Current Affairs

• INS Viraat will be India’s first decommissioned aircraft carrier that will be turned into an adventure and maritime tourism. It will host activities like scuba diving, luxury hotel, cafeteria and other adventure sports.

• Kolkata tops in public transport index in terms of cleanliness and affordability of public transport. New Delhi was rated highly in terms of safety and ranked the best among the big cities in affording parking space to its residents.

• Chola MS General Insurance has renewed its bancassurance partnership with IndusInd Bank for a further period of five years.

• India-Japan first joint military exercise ‘Dharma Guardian-2018’ began in Mizoram. Being first of its kind, the 14 days long joint exercise is being conducted from 01 Nov 2018 to 14 Nov 2018.

• PM Modi launched portal for granting loans of up to Rs 1 crore in 59 minutes. Over 72,000 MSMEs have been sanctioned loans worth over ₹23,500 crore through the portal till date.

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) permitted banks to provide Partial Credit Enhancement (PCE), or a partial guarantee, to bonds issued by systematically important Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFC) and Housing Finance Companies (HFC).

• Larsen & Toubro (L&T) plans to bid for an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract for a section of the $200 billion solar projects in Saudi Arabia to be built with the backing of Japan’s SoftBank.

• Russia has quietly invited a group of senior Afghan politicians to talk with the Taliban in Moscow. This talk has bypassed President Ashraf Ghani’s government and has angered officials in Kabul who say it could muddle the U.S.-backed peace process.

• President Ram Nath Kovind will visit Uttarakhand on Saturday and address the first convocation of the AIIMS, Rishikesh. He will also inaugurate the first Gyan Kumbh.

• hina launches new high-orbit satellite to boost its BeiDou global satellite navigation system. This is the first BeiDou-3 satellite in high orbit, nearly 36,000 km above the Earth. .

• Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Imran Khan arrived in Beijing to rework all-weather ties with China and keeping the door open for the re-entry of West-backed International Monetary Fund (IMF) into his country.

• Justice Ramesh Ranganathan appointed Chief Justice of Uttarakhand. He served as the senior-most judge of the Hyderabad High Court.

• HAL plans to manufacture Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) fighters at a new unit in its Nashik complex after completing the deliveries of Sukhoi-30.

• Karnataka State Open University (KSOU), Mysuru along with its Board of Management (BoM) approved to introduce new courses from the next academic year.

• India was the partner country for the event that focused on Virtual Reality, Video gaming, Animation, Film Making.

• India to get U.S. sanctions waiver on oil trade with Iran. Eight countries are given exemption once U.S. sanctions against Iran kick in on November 5. India is one among the 8 countries that will receive a waiver from U.S. sanctions on oil trade with Iran.

• First Annual Senior Care Conclave Igniting Industry for Indias Ageing Sector held in New Delhi. The function was hosted by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in collaboration with Columbia Pacific Communities as their Premium Partner.