Current Affairs 17th October 2018

Current Affairs 17th October 2018 - Important Points

• Central Warehouse set up to facilitate distribution of Jan Aushadhi medicines on - 16th October 2018
• Foreign tourists can now visit Andaman and Nicobar Islands without any restrictions by - Government
• RBI approves appointment of Sandeep Bakshi as MD & CEO of ICICI Bank  on - 16th October 2018
• Hridaynath Award for Lifetime Achievement won by -  Music composer Khayyam
• ‘Ask Disha’ AI chatbot to answer user inquiries launched by - IRCTC
• International Day for Eradication of Poverty observed globally on - 17th October 2018
• UP Cabinet approves changing name of Allahabad to Prayagraj on - 16th October 2018

Current Affairs 17th October 2018 - Details

Central Warehouse set up to facilitate distribution of Jan Aushadhi medicines on - 16th October 2018

The Union Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers, Mansukh Mandaviya on October 16th, 2018 initiated the hi-tech Central Warehouse of Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana at Bilaspur, Gurugram. 
The warehouse, arrangement by the Bureau of Pharma PSUs of India, would facilitate seamless
distribution of Jan Aushadhi generic medicines to all Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana
Kendra functional across the nation.
Key Milestones achieved under PMBJP

• Presently, there are above 4200 Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana Kendra working in 34 states and UTs across India. As a result, more than 700 medicines and 154 surgical and consumables are accessible in the basket for sale.
• Soon the basket will be improved to 1000 medicines.
• The central warehouse has been formed according to the World Health Organisation rules for making sure improved quality storage and logistics services.
• Further, a distribution network of 1 central warehouse, 4 Regional Warehouse and 53 distributors working over various states has been made functional. SAP based end-to-end supply chain management system has been executed.
• The “point of sale” software application at all the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana Kendra has also been executed. Approximately, 638 districts have been covered and the residual 81 will be covered on priority basis under the healthcare system.
  Digital Cash Management System
• MoS Mansukh Mandaviya also initiated the Digital Cash Management System for the healthcare scheme, which will be executed as a partnership between Bureau of Pharma PSUs of India and Bank of Baroda.
• The system will be executed at all Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana Kendras for acquiring medicines and cashless payment system with Bureau of Pharma PSUs of India.
• The Bank of Baroda will also issue loan to all Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana Kendras for buying medicines. 
• The cashless transactions will be completed only via unique virtual accounts opened by Bank of Baroda for every Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana Kendra, across the nation.

RBI approves appointment of Sandeep Bakshi as MD & CEO of ICICI Bank  on - 16th October 2018

Private sector ICICI Bank on October 16th, 2018 publicized that the RBI has permitted the appointment of Sandeep Bakshi as the MD and CEO of ICICI Bank for 3 years.  Previously, on October 4th, 2018, the board of ICICI Bank promoted COO Sandeep Bakhshi as the bank’s new Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer after letter of resignation of Chanda Kochhar.
More about Sandeep Bakshi

• Sandeep Bakshi started his professional career in 1983 at a computer marketing company ORG Systems.
• He joined the ICICI group in the year 1986 and he was selected as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company on August 1st, 2010.
• He was selected as the bank's Chief Operational Officer in June 2018. In his 32 years at ICICI, he has taken care of the insurance, corporate and lending businesses of the ICICI group.
• Under his flagship, the organisation reformed various products, re-engineered the distribution architecture and done noteworthy upgradations in productivity.

Foreign tourists can now visit Andaman and Nicobar Islands without any restrictions by - Government

Government has permitted foreign tourists to visit Andaman & Nicobar Islands without any limitations. In this regard, Union Ministry of Home Affairs has altered its earlier order which made it mandatory for foreign tourists to register with Foreigners Registration Officer within 24 hours of their arrival.
Important Points

• The initiative was granted on recommendation made by Union Tourism Ministry to enhance foreign
  tourist arrivals in Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
• This order shadows earlier instruction which permitted foreign tourists to visit 29 populated and 11 unoccupied islands in Andaman & Nicobar Islands, which were banned for visitors under Foreigners (Restricted Area) Order, 1963, without any restrictions.
• However, inhabitants of Afghanistan, China and Pakistan and foreign nationals having their origin in
  these nations will endure to need Restricted Area Permit to visit UT.
• Moreover, distinct sanctions of competent authority will continue to be needed for visiting reserved forests, wildlife sanctuaries and tribal reserves as of right now.
• Ministry of Tourism has also planned that travel limitations be detached from border areas in Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, J&K and Himachal Pradesh.

Hridaynath Award for Lifetime Achievement won by -  Music composer Khayyam

Veteran composer, lyricist, writer and national award-winning music director Mohammed Zahur Khayyam Hashmi, superbly known as Khayya was awarded with 2018 Hridaynath Award for Lifetime Achievement. The prize will be conferred by Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis in Mumbai. This year, the award ceremony accords with 81-birthday of Hridaynath Mangeshkar after whom award is named.
More about Khayyam

• He started his music career in Ludhiana in 1943 at age of seventeen.
• Later, he had teamed-up as Sharma of music-director duo ‘Sharmaji-Varmaji’ to constitute music for movies including ‘Heer Ranjha’ and others. His initial notable solo works were for Footpath in 1953, ‘Biwi’ and ‘Phir Subah Hogi’ in 1958. 
• The 1961 blockbuster ‘Shola Aur Shabnam’ had firmly recognized Khayyam as top-notch music director followed by movies with superhit music like ‘Mohabbat Isko Kehta Hain’ in 1965 and ‘Aakhri Khat’ in 1966.
• Later, he composed music for movies including ‘Kabhi Kabhi’ in 1976, ‘Trishul’ in 1978, ‘Noorie’ in 1979, ‘Dil, Akhir Dil Hai’ and ‘Bazaar’ in 1982, ‘Razia Sultan’ in 1983.
• In 1981, he composed music for the sensitive mega blockbuster movie ‘Umrao Jaan’, which is considered as jewel in crown of Khayyam’s compositions for which he clinched National Award and also Filmfare Award and others.
  Hridaynath Mangeshkar Award  
• The award was initiated in 2011 by Mumbai-based socio-cultural organisation Hridayesh Art in honour of music composer and singer Hridaynath Mangeskar. It carries monetary award of Rupees Two lakh and a memento.
• The earlier recipients of the award are eminent personalities Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Amitabh Bachchan, Hariprasad Chaurasia, A.R.Rahman. Hridaynath Mangeskar is son of renowned musician Deenanath Mangeshkar and is younger brother of Indian music legends Lata Mangeshkar and Asha
  Bhosle.

‘Ask Disha’ AI chatbot to answer user inquiries launched by - IRCTC

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation has initiated Artificial Intelligence powered chatbot–
Ask Disha to assist its customers answer different inquiries. The chatbot is special computer program
outlined to simulate conversation with subscribers, especially over the internet. It has gone live on
IRCTC’s next-gen e-ticketing website and shortly will be combined on the IRCTC Rail Connect Android
application.
More about Ask Disha

• This unique initiative by IRCTC is focused at easing accessibility by answering users’ inquiries to various services offered to railway travellers.
• The chatbot is voice-enabled and will backing several regional languages in the near future.
• It will offer greatly enhanced and intuitive customer support by answering customer inquiries pertaining to all aspects of the services that IRCTC provides.
• Subscribers can also ask questions to Artificial Intelligence chatbot by visiting IRCTC website. As soon as the subscribers start typing their inquiries, Artificial Intelligence chatbot automatically begins showing few options grounded on typed phrases.
• Subscribers can then either pick one of inquiries from presented options or type in complete question if their query is not being displayed on the screen.
• The vital features of Ask Disha consist capability to quickly answer to customer inquiries, round-the-clock customer support ability, multitask capabilities, zero waiting time for query to get answered and overall customer satisfaction.

International Day for Eradication of Poverty observed globally on - 17th October 2018

The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty was celebrated worldwide on October 17th, 2018. Current year's theme of the day is “Coming together with those furthest behind to build an inclusive world of universal respect for human rights and dignity.”

The year 2018 highlights the 25th anniversary of the announcement of the day by the United Nations General Assembly, in its resolution dated December 22nd, 1992.
The year also highlights the 30th anniversary of the Call to Action by Father Joseph Wresinski, who encouraged the celebrations of October 17th as the “World Day for Overcoming Extreme Poverty” and the acknowledgement by the UNs of the day as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.
Present year also lime-lights the 70th anniversary of the announcement of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with a fundamental link among thrilling poverty and human rights with the people living in poverty are unreasonably affected by many human rights violations. 

The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty goals to make sure that the active contribution of people living in extreme poverty and those furthest behind is a driving force in all actions made to surpass poverty, including in the design and implementation of programs and policies which disturb them. 
Important Highlights

• The tribute of October 17th each year validates how the society can attain greater social presence by enabling people from all spheres of life to come together to honour the human rights and dignity of people living in poverty.
• It underlines the status of reaching out to people living in poverty and building an association around their priorities with inhabitants from all backgrounds to finish extreme poverty.
• The government policies alone cannot form the social inclusion that is fundamental to reaching those remain furthest behind and overwhelming poverty in all its dimensions.

UP Cabinet approves changing name of Allahabad to Prayagraj on - 16th October 2018

The Uttar Pradesh Cabinet on October 16th, 2018 sanctioned the suggestion of the state government to rename the city of ‘Allahabad’ as ‘Prayagraj’. The conclusion has been vehemently conflicted by the opposition parties. 
The initiative, however, fulfils the long-standing need of prophets prior to the “Ardh Kumbh Mela” in January 2019. Talking ahead of the cabinet meeting, UP CM Yogi Adityanath informed that there was a proposal from the Akhara Parishad to rename ‘Allahabad’ as ‘Prayagraj’ ahead of 2019 Kumbh Mela. The state’s governor had already given his endorsement on the matter.
Significance of Prayag

• The city original name Prayag, which means a ‘place of offerings’, comes from its location at the Sangam of the rivers Ganga and Yamuna and the mythical river, Saraswati.
• The place plays an important role in the Hindu scriptures.
• The city is also declared in the Veda as the location where Lord Brahma appeared his first ritual sacrifice.
• It is also the location for historic ‘Kumbh Mela’, which is organised once in every 12 years and it is also thought to be the same place where the holy nectar drops fell.

Other major name changes 
The ruling UP government had earlier altered the name of Mughalsarai Junction  to  Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Junction.

Did you know?
In 2017, seers related to various akharas had met Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow and had requested him to change the name of Allahabad to Prayagraj ahead of the 2019 Ardh Kumbh Mela to be organised in the holy city.