Daily GK Updates - 19th October, 2017

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Diwali celebrated with fanfare across the nation: The nation celebrated the festival of lights, Diwali, with fanfare across the length and breadth. The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, celebrated Diwali with the jawans of Indian Army and BSF, in the Gurez Valley, near the Line of Control, in Jammu and Kashmir. He was there for nearly two hours. This is the fourth successive Diwali that the Prime Minister has celebrated with jawans on the border.

2. Rex Tillerson to visit India next week to dramatically deepen ties: US secretary of state Rex Tillerson, in a speech titled Defining Our Relationship with India for the Next Century at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, called for US and India to expand strategic ties, accuses China of challenging international norms needed for global stability.

3. New petition in apex court challenges linking Aadhaar with bank account and phones: A new writ petition has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the linking of Aadhaar with one's bank account to mobile phones. The writ filed on behalf of noted gender activist and writer Dr. Kalyani Menon Sen is expected to be heard after Diwali holidays. This is the recent writ after a spate of petitions led by retired Justice K. S. Puttaswamy.

4. BJP and Congress release their first list of candidates for the Himachal elections: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced its list of candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh where the party in opposition is trying to make a comeback. The Congress also announced its first list of 59 candidates for the 9 November Himachal Pradesh elections, with chief minister Virbhadra Singh being fielded from the Arki constituency in Solan district.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Canada's Quebec province to ban face coverings in public sector: Quebec will ban face coverings for people giving or receiving provincial government services under a law passed recently that rights groups have criticized as marginalizing Muslim women in the mainly French-speaking Canadian province.

2. Pakistani anti-corruption court indicts ousted PM Nawaz Sharif and his daughter: An anti-corruption court on Thursday indicted Pakistan's ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter and son-in-law over corruption references filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). The accountability court in Islamabad indicted 67-year-old Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and her husband retired Captain Mohammad Safdar in the London properties reference even though Sharif and lead defence counsel Khawaja Haris are both out of the country

OTHER UPDATES:

BUSINESS/ECONOMY:

1. Reliance Jio tariff hiked: Reliance Jio customers will have to pay 15% more for its popular 84-day plan at Rs 459 from Thursday, under which subscribers get 1GB 4G data per day. However, subscribers of its Rs149 plan will get 4GB of data for each billing cycle of 28 days under the new “Diwali Dhamaka” scheme compared to 2GB being offered at present.

2. BP Plc working with Reliance Industries to start petrol pumps: A year after BP Plc received an in-principle approval to launch its fuel retail business in India, the oil firm is working along with partner Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) to begin operations in a few months. BP is RIL’s partner in its exploration and production, and gas-sourcing businesses. BP had received approval and licence to set up 3,500 fuel retail outlets in October 2016.

3. Government plans to cap margins for medical devices to provide relief to industry: The Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) has asked medical device associations, healthcare industry bodies and relevant regulatory agencies to help it categorise the devices. The DoP secretary will hold a meeting on October 25 to fix trade margins, according to a letter sent by the department to the stakeholders.

SPORTS:
4. Hockey Asia Cup 2017 - Dominant India crush Malaysia 6-2: India displayed how dangerous they can be when they play an all-out attacking game as they pummelled Malaysia 6-2 in their second game of the Super 4s stage of the Asia Cup hockey in Dhaka. With the win, India jumped to top of the Super 4s standings with four points from two games.

5. Denmark Open: Saina Nehwal, K Srikanth advance to second round, PV Sindhu out: India had a bitter-sweet day at Denmark Open as Saina Nehwal knocked out Olympic champion Carolina Marin of Spain but title-contender PV Sindhu suffered a straight game loss against China's Chen Yufei to crash out of the opening round.

6. South Africa displace India from top of ODI rankings: India on Thursday lost their numero uno status in ICC ODI rankings to South Africa following their win over Bangladesh in the second ODI.

7. Gaganjeet Bhullar shares opening day honours at Macau Open: India's Gaganjeet Bhullar put up an outstanding display by carding a flawless seven-under-par 64 to grab the opening round lead with Korean duo Yikeun Chang and Giwhan Kim at the Macao Open golf tournament at Macau.