National:
- The two-day “4th India Agricultural Outlook Forum 2020” webinar held in Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi from 15th October 2020.
The main topics for discussion during the forum were:
- Current national and international agricultural economic situation dictated by the pandemic and the way in which India and the world struggled to keep their economies going by minimizing the adverse impacts
- Game-changer farm sector initiatives
- Converging Indian agriculture with global commitments on sustainable and inclusive farm growth
- Decoding agri-tech potential
- Exploring new channels for rationalising cost structure of Govt. procurement agencies
- Capacity building for employment opportunities
- India has been designated the ‘Vice-Chair’ of Good Laboratory Practice Working Group of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, recognising the contribution of the Indian GLP programme.
Good Laboratory Practice is a quality system to ensure that safety data generated on various chemicals like industrial chemicals, pharmaceuticals (Human and Veterinary), agrochemicals, cosmetic products, food/ feed additives, and medical devices, etc, can be relied upon by regulatory authorities. - On 15th October, 2020, the Leather Sector Skill Council announced the launch of “Skill Certification Assessment for Leather Employees” (SCALE) India android app.
SCALE will help candidates in the skilling ecosystem to get assessed and certified on their knowledge, skills and behaviour on a specific qualification pack. It also enables access to micro-learning modules for bridging the skill gaps that are identified and can be re-assessed and certified at the end of the learning on the specific qualification pack.
It further assists the candidate to become a productive resource who is readily employable in the industry. The candidates can search for employment opportunities and connect with employers post completion of their certification. The assessments are currently available in English, Hindi, Tamil, and Bengali, with plans to add more regional languages in a phased manner.
International:
- A webinar between India and Kazakhstan was held on 15th October 2020. It was organized under the aegis of Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence through FICCI. The Theme of webinar was “Make In India For The World, India – Kazakhstan Defence Cooperation: Webinar and Expo”. During webinar, Bharat Electronics Limited. (BEL) announced its plans to open representative office in Kazakhstan
European Union awarded:
The European Union awarded its top human rights prize “2020 Sakharov Prize” to the Belarus opposition movement and its leader, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, for their challenge to President Alexander Lukashenko’s long, hard-line reign. The prize will be presented in a ceremony in Strasbourg, France, on Dec 16.
India International Film Festival of Boston:
The IIFFB 2020 was held online this week featured around 110 films from 15 languages.
Best Film: Malayalam film Kaanthi, directed by Ashok R. Nath
Best Actor (female) – Actor Shylaja P. Ambu, who played one of the lead roles in the Kaanthi film
Business & Technology:
- Reliance Jio has launched new upgraded “JioPages” mobile browser on 20th October 2020. The mobile browser is ‘Made in India’. JioPages supports eight Indian languages: Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Gujarati, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Bengali, besides English.
- Parle Agro launched new product ‘B-Fizz’ brand that has been rolled out in over 2,000 cities across the country.
Priyanka Chopra Jonas has been appointed the national brand ambassador, while Jr. NTR has been roped as the brand ambassador for markets in the south for the B-Fizz brand.
Death:
- Former Home Minister and Member of Legislative Council Nayani Narasimha Reddy died in Hyderabad due to COVID-19 complications on 22nd October 2020. He was 86. After the formation of Telangana state, Mr. Reddy was the first Home Minister between 2014 and 2018.
- Karnataka Rajyotsava awardee, Former chairman of Bharat Co-operative Bank (Mumbai) Limited & Former president of Billavara Association, Mumbai, Jaya C Suvarna died in Mumbai on 21st October 2020. He was 74.
Other:
- In AP express train number- 02805- Visakhapatnam-New Delhi, a novel woman safety initiative of the railways “Meri Saheli (My Friend)” has been launched at Visakhapatnam railway station on 17th October 2020. This initiative aims to instil a sense of security among women travellers.