• The Indian Air Force celebrated its 86th Anniversary on 8 Oct 2018.

• The Karnataka Government has unveiled ‘Unnati Scheme’ to help entrepreneurs from SC/ST Communities.

• Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik launched ‘Nirman Kusuma’ programme for providing financial assistance to the children of the construction workers for their technical education in the state. The children of construction workers would get financial assistance for their education in Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and polytechnics. While an ITI student will be entitled to get financial assistance of Rs.23,600, a diploma student will get Rs.26,300 per annum.

• The Election Commission has announced the poll schedule for Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana. Note: Sunil Arora and Ashok Lavasa are Election Commissioners of India. Om Prakash Rawat is Chief Election Commissioner of India. The Election Commission was established in accordance with the Constitution on 25th January 1950.

• Karnataka is the largest producer of coffee in India which contributed about 70% of the total coffee produced in the country in the year 2016-17.

• Maritime Exercise Between Japan and India ‘JIMEX 18’ Began In Visakhapatnam

• The 2018 Nobel Prize were announced recently in 5 different fields viz. Physiology or Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, Peace, and Economic Sciences. This is for the first time that no Literature Prize was given in 70 years because of a #MeToo scandal.The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2018 to William D. Nordhaus “for integrating climate change into long-run macroeconomic analysis” and Paul M. Romer “for integrating technological innovations into long-run macroeconomic analysis.”

• The Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) has won the ‘ISSA Good Practice Award’ for Administrative Solution for Coverage Extension at the “Regional Social Security Forum for Asia and the Pacific” held at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

• India’s Keerthana Pandian has won the girls’ title in the IBSF World Under-16 Snooker Championships.

• Eminent Gandhian Natwar Thakkar,popularly known as Nagaland’s Gandhi, died after a brief illness.

• As per the IMF’s latest report, India is projected to grow at 7.3% in 2018 and 7.4% in 2019. Note: Managing Director of International Monetary Fund- Christine Lagarde, Headquarters in- Washington DC, USA.

• Google will shut down Google+for consumer use over the next 10 months after a bug exposed the personal data of up to 5 lakh Note: Google CEO-Sundar Pichai, Parent company-Alphabet Inc.

• The Centre in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India has decided to issue Sovereign Gold Bonds 2018-19. The Sovereign Gold Bonds will be issued every month from October to February 2019.

• World Post Day is celebrated each year on 9 October,the anniversary of the establishment of the Universal Postal Union in 1874 in the Swiss Capital, Bern.

• Asian Paralympic Committee(APC) confirmed that Hangzhou in China will host the fourth edition of Asian Para Games in 2022.

• Weightlifter Jeremy Lalrinnunga has become India’s first-ever gold medallist in the history of Youth Olympic Games (YOG). The 15-year-old achieved the feat by lifting a total weight of 274 kg in the men’s 62 kg category at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Sixteen-year-old shooter Manu Bhaker has become the first-ever Indian woman to win gold at Youth Olympics. Bhaker achieved the feat after winning the women’s 10m Air Pistol event. Note: Official Mascot of Youth Olympic Games 2018 is Pandi.

• On the occasion of 86th anniversary, the Indian Air Force has launched an innovative mobile health App named ‘MedWatch’. ‘MedWatch’ is the first mobile health app in the three Armed Services.

• The Centre has reconstituted Supreme Court-empowered Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority or the EPCA,which is tasked with taking various measures to tackle air pollution in the National Capital Region. Former secretary Bhure Lal continues to be the chairman.

• Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL)will complete commissioning of its second generation (2G) ethanol bio-refinery at Baulsingha village in Bargarh district of Odisha by 2020. This is the first biofuel plant in the country where ethanol will be produced from rice straw.

• The Goa International Film Festival that will be held in November 2018 will have Jharkhand as a partner state.

• Japan’s passport has been named the most powerful in the world, overtaking Singapore, according to the Henley Passport Index 2018. The Indian passport has secured the 81st rank with visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 60 destinations.

• World Mental Health Day is celebrated on 10 October every year. The theme for 2018 WMH day is ‘Young People and Mental Health in a Changing World’.

• Indian under-19 cricket team has defeated Sri Lanka by 144 runs in the summit clash of the 2018 ACC Under-19 Asia Cup in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Indian batsman Yashasvi Jaiswal was named the Player of the Series.

• The Union Cabinet has approved the merger of the existing regulatory institutions in the skills space – National Council for Vocational Training (NCVT) and the National Skill Development Agency (NSDA)into the National Council for Vocational Education and Training (NCVET).  NCVET will regulate the functioning of entities engaged in vocational education and training, both long-term and short-term and establish minimum standards for the functioning of such entities.

• Coal India and NLC India (NLCIL),formerly Neyveli Lignite Corporation, will jointly set up 5000 MW of power generation capacity of which 3000 MW would be solar powered while the rest 2000 MW would be coal-fuelled. Coal India has been tasked to become a net zero emission energy company by the ministry of coal, a move which requires it to generate 3,000 MW of solar power.

• West-Central Bay of Bengal was hit by severe cyclonic storm ‘TITLI’.

• Since 2012, 11 October has been marked as the International Day of the Girl.The theme for International Day of the Girl Child 2018 is ‘With Her: A Skilled Girl Force’.

• State-run IDBI Bank has announced that Rakesh Sharma has taken charge as the managing director and chief executive officer of the bank.He has replaced B Sriram.

• The government has appointed Pravin Srivastava as the Chief Statistician of India (CSI).

• Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta has been appointed as the new Solicitor General of India. Solicitor General is the second highest ranking law officer of the government after the Attorney General. KK Venugopal is the present Attorney General of India.

• UK-based charity‘Oxfam International’s report named ‘Commitment to Reducing Inequality (CRI) Index was released in which India ranked 147th among 157 countries analysed and was labeled as “a very worrying situation” with respect to the rising inequality in the country. Denmark has topped the list.

• Veena Sendre from Chhattisgarh has been chosen as India’s first ‘Miss Trans Queen’.

• The International Olympics Committee (IOC) has picked its first African host of any Olympics, formally awarding the 2022 Youth Games to Senegal.

• Delhi government signed a twin-city agreement with the government of Moscow for cooperation in various fields like environment, culture and education, for the next 3 years. Note: Delhi CM: Arvind Kejriwal, Governor: Anil Baijal.

• Leading stock exchange NSE has signed a pact with the Uttarakhand government to provide access to capital to MSMEs, which will fuel the growth of such entities in the state.

• In Malaysia,the cabinet decided to abolish the death penalty.

• The World Bank released the Human Capital Index (HCI) as part of the World Development Report 2019.Broader theme of the World Development Report (WDR) this year is “The Changing Nature of Work”. Singapore topped the poll. India was ranked at the 115th position lower than Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Bangladesh.

• State Bank of India has signed an MoU with Kathmandu-based National Banking Institute (NBI) for the development of human resources of the latter. Under the MoU, the strategic training unit of SBI will impart education, training and development to facilitate transformation of NBI’s HR department. Note: SBI Chairman- Rajnish Kumar, Headquarters- Mumbai.

• India has been elected to the United Nations’ Human Rights Council with the highest vote among all candidates. It secured 188 votes in the Asia-Pacific category.

• The International Day for Disaster Reduction is observed across the world on October 13. The theme of the 2018 International Day for Disaster Reduction is ‘Reducing Disaster Economic Losses’.

• As per the 2018 Global Hunger Index (GHI), India was ranked 103rd out of 119 qualifying countries.

• Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare has released 12th edition of Analytical Report of the National Health Profile 2018. Note: The National Health Resource Repository is the country’s first ever national healthcare facility registry of authentic, standardised and updated geo-spatial data of all public and private healthcare establishments.

• India and Sri Lanka have signed two MoU for construction of 1200 houses through 50 model villages, using Indian grant assistance of 60 crore Srilankan rupees.  With this, India’s collaboration with Srilankan government under Model Villages Housing Program stands at 2400 houses in 100 model villages.

• India and China have launched their first joint programme for Afghanistan to train its diplomats.

• The International Day of Rural Women is observed on 15th October. This year’s theme is “Sustainable infrastructure, services and social protection for gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls”.

• Rashtriya Mahila Kisan Diwas was celebrated on 15th of October.

• The North-eastern state Sikkim won the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) Future Policy Award 2018 for being the world’s first 100% organic state. The Gold Prize of the Future Policy Award 2018 are also known as “Oscar for Best Policies”.

• Indian tennis legend Leander Paes has won his second Challenger-level title of the season, lifting the Santo Domingo Open trophy with partner Miguel Angel Reyyes-Varela.

• The government has announced 100 crore rupee award for states that would complete the household electrification early under the Saubhagaya scheme.

• IRCTC has launched a new AI-based assistant, ‘Ask Disha’ for its website.

• Uttar Pradesh Cabinet led by CM Yogi Adityanath has approved the proposal to rename Allahabad, which will be called Prayagraj with immediate effect. The new name derives from a place in the city called Prayag, where three rivers flowing across the state meet.

• The government has increased the rate of interest for General Provident Fund (GPF) and other related schemes by 0.4% points to 8% for the October-December quarter.

• Nimesh Shah has been elected as Chairman of trade body, Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI). Note: AMFI, the association of SEBI registered mutual funds in India of all the registered Asset Management Companies, was incorporated on August 22, 1995, as a non-profit organization.

• Priyank Kanoongo was appointed to the post of Chairperson, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) for a period of 03 years.

• World Food Day is celebrated every year around the world on 16 October in honor of the date of the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in 1945. The theme for WFD 2018 is “Our Actions Are Our Future”.

• The third Asian Para Games took place in Jakarta, Indonesia. Around 3000 athletes from 43 countries took part in 15 Paralympic and three non-Paralympic sports.  The official mascot of the 2018 Asian Para Games is a Bondol eagle named MOMO, which was chosen to represent motivation and mobility. India recorded its best-ever medal haul at the Asian Para Games by ending the 2018 edition with 72 medals (15 gold, 24 silver, and 33 bronze medals). China were at the top of the pecking order with 172 gold.

• Paul Allen, who co-founded Microsoft in 1975 passed away aged 65 after battling cancer. 

• Canada has become the second country after Uruguay to legalize possession and use of recreational cannabis. Canadians can now grow up to four plants in their own home and carry up to 30 grams of dried cannabis for personal use.

• Former editor MJ Akbar has resigned from his post of Minister of State for External Affairs amid sexual harassment allegations against him by over sixteen female journalists.

• Northern Irish author Anna Burns has won the 2018 Man Booker Prize for her novel ‘Milkman’. Note: The Man Booker Prize for Fiction (formerly known as the Booker–McConnell Prize and commonly known simply as the Booker Prize) is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original novel written in the English language and published in the UK.

• ‘Beeg Ani Beegath’, a collection of short stories in Konkani by the well-known writer, journalist, and critic H M Pernal bagged the prestigious ‘Vimala V Pai Vishwa ‘Konkani best book award for the year 2018. H M Pernal is the pen name of Henry M Mendonca. Konkani poet Sharathchandra Shenoy from Kochi won the Vishwa Konkani best poetry award for his book ‘Idam Na Mama’, while Vishwanath M Shet from Uttara Kannada bagged the Vishwa Konkani lifetime achievement.

• The United Nations’ (UN) International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is observed on October 17 each year since 1993. The theme for International Day for the Eradication of Poverty 2018 is “Coming together with those furthest behind to build an inclusive world of universal respect for human rights and dignity”.