RAJASTHAN

• Gulab Bagh in Udaipur to house Rajasthan’s first bird park

• A part of heritage park Gulab Baghis undergoing a transformation. It will soon house the state’s first bird parkwith a variety of local and scheduled species.

• Gulab Bagh is being converted into an exclusive bird park.

• The project comprises a water bird area, enclosures for caged birds, free zone and a learning centre along with public facilities.

• Gulab Bagh is a heritage park made in 1862. We conceived the idea of turning the place into a bird park after the zoo stopped functioning so that large number of people visiting the park get to see birds in their natural environment.

INTERNATIONAL

• The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2017

• The 2017 Nobel Prize in chemistry has been awarded to three scientists for improving images made of biological molecules.

• Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson will share the nine million kronor (£831,000) prize.

• They developed a technique called cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), which simplifies the process for looking at the machinery of life.

• Prof Dubochet was born in Switzerland, Joachim Frank is German and Richard Henderson is from Edinburgh, UK.

^·         World Space Week is observed from October 4th to October 10^th

• The World Space Week is observed from 4th to 10th October.
• The theme of 2017 is ‘Exploring New Worlds In Space’.
• On October 4th1957 Sputnik 1 was launched.
• It was the first human-made, Earth-orbiting satellite. Second, the signing of The Outer Space Treaty on October 10th 1967.

NATIONAL 

·       India Renewable Energy to be double by 2022

• India’s renewable energy capacity will more than double by 2022 to overtake renewable expansion in the European Union for the first time, International Energy Agency (IEA).
• The country’s renewable energy installed capacity is 30 GWas per the recent government data.
• The government has a target of raising it to 175 GWby 2022 including 100 GW of solar and 60 GW of wind energy.
• Earlier this year, the solar and wind power tariffs dropped to an all-time low of Rs2.44 per unit and Rs3.46 per unit in a tariff-based competitive bidding conducted by Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI).

• From Oct 31, speed past toll booths, pay tax later

• The Union road transport and highways ministry’s much-hyped Electronic Toll Collection (ETC), which will allow commuters to travel seamlessly on highways without having to wait in long queues to pay a toll tax, will finally kick off in all the 370 toll plazas across the country by October 31 over five years after the system was announced.

• A vehicle installed with the RFID also called FastTags that can be recharged once the balance becomes zero, will be able to drive past a toll plaza without having to stop and pay the toll. The tag will have a unique code that will help identify the vehicles so when they will pass through a plaza, the system will read the code and automatically deduct the toll.

·       Union Government Names Rajnish Kumar as SBI’s Next Chairman

• The Union Government named Rajnish Kumaras the new chairman of State Bank of India for a three-year term.
• He succeeds Arundhati Bhattacharya.

• Country’s first ITI for dibyangans in Dibrugarh

• Foundation stone for the first ever Industrial Training Institute for the Dibyangans exclusively was laid at Dibrugarh ITI Complex at Borboruah, Dibrugarh by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal.

• This is a one of a kind institute in the country in order to set up a new pathway for empowerment of the differently abled youth of the state.

• RBI keeps repo rate, reverse repo rate unchanged

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has kept the repo rate and reverse repo rate unchanged at 6 percent and 5.75 percent respectively.

Repo Rate: Unchanged at 6%

Revrese Repo Rate: Unchanged at 5.75%

Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) Rate: Unchanged at 6.25%

Bank Rate: Unchanged at 6.25%

Cash Reserve Ratio: Unchanged at 4%

Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR): Changed by 50 basis points to 19.5%