www.gradeup.co Top Current Affairs of the Week (11 Oct- 17 Oct) Lewis Hamilton wins Eifel Grand Prix 2020 • Mercedes racer Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain) has won Eifel Grand Prix 2020 held at Nürburg, Germany. • It was Lewis Hamilton’s 7th win of Formula One season and 91st career race victory, which was till now achieved only by Michael Schumacher. • Red Bull’s racer Max Verstappen (Netherlands) bagged the second place, followed by Renault’s racer Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) • It was the 11th race in 2020 F-1 World Championship and first running in history of Eifel Grand Prix Amazon India ties-up with IRCTC for train tickets booking • Amazon India has ties-up with ‘Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation’ (IRCTC) to provide facility of booking train tickets on Amazon. • Amazon Pay adds another travel category offering one-stop-shop for booking flights, bus and train tickets. • Users will be able to check seat and quota availability along with live checking of PNR status, downloads and cancellations of tickets booked on Amazon. • Customers will get 10% cashback on their first train ticket booking Meghalaya partners with Israel for Centre of Excellence on vegetables • Meghalaya has partner with Israel for establishing Centre of Excellence (CoE) on high-value vegetables to improve and promote livelihood of farmers • CoE is important to tap diverse bio-diversity and resources available in terms of its soil and agro-climatic conditions in Meghalaya • It will also strengthen research and expansion of its resources in multi-fold aspects, including tourism • Israel will also provide technology support to the state • Meghalaya Capital: Shillong Delhi Cabinet approve ‘Tree Transplantation Policy’. • Delhi Cabinet has approved ‘Tree Transplantation Policy’ for the conservation of trees in Delhi • With this, Delhi becomes the first State in India to pass this policy. • Concerned agencies will have to transplant 80% of the trees affected by their projects to a new location. • 10 saplings will be planted in addition to this. • Dedicated panel of govt agencies is being formed under the policy. • A second smog tower at CP will also be installed along with this policy Uttarakhand Govt launches ‘Mukhya Mantri Saur Swarojgar Yojana’ • Uttarakhand CM Trivendra Singh Rawat has launched Mukhya Mantri Saur Swarojgar Yojana to generate self-employment for youth & migrants through green energy sector • State will allocate solar plants of 25 kw each to the targeted beneficiaries and loans will be granted by cooperative banks for these plants at 8% interest rate for 15% 1 www.gradeup.co • Each plant will generate 38,000 units of electricity per year and will be bought by Uttarakhand Power Corporation Ltd for 25 years. Goa becomes first ‘Har Ghar Jal’ State of India • Goa has earned distinction of becoming first 'Har Ghar Jal' State of India by providing tap water connection to every rural household. • It provides 100% Functional Household Tap Connections (FHTCs) covering 2.30 lakh rural households in all the 191 Gram Panchayats of the state • North Goa with 1,65,000 rural households and South Goa with 98,000 rural households are fully saturated with assured piped water supply for tap connections Rafael Nadal and Iga Swiatek wins French Open 2020 • Rafael Nadal (Spain) wins men’s 2020 French Open after beating Novak Djokovic by 6-0, 6-2, 7-5. • It was his 13th French Open men’s singles title and 20th Grand Slam title. • On the other hand, Iga Swiatek (Poland) wins women’s single French Open 2020 by defeating Sofia Kenin (US) by 6-4, 6-1. • She became the youngest women to win the title in the history of the championship in 28 years. • She also became the first Polish tennis player to win the singles’ Grand Slam. PM launches Property Cards under SVAMITVA scheme • PM Narendra Modi virtually launched physical distribution programme of Property Cards under SVAMITVA scheme. • SVAMITVA (Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas) is a Central Sector Scheme launched in April 2020 • Benefit: Allow the villagers to use the property as a financial asset for taking loans and benefits. • Scheme is implemented in a phased manner for 4 years covering 6.62 lakh villages Eight Indian beaches got International Blue flag Certification • Union environment minister announced 8 beaches of India has been awarded with Blue Flag certification by an International Jury comprising of eminent members (UNEP, UNWTO, FEE, IUCN) • Blue Flag Beaches of India: Shivrajpur (Dwarka-Gujarat), Ghoghla (Diu), Kasarkod and Padubidri (Karnataka), Kappad (Kerala), Rushikonda (AP), Golden (Puri-Odisha) and Radhanagar (A&N Islands) • India became first country in Asia-Pacific region that achieved this feat in just 2 years time Andhra Pradesh CM launches Jagananna Vidya Kanuka’ scheme • Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has launched ‘Jagananna Vidya Kanuka’ scheme to distribute school kits among the poor children of the state. • Scheme will have a total outlay of Rs 650 crore • Under this, govt school students from classes 1 to 10 across the state will get school kits or Vidya Kanuka that will contain three pairs of uniform, one pair of shoes, two pairs of socks, a belt, one set of textbooks, notebooks and one school bag. Shuttler Chetan Anand named brand ambassador of ‘Transform’ 2 www.gradeup.co • Commonwealth Games (CWG) medallist in Badminton, Chetan Anand has been named as the brand ambassador for India’s first-ever homegrown professional badminton brand ‘Transform’. • Chetan Anand: Former world no. 10 and men's singles bronze medal winner at the 2006 Melbourne CWG and was an Arjuna Awardee • Transform racquets/ Badminton is India’s 1st professional badminton brand at par with the best racquets in the market that are currently imported in India Nihal Sarin wins Chess.com's 2020 Junior Speed Online Championship • Indian player Nihal Sarin (16 year) wins in Chess.com's 2020 Junior Speed Online Championship in Chennai, beating Russia's world junior No. 6 Alexey Sarana by 18-7 • He is awarded with $8,766 and enabled him to qualify for the 2020 Speed Chess Championship Final which will feature the world's best players • Nihal Sarin is a former world Under-10 champion and will join Indian men's team that is taking part in Asian Online Nations (Regions) Cup Team Championship Chaitanya Venkateswaran becomes British High Commissioner for a day • Chaitanya Venkateswaran from New Delhi became UK's senior-most diplomat in India for a day. • British High Commission has been organizing 'High Commissioner for a Day' competition annually since 2017, inviting young Indian women aged 18 to 23 years to take over as their most senior diplomat. • Chaitanya is the 4th young woman to take over as the British High Commissioner in an annual competition run by the UK mission in celebration of International Day of the Girl Child PM released Rs 100 coin on birth anniversary of Rajmata Vijaya Raje Scindia • PM Narendra Modi virtually released commemorative coin of Rs. 100 denomination to celebrate Birth Anniversary of Rajmata Vijaya Raje Scindia. • Vijaya Raje Scindia, known popularly as the Rajmata of Gwalior, was a prominent Indian political personality. • She was an active member of the Jana Sangh and co-founder of Bharatiya Janata Party. • She was one of the personalities who gave direction to India in the last century and witnessed every important phase of Indian politics Two-day Coastal security exercise “Sagar Kavach” concludes • Indian Navy along with Indian Coast Guard and other stakeholders involved in Coastal security from Kerela jointly conducted 2-day Coastal Security Exercise titled as ‘Sagar Kavach’ • It was monitored from Joint Operations Centre, Kochi. • Sagar Kavach is a half-yearly exercise to check the Coastal Security mechanism and validate Standard Operating Procedures. • The exercise is conducted along the coastal areas of Kerala, Karnataka and Lakshadweep. Former Indian footballer Carlton Chapman passes away 3 www.gradeup.co • Former Indian football captain Carlton Chapman (49 years) passed away due to a heart attack in Bengaluru • Carlton Chapman won 14 titles including the first edition of National Football League along with I M Vijayan and Bhaichung Bhutia. • He also won gold at 1997 South Asian Football Federation. • He is also known for scoring a hat trick for the Kolkata club against Al Zawra of Iraq in Asian Cup Winning Cup. • He joined Tata Football Academy as an instructor. International Day for Disaster Reduction being observed today • International Day for Disaster Reduction is being observed annually on 13 October to promote a global culture of risk-awareness and disaster reduction • The day also observes how people and communities around the world are reducing their exposure to disasters and raise awareness about its importance • It was first observed in 1989 and Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction was adopted in 2015 for this day • Theme 2020: ‘Disaster risk governance’. Los Angeles Lakers wins 17th NBA Championship • Los Angeles Lakers has defeated Miami Heat to win National Basketball Association (NBA) Championship 2020. • This is the 17th NBA title for Los Angeles Lakers and their first since 2010, after late Kobe Bryant’s won this titled in 2010 • LeBron James of the Lakers’ was named as the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) for the fourth time in his career • With this, he became first player in league history to be named Finals MVP with three different franchises Paul R. Milgrom & Robert B. Wilson won 2020 Nobel in Economic Sciences • Paul R. Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson has been conferred with the Nobel Prize 2020 in Economic Sciences for improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats • Both the economists used their insights to design new auction formats for goods and services that are difficult to sell in a traditional way, such as radio frequencies • It is technically known as Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel • It was first awarded in 1969.