VISION

1) International Animation Day: 28 October

•International Animation Day is observed globally on 28 October every year. The day has celebrated the art of animation and also recognise the artists, scientists and technicians behind animation. This year marks the 19th International Animation Day. The day was created in 2002 by International Animated Film Association (ASIFA), an International Animated Film Association, a member of UNESCO.

2) Indian Army celebrates 74th Infantry Day in J&K

•Every year, October 27 is celebrated as Infantry Day by the Indian Army in Jammu & Kashmir (known by the nickname, Chinar Corps). The Chinar Corps celebrated the 74th Infantry Day on October 27, 2020, to honour the supreme sacrifice of the gallant soldiers in fighting the Pakistani invaders, in Jammu and Kashmir, in 1947.

3) Mansukh Mandaviya inaugurates ‘Direct Port Entry Facility’

•The Union Minister of State for Shipping (I/C), Mansukh Mandaviya has inaugurated the ‘Direct Port Entry (DPE) facility’ of V.O. Chidambaranar Port Trust in Tamil Nadu. This will help in increasing Ease of Doing Business for the exporters, as the facility will bring efficiency and reduce dwell time, lower tariff cost and improve the competitiveness of shipper in the international trade.

4) Arjun Munda launches two Centers of Excellence for tribal welfare

•The Union Minister of Tribal Affairs, Arjun Munda has launched two Centers of Excellence (CoE) for Tribal Welfare in a collaboration between Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) and Art of Living (AoL) through video conference.

The first Centers of Excellence:

•The first CoE has been launched in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra for training about 10000 tribal farmers in the field of sustainable natural farming based on Go-Adharith farming techniques.

•Farmers will be helped in getting the Organic certification and marketing opportunities to make each of them Atmanirbhar Tribal Farmers.

The second Centers of Excellence:

•The second CoE has been launched in Jharkhand in the field of ‘Strengthening PRIs’ in 5 districts of the state covering 30 Gram Panchayats and 150 villages.

•This initiative aims to create the youth volunteers among the tribal youths by giving them personality development training, instilling the sense of social responsibility among them and thereby creating the tribal leaders who will work for their community in spreading this awareness.

5) UP Govt to establish anti-human trafficking Police Stations

•Uttar Pradesh Government has decided to establish anti-human trafficking Police Stations in each and every district in a major step towards the security of women and children. These Police Stations will be given enough powers to register the case and investigate the matter independently.

•The state government is going to establish 40 new anti-trafficking units which will work like police stations in districts and will conduct the investigation after registering the cases. Earlier, only 35 districts in the state had Police stations of anti-human trafficking unit which was established in 2011 and 2018. The new Police stations are being established after directives from women safety division of union Government. Union Government has also allocated funds for these units.

6) Luis Arce declared as Bolivia’s president-elect

•Luis Arce has been chosen as the President-elect of Bolivia, after winning a landslide victory in the 2020 Bolivian general election. He captured 55.1% of the total votes. Arce will take the charge of the office on 8 November 2020. He would succeed Jeanine Anez, who is serving as the interim President of Bolivia.

•The 57-year-old, Luis is a member of the political party Movement Toward Socialism. Previously, Arce served as Minister of Economy and Public Finance from 2006 to 2017 and in 2019 under the President Evo Morales.

7) 3rd India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue begins in New Delhi

•India is hosting the third India-US two plus two Ministerial Dialogue at Hyderabad House in New Delhi. The Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar are leading the Indian delegation. The United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defence Mark Esper are leading the US delegation. The First two plus two dialogue was held in New Delhi in September 2018 and the Second in Washington DC in 2019.

•Besides, covering all bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest during the third dialogue, the two sides also signed the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geo-Spatial Cooperation (BECA) to further expand the geospatial cooperation between them and improve the accuracy of missile systems of India.

8) Om Birla participates in 6th BRICS Parliamentary Forum virtually

•The 6th BRICS Parliamentary Forum has been organised virtually under the chairmanship of Vyacheslav Volodin, the Chairman of Russian Parliament. The Indian Parliamentary Delegation is being led by Lok Sabha Speaker, Om Birla and also consists of Member of Lok Sabha Kanimozhi Karunanidhi.

•The forum provides an effective platform to facilitate inter-parliamentary dialogue and Parliamentary Diplomacy among the Parliaments of BRICS countries with a view to strengthening the role of Parliaments on a range of contemporary global issues.

•Speakers and members of five BRICS Parliaments namely Brazil, Russian, India, China and South Africa are attending the Forum. The theme of the Forum is ‘BRICS partnership in the interest of global stability, general safety and innovative growth: Parliamentary dimension’.

1) World Day for Audiovisual Heritage: 27 October

•The World Day for Audiovisual Heritage is observed globally on 27 October every year. The day was chosen by UNESCO to raise awareness of the significance and preservation risks of recorded sound and audiovisual documents. The theme of the World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2020: “Your Window to the World”.

2) Vigilance Awareness Week 2020

•The Vigilance Awareness Week 2020, is being celebrated from 27 October to 2 November 2020. The is observed every year by the Central Vigilance Commission during the week in which the birthday of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (31 October) falls.

•The theme for 2020 Vigilance Awareness Week is Vigilant India, Prosperous India (Satark Bharat, Samriddh Bharat). The awareness week campaign affirms our commitment to the promotion of integrity and probity in public life through citizen participation. In 2020, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is hosting a National Conference on Vigilance and Anti-Corruption from 27 to 29 October 2020, which will be addressed by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.

3) Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri launches ‘e-Dharti Geo portal’

•Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister, Hardeep Singh Puri has launched the ‘e-Dharti Geo Portal’ to integrate legacy drawings such as maps and lease plans in the management information system and make its geographic information system (GIS)-enabled.

•The Land and Development Office deals with more than 60000 residential, commercial, industrial and institutional properties. Now with the launch of the portal the property certificate details and outline map of the property can be easily accessed online. The portal is highly beneficial to the elderly public. It will help avoid unnecessary litigation. Also, the portal will help a purchaser to learn about the details of the property whether any lawsuit is pending in respect of the property.

4) Indian-origin Wavel Ramkalawan elected President of Seychelles

•Indian-origin Wavel Ramkalawan has been elected as the President of Seychelles. Seychelles has elected an opposition candidate as president for the first time since 1977. He has defeated the incumbent Danny Faure. Ramakalwan is a priest of Indian Origin whose grandfather came from Gopalganj, Bihar.

5) NATO plans to set up new space center in Germany

•The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) alliance, plans to build a headquarters for space operations at its airbase in Ramstein in Germany, to counter a rising Russian and Chinese threat.

•The new centre is to be a central point of contact to support NATO missions with communication and satellite images. It will also be a place to exchange information on potential threats to satellites. Some 2,000 satellites orbit the Earth, more than half of which are operated by NATO members, allowing everything from mobile phone services to weather forecasts. Currently, at least 40 per cent of NATO’s communications are via satellite.

6) Alpha Condé won the 3rd Term as President of Guinea

•Alpha Condé, the incumbent president of Guinea and leader of Rally of the Guinean People (Rassemblement du Peuple Guinéen – RPG) party won the 3rd the term as the President of Guinea by winning the 2020 presidential elections. He won the election against Cellou Dalein Diallo with 59.49 % votes. Diallo got 33.5% votes in the election. Winning the 2020 elections, Alpha Condé is set to govern the country for the next 6 years.

7) IIT Jodhpur, NHAI sign MoU for betterment of Highway Infrastructure

•Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Jodhpur and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to share expertise for the betterment of highway infrastructure.