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MISCELLANEOUS 

1. Shekhar Kapur to head jury and Anil Kapoor to be chief guest at IFFI 2015. The Man Who Knew Infinity, a British film on Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan’s life, will open the 46th edition and Spain will be the focus country of the IFFI 2015.

2. Eram Scientific Solutions, manufacturer of electronic toilets, has unveiled a new eToilet mobile app. It helps locate the nearest etoilets via a map and address listings, Anvar Sadath K, CEO, Eram, says.

3. China’s Tianhe-2 Supercomputer has emerged as the world’s most powerful supercomputer system for the sixth consecutive time.

4. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) imposed penalties upon 3 Airlines for concerted action in fixing and revising Fuel Surcharge (FSC) for transporting cargo. These 3 Airlines are Jet Airways (India) Ltd, InterGlobe Aviation Limited and Spice Jet Limited.

5. Allahabad HC asked UP government to stop sale and use of Chinese Manjha.

6. CCEA approved implementation of CCTNS and ICJS Project by March 2017 to revamp Criminal Justice System. The Project will be implemented through integrating CCTNS with e-Courts, e-prisons, Forensics and Prosecution, which are the key components of the Criminal Justice System.

7. The country's second largest passenger car manufacturer Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) launched its CSR initiative -- Safe MoveTraffic Safety Campaign -- in association with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

8. President promulgated Ordinances on Constitution of Commercial Courts and Amendment to the Arbitration & Conciliation Act 1996. The ordinance on amending the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996 seeks amendments based on the Law Commission’s recommendations of 246th reports and suggestions received from stakeholders.

9. Union Cabinet approved amendments to Payment of Bonus Act 1965 hiking bonus for Industrial workers. According to the decision, the bonus ceiling under the legislation was increased from 3500 rupees to 7000 rupees per month.

10. a) The government flagged off the ‘Science Express Climate Action Special’ train from Delhi, as part of its initiative to sensitize the masses, especially children and the youth, about the issue of climate change, in the run-up to the global climate summit in Paris slated for December. b) The train will run till 7 May 2016 and during the course of these eight months, it would stop at 64 locations across India, covering over 19,500 kilometres. The Science Express—a joint initiative of the ministry of environment, forests and climate change (MoEFCC), the ministry of railways and the ministry of science and technology.

 11. Ministry of Shipping launched a programme to develop 78 Lighthouses as tourism centers. The identified lighthouses are in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

12. Union Cabinet approved Productivity Linked Bonus for railway employees. It is estimated that the total payment of 78 days' PLB to railway employees will be around 1030.02 crore rupees.

13. Union Government has reduced the deadline for completion of flagship Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) for rural connectivity through all- weather roads from 2022 to 2019.

14. Union Cabinet approved Framework for Cooperation in Blue Economy between India and Seychelles. India and Seychelles signed the protocol for cooperation in the field of blue economy on 26 August 2015 during the visit of the President of Seychelles to India.

15. Two mountaineers ArjunVajpai and Bhupesh Kumar created history by becoming first people to climb 6180 meter high unnamed peak in Himachal’s Spiti Valley. The duo named the peak as Mount Kalam.. Newly named Mt. Kalam is located near Bara Shigri Glacier, largest glacier located in Himachal Pradesh. 16. Airports Authority of India (AAI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with IL&FS Global Financial Services to spread its wings overseas.. Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited (IL&FS) is one of India's leading infrastructure development and finance companies.

17. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has entered into 11 more unilateral Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs) with Indian subsidiaries of foreign companies operating in various segments of the economy. With this, CBDT so far has entered into 31 APAs (30 unilateral and one bilateral) and is now aiming to finalise another 30 to 40 APAs in order to provide stability and confidence among the foreign enterprises operating in India. What is Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs)? APA usually is signed between a taxpayer and the central tax authority (in case of India it is CBDT) for multiple years on an appropriating transfer pricing methodology.

 18. National Highways Authorities of India (NHAI) has approved a pilot project for undertaking scientific studies on designing greenbelts along national highways. Key facts: a) The pilot project will be implemented on a 5 km stretch on NH-7 (Varanasi to Kanyakumari) between Jam and Hinganghat in Nagpur region. 1. b) Around 20,000 scientifically chosen species of trees are proposed to be planted on both sides of this stretch in multiple rows at an estimated cost of 11 crore 80 lakh rupees. The project will run for five years’ time span. During this period various experiments will be conducted in NEERI laboratory to record the impact of greenbelt development.

19. The Ministry of Civil Aviation released Revised Draft National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP 2015). The policy aims at providing a favourable environment and a level playing field to various aviation sub-sectors, such as Airlines, Airports, Cargo, Maintenance Repairs and Overhaul (MRO) services and so on. Besides, the scheme also intends to create an eco-system to enable 30 crore domestic ticketing by 2022 and 50 crore by 2027.

20. Railway is launching a new scheme under which waitlisted passengers can get confirmed accommodation in next alternative train if they opt for the option while booking their tickets online named as Viklap.

21. The Asia Pacific region is the most disaster prone part of the world as it had suffered around 1,625 disasters in the decade through 2014. It was revealed in recently released 2015 United Nations Asia-Pacific Disaster Report.

22. Tata Trusts and Harvard University South Asia Institute (SAI) announced collaboration on knowledge creation and capacity building for social and economic empowerment in India.

23. First-ever Hindi Atlas Book on “Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM)’ in New Delhi. The book on the occasion of the first meeting of reconstituted ‘Joint Hindi Salahkar Samiti’ of the Department of Space and Department of Atomic Energy.

24. Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare enhanced delegated financial powers of designated Central Government Hospitals and institutes under the Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi (RAN) scheme. After the enhancement, only cases for financial assistance beyond 5 lakh rupees would now be required to be referred to the Ministry from the earlier upper limit of 2 lakh rupees per patient.

 25. Public broadcaster Doordarshan claimed that it has emerged as the most watched Hindi channel in terms of time spent per viewer ahead of top General Entertainment Channels.

26. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu announced that the Railways would soon start country's first-ever double decker Shatabdi Express that would ply between Mumbai and Goa.

27. National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has partnered with about 30 Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) to jointly tackle and mitigate man-made or natural disasters or emergencies.

28. Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu on 25 October 2015 flagged off Vigithon marathon in Mumbai to sensitise people for a fight against corruption at the grass-root level. Vigithon was a run for corruption free India and was organised by public sector lender Union Bank of India

29. Chennai’s K Prithika Yashini is all set to become India’s first transgender Sub Inspector of Police

30. Noted Indian social reformer and founder of NGO sulabh International Bindeshwar Pathak, was included in “The Global Diversity List” of 50 top world personalities by The Economist. 31. State run insurer, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has launched its maiden unit linked insurance plan (ULIP) product across the country. The ULIP which is also called as ‘New Endowment Plus’ offers investment-cum-insurance provision during the term policy providing dual benefit for the policy holder.

32. Taj Mahal becomes first monument in world to have Twitter account.

33. ICICI Lombard General Insurance has tied up with Catholic Syrian Bank (CSB) for sale of its products through 431 branches of the bank.

34. The Registrar General & Census Commissioner of India (RGI) released data of Census 2011 on Highest Educational Level obtained among population attending educational institution by age and sex. Literate population who are presently attending any educational institution on the country, below Primary (major share of 32.6%). Primary (25.2%), Middle (15.7%), Matric (11.1%), Higher Secondary (8.6%) and Graduate above (4.5%)