1) World Mental Health Day: 10 October
•World Mental Health Day is observed on 10 October every year, with the overall objective of raising awareness of mental health issues around the world and mobilizing efforts in support of mental health.
•'Mental health in the workplace' is the theme of World Mental Health Day 2017.
2) Vice President Inaugurated 3rd International Conference on Yoga
•Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated the third International Conference on Yoga in New Delhi. The theme of this year’s conference will be ‘Yoga for Wellness.’
•The two-day conference has six technical sessions and experts will deliberate on the scope of yoga in integrated medicine, and control of cancer, depression and gynaecological disorders and pain management. Around 500 delegates, including those from 44 countries, will attend the conference.
3) Uttarakhand Government Launched 'Solar Briefcase' to Provide Electricity in Remote Areas
•Uttarakhand State Government and a charitable funding agency named Swan Cultural Center and Foundation launched ‘Solar Briefcase’ in Kedarnath Dham.
•The initiative was taken to provide electricity to far-flung areas in the hill state.
4) Union Home Minister Inaugurated First BIMSTEC Disaster Management Exercise
•The Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh inaugurated the four-day First ‘BIMSTEC Disaster Management Exercise- 2017’ (BIMSTEC DMEx-2017) in New Delhi. The Exercise will be conducted by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) as the lead agency in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR).
•The BIMSTEC DMEx-2017 is being conducted in two phases in Delhi and NCR. The main exercise will comprise of Table Top Exercise (TTX), Field Training Exercise (FTX) and After Action Review (AAR). The main focus of the BIMSTEC DMEx-2017 will be on testing the region’s preparedness and resilience towards effective activation of inter-Governmental interaction for immediate deployment of regional resources for disaster response.
5) India Slips to 8th Rank in Valuable Nation Brand List
•India is ranked the eighth most valuable nation brand while the United States retained its top position and China took the second spot in the league of nations according to Brand Finance’s Nation Brands 2017.
•India went down one spot over the previous year because the economy grew at its slowest pace. India switched places with Canada and its brand value dropped by one percentage point while that of Canada’s rose 14 percent. China, the fastest growing nation brand in 2017, saw valuation grow 44 percent.
•The Top 10 Valuable Nation brands are:
1.United States
2.China
3.Germany
4.Japan
5.United Kingdom
6.France
7.Canada
8.India
9.Italy
10.South Korea.
6) World Bank Reduces India GDP Growth Forecast to 7% for 2017-18
•In the June quarter of 2017-18, the Indian economy decelerated to 5.7%, lowest since the economy grew at 5.3% in the March quarter of 2013-14. In its South Asia Economic Focus (Fall 2017), the World Bank reduced India’s GDP growth forecast to 7% for 2017-18 from 7.2% estimated earlier.
•Both the Asian Development Bank as well as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) have also cut their growth projections for India to 7% and 6.7%, respectively, for fiscal 2017-18.
