Sarbananda Sonowal laid the foundation stone for India's 1st Assam Agar International Trade Centre at Dabidubi

• Assam CM Assam laid the foundation stone of Assam Agar International Trade Centre, a first-of-its-kind in India at Dabidubi in Golaghat district of Assam.
• This initiative is on the lines of doubling the farmer's income in the state by 2022
• This project will promote the business of the farmers as well as the entrepreneurs associated with agarwood plantation and trade in Assam which results in boosting Assam's economy.
• This trade center will be named after Indian-Assamese freedom fighter from Assam, Swahid Kushal Konwar, in a bid to pay its tribute to the martyr. He was the only martyr in India who was hanged during the last phase of the Quit India Movement of 1942-43.

About Assam

• Capital - Dispur
• CM - Sarbananda Sonowal
• Governor - Jagdish Mukhi

PM launched the "Kisan Suryoday Yojana" in Gujarat

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Kisan Suryoday Yojana in Gujarat.
• The primary aim of the scheme is to provide day time power supply for irrigation in the region.
• Along with Kisan Suryoday scheme, PM Modi also launched two other projects namely, a ropeway at the Girnar in Junagadh district and the UN Mehta Heart Research Institute.
• Kisan Suryoday Yojana - The farmers will be provided with power supply between 5 AM and 9 PM, under the scheme.
• State Government of Gujarat has allocated Rs 3,500 crores for implementing the scheme. The funds will be utilized to
• install around 234 transmission lines of length 3490 kms by 2023. Each transmission line will carry power supply of 66 KW.
• An additional 220 KV substations will also be installed under the scheme.
• Girnar Ropeway - The ropeway is located in Mount Girnar in Junagadh district of Gujarat. The construction began in September 2018 and is one among the longest ropeway of Asia.
• About Gujarat
• Capital - Gandhinagar
• CM - Vijay Rupani
• Governor - Acharya Dev Vrat

Government eMarketplace integrated with the Central Public Procurement Portal

• Government eMarketplace (GeM) has been integrated with the Central Public Procurement Portal (CPPP) for the creation of an Unified Procurement System.
• The integrated system with consolidate the entire public buying of goods and services onto a single platform.
• On the platform, a function of custom bid 'has also been created.
• The custom bid will allow a buyer to bid on GeM even though the category
• of product or service that the person needs is not available on the GeM

Asan Conservation Reserve → Uttarakhand's first wetland to make it to Ramsar Convention

• The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change announced that Ramsar Convention has declared the Asan Conservation Reserve (ACR) in Dehradun as a site of international importance.
• ACR has been included in the 'List of Wetlands of International Importance established by Article 2.1 of the convention
• This is the first wetland from Uttarakhand, to be recognized by Ramsar.
• With this the number of Ramsar sites in India is 38, the highest in South Asia.
• ACR is the 2437th site of Ramsar.

About Asan Conservation Reserve

• Asan Conservation Reserve spread in around 59.05 hectares of land on the banks of Yamuna river.
• It is home to over 330 species of birds. It hosts threatened and critically-endangered species like white-rumped vulture (gyps bengalensis), ruddy shelduck and Baer's pochard (Aythya baeri)
• It receives about 40 migratory species, including Rudy Shelduck, Common coot, Gadwall, etc.

About Ramsar Convention

• The Ramsar Convention was signed in 1971 in Ramsar, Iran. On February 1, 1982, the convention came into force in India.
• It aims to create a global network of wetlands to preserve biological diversity in order to sustain human life.
• It is considered as one of the oldest inter-governmental accord for improving the wetlands.
• The name of the Convention is usually written "Convention on Wetlands".
• The wetlands which are of international importance are declared as Ramsar sites.

Parle Agro appointed Priyanka Chopra Jonas & Jr. NTR as Brand Ambassadors

• Parle Agro has appointed Priyanka Chopra Jonas as the national brand ambassador and Junior Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao (Jr. NTR) as the brand ambassador for Southern India.
• Priyanka and jr. NTR will be campaigning for "B-Fizz", the new product of the Parle Agro's Fruit plus fizz portfolio. Priyanka will feature in the television commercials (TVC) for National Media and Jr. NTR will feature in
• the southern market.

Sri Lanka passed the 20th Amendment of Sri Lankan Constitution

• The Sri Lankan Parliament recently passed the 20 Amendment of Sri Lankan constitution.
• The amendment rolled back the 19th constitutional amendment.
• The 20th amendment has been passed to over-rule the 19th amendment that has weakened the powers of the President expanded by the 18th amendment. Those powers were:
• The President of Sri Lanka could seek a re-election any number of times.
• He could bring any independent commissions under his authority.
• The 10-member Council of the constitution was replaced with a 5-member council.
• It allowed the President to attend Parliament once in three months.
• 20th amendment of the Sri Lankan Constitution - The amendment has expanded the powers of Sri Lankan President. It has increased the immunity of the President further. Under it, the President will get the power to dissolve the parliament after two years and six months when elected. The amendment has further empowered the President to appoint any person in the government offices such as public services, election officials, human rights, police, corruption investigation commissions, bribery etc. even without getting consent from members of the parliament however, the amendment has weakened the powers of the Prime Minister.

Pakistan to remain in "Gray List" of FATF

• The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has voted to keep Pakistan under its gray list.
• The decision by the FATF was taken because Pakistan failed to comply with the 27 parameters set by the FATF and has completed only 21.
• The Asia-Pacific Group of FATF had also submitted a report called "Follow up report on mutual evaluation of Pakistan" and suggested to put Pakistan under gray list. The decision of the FATF is based on this report only.
• Follow up report on mutual evaluation of Pakistan - The report has seen that progress of Pakistan to combat the Financing terror system and anti-money laundering made by the Financial Action Task Force had not made any progress as compared to that of 2019. The Asia Pacific group of the organization, in 2019, had downgraded Pakistan status from "regular follow-up" to "enhanced follow-up" that means the country had to provide monthly reports of its compliance to the Financial Action Task Force recommendations.
• Pakistan will face problems in getting the financial aid from international organizations including the Asian Development Bank, International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank.
• Pakistan to remain in "Gray List" of FATF: Reason and implications

About FATF

• Established 1989
• HQ - Paris
• President - Marcus Pleyer

USAID promised 5 Million USD to support COVID-19 Initiatives of India

• US Agency for International Development (USAID) announced two new awards of total 5 Million USD (around Rs.36.8 crore) to Catalyst Management Service's COVID Action Collaborative (CAC) and the Wadhwani Institute for Artificial Intelligence (Wadhwani Artificial Intelligence).
• These two new awards are also a part of the continuous support of the US government to the COVID-19 initiatives of India.
• The total financial assistance of USAID for India's COVID-19 response is around 13 million USD (around Rs 95.75 crore).
• About the 5 million USD funding
• The 3 million USD (around Rs 22.1 crore) partnership with CAC for two years will be used to strengthen the capacity of 100 local organizations, 10 local governments and 15 associations of healthcare providers, small retailers, and street vendors, and will link them with government and private sector resources by which the 10 million disregarded and endangered individuals who were affected by COVID-19.
• The 2 million USD awarded to the Wadhwani Artificial Intelligence, a nonprofit research institute will be used to develop tools to forecast the disease pattern of COVID-19, estimate the required resources and intervention plans.

World Junior Badminton Championships 2020 canceled

• The World Junior Badminton Champions 2020 scheduled to be held in New Zealand from January 11-24, 2021 has been canceled due to Pandemic.
• Badminton World Federation has stated that they have accepted a proposal to stage the 2024 edition in New Zealand as a replacement for the edition lost.

Wing Commander (Retd) Vijayalakshmi Ramanan IAF's First Woman Commissioned Officer passed away at 96

• Retired Wing Commander Dr. Vijayalakshmi Ramanan, first woman commissioned officer of the IAF passed away
• She received the Balfour memorial medal for medicine and Madras University Prize for Surgery.
• She was granted the permanent commission in 1971.
• She received the Vishisht Seva Medal in 1977 for her medical service towards women and children of the defense family.
• Former & first Home Minister of Telangana Nayani Narasimha Reddy Passed Away
• Former & First Home Minister of Telangana Nayani Narasimha Reddy who is popularly known as "Narsanna" passed away at a private hospital in Hyderabad, Telangana.
• He represented the TRS party on the various platforms on the demand of the formation of separate Telangana.

International Snow Leopard Day 2020 → October 23

• International Snow Leopard Day is annually celebrated across the globe on the 23rd October to create awareness about the conservation and
• preservation of Snow Leopards, the majestic wild cats which are listed among the most threatened animals.
• The first ever International Snow Leopard Day was observed on 23rd October 2014
• On 23rd October 2013, at the first Global Snow Leopard Forum at Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan the 23rd of October was proclaimed as the International Snow Leopard Day and the year 2015 was declared as the International Year of the snow leopard.
• The Snow Leopard's 12 range countries (Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Russia, Pakistan, Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, India, China, Nepal, Bhutan, and Afghanistan) endorsed the "Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Program (GSLEP)", initiated by the Kyrgyz government to conserve the snow leopards and their high mountain ecosystem.
• These countries also signed the Bishkek Declaration to conserve the snow leopards.

75th United Nations Day> October 24, 2020

• UN Day is held annually on October 24 since 1948 which marks the entry into force of the UN Charter in 1945. The year 2020 marks its 75th anniversary.
• The declaration was negotiated through an intergovernmental process under the theme "The future we want, the United Nations we need: reaffirming our collective commitment to multilateralism".
• The concert was sponsored by the Mission of Italy under the theme "Reimagine, Rebalance, Restart: recovering together for our shared humanity".
• Commemoration by Other Members
• The UN Regional Information Center for Western Europe (UNRIC) launched pan-European campaign "Turn Europe UN Blue" under which more than 250 iconic buildings from 150 cities and 21 countries will lit up blue - the official color of the United Nations on October 24 , 2020 to promote peace, sustainable development and human rights.
• The UN Chamber Music Society of the United Nations Staff Recreation Council (UNCMS) launched "75 Years of Love" a virtual concert and debut album to support the humanitarian work of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
• India commemorates this day annually by raising the United Nations flag along with the tricolor atop all the significant buildings barring the Raj Bhawan and courts.

World Development Information Day → October 24 2020

• The World Development Information Day is held annually on October 24 to focus on improving the dissemination of information and mobilizing public opinion, especially among young people.
• This day draws the attention of the world to development problems and the need to strengthen international cooperation to solve them.
• The date marks the adoption of the International Development Strategy for the Second United Nations (UN) Development Decade in 1970 an also coincide with United Nations Day i.e. October 24
• The UN General Assembly (UNGA) established this day in 1972.
• 59th Raising Day of Indo-Tibetan Border Police 2020 → October 24
• The Raising Day of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) is annually observed on October 24. This year (2020) marks the 59th year of its existence. ITBP Force (ITBPF) was raised on October 24, 1962 under the Central Reserve Police Force Act, 1949.

About Indo-Tibetan Border Police

• ITBP is the primary border patrol organization of India with its border with Tibet (China). It is one of the Central Armed Police Forces of India. ITBPF Act, 1992 was enacted by the parliament in 1992 and rules were framed in 1994. Currently, ITBP is deployed on border guarding duties from Karakoram Pass in Ladakh to Jachep La in Arunachal Pradesh covering 3488 km of
• Indo-China border and manning border outposts in the Western, Middle and Eastern sectors of the Indo-China Border. The ITBPF is a specialized mountain force.

• Director General - Surjeet Singh Deswal
• Parent Body - Ministry of Home Affairs