• The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has launched a cinema advertisement campaign ‘Feed Our Future’ to raise awareness and take steps against hunger and malnutrition in India.
• “Gully Boy”& “Delhi Crime” have won awards at the Asian Academy Creative Awards. Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt-starrer “Gully Boy” won the best film from India award in the regional category. Netflix series “Delhi Crime” has won in a number of categories. Delhi Crime won for Best Actress, Best Direction, Best Drama Series, Best Editing and Best Original Programme.
• Raunak Sadhwani has becomes India’s 65th Grandmaster.
• The State Cabinet of Assam has decided to make government jobs out of bounds for people with more than 2 children. The policy will come into effect from January 1, 2021. The Cabinet also adopted a new land policy that will make the landless indigenous people eligible for 3 bighas (43,200 sq. ft.) of land for farming and half a bigha for constructing a house. The beneficiary will be able to sell the given land only after 15 years of use.
• The Government of India appointed IAS officer Pankaj Kumaras the new CEO of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). The UIDAI is a statutory authority established under the provisions of the Aadhaar Act, 2016 by the government under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, with the mandate to issue Unique Identification numbers (UID), or Aadhaar, to all residents of India to eliminate duplicate and fake identities.
• One of India’s most decorated captains Sourav Ganguly took over as the 39th President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
• The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB)has again topped all Indian Institutes in the ‘Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) India University Rankings 2020’ list, followed by IISc- Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (ranked 2) & Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (ranked 3).
• In the final of 7th season of Vivo Pro Kabaddi League 2019,Bengal Warriors won their first title by defeating Dabang Delhi by 39-34 in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Most Valuable Player award of the League was bagged by Naveen Kumar from Dabang Delhi, Best raider by Pawan Kumar Sherawat from Bengaluru Bulls; Best defender award went to U Mumba’s Fazel Atrachali and New Young Player of the season to UP (Uttar Pradesh) Yoddha’s Sumit.
• The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the merger of loss-making telecom firms BSNL and MTNL as part of a revival package.
• The Mohun Bagan Athletic Club has conferred life membership to Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee. Note: In 1911, Mohun Bagan became the first Indian club to win the Indian Football Association (IFA) Shield beating the East Yorkshire Regiment of the British Army in the final.
• Vreedhi Financial Services (VFS)has secured a non-banking finance company licence from the Reserve Bank of India.
• Praveen Kumar has become the 1st Indian man to win a gold medal at the Wushu World Championships. Wushu Sanda is a martial art which combines full-contact kickboxing, including close range punches and kicks, with wrestling, takedowns, throws, sweeps and kick catches.
• An Indian historian, educationist and Padma Shri recipient, Kashi Nath Pandit’s new book entitled “Ten Studies in Kashmir: History and Politics”, was published by Academic Foundation.
• The United Nations observed World Development Information Day on 24^th October.
• 24th October was celebrated as United Nations Day.
• Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone and Indian badminton player PV Sindhu were named the ambassadors for Bharat Ki Laxmi. It is an initiative by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. The aim of this initiative is to celebrate the contribution & accomplishments of women of the nation for the public good. The hashtag for the initiative is #BharatKiLaxmi.
• J&K’s Chenani-Nashri Tunnel, a 9 km-long tunnel that reduces the distance between Jammu and Srinagar by 31 km has been renamed as Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Tunnel. The ‘Chenani-Nashri Highway Tunnel’ is not only India’s longest highway tunnel but also Asia’s longest bi-directional highway tunnel.
• World Bank has released Ease of Doing business Rankings which includes 190 countries. As per the rankings, India has jumped 14 places and has been ranked at 63^rd among 190 countries. New Zealand and Somalia retained their 1^st and 190^th spot respectively.
• The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare will observe the Vigilance Awareness Week from 28th October to 2nd November, 2019, with the theme of “Integrity- a way of life”.
• ‘Maharatna’ status has been granted by the Government to state-owned Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited and Power Grid Corporation of India Limited.
• The Government of India, Government of Odisha and the World Bank have signed a USD 165 million loan agreement. The agreement is signed for Odisha’s Integrated Irrigation Project for Climate Resilient Agriculture.
• Senior BJP leader Manohar Lal Khattar was sworn in as the chief minister of Haryana for second straight time, with the support of Dushyant Chautala led Jannayak Janta Party. Dushyant Chautala took oath as deputy chief minister of Haryana. Note: Governor of Haryana: Satyadev Narayan Arya.
• Indian Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah and batswoman Smriti Mandhana won the Wisden India Almanack Cricketer of the Year award. The book titled “Cricket Country: The Untold History of the First All India Team” by Prashant Kidambi was adjudged the Wisden India Book of the Year 2019 (Published by Penguin India).
• Karnataka has won the 2019-20 Vijay Hazare Trophy. Karnataka defeated Tamil Nadu by 9 wickets in the finals of Vijay Hazare Trophy at Bengaluru.
• World Day for Audiovisual Heritage is celebrated all over the world on 27th of October. The theme for World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2019 is “Engage the Past Through Sound and Images”.
• The Central Board of Secondary Education and National Council for Educational Research and Training have launched an online aptitude test called ‘Tamanna’. Tamanna stands for “Try And Measure Aptitude And Natural Abilities”. Tamanna is an aptitude test that aims to help students of Class 9 and 10 to make a better choice of subjects, eventually helping them in making an informed decision while choosing subjects in Class 11 and 12.
• Odisha has inked a Letter of Understanding (LoU) on “drink from tap mission” with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The main objective of the mission is to provide piped quality drinking water supply to each household on a 24-hour basis.
• Chief Minister of Odisha Naveen Patnaik launched “Odisha Mo Parivar” (Odisha, My Family) It is a social service initiative aimed at encouraging environment protection, blood donation and the welfare of Odias in distress. Note: Governor of Odisha: Ganeshi Lal; Capital: Bhubaneswar.
• Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde was appointed as the 47th Chief Justice of India. Note: KK Venugopal is present Attorney General of India.
• According to the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, the appointed day for the two Union Territories J&K and Ladakh was October 31. This is for the first time that a state is converted into two Union Territories. The total number of states in the country will now be 28 while the total Union Territories will go up to nine.
• The Union Government has appointed former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers Girish Chandra Murmu and Radha Krishna Mathur as the first Lieutenant (Lt) Governors of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and Ladakh respectively
• Satya Pal Malik has been appointed as Governor of Goa.
• P S Sreedharan Pillai was appointed as the governor of Mizoram.
• The Best-Performing CEOs in the World, 2019 list compiled by the Harvard Business Review(HBR) features 100 CEOs. The list has been topped by American technology company NVIDIA’s CEO Jensen Huang. Among the top 10 chief executives on the list, 3 spots have been occupied by the Indian-origin CEOs. Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen was ranked 6th, followed by MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga on the 7^th and Microsoft chief Satya Nadella on the 9th spot.
• The International Cricket Council has banned Bangladesh Test and T20 Captain Shakib Al Hasan for 2 years from all forms of cricket. The Bangladeshi cricketer has been banned for not reporting to the ICC that he was approached by the bookies.
• The Zozo Championship 2019 tournament title was clinched by America’s Tiger Woods,aged 43, which was his 82nd PGA Tour crown.
• The mountaineer from Nepal,Nirmal Purja, created a new speed record by climbing the world’s 14 highest peaks over 8,000 metres (26,250 feet) in just 189 days. The 14th peak which he climbed was Shishapangma, located at Nyalam County, China. The other 13 peaks are Annapurna, Dhaulagiri, Kanchenjunga, Everest, Lhotse, Makalu, Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum I, Gasherbrum II, K2, Broad Peak, Cho Oyu and Manaslu.
• Rafael Mariano Grossi of Argentina has been elected as the new Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
• The bilateral ‘Exercise SHAKTI’ between the armies of India and France will be conducted from 31st October to 13th November 2019 at Foreign Training Node in Mahajan Field Firing Ranges, Rajasthan. Note: Chief of the Army Staff: General Bipin Rawat.
• The birth anniversary of Sardar Patel i.e.31st October was observed as the National Unity Day.
• The United Nations General Assembly has designated the 31st October as World Cities Day. This year, the United Nations has selected the theme “Changing the world: innovations and better life for future generations”.