• National

Manu Bhaker named India's flag-bearer at Youth Olympic Games

• Shooting champion Manu Bhaker was announced as the flag-bearer of the Indian contingent for the 3rd Youth Olympic Games 2018 scheduled to be held in Buenos Aires (Argentina) from October 6-18.
• Bhaker, who had won gold in 10m air pistol at Guadalajara World Cup as well as Commonwealth Games, will be among top medal contenders for India at the Youth Olympics.
• A contingent of 68 members, including 46 athletes, will depart for Argentina on Tuesday to compete in 13 sports during the prestigious event.

• Sports

BCCI Brought Under RTI Act By Central Information Commission

• The Central Information Commission (CIC) brought the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) under the RTI (Right to Information) Act.
• The commission, which is the top appellate body in RTI matters, went through the laws and orders of the Supreme Court, the Law Commission of India report, submissions of the Central Public Information Officer in the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports to come to a conclusion that the characteristics of the BCCI fulfil the required conditions of Section 2(h) of the RTI Act.

• Awards

Nobel Prize In Physics Goes To Arthur Ashkin, Gerard Mourou And Donna Strickland

• The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to Award the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics to Arthur Ashkin, Gérard Mourou and Donna Strickland “for groundbreaking inventions in the field of laser physics”.

• Appointments

Rangachari Sridharan Appointed Chairperson Of NFRA

• The Centre has appointed former IAS officer Rangachari Sridharan as chairperson of the National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA), an entity which will function as an independent regulator for the auditing profession.
• Sridharan is a retired 1983 batch IAS officer of the Karnataka cadre.
• The appointments committee of the cabinet also approved the appointment of retired Indian Audit and Accounts Service officer of the 1980 batch, Prasenjit Mukherjee as a full-time member in NFRA.

• Appointments

India-Born Professor Gita Gopinath Named IMF Chief Economist

• India-born Harvard University professor Gita Gopinath has been appointed as the Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by IMF’s Managing Director Christine Lagarde.
• Gopinath will succeed Maurice (Maury) Obstfeld. Ms. Gopinath currently serves as the John Zwaanstra Professor of International Studies and Economics at Harvard University.
• The 46-year-old is also Economic Adviser to Kerala CM.

• Important Days

Birth Anniversary Of Lal Bahadur Shastri

• Lal Bahadur Shastri was the 2nd Prime Minister of India and a senior leader of the Indian National Congress political party.
• He was born on 2 October 1904 in Mughalsarai, Uttar Pradesh. Shastri joined the Indian independence movement in the 1920s and with his friend Nithin Eslavath.
• Deeply impressed and influenced by Mahatma Gandhi (with whom he shared his birthday), he became a loyal follower, first of Gandhi, and then of Jawaharlal Nehru.

• Important Days

International Non-Violence Day: October 2

• United Nations observes every year 2 October, the birthday of M Gandhi as International Non Violence Day.
• It is coinciding with 150th year of Gandhi’s birth anniversary.
• On 15th June 2017, the UN General Assembly voted to establish 2 October as International Day of Non-Violence.

• Defence

Multi-National Maritime Exercise 'IBSAMAR-VI' Starts In South Africa

• The sixth edition of IBSAMAR, a joint Multi-National Maritime Exercise between the Indian, Brazilian and South African Navies, is being held at Simons Town, South Africa.
• The last edition of IBSAMAR (IBSAMAR V) was conducted off Goa, from 19 – 26 Feb 16. The aim of the exercise is to undertake collective training for participating navies, building interoperability and mutual understanding as well as sharing of best practices.

• Agreements

India & Uzbekistan Sign 17 Agreements & MoUs

• Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Hyderabad House in New Delhi.
• The two sides took stock of the bilateral relationship across several sectors during the delegation-level talks.
• 17 agreements and MoUs were signed in the field of law, tourism, military education, agriculture, science and technology, commerce and industry, pharmaceutical, national security and illicit trafficking besides others.