IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF OCTOBER 9th, 2017

IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF OCTOBER 9th, 2017

1.     On 9th, October is World Post Day. 

a.      The day is celebrated every year on 9th October to highlight the importance of the postal services and to commemorate the establishment of the Universal Postal Union in 1874 in the Swiss capital, Berne.

b.     Theme of the World Post Day 2017 : Innovation, Integration and Inclusion

2.     On 9th, October is Indian Foreign Service Day(IFS Day).

a.      The IFS (Indian Foreign Service) was formed on this day (9th October) in the year 1946.

b.     Headquarters : South Block, New Delhi

c.      Controlling Authority : Ministry of External Affairs

d.     Foreign Secretary : Subrahmanyam Jaishankar

3.     The Supreme Court On 9th, October upheld its ban on sale of firecrackers in Delhi-National Capital Region till November 1.

a. The Central Pollution Control Board also supported the plea seeking restoration of the previous-year ban as the region witnessed a huge rise in air pollution after Diwali last year.

4.  A University Grants Commission's panel has suggested the government to remove word 'Muslim' from Aligarh Muslim University and 'Hindu' from Banaras Hindu University to reflect their secular character. 

a.      The panel suggested that AMU should either be called 'Aligarh University' or be named after its founder Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and gave a similar recommendation for BHU as well.

5.     The Gujarat High Court On 9th, October commuted the death sentence of 11 convicts in the 2002 Godhra train burning case to life imprisonment. 

a.      A Special Investigation Team (SIT) court had in 2011 sentenced the 11 to death, and awarded life imprisonment to 20 others in the case. 

b.     A Sabarmati Express train coach was set on fire in 2002, killing 59.

6.     American economist Richard H Thaler has been awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.

a. He was honored with this award "for his contributions to behavioural economics". 

7.     The GST Council has constituted a Group of Ministers (GoM) to make the composition scheme more attractive and revisit the goods and services tax rates on restaurants.

a.      The GOM will examine steps to make it more attractive as only 15.50 lakh businesses out of total 98 lakh have registered under GST regime opting for composition scheme. 

b.     Head of the GOM : Himanta Biswa Sarma (Assam Finance Minister)

8.     RBI Governor Urjit Patel has announced that India's economic growth will pick up in the third and fourth quarters to above 7%.

a.      He said inflation target should be achieved without losing sight of supporting economic growth.

9.     The Union Government in consultation with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has launchedSovereign Gold Bonds 2017-18 – Series-III. 

a.      The applications for bond will be accepted from October 09, 2017 to December 27, 2017.

b.     The bonds will be sold through banks, Stock Holding Corporation of India Limited, designated post offices and recognised stock exchanges namely the NSE and BSE.

10.President Ram Nath Kovind has appointed Justice Humchadakatte Gopalaiah Ramesh as the new Acting Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court. 

a.      He will assume charge from October 10 after the current Chief Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee retires on October 9. 

11.  Indian shuttler Samiya Imad Farooqui clinched the Gold medal at the Under-15 women's singles competition after defeating Indonesia's Widjaja Stephani at the Asian Junior Championship at Yangon (Myanmar) On 9th, October.

12. World number one Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal has defeated Australia's Nick Kyrgios to clinch the China Open, his career's 75th title and sixth of the year.