• National

Reliance Health Insurance gets the final nod from IRDAI

• Reliance Health Insurance (Anil Ambani-led) has received the final nod from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) to begin operations.
• The Reliance Health company plans to commence operations by the December quarter of 2018.
• Reliance Health Insurance has received R3 approval from IRDAI for its new health insurance business.

• National

India moves up to 28th rank in govt e-payment adoption

• India’s overall ranking on the government’s adoption of e-payments has moved up to 28th in 2018 (36th in 2011).
• The country holds the top ranking on B2G and G2B transactions and comes third on C2G transactions jointly with Argentina.
• Norway leads the pack in the 73-country ranking, followed by France and Denmark.

• Sports

Sultan of Johor Cup Junior Men's Hockey tournament begins in Malaysia

• The Sultan of Johor Cup Junior Men’s Hockey tournament 2018 (eighth edition) begins in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.
• This is the tournament in which a total of six teams will compete for the title.
• United States (competed previously) is not taking part this year, replaced by New Zealand.

• National

Youth Olympic Games 2018 begins in Argentina

• The 3rd Youth Olympic Games has officially begun at Buenos Aires, Argentina. (6 to 18 October 2018)
• India is represented with a contingent of 68 members will compete in 13 sports during the prestigious event.
• Indian sport shooter Manu Bhaker (16-years) is leading the Indian team in the opening ceremony as the flag-bearer of the Indian contingent for the games.
• With over 200 countries taking part, the event marks the start of young athletes’ career before they go on to bigger and better things.

• Appointments

Pankaj Sharma appointed India’s Ambassador to UN conference on disarmament

• Pankaj Sharma has been appointed as the ambassador and India’s permanent representative to the United Nations Conference on Disarmament (UNCD) in Geneva, Switzerland.
• Mr Sharma will replace Amandeep Gill.
• Currently, He is the joint secretary (Disarmament and International Security Division) in the Ministry of External Affairs.

• Appointments

Govt appoints Rakesh Sharma as IDBI chief

• The union government has appointed Rakesh Sharma as managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of IDBI Bank for a period of six months
• Sharma is the former MD and CEO of Canara Bank (till July 2018) and was among the few bankers hired in 2015 from the private sector to lead big state-run banks.
• He will have the task of ensuring a smooth transfer of majority ownership from the government to Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC).

• Appointments

Justice Surya Kant sworn in as Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh HC

• Justice Surya Kant sworn in as the Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court.
• He was administered the oath of office by Governor Acharya Devvrat in a ceremony held at Raj Bhawan.

• Appointments

RN Ravi appointed Deputy National Security Advisor

• R N Ravi, the Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, has been re-designated as the Deputy National Security Advisor.
• Ravi, a 1976-batch Indian Police Service officer of the Kerala cadre, is also the government’s interlocutor for the ongoing talks with Naga insurgent group National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM).

• Science and Tech

India's first "Methanol Cooking Fuel Program" launched

• The Northeast and Assam Petro-chemicals, a state-owned company, on October 5, 2018 launched Asia’s first cannisters based and India’s first “Methanol Cooking Fuel Program” in Namrup, Assam.
• The program was inaugurated by Dr V K Saraswat, Member, NITI Aayog and Chairman, Methanol Apex Committee.
• 500 households inside the Assam Petro Complex will be the first pilot project, scaling it to 40,000 households in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Telangana, Goa and Karnataka.
• The safe handling cannister based cooking stoves are from Swedish Technology and through a Technology transfer a large-scale cooking stove manufacturing plant will come up in India in the next 18 months producing 10 lakh Cookstoves and 1 Crore Cannisters per year.

• Miscellaneous

S Railway becomes unmanned level crossing free zone

• The Southern Railway has become Unmanned Level Crossing (UMLC) Free Zone, eliminating over 1,000 such level crossings.
• Palakkad, Thiruvananthapuram and Chennai Divisions became UMLC free during the first quarter of the current year.
• The elimination of all 1054 UMLCs was done by offering alternate modes of crossing the track by the provision of subways, diversion to adjacent manned level crossings, subways, the road under bridges and outright closure due to low road traffic.

• Agreements

India & Russia seal USD 5 Billion S-400 missile air defence deal

• India and Russia seal defense deal of USD 5 billion for S-400 air defence system deal during the annual bilateral summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin at Hyderabad House.
• The two countries are also expected to seal the number of pacts in key sectors such as space and energy.
• India wants to procure the long-range missile systems to tighten its air defence mechanism, particularly along the nearly 4,000-km-long Sino-India border.