RAJASTHAN

• Rajasthan conducts free heart surgeries of 1,002 kids in 3 years

• Rajasthan has achieved a rare feat of conducting free heart surgeries of 1,002 children from 2014 to till date.
• Health department has now empanelled 10 more new hospitals for conducting heart surgeries.
• Among those 1,002, there were children whose parents were unable to bear the expenses for surgeries.
• Under Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakarm(RBSK), health department pays Rs 60,000 to Rs 2 lakh to private hospital per surgery, depending on the nature of the operation.
• Earlier, the health department used to pay Rs 60,000 for a surgery, which could go up to Rs 1.6 lakh per surgery in private hospitals. But, the limit has increased from Rs 1.6 lakh to Rs 2 lakh now.
• In government sector, only Sawai Man Singh(SMS) Hospital and Jodhpur’s MDM Hospitalhave conducted surgeries while other government hospitals are not able to conduct such surgeries. So, health department has to empanelled private hospitals for conducting surgeries of children with heart defects such as ventricular septal defect and atrial septal defect.

INTERNATIONAL

·       US Author George Saunders Wins 2017 Man Booker Prize

• US author George Saunders won the 2017 Man Booker Prize. 
• He became only the second American writer to win Britain’s renowned Prize, which was awarded for his first full-length novel “Lincoln in the Bardo”. 
  
• The 2016 Man Booker Prize went to ‘The Sellout’ by Paul Beatty.

·       Zimbabwe bans Fruit, Vegetable imports as Forex Crunch Deepens

• The east African landlocked country Zimbabwe, with immediate effect, banned the import of fruits and vegetables to preserve the scarce foreign currencies.
• Last year Zimbabwe spent more than $80 million on fruit and vegetables which included tomatoes, onions, carrots, grapes, apples and oranges.
• Many of the Zimbabweans are keeping U.S. dollars at home or they are spending in buying Hard Currency on the black market. This same situation was prevailing during the period of hyperinflation a decade ago.

·       Pakistan elected among 15 nations to UN Human Rights Council

• The15 member nations including Pakistan have been elected to serve on the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council.
• 15 new member nations who have been elected are Afghanistan, Angola, Australia, Chile, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mexico, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Qatar, Senegal, Slovakia, Spain and Ukraine.

• Google Viewed as Most Authentic Brand in India: Survey

• Indian consumers regard Google as the most authentic brand, even though Amazon.com tops the list globally, reveal results of a new survey.

• In India, Google is followed by Microsoft, Amazon.com, Maruti Suzuki and Apple.

• Globally, Apple takes the second spot after Amazon in the authenticity race, according to the results revealed by Cohn & Wolfe.

NATIONAL 

·       Ministry of Women and Child Development launches campaign on ‘women for women’

• The Ministry ofWomen and Child Developmentis undertaking an online campaign #IamThatWoman.
• The main aim seeks to highlight the various aspects of women standing ‘by’ and ‘for’ women. Ministry of WCD has urged people to shun stereotypes associated with women harming other women. Twitter and Facebook users have been encouraged to tag and share stories of women helping women with a photograph and post online with the hashtag #IamThatWoman.
• A woman manager can easily empathize with her female juniors and help her climb the ladder of success.

·       MCX launches first commodity options trading with gold

• Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX)launched trading in Gold option’s contract in presence of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
• Underlying for Gold options contract which is currently available for trading are Gold (1 Kg) futures expiring on November 28, 2017, and January 29, 2018.
• The Options in securities and commodities market are primarily meant for hedging. However they are also used for speculation.

• Haryana records 39 percent of all cancer cases in India

• Cancer is strengthening its grip across India, and reportedly, Haryana has a major share, with over 39% of cases recorded in the state.

• Approximately 17.3 lakh new cancer cases are being estimated by the year 2020 in India, therefore with the present trends Haryana might have around 6.5 lakh cancercases by then.

• Breast cancer has a majority share of cancer cases and is the leading cause for deaths in women suffering with non-communicable disease.

• According to an Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) report, breast cancer shares 10% of all cases.

• Hema Malini’s Biography:Beyond The Dream Girl

• Deepika Padukone launched the biography of veteran actress Hema Malini in Mumbai.

• The biography, titled ‘Beyond The Dream Girl’, is written by Ram Kamal Mukherjee, and was unveiled on Hema Malini’s 69th birthday (October 16).

• The biography’s foreword has been written by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.