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Current Affairs Capsule – 18 October 2019

October 18, 2019
Posted by: Team CP
Category: Current Affairs Capsule

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The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (IDEP) is celebrated every year on 17th October to recognize the struggles of the impoverished and to make the voices of the poor heard by governments and ordinary citizens. This year, the theme was ‘Acting together to Empower Children, their families and Communities to End Poverty’. The day was declared by the United Nations in 1992. According to the United Nations, there are 783 million people living below the international poverty line, which is 1.90 USD per day.
The 2019 Global Hunger Index (GHI) has been jointly published by Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe to comprehensively measure and track hunger at the global, regional, and national levels. This 14th annual publication measures hunger in 117 countries out of which 43 countries have levels of hunger that remain serious. India was ranked 102nd, the lowest among South Asian countries. Among the BRICS nations, Brazil topped with 18th rank, followed by Russia (22), China (25), South Africa (59), Sri Lanka (66), Nepal (73), Bangladesh (88), Pakistan (94) and India (102). India’s child wasting is extremely high at 20.8%.
Shinyuu Maitri, a joint military exercise between the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Japanese Air Self-Defence Force (JASDF) will be held from 17th to 23rd October, 2019 at the Air Force Station, Arjan Singh in Panagarh town, West Bengal. It aims to undertake Joint Mobility and Tactical interoperability among two forces. It was first conducted in 2018.
World Students’ Day is celebrated every year on 15th October to commemorate the birthday of former president APJ Abdul Kalam, who was a dedicated teacher and identified himself foremost in that role before anything else. Known as “Missile Man”, Kalam was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1981, Padma Vibhushan in 1990 and Bharat Ratna and received seven honorary doctorates from 40 Universities. In 2010, the United Nations declared 15 October as “World Students’ Day”.
Department of Telecommunications along with the Cellular Operation Association of India (COAI) organised the India Mobile Congress, the largest mobile technology event in South Asia, from 14th to 16th October, 2019. Being the largest networking event in India, it acts as a platform to spread knowledge about the ongoing research and development in the field. Started in 2017, the event envisions being the “leading platform for India’s start-up and technology ecosystem.”
The 2019 Nobel Prize for Economics has been awarded to Indian-American Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer of the United States for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Esther Duflo is the second woman to win this prize after Elinor Ostrom (2009) of US. She is also the youngest-ever to win the prize. Officially known as The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in memory of Alfred Nobel, the award was created by Riksbanken, the Swedish central bank, in 1968.
Kais Saied, the former law professor, has been elected as the new President of Tunisia with 72.71% of votes against Nabil Karoui. The 61-year old Saied is an independent candidate. The poll was the second free Presidential elections in Tunisia since 2010-11 uprising that toppled the long-standing ruler Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. The elections followed the death of the first democratically elected President Beji Caid Essebsi in July 2019.