Today’s top news: 13 October, 2020 (GPN):

NATIONAL NEWS:

1. Rashtriya Kamadhenu Aayog (RKA) began the nation wide campaign called “ Kamadhenu Deepawali Abhiyan”. The campaign aims to promote extensive use of cow dung during the Diwali season. The RKA will promote cow dung based Diyas, dhoop, Agarbatti, swastika, wall-pieces, idols of goddess Lakshmi and Lord Ganesha. It’s an Initiative by Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying
2. The aim of the campaign is to reach to 11 crore families and ignite 33 crore diyas made of cow dung. The use of cow dung to create innovative products will generate business opportunities to thousands of cow-based entrepreneurs and farmers. Also, the campaign will help in creating Gaushalas Atma Nirbhar. Also, these lamps will be the best alternatives to Chinese made Diyas.
3. More than fifty two thousand electors belonging to Senior Citizen (above 80 years of age) and PwD categories, have opted to exercise the facility to vote through postal ballots in the forthcoming phase 1 of General Election to the Legislative Assembly of Bihar 2020.
4. Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad’s elder son Tej Pratap Yadav has relinquished Mahua constituency in Vaishali district this time, and is set to file nomination from Hasanpur, while his brother Tejashwi is seeking re-election from Raghopur.
5. 7th Pay Commission: Government Employees Will Get Rs 10,000; The Central Government has decided to give Rs 10,000 as festival advance, giving a big gift of festive season to the employees. Central government employees have received this amount in advance, which they have to return. However, this amount will be completely interest free and employees will have to refund this amount in 10 installments of Rs 1,000. This amount of Rs 10,000 advance will be available as a prepaid RuPay card. This amount can be spent till 31 March 2021.
6. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman Announced the Special Festival Advance Scheme and LTC Cash Voucher Scheme. The schemes were launched to boost the demand in the country.
   In all, the GoI has allocated Rs 73,000 crores to simulate consumer spending in order to increase demand in the country.
7. Special Festival Advance Scheme Under the scheme, the central government employees will get pre-loaded Rupay cards. They can be withdrawn at ATMs. These advances shall be repaid by the employees in 10 instalments. The scheme is to provide one-time festive advance of Rs 10,000 to all the government employees. This will boost the consumer demand to Rs 8,000.
8. The Finance Minister also announced the following measures The states are to get 50-year interest free loans. The North-East States are to get loans of Rs 1,600 crores. The states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh will get Rs 900 crores of interest free loans. The other states will get interest free loans of Rs 7,500 crores.
9. Himachal Pradesh will start land-based fish farming using recirculation aquaculture systems (RAS) technology under the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) to raise different varieties of fish throughout the year. The state will set up 15 fish ponds in five years.
10. Heavy rains: in Hyderabad, Telangana : City Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar has asked all the SHOs/ACPs to be on alert in view of the heavy rains expected in the city in the next 72 hours. especially at lowlying areas along the Musi River, Tank Bund, Mir Alam and other areas where inundation issues are reported usually.
11. The Rajasthan government on Monday examined possible ways to negate the effects of the three recent central farm laws in the state. The government discussed ways to shield the state’s farmers from the effects of the central laws during a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot,
12. Hathras rape victim’s kin appear before HC; next hearing on November 2 : Family members of the Hathras woman who died after being allegedly gang-raped maintained before the Allahabad high court Monday that she was cremated in the middle of the night without their consent and their lawyer said they wanted the trial shifted out of the state.
13. The State of Kerala is the first state in the country to make public education completely digital. The state Government has achieved it at a cost of Rs 42.36 crores. Kerala has been achieving highest literacy rate in the country. The current literacy rate of Kerala is 93.91%.
14. Punjab govt issues guidelines for opening of schools, coaching institutions from Oct 15
15. Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ virtually inaugurated the ultramodern New University Campus & Newly Constructed Buildings of the Central University of Punjab, Bathinda (CUPB) situated at Village Ghudda, Dist.
16. Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput rally in London gets Rabya Khan’s support : Amid the movement for ‘justice’ for Sushant Singh Rajput, groups across various countries have been lending their support. Recently, one such rally was held in London, that sought answers and help of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A person who was a part of the movement was late actor Jiah Khan’s mother Rabya Khan.
17. Major Bollywood producers, including the three Khans, Karan Johar and Akshay Kumar, on Monday approached the Delhi high court against two TV channels and their editors for allegedly defaming the industry with terms such as ‘scum’ and ‘druggies’.
18. A top Pakistani Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist and his local accomplice were killed on Monday in a fierce gunbattle with security forces in Old Barzulla area of Srinagar
19. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated 44 bridges that were built by the Border Road Organization . The minister also laid a foundation stone of Nechiphu tunnel in Arunachal Pradesh.
20. Defence Research Development Organization test fired the Nirbhay Cruise Missile. The missile that had the capability to hit targets at 1000 metre distance failed due to technical snag. The missile developed engine problems within 8 minutes of its launch.
    Nirbhay was the tenth missile to be fired by India in the last 35 days.
21. The defence ministry has withdrawn a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the Rs 20,000 crore Landing Dock Platform project, which is being seen as a setback to private domestic shipyards that were interested in it. These Landing Dock Platforms (LPDs), also known as amphibious transport docks by some navies, are meant to weigh around 30,000 tonnes, and be able to carry an Army battalion, tanks and armoured carriers into a war zone, along with helicopters.
22. Himachal Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Monday tested positive for COVID-19.He had been in quarantine for the past one week Vice P resident of India Shri Venkaiah Naidu recovers,
23. Coronavirus Cases:
    7,172,460
    Deaths: 109,879
    Recovered: 6,223,231

✈INTERNATIONAL NEWS

1. Road Transport and Bridges Minister of Bangladesh Obaidul Quader has said that relations between Bangladesh and India have reached a new height due to the sincere efforts of the prime ministers of the two countries.
2. BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra on Monday lashed out at NC president Farooq Abdullah for seeking China’s help to restore Article 370 and 35A in Jammu and Kashmir. In a recent interview, Abdullah claimed that China had never accepted the nullification of Article 370. Lamenting that a former Chief Minister and sitting parliamentarian had made such a “seditious statement”
3. India and the United States have been “too cautious”, when it comes to China’s concerns about their strategic ties, said a senior U.S. official , U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun also said, who called China the “Elephant in the room” during bilateral talks.
4. Nagorno-Karabakh and India : Delhi has taken a principled position in the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan and supported moves for its peaceful resolution.
5. The three decades-old unresolved ethno territorial conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh flared up once again on September 27. The genesis of the conflict is in the flawed creation of an Armenian Christian majority autonomous region, Nagorno-Karabakh, on the territory of a Muslim majority Azerbaijan.
6. International Flights: Air India Announces Additional Flights to Canada From Oct 25 , Booking Begins |additional flights between India and Canada from October 25 to 27 March 2021.

🌎WORLD NEWS🌍

1. The Nobel Prize for Economics, 2020 was awarded to Paul R Milogrom and Robert B Wilson. They were awarded for improvements to Auction Theory and also for inventing new auction formats.
2. What is Auction Theory? It is an applied branch of economics that speaks of people action in auction markets. It deals with how people research the properties of auction markets. The theory is more suited for auctions for privatization of public-sector companies or sale of electromagnetic spectrum.
3. China postpones SCO trade expo, launches mass tests in Qingdao city amid new COVID-19 outbreak. East China’s Qingdao has reported twelve new COVID-19 cases including six asymptomatic cases after three fresh infections emerged in the city.
4. Bangladesh Cabinet on Monday approved a draft law to include death penalty as the highest punishment for rape. : The decision to amend the Prevention of Women & Children Repression Act- 2000 came after the weekly cabinet meeting Chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka.
5. The United Nations marks the International Day for Disaster Reduction on October 13. The day is celebrated to spread how people and communities all over the world are reducing their exposure to disasters.
6. Singapore Airlines’ A380 restaurant tickets sell out in 30 minutes: With flights largely grounded by the coronavirus pandemic, Singapore Airlines is trying novel ways to raise money, including using two A380 superjumbos parked at Changi Airport as temporary restaurants on Oct. 24 and 25.
7. Singapore Airlines(SIA) is opening one of its Airbus SE A380 superjumbos as a temporary restaurant in an attempt to raise cash while the coronavirus has put a brake on air travel. Diners can chose to get a dining experience inside the Airbus A380, the world’s largest passenger aircraft.
8. Coronavirus Cases:
   37,916,984
   Deaths: 1,083,657
   Recovered: 28,484,671
   ACTIVE CASES
   8,348,656

🚣🚴🏇🏁🏊Sports:

1. Indian Premier League 2020: 28th Match (N), Sharjah, Oct 12 2020,
   RCB 194/2
   KKR 112/9

RCB won by 82 runs

2. Tuesday, 13th October 2020
   SUNRISERS HYDERABAD
   CHENNAI SUPER KINGS

19:30 IST (14:00 GMT), 18:00 LOCAL
Match 29 Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai.

3. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana and Mithali Raj as captains of Supernovas, Trailblazers and Velocity respectively for the upcoming season of the Women’s T20 Challenge which will be played between November 4 and 9 in the UAE.
4. The best of Indian women’s cricket will combine with some of the leading stars from England, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies, Bangladesh and New Zealand in a four-match tournament.
5. A 16-year-old boy was nabbed on Sunday from Mundra in Gujarat for allegedly issuing threats against cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s minor daughter : The class 12 student from Namna Kapaya village was detained for questioning in connection with a disgusting threat message that was posted on the Instagram account of Dhoni’s wife Sakshi Dhoni a few days back. The teenager “confessed” to have posted the threatening message on the Instagram account after the IPL 2020 match between KKR and CSK cricket teams.

USD 73.49 💷GBP aa95.89
In Bhubaneshwar( Odisha)
🥇Gold ₹53,310@10 gm 24 (Krt)
🥈 Silver ₹63,810@ Kg
⛽ Petrol ₹ 81.56
⛽ Diesel ₹ 76.81

🇮🇳Facts about India🇮🇳

The name Konârka is derived from the Sanskrit word Kona (meaning angle) and word Arka (meaning sun) in reference to the temple which was dedicated to the Sun god Surya. A UNESCO World Heritage site, Konark Sun Temple is famous for its unique architecture. Its geometrical patterns and carved wheels used to serve as sun dials. Konark Sun Temple (Konark Surya Mandir) is a 13th-century CE Sun temple at Konark about 35 kilometres (22 mi) northeast from Puri on the coastline of Odisha, India. The temple is attributed to king Narasimhadeva I of the Eastern Ganga Dynasty about 1250 CE

😀Thought of the day

A truly blessed man is one whose children run into his arms when his hands are empty and his wife serves him when his pockets are empty.

Jokes of the day

1)यात्री ट्रेन से उतरा, उसने Pappu से पूछा:-
यह कौन-सा स्टेशन है ?
Pappu हंसा, और जोर से हंसा,
जोर-जोर से हंसा, हस्ते-हस्ते लोट पोट हो गया…
और बड़ी मुश्किल से अपने आपको संभालते हुए बोला:-
पगले, ये रेलवे स्टेशन है!

😳Tell Me Why❓❓❓

What is the reason for the red Colour of the red soil?

Red soil contains a high percentage of iron content, which is responsible for its color. This soil is deficient in nitrogen, humus, phosphoric acid, magnesium, and lime but fairly rich in potash, with its pH ranging from neutral to acidic.

LEARN Sanskrit🙏🏻

सुतं Sutam – पुत्रं Son

🤔 How it works ⁉

How long it takes to digest food

In general, food takes 24 to 72 hours to move through your digestive tract. The exact time depends on the amount and types of foods you’ve eaten.

Meat and fish can take as long as 2 days to fully digest. The proteins and fats they contain are complex molecules that take longer for your body to pull apart. By contrast, fruits and vegetables, which are high in fiber, can move through your system in less than a day. At first, food travels relatively quickly through your digestive system. Within 6 to 8 hours, the food has moved its way through your stomach, small intestine, and large intestine. As you chew, glands in your mouth release saliva. This digestive liquid contains enzymes that break down the starches in your food. The result is a mushy mass called a bolus that’s easier to swallow.

💁🏻‍♂️ GK TODAY

Gunpowder is the first explosive to have been developed. Popularly listed as one of the “Four Great Inventions” of China , it was discovered during the late Tang dynasty (9th century)

🛕 VEDIK GYAN

Trishul held by Lord Shiva, represents the 3 Gunas or “characteristics”, Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. Sattva represents stability, purity, Rajas represents change, dynamism while Tamas represents inertia, lethargy. The trishul is believed to symbolize Shiva being the master of the world, by his control of these 3 Gunas, maintaining a balance between them. It is also believed to symbolize the destruction of 3 worlds, the physical, the past world of forefathers and the mind, into a single plan of existence, which is bliss. The Damaru or the drum, is believed to generate spiritual energy,

🧬 HEALTH CARE: HOME REMEDIES🩺
( Note : These home tips followed in villages/ancient traditions, it is up to you to use it or not🙏🏻)

Kanji or rice water is rich in carbohydrates, and hence, an excellent source of energy. The body can easily derive energy by breaking down carbohydrates. Drink a glass of rice water in the morning before heading out and you will never feel dizzy or weak due to lack of energy.

Prevents dehydration : On a hot sunny day, rice water becomes your go-to-drink. In summer, the body tends to lose water and salts through sweat and, rice water helps replenish the lost nutrients and the water, reducing your chances of dehydration.

🙏PLZ FOLLOW GOVT. NORMS, MAINTAIN SOCIAL DISTANCE, KEEP YOURSELF & YOUR FAMILY SAFE🌼 ENDS