1) Ganga River Dolphin Day: 5 October
•In India, the ‘Ganga River Dolphin Day’ is observed every year on October 5, to raise awareness and encourage conservation of Ganga River Dolphins. It was on this day in 2010, that Ganga Dolphins were declared national aquatic animals. Then, in 2012, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Uttar Pradesh government jointly began the dolphin conservation campaign in the country.
2) World Teachers’ Day observed on 5th October
•World Teachers’ Day, also known as International Teachers Day, is held annually on October 5 since 1994. The Day aims to focus on appreciating, assessing and improving the educators of the world and to provide an opportunity to consider issues related to teachers and teaching. The Theme for 2021 International Teachers Day is “Teachers at the heart of education recovery”.
3) PM Narendra Modi launches Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0 and AMRUT 2.0
•Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the second phase of the two flagship missions, namely, Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U) and Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), from Dr Ambedkar International Centre in New Delhi. The SBM-U 2.0 and AMRUT 2.0 have been designed to realise the aspiration of making all cities ‘garbage free’ and ‘water secure’. The outlay of SBM-U 2.0 is around Rs 1.41 lakh crore. The outlay of AMRUT 2.0 is around Rs 2.87 lakh crore.
4) India Pavilion inaugurated at Dubai Expo 2020
•The World Expo 2020 has been organised at Dubai in the United Arab Emirates from 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022. The main theme of the Dubai Expo 2020 is “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future”. The Expo was originally scheduled to take place from 20 October 2020 to 10 April 2021 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
•Expo 2020 is the first to be held in the MENA & SA (the Middle East and North Africa & South Asia) region. World Expos provide a platform to showcase the greatest innovations that have shaped the world we live in today. The grand event will have 191 country pavilions.
5) Himachal Pradesh becomes 1st state to begin organised cultivation of dalchini
•The CSIR’s Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (IHBT) has introduced cinnamon cultivation in Himachal Pradesh on a pilot basis. True cinnamon or Cinnamomumverum is grown mainly in Sri Lanka, while minor producing countries include Seychelles, Madagascar, and India.
•India imports 45,318 tonnes of cinnamon annually from China, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Indonesia and Nepal. With the cultivation of Cinnamomum Verum, HP has become the first state of India to have organized cultivation of cinnamon.
6) Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed takes oath for second term
•The Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed has been sworn in for a second five-year term. He was administered the oath of office by Supreme Court Chief Justice Meaza Ashenafi. Abiy’s Prosperity Party was declared the winner of June’s parliamentary elections, which were criticised by opposition parties but described by external observers as improved from past elections. He is serving as prime minister of Ethiopia since 2018.
•Mr Abiy won the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize for restoring ties with neighbouring Eritrea and for pursuing sweeping political reforms. He is dealing with a war that is spreading from the Tigray region and ethnic violence.
7) GST collection for September crosses ₹1.17 lakh crore
•The gross GST revenue collected in the month of September was 1,17,010 crore rupees, which included a CGST component of 20,578 crores, SGST is 26,767 crore and IGST component of 60,911 crore rupees. The revenue for September was 23% higher than the GST revenues in the same month last year. During the month, revenue from import of goods was 30% higher.
8) B C Patnaik takes charge as MD of LIC
•BC Patnaik has taken charge as Managing Director of Life Insurance Corporation of India. He was appointed as Managing Director by the Government of India notification dated July 5, 2021. Prior to taking charge as Managing Director of LIC, Patnaik was Secretary-General, Council for Insurance Ombudsmen, (CIO) Mumbai. He joined LIC of India in March 1986 as a Direct Recruit Officer.
9) Alok Sahay appointed as Secretary-General of Indian Steel Association
•The Indian Steel Association (ISA) has announced that Alok Sahay has assumed office as its new secretary-general and executive head, taking over from Bhaskar Chatterjee. Sahay who is the former executive director of the Steel Authority of India (SAIL) has experience of almost four decades in the steel industry.
•Sahay has worked closely with the steel industry and the Government as one of the core industry representatives to advocate on trade-related matters at national and international forums. His experience also includes training at British Steel and tenure as visiting fellow at Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford University.
10) The Nobel Prize in Physics 2021 announced
•The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics 2021. Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann, Giorgio Parisi jointly won the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics for groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of complex physical systems. The Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden. The prestigious award comes with a gold medal and 10 million Swedish kronor (over $1.14 million).
11) Sanjay Bhargava to head Starlink satellite broadband venture in India
•Sanjay Bhargava, who had worked with Elon Musk as part of a team that had founded electronic payment firm, PayPal, will now head the tech billionaire entrepreneur’s Starlink satellite broadband venture in India. Bhargava joins SpaceX as Starlink’s country director (India), as the Musk-led US aerospace company gears up to compete with Bharti group-backed OneWeb.
