1. Future Group partners Patanjali Ayurveda
i. Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved announced a tie-up with the Future Group on Friday under which its products will be available at the Big Bazaar, KB’s and EasyDay outlets.
ii. The inspiration to go in for the partnership with the swadeshi firm to offer its wide-range of products, said Future Group CEO Kishore Biyani at the launch, came from the tie-up between the U.S. retail giant Walmart and FMCG firm P&G. Within the next 20 months, we expect to jointly do business worth Rs.1,000 crore, Mr. Biyani announced.
iii. A recent report by the global brokerage house, CLSA, put Patanjali ahead of major Indian FMCG companies, Emami and Jyothy Labs. Patanjali, the report said, is perhaps the fastest growing fast moving consumer company in India with revenues in excess of Rs.2,500 crore for 2014-15.
iv. The pipeline of new launches includes Patanjali Noodles to take advantage of the market opened up following the forced withdrawal of Nestle’s Maggi. Also on the cards are pasta, oats, juices, powdered hair dye and muesli.
2. N. Korean soldiers parade in massive anniversary celebration
i. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un declared on Saturday that his country was ready to stand up to any threat posed by the United States as he spoke at a lavish military parade to mark the 70th anniversary of the North’s ruling party and trumpet his third-generation leadership.
ii. The parade, which featured thousands of goose-stepping soldiers and a display of some of North Korea’s military arsenal, kicked off what is expected to be one of the North’s biggest celebrations ever an attention-getting event that is the government’s way of showing the world and its own people that the Kim dynasty is firmly in control and its military a power to be reckoned with.
iii. Mr. Kim, clad in black, walked down a red carpet and saluted his honour guard. He then walked up to a podium and waved to the troops taking part in the parade in Pyongyang’s Kim Il Sung Square. Visiting Chinese official Liu Yunshan stood clapping to Mr. Kim’s left, with senior North Korean officials on Mr. Kim’s right. Mr. Kim smiled as he spoke with Mr. Liu through a translator.
iv. While no world leaders attended North Korean ally China sent Mr. Liu, a senior Communist Party official, not its head of state, or even vice premier the normally isolated and quiet North Korean capital has been flooded by tourists, international media and delegations ranging from ethnic Koreans living abroad to obscure Russian and Mongolian groups dedicated to studying North Korea’s political ideas.
3. India, Ecuador ink Protocol to establish Ecuador Joint Economic and Trade Committee
i. India and Ecuador has signed a Protocol for the establishment of the India-Ecuador Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) to enhance bilateral trade and investment relations.
ii. It was signed by Mentor Villagomez, Ecuadorian Ambassador to India and Rita Teotia, Commerce Secretary during the meeting between delegations of both countries.
iii. JETCO aims to further improve, deepen and strengthen the existing trade relationship between India and Ecuador. It will function as the primary forum for discussion and other promotional activities on trade and investment issues.
iv. The meeting will be held once in every two years. The first meeting of the JETCO is proposed to be held early next year in India. The bilateral trade between the two countries stood at 1290.77 million US dollars during the year 2014-15.
4. Andhra Pradesh Government launched e-Pragati project
i. Government of Andhra Pradesh on 9 October 22015 launched Andhra Pradesh State Enterprise Architecture (APSEA). It is alternatively called as e-Pragati project. It was launched by the state Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu at a function held in Visakhapatnam.
ii. It aims for a transformational change in the way government services are conceived, designed, delivered and consumed. The public private partnership (PPP) has been designed as a tool to provide integrated services to its citizens by adopting a Whole-of Government approach.
iii. It includes 72 projects, made into 14 packages for ease of implementation over the next 3 years, at a cost of 2398 crore rupees.
iv. Architecture, like establishing shared infrastructure and applications, enforcing technology standards, ensuring interoperability through the use of a SOA-based middleware called e-Highway.
5. Kerala Government launched Operation Valsalya to track missing children
i. The Kerala government on 9 October 2015 launched the Operation Valsalya project to trace, rescue and reunite the missing children with their family. This ambitious programme is envisaged to be implemented on the lines of the much acclaimed Operation Smile project in Ghaziabad.
ii. According to police statistics of Kerala, as many as 69 children have been kidnapped or abducted across the state till June this year. While 116 children were kidnapped in the state in 2014, the number was 136 in 2013 and 147 in 2012.
iii. The operation was initiated by Kerala's Social Justice Department on a small scale. However, it will be extended across the state after evaluating its success. Cooperation and support of police, childline volunteers and non-governmental organizations have been sought in this regard.
iv. Awareness programmes and poster and sticker campaigns will also be carried out to propagate the cause. The picture and other whereabouts of children, rescued from various parts of the state under the mission, will be uploaded on the website www.trackthemissingchild.nic.in.
6. Veteran music director Ravindra Jain passed away
i. Renowned music director and lyricist Ravindra Jain passed away on 9 October 2015 following a multiple-organ failure in Mumbai, Maharashtra. He was 71. He is survived by his wife and son.
ii. He started his singing career at a very tender age by reciting bhajans and poetry at temples. He began his musical journey in Bollywood in the 1970s. Since then, he has composed music for almost 150 movies apart from working with Sagar Films for their television series.
iii. His famous songs are Geet Gaata Chal, Chor Machaye Shor, Chitchor, Nadiya ke Paar, Ram Teri Ganga Maili, Ankhiyon Ke Jharokhon Se, Do Jasoos and Henna.
iv. He has also been conferred with various awards for his work including Filmfare Award for Best Music for Ram Teri Ganga Maili (1985), Lata Mangeshkar Lifetime Achievement Award of Maharashtra Government and Padmashri in 2015.
7. Sekhar Basu appointed as chairman of Atomic Energy Commission
i. Sekhar Basu was on 9 October 2015 appointed as the chairman of Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). By virtue of this position, he will also occupy the office of secretary, Department of Atomic Energy (DAE).
ii. He will succeed RK Sinha who superannuates on 23 October 2015 and will be in the office till 19 September 2016. Basu is presently the director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai, and also the Chief Executive of Nuclear Recycle Board (NRB), which is a part of BARC.
iii. Basu and his colleagues are mainly responsible for evolving strategies for safe radioactive disposal of waste in gas, liquid and solid forms containing various levels of radioactivity. He has designed and built reprocessing plants, fuel storage facilities and nuclear waste treatment facilities at Trombay, Tarapur and Kalpakkam.
iv. For his contributions to the Indian nuclear energy programme at various levels, he was conferred with several awards and honours including Padma Shri (2014), the DAE Special Achievement Award (2007) and Indian Nuclear Society Award (2002).