Current Affairs on 5th October
National News
- Sabarmati Central Jail in Ahmedabad, Gujrat has launched “Radio Prison” on the occasion of the 151st Birth Anniversary of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi.
- Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Kiren Rijiju flagged in the CRPF Divyang Yodha Cycle rally that began its journey from Sabarmati Ashram, Gujarat and culminated at Rajpath.
- Railway Minister Piyush Goyal virtually inaugurated the Phoolbagan station of Kolkata’s East-West Metro Corridor.
- The Ministry of Defence signed a contract with a Nagpur based private entity for supply of Multi-Mode Hand Grenades (MMHG) to the Indian Army. The MMHG is designed and developed by DRDO’s facility Terminal Ballistic Research Laboratory (TBRL).
- Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC will invest Rs 5,512 crore for a 1.22 per cent stake and TPG Capital Management will invest Rs 1,838 crore to own a 0.41 per cent equity stake in the Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd. (Combined investment – 7350 crores).
- Sikkim is the first certified 100% Organic state in the country.
- Google India has rolled out its nationwide campaign “Make Small Strong” to help small businesses and drive demand through customer support.
- Indian Navy has signed a partnership with Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) to launch Aerial Seeding at INS Dega at Visakhapatnam enhancing its green cover and it was inaugurated by Rajya Sabha MP V Vijayasai Reddy and Vice Admiral Atul Kumar Jain.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate a mega virtual summit on Artificial Intelligence RAISE 2020- ‘Responsible AI for Social Empowerment 2020’ on October 5, 2020. It will be organised by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and NITI Aayog.
- Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)
successfully flight tested the Supersonic Missile Assisted Release of Torpedo (SMART) from Wheeler Island off the coast of Odisha. - The Coal Mines Provident Fund Organisation launched the information technology project Superior New-generation Information and Data Handling Initiative (SUNIDHI) on 2nd October 2020 on the occasion of the 151st Birth Anniversary of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi.
- India will see the first five animal overpasses on the under-construction Delhi-Mumbai Expressway. The plan has been approved and forwarded by the Rajasthan Government to the Central Wildlife Board.
- Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has chaired the 42nd GST Council meeting through video conferencing in New Delhi.
- India participated at the Science & Technology Ministerial Roundtable, organized in the 17th annual Science and Technology in Society (STS) Forum, hosted by Japan.
- The Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal will be among the five urban leaders from around the world to speak at the ‘Daring Cities 2020’ conference on 7th October.
The international conference is being hosted by ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability and Bonn city with the support of the German government. - The Department of Fertilizers has achieved second and third ranks on Data Governance Quality Index (DGQI) based on a survey conducted by Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office, NITI Ayog.
International News
- Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women was hosted by Beijing, China.
- Voters on New Caledonia rejected independence from France.
- The United States and Russia will hold a round of nuclear arms control talks in Finland’s capital, Helsinki on 5 October 2020.
- India will acquire a newly developed Sprut Light Tanks from Russia, that could be useful in high altitude areas of Line of Actual Control (LAC).
- India has partnered with France to launch a constellation of maritime surveillance satellites to monitor illegal spillage of oil in the Indian Ocean Region.
- Recently, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has decided to send an unmanned spacecraft to the moon in 2024.
State News
- Andhra Pradesh Government has decided to launch Jagananna Vidya Kanuka on October 8. Under this scheme, free educational kits will be provided with students studying in Government Schools.
- Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar Thursday digitally launched ‘Gram Darshan’ which will allow a platform to make the accessibility of data of as many as 6,197 Gram Panchayats of the state online.
- Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal presented the Anundoram Borooah Award 2020 for the students who secured 75% or above in matriculation examination in Guwahati.
- Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh virtually launched the construction of 750 rural stadiums and playgrounds in Punjab under Punjab’s “Rural Transformation Strategy” and “Tandarust Punjab Mission”.
- The Karnataka government is ready to introduce a ‘robust’ cybersecurity policy to strengthen its digitisation efforts across walks of life.
National and International Appointments
- Courtney Walsh has been appointed as the head coach of the West Indies women’s team.
- Charanjit Singh Attra has been appointment by State Bank of India as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
Awards and Honor
- Harvey J Alter and Charles M Rice, and British scientist Michael Houghton were awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine for the discovery of the Hepatitis C virus.
- The four activists Ales Bialiatski of Belarus, Nasrin Sotoudeh of Iran, Bryan Stevenson of US won the 2020 Right Livelihood Award.
- The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) foundation received the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (UNSDG) Action Award from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with the government of Punjab.
Books and Authors
- Minister of Development of North East Region (DONER) Jitendra Singh has released a Coffee Table Book on Discovering the Heritage of Assam, written by Padampani Boda.
- Anand Neelakantan authored the first kid’s book titled “The Very, Extremely, Most Naughty Asura Tales For Kids”.
- The Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi launched the coffee table book titled “Babu- The Unforgettable” on the occasion of the 151st Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
Obituaries and Retirement
- Former Minister of the Government of Odisha Pradeep Kumar Maharathi has passed away recently.
- Jharkhand’s Minority Welfare Minister Haji Hussain Ansari died.
- Veteran Social Activist Pushpa Bhave has died recently.
- Former Actor Vishal Anand has passed away.
- Former Union Minister Rasheed Masood has died.
Banking News
- Punjab National Bank (PNB) launched a financial inclusion and literacy initiative ‘Gram Sampark Abhiyan’. The campaign was launched by Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar.
- Bank of Baroda Financial Solutions, a subsidiary of Bank of Baroda has partnered with MasterCard to launch four new variants of BOB credit cards.
- Indian Bank has introduced a Kisan Credit Card loan scheme for fishermen in Tamilnadu.
- The Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank has launched a special gold loan scheme Vikas Laghu Suvarna with a reduced interest rate of 7.25%.
Sports
Visnu Shivaraj Pandian won the 10 metre air rifle event at the fifth edition of the International Online Shooting Championship.
Economic Affairs
Finance Ministry estimated that India’s normal GDP will grow by 19 percent in normal terms in financial year 2021-2022.
Important Days
- World Teachers’ Day is observed on 5th October.
Theme- Leading in crisis, reimagining the future. - World Habitat Day is observed every year on the first Monday of October, this year it falls on 5th October. Theme- Housing For All – A Better Urban Future.
- World Space Week is observed every year from 4th October to 10th October to celebrate the contribution of space science and technology. Theme 2020- Satellites Improve Life.
- World Post Card day is celebrated globally on 1st October.
- World Day for Farmed Animals is annually observed on 2nd October.