- Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi became the first person to have her honorary Canadian citizenship revoked over her handling of the Rohingya crisis. - Apple, Google and Amazon were named the top three most valuable global brands in Interbrand's 2018 report. Apple's brand value grew 16% while Google grew 10% and Amazon 56%. - The Museum of Goa plans a "Flying Art" exhibition from November 10-30th celebrating the decriminalization of homosexuality in India.

1. CURRENT AFFAIRS
6 OCTOBER 2018
DR.A .PRABAHARAN
DEAN,N E H R U M E M O R I A L C O L L E G E , P U T H A N A M P A T T I
N E H R U M E M O R I A L C O L L E G E O F E D U C A T I O N , A B I N I M A N G A L A M

2. • Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi
became the first person to be
stripped of honorary Canadian
citizenship on 2 Oct 2018.
• The decision was made over her
refusal to call out atrocities by her
nation’s military against the Rohingya
Muslim minority.
• The move was made official after
Canada’s Senate voted to revoke the
symbolic honour.
• The House of Commons granted the
privilege to Suu Kyi in 2007.

3. INTERBRAND RELEASES 2018 BEST GLOBAL BRANDS
• Interbrand announces Apple, Google,
and Amazon are the three most valuable
brands in its 2018 Best Global Brands report.
• From six consecutive
years, Apple and Google hold the top
positions.
• Apple’s brand value grew by 16% to $214,480m,
and Google’s by 10% to $155,506m.
• Amazon achieved 56% growth to reach a
$100bn brand valuation
• Theme of 2018 report is Activating Brave.

4. MUSEUM OF GOA PLANS ‘FLYING ART’
• The Museum of Goa (MoG)
Foundation will hold a “colourful flying
exhibition” titled “Freedom is in the
air” from 10 to 30th November 2018.
• The exhibition is being organised to
celebrate the striking down of Section
377 of India Penal Code by the
Supreme Court of India.
• An airborne installation in the colours
of the rainbow is being planned as
part of the event.

5. NIHMR IN SEHORE, MP
• The Centre approved the
establishment of National Institute of
Mental Health Rehabilitation (NIHMR)
in Sehore district of Madhya Pradesh.
• NIMHR will serve as an institution of
excellence for capacity building in
human resource and research.
• The institute will also serve as
recommending body suggesting
models/protocols for effective
rehabilitation of persons with mental
illness.

6. ALL INDIA RAILWAYS CHESS TOURNAMENT AT TRICHY
• The 31st All India Railways Chess
tournament began on 3 October at
Trichy in Tamil Nadu.
• The four-day tournament was formally
inaugurated by General Manager,
Southern Railway, SM Kulshreshta.
• Winners of this tournament will
represent the Railways in the National
Chess tournament which will take
place in November.

7. INDIA GOT 28TH RANK IN E-PAYMENT ADOPTION
• According to a survey by The Economist
Intelligence Unit, India’s overall ranking
on the government’s adoption of e-
payments has moved up to 28th in 2018.
• Norway is at the top position in the
survey, followed by France and
Denmark.
• The survey looks at the availability of
government electronic transaction
services and the mechanisms that
support digitisation for all transactions.

8. MOBIKWIK LAUNCHES INSTANT LOAN PRODUCT ‘BOOST’
• MobiKwik, a leading digital financial
services platform, has announced the
launch of ‘Boost’.
• Boost is a product that offers instant loan
approval and disbursal to MobiKwik
users.
• Users can apply for loans ranging from Rs
5,000 up to Rs 60,000 through the
MobiKwik app
• MobiKwik is the first wallet company in
India to disburse the loan amount in the
user’s mobile wallet.

9. AVIATION MIN RELEASED THE POLICY ON DIGI YATRA
• The Union Minister of Commerce and
Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh
Prabhu released the policy on
biometric based digital processing of
passengers at airports called “Digi
Yatra”.
• Digi Yatra Central Platform will be
operational by end of February 2019.
• Bangalore & Hyderabad International
Airports will be ready with pilot
implementation by the end of February
2019.

10. NGT ALLOWED CHARDHAM MAHAMARG VIKAS PARIYOJNA
• The National Green Tribunal has cleared
the ‘Chardham Mahamarg Vikas Pariyojna’.
• The project proposes to provide all-
weather connectivity to four holy towns of
Uttarakhand.
• NGT formed a committee to monitor the
project.
• The committee will be headed by former
Uttarakhand High Court Judge Justice U C
Dhyani to oversee the implementation of
Environment Management Plan (EMP) of
the project.

11. ‘METHANOL COOKING FUEL PROGRAM’ LAUNCHED
• Northeast and Assam Petro-chemicals
Ltd. launched Asia’s first canister based
and India’s first ‘Methanol Cooking Fuel
Program’.
• 500 households inside the Assam Petro
Complex will be the first pilot project.
• This technology handles methanol
extremely safely, does not need a
regulator or any piping system.
• Ritu Bordoloi became India’s first
owner of a cooking stove fuelled by
methanol.

12. • The Delhi government signed a twin
city agreement with the Moscow
administration for cooperation in
multiple sectors.
• Under the agreement, the two
governments would maintain regular
contacts and undertake exchanges of
delegations and ideas.
• Both the cities will cooperate actively in
the management of transport, tourism,
healthcare among other areas
Twin city agreement between Delhi and Moscow

13. INDIAN AND RUSSIAN RAILWAYS SIGNED MOC
• A Memorandum of Cooperation
(MoC) was signed between the
Ministry of Railways and joint-stock
company Russian Railways.
• It includes the implementation of a
speed-upgradation project in the
Nagpur-Secunderabad section.
• It also includes setting up of a
single traffic-control centre for
managing mixed traffic at the local
level.

14. 2018 SUMMER YOUTH OLYMPIC GAMES BEGAN
• The third edition of the Summer Youth
Olympic Games was inaugurated
in Buenos Aires, Argentina on 6th
October 2018.
• The event will conclude on 18
October 2018.
• It is the first time Summer Youth Olympic
Games are being held outside of Asia.
• The previous two summer events held in
Singapore (2010) and Nanjing, China
(2014).

15. INDIA’S FIRST DOLPHIN RESEARCH CENTRE IN PATNA
• Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil
Kumar Modi announced that the
‘National Dolphin Research Centre’
will be set up at Patna University,
Patna.
• The centre will be developed at an
estimated cost of Rs 28 crore
in university premises.
• The state government also observes
October 5 as ‘Dolphin Day’ in Bihar
for protection and conservation of
Gangetic river dolphin.

16. RAKESH SHARMA APPOINTED AS IDBI CHIEF
• The government appointed former Canara
Bank managing director Rakesh Sharma as
head of IDBI Bank.
• This decision came after the tenure of B
Sriram, Chief Executive of IDBI Bank ended in
September 2018.
• Sharma has been appointed as MD & CEO
for a period of six months.
• Sharma was among the few bankers hired in
2015 from the private sector to lead big state-
run banks.

17. PANKAJ SHARMA APPOINTED AS AMBASSADOR TO CD
• Pankaj Sharma has been appointed as the next
Ambassador of India to the United Nations
Conference on Disarmament (CD), Geneva.
• Sharma, an Indian Foreign Services (IFS) officer
of 1991 batch is currently serving as a Joint
Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs
(MEA).
• CD is a multilateral disarmament forum
established to negotiate arms control and
disarmament agreement.

18. INDIAN INT SCIENCE FESTIVAL INAUGURATED
• A four-day India International Science
Festival (IISF) 2018 was inaugurated in
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh on 5 October
2018.
• The theme of this edition of Science
Festival is “Science for Transformation”.
• Another feature of IISF-2018 was ‘Mega
Science and Industry Expo’ that
highlighted the outstanding
contributions of India in the field of
science, technology, and industry.

19. RBI KEPT KEY RATES UNCHANGED
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) decided
to keep the interest rate unchanged at
6.5% in the fourth bi-monthly policy
review.
• The reverse repo rate has also been kept
unchanged at 6.25%.
• The Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) stands at
4% while the bank rate is at 6.75%.
• Growth projection for 2018-19 has also
been retained at 7.4%.

20. INDIA & ADB SIGNED $110 MILLION LOAN AGREEMENT
• The government of India and the
Asian Development Bank (ADB)
signed a $110 million loan
agreement.
• The loan will be used for the
upgradation of 2,800 kilometres all-
weather rural roads in the State of
Madhya Pradesh under the Prime
Minister’s Rural Roads Program.
• The overall program is aimed at
improving rural connectivity,
facilitating safer and more efficient
access to transportation.

21. GI TAG FOR ALPHONSO FROM KONKAN
• Alphonso from Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg,
Palghar, Thane, and Raigad districts
of Maharashtra got Geographical
Indication (GI) tag.
• Alphonso is better known as ‘Hapus’
in Maharashtra.
• A GI tag is an indication used on
products that have a specific
geographical origin and possess
qualities or a reputation that are due
to that origin.