International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction: 13 October
The International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction is observed on 13 October every year.
The aim of this day is to promote a global culture of risk-awareness and disaster reduction.
The day celebrates how people and communities around the world are reducing their exposure to disasters and raising awareness about the importance of reining in the risks that they face.
2019 Theme: Reduce disaster damage to critical infrastructure and disruption of basic services
World Standards Day: 14 October
World Standards Day (or International Standards Day) is celebrated internationally each year on 14 October.
The aim of World Standards Day is to raise awareness among regulators, industry and consumers as to the importance of standardization to the global economy.
Around the globe, it is celebrated by the members of IEC (the International Electro-technical Commission), ISO (The International Organization for Standardization) and ITU (The International Telecommunication Union).
2019 theme: Video standards create a global stage
Prahlad Singh Patel participates in BRICS Culture Ministers’ meeting in Brazil
Union Minister of State for Culture and Tourism Prahlad Singh Patel participated in BRICS Culture Ministers’ meeting held in Curitiba, Brazil.
Mr Patel asserted that BRICS for India is a valuable forum for consultation, coordination and cooperation on contemporary global issues of mutual interest.
He also proposed to add literature as another field of cooperation between the countries to enhance cooperation in the field of literary works.
India extends Line of Credit worth USD 30 mn to Sierra Leone for rice cultivation
India and Sierra Leone signed six agreements including extended a credit line of 30 million US Dollars for rice cultivation.
Vice President Venkaiah Naidu and Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio committed to further strengthening bilateral relations.
Mr Naidu reached Freetown, capital of Sierra Leone on the second leg of his ongoing five-day visit to the West African countries.
Mr Naidu’s visit marks the first high-level visit from India to the two African countries.
India, Japan to hold joint military exercise ‘Dharma-Guardian’ 2019
A joint military exercise Dharma-Guardian 2019 will be conducted between India and Japan at the Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School, Vairengte in Mizoram from October 19 to November 2.
The Indian Army and the Japanese Ground Self Defence Forces (JGSDF), comprising 25 soldiers each, will participate in the exercise.
The exercise is an annual training event which is being conducted in India since 2018.
The scope of this exercise covers platoon-level joint training on counter-terrorism operations in the jungle and urban scenario.
PM Modi becomes the most followed leader on Instagram
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has become the most-followed elected world leader on photo-sharing app Instagram.
He is ahead of US President Donald Trump, Indonesian President Joko Widodo and former president Barack Obama.
With 30 million followers, PM Modi leads the list of world leaders on Instagram, with Joko Widodo coming in a close second with 25.6 million followers on the popular app.
Barack Obama comes in third with 24.8 million followers while, Donald Trump, trails behind with 14.9 million followers.
Points to Remember
Barack Obama is the most followed politician with 107.5 million followers on his personal Twitter.
He is followed by US President Donald Trump with 62.6 million followers on his own personal Twitter.
Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India is the third most followed politician with 50 million followers.
10th edition of ‘Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav’ under the Ministry of Culture inaugurated in Jabalpur
The Governor of Madhya Pradesh Shri Lalji Tandon in the presence of Minister of State for Culture and Tourism (I/C), Shri Prahalad Singh Patel inaugurated the 10th Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav in Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh.
Ministry of Culture, Government of India is organising the 10th edition of Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav under the Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat initiative in Madhya Pradesh from 14th to 21st October 2019.
The National Cultural festival will display diverse forms of folk, art and culture of 22 states.
The concept of National Cultural Festival was conceived in the year 2015.
The festival is being organized in Madhya Pradesh for the second time.
Simone Biles breaks the record for most world medals won by any gymnast
Simone Biles broke the all-time record for most medals by any gymnast at the world championships by winning the balance beam competition at the World Gymnastics Championship in Stuttgart, Germany.
It’s the 24th world championship medal for Biles, breaking a tie on 23 with the Belarusian men’s gymnast Vitaly Scherbo.
Biles scored 15.066 on the beam after a near-flawless routine.
Manju Rani settles for silver medal in World Women’s Boxing Championship
The Indian women’s boxing contingent ended the World Boxing Championships campaign with a record four medals after Manju Rani bagged the silver in the 48kg category final.
19-year-old Manju lost the gold-medal bout 1-4 against 2nd seed Ekaterina Paltceva of Russia but still managed to finish as the best Indian performer in this edition.
This was Manju’s maiden appearance at the World Championships.
India finished with one silver and three bronze medals after Jamuna Boro, Lovlina Borgohain and MC Mary Kom clinched the bronze medals in their respective categories.
Lakshya Sen wins maiden BWF World Tour title
Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen clinched his maiden BWF World Tour title by winning the Dutch Open men’s singles at Almere in the Netherlands.
Lakshya rallied from a game deficit to defeat Yusuke Onodera of Japan 15-21, 21-14, 21-15 in a final that lasted 63 minutes.
Lakshya, currently ranked 72nd, had won the Belgian Open last month and reached the finals of Polish Open this year.
He had also won the Asian Junior Championships, a silver at Youth Olympic Games and a bronze medal at World Junior Championships last year.
