Current affairs : October 24, 2016 for all competetive exams
United Nations Day is being observed today
- This year's UN Day will be used to highlight concrete actions people can take to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
ITBP celebrating its 55th
raising day
The Indo-Tibetan Border
Police celebrated its 55th raising day on 24 October.
- The force was created on 24th October in 1962. ITBP is deployed on border guarding duties from Karakoram Pass in Ladakh to Jachep La in Arunachal Pradesh covering 3488 kilometer of India-China Border.
INS Viraat decommissioned:
INS Viraat, the world’s oldest
aircraft carrier, was accorded a grand send-off in Kochi.
- INS Virat commsioned in in May 12, 1987 by Indian
Navy
- Nick name: Grand old lady
- Motto: Jalameva Yasya, Balameva Tasya
Centre plans to link varsity autonomy to performance
The Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry is considering linking the
autonomy of higher education institutions to their performance as measured by
the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF).
- The government is thinking of dividing universities into three categories — A, B and C — on the basis of their NIRF rankings.
India falls short in female literacy
Data from new research on female literacy show that India’s school
education system is under-performing in terms of quality when compared to its
neighbours, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.
- The research was carried out by New York-based
International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity. The
research studies changes in female literacy over a number of schooling
years
- The proportion of women who completed five years of primary schooling in India and were literate was 48%, much less than 92% in Nepal, 74% in Pakistan and 54% in Bangladesh.
AIIMS, Ganga Ram doctors
chosen for Dr B C Roy award
Randeep Guleria, Head of
Pulmonology from the AIIMS and C S Yadav, department of orthopaedics from the
Sir Ganga Ram Hospital have been selected for the prestigious Dr Bidhan Chandra
Roy Award for excellence in the field of medicine.
John Key visiting India
The government will once
again focus on its push for India’s membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group
(NSG) with the three-day visit of New Zealand Prime Minister John Key from
today.
- New Zealand is among the countries led by China that have demanded a set criteria for non-signatories of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)
Sheikh Hasina re-elected Awami League president
Bangladeshi Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina was re-elected president of the ruling Awami League party for the
eighth consecutive time, in its 20th council that concluded on Sunday.
- Ms. Hasina was first made the Awami League chief in its council in 1981
Iraqi Parliament passes law banning alcohol
Iraq’s Parliament on
Saturday voted to ban the sale, import and production of alcohol, in a surprise
move likely to anger some minorities but also to please influential religious
parties.
- Every violation of this law incurs a fine of 10
million to 25 million dinars [roughly $8,000 to $20,000]
Tom Hayden, famed anti-Vietnam
war activist, dies at 76
Tom Hayden, a 1960s anti-war
activist and one of the era's most prominent, counter-culture radicals who went
on to serve in the California state assembly and senate, has died aged
76.
- Hayden died in Santa Monica, California, after a long illness.
Indian Army team wins gold
medal in gruelling Cambrian Patrol exercise
A team from the Indian
Army's Gorkha Rifles has won a gold medal at one of the most gruelling
exercises in the world.
- Team 2/8 Gorkha was awarded a gold medal in Exercise
Cambrian Patrol organized by the British Army.
- The medal went to the 8 men of the 2nd Battalion of 8 Gorkha Rifles.
Lewis Hamilton wins 2016
United States Grand Prix
Mercedes driver Lewis
Hamilton (England) has won the 2016 United States Grand Prix.
- The race was held at the Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas, United States. Nico Rosberg (German) finished second while Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer’s Daniel Ricciardo finished third in the race.
