National:
- The first-ever Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS) launched at Kochi from 19th October, 2020. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated this project. It will integrate the traffic movement in the city. The ITMS was implemented by the Cochin Smart Mission Limited in association with Keltron. The ITMS comprises two major modules. The first one is the traffic management and the second is enforcement.
The Integrated Control and Command Centre (ICCC) for the traffic management were set up near the metro’s station at Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium, Kaloor. Transport Minister A K Saseendran inaugurated the Smart control Cell of the Motor vehicle Department, which will function in the ICCC. - India Meteorological Department operationalised advanced high-resolution Air Quality Early Warning System ‘ENFUSER’ (ENvironmental information FUsion SERvice) for Delhi and India & also has been operationalized to identify the air pollution hotspots and pollution upto street level. SILAM (System for Integrated modelling of Atmospheric composition) and ENFUSER have been developed in technical collaboration with Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI).
- National Informatics Centre (NIC), IEEE Computer Society and Oracle will organise Gov Tech- Thon 2020 from 30 Oct 2020 to 1 Nov 2020 under aegis of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY). The virtual hackathon aims to incubate new ideas, boost innovation and use technology in agriculture and allied sectors.
Intellectual Property Literacy Week:
- Union Education Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ virtually launched the “KAPILA” Kalam Program for Intellectual Property Literacy and Awareness campaign on the 89th birth anniversary of former President Late Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. On this occasion, the Institution Innovation Council (IIC 2.0) annual report was presented & the launch of IIC 3.0 was announced. A website for IIC 3.0 was launched.
It has also been decided to celebrate the week of October 15th to 23rd as ‘Intellectual Property Literacy Week’. Minister of State for Education Shri Sanjay Dhotre informed that under this week a number of activities will be organized.
It comprises:
⇒ Online awareness will be created about the system and the importance of the process of applying for a patent
⇒ Debates, poster contests, quizzes and community meetings
Shri Sanjay Dhotre said that Institution Innovation Council was established by the Ministry of Education in 2018. So far, IICs have been established in about 1700 higher educational institutions. IIC will be established in 5000 higher educational institutions under IIC 3.0. For India to become a $5 trillion economy, we have to be more aware of protecting intellectual property.
International:
- Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman participated in the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting through video conferencing. The meeting was held under the Saudi Arabian Presidency, on 14th October, 2020.
Ministers and Governors of G20 countries had gathered to discuss the current global economic outlook and G20’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, along with other G20 Finance Track priorities for the year 2020.
Business:
- Paytm on 19th October, 2020, announced that it will be partnering with various card issuers to introduce co-branded credit cards for consumers. The company aims to issue two million cards in the next 12–18 months. Paytm in collaboration with Citigroup had launched its first co-branded credit card, ‘Paytm First’ in May.
Appointment:
- Kurl-on has appointed Jyothi Pradhan as its new Chief Operating Officer.
- On 20th October 2020, Tata Communication announced the appointment of Kabir Ahmed Shakir as Chief Financial Officer with effect from 21 October.
Important Day:
- The Ayurveda Day is being observed every year from 2016. This is celebrated on the day of Dhanwantri Jayanti.
The Ayush Ministry announced on 15th October, 2020, this year 5th Ayurveda Day will be observed on 13th November, 2020. Potential role of Ayurveda in the management of the Covid 19 pandemic will be the focus of this year’s ‘Ayurveda Day’ observation.
A webinar on the theme of ‘Ayurveda for Covid-19 Pandemic’ will be organised on 5th Ayurveda Day.
Death:
- Journalist Shama Sunder died of cardiac arrest in Ballari on 20th October 2020. He was 70. He had worked with The Hindu, Indian Express, and Kannada Prabha.
- Veteran CPI leader Maruti Manpade died in Solapur, Maharashtra, on 20th October, 2020, due to COVID-19 related complications. He was 65.