brother of the legendary Mangeshkar singer-sisters - Lata, Asha, Usha and Meena, all children of the great composer, Deenanath Mangeshkar.

10) Suheil Tandon Wins International Olympic Committee Award

•Social Entrepreneur Suheil F. Tandon has won the International Olympic Committee's Sport and Active Society Commission's Grant Award for his contribution to sports for development.  Suheil is the Founder of Pro Sports Development (PSD) and Executive Director of Martha Farrell Foundation.

•Worth USD 25,000 each, these grants are awarded to grassroots organisations running effective sport for all programmes in different regions across the world. The award ceremony was held during the Olympism in Action forum at Buenos Aires.