Correct Answer :   India and UAE

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Abu Dhabi, UAE – October 5, 2023 - India and the United Arab Emirates  have taken a significant step towards strengthening their partnership in sustainable industrial development and advanced technologies.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was officially inked on Thursday (5th Oct 2023) in Abu Dhabi, solidifying the commitment to collaborative efforts in areas such as supply chain resilience, clean energy technology, healthcare, space, Industry 4.0, and industrial standards.

The MoU was signed by the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal, representing India, and Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, in the presence of  Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Member of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council.

The primary focus of this landmark agreement is to facilitate industrial investments, technology transfer, and the implementation of key innovations across various industries. The collaboration aims to yield mutual benefits, as both nations strive for joint industrial and technological advancements.

Al Jaber emphasized, "In line with the UAE leadership's vision, we are committed to strengthening bilateral relations to enhance sustainable and economic growth. Given the UAE's strong relationship with India across the economic, technological, and social domains, we are pleased to sign this MoU to further develop the industrial sector in line with advanced technology and sustainability standards."

The MoU covers a wide spectrum of cooperation, including advanced industries, energy transition solutions, healthcare, and space. It also seeks to develop innovative technological solutions that align with sustainability and climate neutrality goals.

Shri Goyal noted, "This MoU opens new doors to develop cooperation efforts and build an institutional framework in the fields of emerging technologies. It would help in promoting and developing bilateral cooperation in sectors such as Space, healthcare, renewable energy, artificial intelligence, and many other vital areas."

The agreement's seven key areas of focus include supply chain resilience, renewable energy and energy efficiency, health and life sciences, space systems, AI, Industry 4.0, advanced technologies, and standardization and metrology.

To enhance supply chain resilience, the UAE and India will collaborate to identify opportunities for raw material supply and share best practices in industrial enablement and incentivization.

In the energy sector, the two countries will work together to advance energy storage technologies, Smart Grid deployment, and research and development in renewable energy and energy efficiency.Healthcare and life sciences collaboration will involve the development of pharmaceuticals, biotechnology utilization, and research and development in these areas.

The MoU also highlights the intent to bolster space industries through commercial development, small satellite launches, space exploration, and licensing of space-related materials. In the field of AI, both nations will cooperate in deploying AI technologies across various sectors, including space, energy, healthcare, and supply chains. They will work to advance machine learning and data analytics capabilities.Additionally, the agreement emphasizes the deployment of Industry 4.0 technologies, real-time data processing, autonomous robotics, and additive manufacturing in key industries.

Lastly, standardization, metrology, conformity assessment, accreditation, and Halal certification will be areas of cooperation, with the goal of harmonizing standards and mutual recognition of conformity assessment results. Under this MoU, industrial and academic collaborations, collaborative research and development projects, and the sharing of best practices in science and technology policies will be encouraged, further solidifying the comprehensive nature of the partnership.

This strategic MoU is expected to pave the way for significant advancements in both countries, promoting sustainable growth, competitiveness, and efficiency across various industries while fostering innovation and technological excellence..

Source : AIR

Correct Answer :   Shaktikanta Das

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Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das will unveil the fourth monetary policy of the financial year 2023-24 on Friday(6 October 2023), after a two-day review that began this week on October 4, 2023. Analysts on D-Street expect the central bank to keep rates unchanged and maintain its hawkish policy stance on 6 October 2023.

The review by the six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) led by Das will likely indicate the course RBI will adopt in the remainder of the financial year as it seeks to strike a fine balance between maintaining growth and keeping inflation under control amid high crude oil prices and surging US bond yields.

RBI MPC Expectations

“With inflation still above the target, the RBI MPC is on course to maintain a hawkish pause in October, besides keeping liquidity tight," said Radhika Rao, economist with DBS Group Holdings Ltd. The central bank’s outlook on growth and uncertainty over the US rate path will likely “keep the policy committee from exploring rate cuts this fiscal year," she said.

In the absence of a rate move, the RBI may shift its focus to liquidity management, with policy makers seeking to keep cash in the financial system relatively tight in order to control inflation pressures, according to analysts.

RBI MPC Meeting Date : The three-day meeting of the RBI's rate-setting panel started on Wednesday, October 4 and the outcome is due on Friday, October 6.

RBI MPC Meeting Timing : RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das will unveil the MPC decision around 10 am on Friday (October 6, 2023).

RBI MPC Meeting Schedule : After the MPC decision which starts around 10 am, RBI Governor Das will address a post-policy press conference at 12 noon..

Source : Mint

Correct Answer :   Rajnath Singh

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Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh launched the Navy's updated indigenous programme Swavalamban 2.0, the two-day seminar of Naval Innovation and Indigenisation Organisation (NIIO), which commenced in New Delhi on October 04, 2023.

The main highlight was the release of the fifth Positive Indigenisation List of Department of Military Affairs (DMA) comprising 98 items.

Highly complex systems, sensors, weapons and ammunition have been included in the list. All these items will be procured from indigenous sources as per provisions given in Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020 in staggered timeline.

Shri Rajnath Singh also launched 76 challenges for the industry under 10th Defence India Start-up Challenges (DISC 10) & DISC 10 PRIME of Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) and five problem statements under iDEX for Fauji.

In addition, two INDUS X challenges under ‘INDUS-X Mutual Promotion of Advanced Collaborative Technologies’ (IMPACT) challenges jointly finalised by iDEX and United States Department of Defense (US DoD) were launched by the Raksha Mantri.

He also released the Indian Navy’s updated Indigenisation Roadmap ‘Swavlamban 2.0’. A special interactive session for the industry to explain the nuances of the roadmap is planned on Day 2 of the seminar.

Source : PIB

Correct Answer :   35%

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The Madhya Pradesh government issued a notification for providing 35% reservation for women in recruitment, barring the forest department.
 
The government has introduced an amendment to the Madhya Pradesh Civil Services (Special Provision for Appointment of Women) Rules, 1997 to provide 35% reservation for women in the state.
 
“Notwithstanding anything contained in any service rules, there shall be reserved 35% of all posts in the service under the state (except Forest Department) in favour of women at the stage of direct recruitment and the said reservation shall be horizontal and compartment-wise,” the notification reads.
 

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan recently announced that 35% of vacancies in police and other government jobs will be filled by women.
 
Madhya Pradesh was the first state to introduce 50 per cent reservation for women in elections to panchayats and urban bodies. It also has a 30% reservation for women in the police. The state also offers concessional tariffs for registry of property in case it is in a woman’s name.
 
In Madhya Pradesh, out of a total of 5.6 crore electors, 2.72 crore are female voters..

Source : AIR

Correct Answer :   5th October

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World Teachers’ Day is celebrated every year on October 5 across the globe to recognise and celebrate educators including teachers, researchers and professors’ work. The International Teachers Day or World Teachers’ Day is observed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) with United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), International Labour Organisation (ILO) and Education International (EI).

The theme for International Teachers’ Day 2023 is “The teachers we need for the education we want: The global imperative to reverse the teacher shortage”.

The theme for World Teachers’ Day 2023 aims at the importance of stopping the decline in the number of teachers and then starting to increase that number at the top of the global agenda, a statement on the UNESCO website read.

The celebrations around the World Teachers’ Day 2023 theme seek to advocate for a dignified and valued teaching profession, analyse their challenges and showcase inspiring practices to attract, retain and motivate teachers and educators, it added.

The celebrations also seek to examine the ways in which education systems, societies, communities, and families recognise, appreciate and actively support teachers.


World Teachers’ Day: Why It Is Celebrated On October 5

World Teachers’ Day on October 5 marks the anniversary of the adoption of the 1966 ILO and UNESCO recommendation concerning the status of teachers. The recommendations set benchmarks with respect to the rights and responsibilities of teachers and standards for their initial preparation and further education, recruitment, employment and teaching and learning conditions.

The recommendation, according to the UNESCO website, concerning the status of higher-education teaching personnel was adopted in 1997 to complement the 1966 recommendation by covering teaching personnel in higher education. World Teachers’ Day has been celebrated since 1994..

Source : Indian Express

Correct Answer :   Dinesh Khara

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The Government of India on Thursday (5th October 2023), extended State Bank of India chairman Dinesh Khara's tenure till August 2024. Currently, the retirement age for the SBI chairman is capped at 63. Khara will turn 63 in August 2024. His current term was set to end in October.

The SBI chairman was expected to have his tenure extended by another 10 months. Khara was appointed as the chairman of India's largest lender on October 7, 2020.

Khara joined SBI as a probationary officer in 1984. Before assuming the role of SBI chairman, he had served as the managing director of the bank, overseeing global banking and SBI subsidiaries, among other responsibilities.

The state-owned lender's Managing Director (MD) Ashwini Kumar Tewari, whose current term ends on January 27, 2024, has also been granted a two-year extension.

The State Bank of India reported a 178 percent rise in net profit at Rs 16,884 crore for the April-June quarter of the financial year 2024, up from Rs 6,068 crore in the previous year (2022)..

Source : CNBC

Correct Answer :   1 Year

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The government of India has extended the tenure of UIDAI CEO Amit Agrawal by one year till November 2, 2024. A 1993 batch IAS officer from the Chhattigarh cadre, Agrawal assumed the top position of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on June 19, following the retirement of Saurabh Garg.

UIDAI is the statutory body which was established in 2016 under the Aadhaar Act. It was functioning as an attached office under the erstwhile Planning Commission since 2009. It is mandated to provide the 12-digit unique identification number to citizens, processing and managing those numbers as well as interlinking with partner databases.

Who is Amit Agrawal?

* Well-known as an expert in the field of IT and e-governance, Agrawal graduated from IIT, Kanpur.

* He held several crucial positions both the Centre, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.

* He was the additional secretary in the Union ministry of electronics and information technology before joining UIDAI.

* He was earlier the additional secretary and joint secretary in the Union ministry of finance.

* In Chhattisgarh, he served as the finance secretary and the secretary in charge of the departments of commercial tax and technical tducation in the state government among other roles.

* In his first address after joining, Agrawal said he is committed to making Aadhaar more accessible and secure and working with the government, private sector to ensure the benefit of Aadhaar for all..

Source : Hindustan Times

Correct Answer :   Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad

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Cricket World Cup 2023 has started from 5th Oct 2023 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India.

The opening match of the World Cup 2023 is being played between defending champions England and 2019 runner-up New Zealand.

A total of 10 teams are participating in this World Cup. Rohit Sharma is leading the Indian team in this World Cup.

Correct Answer :   Muneesh Kapur

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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Wednesday (4th Oct 2023) said it has appointed Muneesh Kapur as Executive Director (ED) with effect from October 3, 2023. As executive director,  he will look after the Department of Economic and Policy Research.

Before being promoted to the post of ED, Kapur was Adviser-in-Charge of Monetary Policy Department and secretary to the Monetary Policy Committee, the Reserve Bank said in a statement.

"Over a span of nearly three decades in the Reserve Bank, Kapur has worked in the areas of macroeconomic policy and research and monetary policy in Department of Economic Policy and Research and Monetary Policy Department in RBI", the Reserve Bank statement read.

Kapur has also served as Adviser to Executive Director, International Monetary Fund (IMF) during 2012-15. He holds a Master’s degree in Economics and is a Certified Associate of the Indian Institute of Bankers (CAIIB), the RBI said..

Source : Mint

Correct Answer :   $600 Million

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India's National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) and Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) jointly launched a $600 million fund on Wednesday (4th Oct 2023) for climate and environment projects.

The Indian government will contribute 49% to the target corpus for the India-Japan fund, which is also NIIF’s first bilateral fund, while the remaining 51% will be contributed by JBIC, the finance ministry said.

"India-Japan Fund will focus on investing in environmental sustainability and low carbon emission strategies and aims to play the role of being a partner of choice to further enhance Japanese investments into India," the ministry said.

The Indian government will contribute 49% of the target corpus for the India-Japan fund, which is also NIIF’s first bilateral fund, while the remaining 51% of the funds will be contributed by JBIC.

The India-Japan fund will be managed by NIIF Limited. JBIC IG, a subsidiary of JBIC, will support NIIFL in promoting Japanese investments in India, the statement added.

NIIF is a sovereign wealth fund, which was founded in 2015 to provide an investment platform for international and Indian investors.

While the government holds a 49% stake in the fund, 51% is held by domestic institutional investors, sovereign wealth funds, international pension funds and others like the US International Development Finance Corporation (USIDFC), multilateral development banks including Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Asian Development Bank (ADB) and New Development Bank (NDB)..

Source : Mint