• Defence

DHARMA GUARDIAN-2018: First-ever India-Japan joint military exercise

• India and Japan will hold first ever joint military exercise Dharma Guardian 2018 in Mizoram from 1 to 14 November.
• Indian Army and Japan Ground Self Defence Force will jointly conduct this exercise.
• The Indian contingent will be represented by 6/1 Gorkha Rifles while the Japanese contingent will be represented by 32 Infantry Regiment of the Japanese Ground Self Defence Force.

• Agreements

US to merge Jerusalem consulate general with new embassy

• The United States will merge the U.S. Consulate General, which serves Palestinians, with its new embassy in Israel into a single diplomatic mission in Jerusalem.
• S. President Donald Trump outraged the Arab world and stoked international concern by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2017 and moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in May 2018.
• The status of Jerusalem is one of the thorniest disputes between Israel and the Palestinians.

• Awards

Music composer Khayyam wins Hridaynath Award for Lifetime Achievement

• National Award winning music director Mohammed Zahur Khayyam Hashmi, famous as ‘Khayyam’, has been named for this year’s Hridaynath Award for Lifetime Achievement.
• Hridaynath is the only and youngest brother of the legendary Mangeshkar singer-sisters – Lata, Asha, Usha and Meena, all children of the great composer, Deenanath Mangeshkar.
• The other past recipients of the awards are Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Amitabh Bachchan, Sulochana Latkar, A.R. Rahman, Pandit Jasraj, and Javed Akhtar, besides chess champ Vishwanathan Anand.

• Awards

Arshdeep won 2018 Wildlife Photographer award

• Arshdeep Singh is among the winners of the 2018 Wildlife Photographer of the Year award in the 10-years-and-under category.
• He won the award for his ‘Pipe Owls’ photograph.
• The Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition is organised by the Britain’s Natural History Museum.
• Arshdeep recently won the Junior Asian Wildlife Photographer of the Year award.

• Miscellaneous

Ask Disha: IRCTC launches AI chatbot to answer user queries

• The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) recently launched a Chatbot to help its users answer various queries,
• The AI chatbot– Ask Disha- is powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and it is aimed at facilitating accessibility by answering users’ queries pertaining to various services offered by IRCTC.

• International

United States withdraws from Universal Postal Union

• The US on October 17 announced its intent to withdraw from the little-known UN Universal Postal Union (UPU).
• According to US government; current system that governs international postal rates allows countries like China to provide subsidies to their postal companies to ship products to the US at cheaper rates thus putting American firms at a disadvantage.

• International

World population set to grow another 2.2 billion by 2050: UN survey

• According to United Nations Population Fund’s report, the world’s population is set to grow 2.2 billion by 2050.
• More than half of that growth 1.3 billion is likely to be in sub-Saharan Africa, where women’s rights are hampered by limited access to healthcare and education.
• UN Population Fund is headquartered in New York, USA.
• The pace of India’s population growth, now at 15 million per year, is the world’s largest.

• National

6th meeting of NDMA held

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired the sixth meeting of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) at New Delhi on 18 October 2018.
• NDMA is an agency of the Ministry of Home Affairs
• NDMA was established through the Disaster Management Act enacted by the Government of India in may 30 2005.
• The Prime Minister is the ex-officio chairperson of NDMA.

• Economy and Business

RBI permitted banks to use government securities

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) permitted banks to use government securities equal to the incremental credit disbursed to NBFCs for meeting liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) requirements.
• The move will provide liquidity to Housing Finance Companies (HFCs) and Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs).
• The RBI eased the single borrower exposure limits for NBFCs not in the infrastructure segment.

• Important Days

Assam celebrated Kati Bihu festival

• Assam’s third Bihu festival, known as Kati Bihu or Kongali Bihu, was celebrated across the state on 18 October 2018.
• The other two Bihu festivals are the Rongali and Bohagi Bihu.
• The festival is held at this time of the year since the granaries of the farmers usually remain empty and therefore it is known as Kongali (poor) Bihu.

• Science and Tech

Oneer system developed by CSIR

• Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and Indian Institute of Toxicology Research (CSIR-IITR) have developed a technology for disinfecting water.
• The technology has been named ‘Oneer’.
• It is useful for continuous treatment of water and eliminates all disease causing pathogens such as virus, bacteria etc.