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

Correct Answer :   New Delhi

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Ministry of Tourism organised inaugural ceremony for the PATA Travel Mart  2023 in New Delhi on 4th Oct 2023.

The 46th edition of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Travel Mart 2023 is being organised at the magnificent International Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre (IECC), Pragati Maidan, in New Delhi. 

The Mart is being organised from October 4th to 6th 2023, bringing together tourism professionals and business stakeholders from across the world. The physical version of the Travel Mart is being held after a hiatus of three years due to the pandemic.

On the occasion Chairman PATA Peter Semone thanked Ministry of Tourism to host the event. He said that PATA travel mart is an opportunity to highlight unique destinations and members to develop networks , learn and socialise for delegates from all, over the world and for business to expand. He said that Travel for Life is a fantastic  initiative  and is worth replicating across the world.

On the occasion Secretary, Tourism Ms V. Vidyavati said that PATA travel mart has proved to be a catalyst for tourism in Asia Pacific region.She said that  tourism is one of greatest unifiers and PATA  recognises that  and it is an opportunity to learn from each other.She further added that  Travel for life is inspired by LiFE  Mission  and focuses on greener cleaner and harmonious development of all tourist destinations.

This year the event features different activities, including the prestigious PATA Gold Award, the PATA Youth Symposium, PATA Forum on Sustainability besides the B2B Mart.

India is also participating in the PATA Travel Mart in a substantial manner. A designated pavilion for India at the Mart will create an immersive experience of the gamut of destinations in India both known and lesser known. Other State Governments such as Rajasthan, Gujarat, Delhi, Karnataka, Telangana, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh and other in line Ministries such as Handlooms Development Commissioner are also putting up stands and stalls for displaying their products.

Although the Mart is an exclusively B2B Mart, it will help bring forth the diverse gamut of thematic products such as wellness, adventure, heritage, culinary and art and craft of the different States to a global audience.

The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) founded in 1951, with its Head Quarters in Bangkok, is a renowned not-for-profit association recognized internationally for its role as a catalyst in the responsible development of travel and tourism in the Asia Pacific region.

PATA Travel Mart is one of the important international trade exhibitions catering to the tourism sector and it serves as a platform for trade interactions between global buyers and sellers mostly from the Pacific Asia region. The Mart w brings together exhibitors and attendees from diverse sectors, offering a unique platform for networking, learning and collaboration, from across the globe and specifically from the Asia Pacific region..

Source : PIB

Correct Answer :   Second

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The World Health Organization (WHO) has endorsed a second malaria vaccine to protect children against the deadly disease, which killed 619,000 people in 2021.

Researchers say that the vaccine, known as R21, is easier to make than the first-approved malaria vaccine, called RTS,S, and will be cheaper per dose.

“There’s going to be enough of it to actually give out to children,” says Jackie Cook, a malaria epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

R21 met the WHO’s target of 75% efficacy at preventing the disease in a trial with 4,800 children who each received three doses before a seasonal malaria peak.

A booster dose after 12 months maintained protection. Data from the phase III trial, conducted in Burkina Faso, Kenya, Mali and Tanzania, were presented in a preprint1 posted on 26 September 2023.

“By adding the vaccine to the current tools that are in place, tens of thousands of children’s lives will be saved every year,” said epidemiologist Mary Hamel — who leads the WHO’s malaria vaccine implementation programme — at a press conference in Geneva, Switzerland, on 2 October, announcing the endorsement. The WHO recommendation followed discussions by the agency’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization and its Malaria Policy Advisory Group last week.

Already approved in Burkina Faso, Ghana and Nigeria, the vaccine will be available in mid-2024 at US$2–4 per dose. RTS,S, which the WHO recommended for use in children in 2021, costs around $9.80 per dose..

Source : Nature

Correct Answer :   Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu

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Himachal Pradesh chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Tuesday (3rd Oct 2023) launched the “Mukhyamantri Sukh Ashraya Yojana” from the Ridge Shimla, aiming to provide comprehensive support to orphans, specially-abled children, destitute women, and elderly people in the state.

Speaking on the occasion, the chief minister said that a thought always came to his mind as how to serve the most vulnerable section of the society and those who really needed to be taken care of and looked after by the government.

“In a first-of-its-kind initiative in the country, the state government took a decision to adopt the orphans, the specially-abled children as the ‘children of the state’ and work for their upliftment and well being, giving them all parental care, besides taking care of the destitute women and elderly who have no one to look after,” he said.

Sukhu said that despite facing financial challenges and the recent disaster that struck Himachal Pradesh, the state government started this scheme.

The chief minister also distributed financial benefits worth ₹4.68 crore to eligible children which includes ₹15.52 lakh for fees and other hostel expenses, along with ₹11.52 lakh as monthly expense, benefiting 48 orphaned children for pursuing higher education.

Apart from this, ₹7.02 lakh for fees and ₹4.08 lakh for monthly expenses were also distributed to 17 orphaned children enrolled in few professional courses.

He also transferred financial benefits to 1,106 beneficiaries through foster care and sponsorship, amounting to ₹2.65 crore.

Besides this, 30 meritorious Class 12 students from child care institutes, who had excelled in Class 10, were provided laptops. In the second phase of the initiative, 268 students from classes 10 and 12 classes will be given laptops.

He also allocated ₹6 lakh to three beneficiaries for the establishment of small and micro-industries.

The chief minister said that under the Sukh Ashraya Yojana, approximately 2,700 identified orphans living with relatives will also get monthly financial assistance of ₹4,000 until the age of 27 years.

“The Government is committed to protect the interests of such vulnerable children, and has made a provision for a nurse for each child requiring motherly care and also a matron for every three children to care and nurture them,” said Sukhu.

Besides, the scheme also incorporates a 15-day educational tour annually for the orphan children, and their stay in three-star hotels. The air travel and all other expenses will be borne by the government. He said that these rights, as granted to orphan children, were not merely for the sake of mercy, but now it was a law to protect their rights.

Under the scheme, the beneficiaries will also receive ₹10,000 as apparel allowances, ₹500 as festival grant and a marriage grant of ₹2 lakh. For higher education, children are eligible for financial assistance of up to ₹1 lakh and a monthly pocket money of ₹4,000.

Grants of ₹2 lakh will be provided to support orphan children in establishing small or micro-industries for self-employment, he added.

For construction of a house, the landless orphaned children will be provided financial assistance of ₹3 lakh and additionally three biswa of land in rural areas and two biswa in urban areas.

Source : Hindustan Times

Correct Answer :   47th

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India 47th position on the Ookla Speedtest Global Index improved 72 places from 119 in September 2022 to 47 in August 2023, putting India ahead of not only its neighbours but also G20 countries like Mexico (90th), Turkey (68th), the UK (62nd), Japan (58th), Brazil (50th place), and South Africa (48th place).

The Seattle-headquartered Ookla in its latest report 'India’s Remarkable 5G Advancement Elevates its Global Mobile Ranking' says over the past year, mobile download speeds in the country have seen "significant" improvement.

Thanks to 5G rollouts, India saw median download speeds increase by 259% since before 5G launched, jumping from 13.87 Mbps in September 2022 to a median download speed of 50.21 Mbps in August 2023, the report finds.

Improving overall user experience across all telecom circles, the 5G technology launch by operators like Jio and Airtel has led to a substantial increase in 5G subscribers, says the report. The technology has not only brought "faster speeds" but also higher customer satisfaction.

Mobile performance across India improved in all telecom circles, shows the data.

Notably, mobile users in India are among the most data-intensive consumers in the world. Though 4G networks were unable to keep up with consumer expectations, due to issues like lack of cellular infrastructure, backhaul, and spectrum constraints, the 5G technology has been able to offload 25% to 35% of traffic from 4G, the report finds out.

According to Ookla Speedtest data, India’s median download speed has improved remarkably, increasing by 3.59 times since 5G was launched in the country.

In October 2022, India’s median download speed ranged from 10.37 Mbps in North East to 21.49 Mbps in Jammu and Kashmir. However, by August 2023, the range of median download speeds widened significantly, with each circle clocking a speed of more than 28 Mbps. The North East saw a median download speed of 28.02 Mbps, while Jammu and Kashmir recorded a high of 150.95 Mbps.

Stark contrary to the past, in August 2023, Jammu and Kashmir emerged as the leader in mobile median download speeds at 150.96 Mbps, surpassing Bihar (73.00 Mbps) and Kolkata (66.47 Mbps). Jammu and Kashmir was one of the last states to launch a mobile network in 2003, and due to security concerns and internet shutdowns, there were occasional disruptions in mobile network services.

In terms of fast-paced 5G adoption, the report adds by August 2023, median 5G download speeds exceeded 240 Mbps across all telecom areas, with Kolkata leading the pack with a median download speed of 385.50 Mbps.

As 5G deployments continue in India, the number of subscribers keeps growing. Jio announced it has over 50 million customers, and Bharti Airtel claimed it had over 10 million 5G customers in June.

5G speeds in India are particularly impressive compared to those on 4G; in August 2023, for example, median download speeds on 5G were 2,003% faster than those on 4G, with 5G showing a median download speed of 316.24 Mbps compared to 14.97 Mbps on 4G, says the Ookla report.

Here are top-5 countries with fastest mobile speed as per Ookla :

* UAE
* Qatar
* Kuwait
* Norway
* Denmark

Source : Fortune India

Correct Answer :   Anirban Mukherjee

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PayU India's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Anirban Mukherjee has been promoted to the role of global CEO of PayU in a big management rejig on October 3, 2023.

"In his new role, Anirban will join the Prosus leadership team and report directly to Ervin Tu, Prosus and Naspers Interim CEO. He will be responsible for overall business operations of PayU," PayU said in a media statement.

This comes just two months after Netherlands-based investment firm Prosus announced that the fintech arm PayU is selling a part of its business to Israel’s Rapyd for $610 million.

PayU announced selling its Global Payments Organisation (GPO), which provides e-commerce payment solutions for global merchants in over 30 countries across Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe and Africa.

Laurent Le Moal who was the global CEO prior to Mukherjee's appointment will step back from the operational management of the day-to-day business but will remain with Prosus and PayU in an advisory capacity, the statement said.

In fact, PayU is looking to list in India sometime next year, sources said. The fintech firm is looking at a valuation of $6-6.5 billion. In 2022, PayU appointed former Nykaa Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Arvind Agarwal as its CFO in November 2022..

Source : Money Control

Correct Answer :   4th October

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World Animal Welfare Day is an annual event that is celebrated around the world on October 4th.

World Animal Welfare Day theme 2023 : The theme of World Animal Day 2023 is "Big or small, we love them all".

History of World Animal Welfare Day :

* Heinrich Zimmermann, a writer and editor of the German publication Man and Dog, came up with the concept for World Animal Day. On March 24, 1925, Zimmermann planned the inaugural World Animal Day event at the Sports Palace in Berlin, Germany.

* Records show that at than 5,000 people attended the occasion. Zimmermann devoted countless hours to advancing World Animal Day. At a Congress of the International Animal Protection Congress in Florence, Italy, in May 1931, his proposal to recognize October 4 as World Animal Day was overwhelmingly approved and enacted as a resolution.

* The World Animal Day website was introduced in 2003 by the UK-based animal protection organization Naturewatch Foundation in an effort to expand the event's audience.

World Animal Welfare Day significance :

* On this day, passionate animal supporters from all over the world join in a celebration of World Animal Day and contribute to the cause of animal protection and conservation in their own special ways. Every year, there is a noticeable increase in the number of people who participate in World Animal Day, with a wide range of motivational events taking place in numerous nations.

* Everywhere in the world, animal lovers are celebrating on this day. Together, we can promise to safeguard and conserve animals for future generations, and each of us can make a difference..

Source : Hindustan Times