1) World Heart Day: 29th September
•World Heart Day takes place on 29th September every year and is the World Heart Federation‘s and the world’s biggest platform for raising awareness about cardiovascular disease, including heart disease and stroke. It was launched in 2000 by the World Heart Federation as an annual event.
2) PM Inaugurates Conference On Academic Leadership On Education For Resurgence
•The theme of the conference is to deliberate on challenges facing the Indian education system and to work out a plan for a paradigm shift both in terms of achieving academic outcomes and also in the regulation of education. The conference will be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and HRD minister Prakash Javadekar.
3) Indian Railways, Google Arts Launch ‘Rail Heritage Digitisation Project’
•Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal launched the ‘Rail Heritage Digitisation Project’ of Indian Railways in collaboration with Google Arts and Culture Association. The Minister launched the project through video conferencing in Delhi.
•The first-of-its-kind project aims to showcase India’s rail heritage to the national and international audience in an online story-telling platform. It is the largest cultural heritage digitisation project not only in India but possibly in the entire Asia Pacific Region.
4) NITI Aayog And Oracle Sign SoI To Pilot Drug Supply-Chain
•In order to fight the growing problem of counterfeit drugs in India, NITI Aayog and Oracle signed a Statement of Intent (SoI) to pilot a real drug supply-chain using blockchain distributed ledger and Internet of Things (IoT) software. Apollo Hospitals and Strides Pharma Sciences will partner in this effort.
•This agreement with Oracle and NITI Aayog's partnership with Apollo Hospitals and Strides Pharma, will help ensure that Indian drug manufacturers and healthcare experts have access to a standards-based, modern technology platform – blockchain and IoT, to help eliminate fake drug distribution.
5) India's 1st Corn Festival Starts In Madhya Pradesh
•In Madhya Pradesh, the first corn festival of the country is being held in Chhindwara. The festival is one of a kind international event. Madhya Pradesh is one of the largest corn producing states in India, with Chhindwara being the highest corn producing district.
6) Locate Public Toilets On Google Maps With LooReview Campaign
•The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, under the aegis of Swachh Bharat Mission – Urban (SBM – U), has partnered with Google to launch the Loo Review campaign to encourage all local guides in India to rate and review public toilets on Google Maps. This campaign is part of a feature which allows all citizens to locate public toilets in their cities on Google Maps, Search and the Assistant and also provide feedback on the same.
•500+ cities in India with more than 30,000 toilets with the name of “SBM Toilet” are currently live on Google Maps. Around 3400 cities already having achieved ODF status, and other cities are gearing up towards the same. The joint campaign to be run throughout October and November 2018 is an effort to increase the awareness and ease of locating public toilets across India.
7) Vikram Misri Appointed India's Next Ambassador To China
•Ambassador of India to Myanmar, Vikram Misri has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to China, according to the Ministry of External Affairs. Mr Misri, a 1989 batch IFS officer, is expected to take up the assignment shortly.
8) RBI Bars Bandhan Bank From Opening New Branches
•The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) barred Bandhan Bank from opening new branches and also ordered freezing of the bank's CEO salary over failure to stick to shareholding rules.
•The Bank was not able to bring down the shareholding of Non-Operative Financial Holding Company (NOFHC) to 40% as required under the licensing condition, general permission to open new branches stands withdrawn.
9) India Defeats Bangladesh To Win 7th Asia Cup Title
•India has defeated Bangladesh to win the Unimoni Asia Cup Title 2018. This was the second successive Asia Cup final where India took on Bangladesh. In 2016, India had decimated Bangladesh in the final (of the Asia Cup T20).
•Overall, this was India's seventh Asia Cup triumph. Liton Das was the Player Of The Match and Shikhar Dhawan was declared as the Player Of The Series.
