TODAY’S TOP NEWS:18 OCTOBER, 2020 (GPN):

NATIONAL NEWS

1. A large number of devotees thronged temples of Goddess Durga across the country on Saturday, the first day of the Navratri festival, amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
2. Bihar assembly election 2020: Shahnawaz Hussain, Rajiv Pratap Rudy’s name included in BJP’s fresh list of star campaigners
3. Scrutiny of nomination to be held for the second phase of the Bihar Assembly election . PM to address 12 rallies starting with Sasaram on October 23. Mahagathbandhan has already released their manifesto Saturday morning.
4. NIA special court sentences fifteen accused convicted in ISIS Conspiracy Delhi Case : During investigation, searches were conducted in various cities across the country and 19 accused were arrested. It was revealed that the accused persons had formed an organization by name Junood-ul-Khilafa-Fil-Hind (a group seeking to establish Caliphate in India and pledging allegiance to ISIS/ISIL) to recruit Muslim youth to work for ISIS and commit acts of terrorism in India at the behest of one Yusuf-Al-Hindi @ Shafi Armar @ Anjan Bhai, who was based in Syria and was purportedly the media chief of ISIS.
5. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday stepped up his attack on the central government over the recently enacted farm laws, and said these are a blatant attack on the soul of every farmer and that such legislations ‘weaken’ the country’s foundation
6. At least seven people were killed and more than 30 were injured after a bus coming from Lucknow collided with another vehicle in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday morning in Puranpur area of Pilibhit district.
7. The family of the Hathras victim, who died after allegedly being gangraped, wants to shift to Delhi from their village and fight their case there for security reasons. The case was The woman died at a Delhi hospital a fortnight after she was allegedly raped by four upper-caste men at her village in UP’s Hathras district on September 14.
8. The rotor blade of Union Minister and senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad’s chopper on Saturday (October 17, 2020) got damaged at the airport hangar, he is safe.
9. Maharashtra government on Saturday (October 17, 2020) announced to reopen gyms and fitness centres across the state from Dussehra, which will be celebrated on October 25.
10. Sabarimala in Kerala likely to ban entry of senior citizens, kids this year due to COVID-19 Pandemic.
11. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday filed a charge sheet in a Delhi court against former Aam Aadmi Party councillor Tahir Hussain in a money laundering case related to the communal violence in northeast Delhi in February
12. The Ministry of Finance has said that the State Bank of India (SBI), in the 14th Phase of sale, has been authorised to issue and encash Electoral Bonds through its 29 Authorized Branches with effect from 19th October to 28th of October this year. Electoral Bonds will be valid for fifteen calendar days from the date of issue and no payment will be made to any payee Political Party if the Electoral Bond is deposited after expiry of the validity period.
13. The Hindustan Zinc Limited is to invest Rs 10,000 crores to set up the biggest zinc smelter in the world . The smelter is to be set up in the industrial region of South Gujarat. The smelter is capable of producing 300 kilo tonnes per annum. The State Government of Gujarat has signed Memorandum of Understanding with the Vedanta group to set up the smelter.
14. Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday launched ‘Mission Shakti’ campaign focusing on ensuring the safety and dignity of women and girls , with a stern warning that perpetrators of crimes against females will be dealt with an iron hand.
15. Government has lifted all restrictions on export of alcohol-based hand sanitizers. Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) in a notification said, the export of alcohol-based hand sanitizers in container with dispenser pumps is free for export making export of alcohol-based hand sanitizers in any form or packaging freely exportable.
16. Hyderabad limps back to normalcy after heavy rains : After being battered by torrential rains that triggered one of the worst floods in recent times and claimed 50 lives, the city and other parts of Telangana were returning to normalcy with relief measures being stepped up by the government.
17. Hyderabad Osmania University announced that the BA and B.Sc (CBCS) 6th Semester Main Examinations scheduled for October 14 will now be held on October 18 (Sunday).
18. A court in Mumbai has asked the police to investigate the complaint lodged against Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut and her sister Rangoli Chandel for allegedly trying to create communal tension through their tweets.
19. The Central Reserve Police Force signed a Memorandum of Understanding with IIT Delhi and Defence Research and Development Organization to find technological solutions to the operational challenges faced by the organization. There are 500 officers associated with CRPF. The MoU will enable these officers to undertake short-term courses in DRDO and IIT Delhi and also pursue research work. These trained officers are to act as tech advisors to the CRPF.
20. This will be a big boost to the force as they are designated as the lead internal security force in the country. Also, they are deployed in anti-Naxal operations in Left-Wing Extremism states. They are also deployed in the Kashmir valley to counter terrorism.
21. A large number of people turned up on Saturday at the cremation of Shaurya Chakra awardee Balwinder Singh Sandhu, who was shot dead by two unknown assailants in Punjab’s Tarn Taran district. The 62-year-old Sandhu, who fought terrorism in Punjab, was shot dead in the district on Friday, months after the government withdrew his security cover.
22. The Indian Army is always prepared for any eventuality and India will never cede ‘even an inch’ of territory to China, Home Minister Amit Shah told Network18 Editor-in-Chief Rahul Joshi in an exclusive interview.
23. India-China border situation at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) remains tense, the Bharat Broadband Nigam (BBNL) and Telecommunications Consultants India (TCIL) have prepared a blueprint to rollout high-speed satellite Internet connectivity in strategically important border terrains. As per the high-speed internet rollout plan, about 5,000 remote gram panchayats in over 15 states and union territories have been identified.
24. All government-run madrassas and Sanskrit schools will be closed down by the Assam government and convert them to high schools, the notification to this effect will be issued in November , state’s Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Saturday.
25. Coronavirus Cases:
    7,478,924
    Deaths: 113,613
    Recovered: 6,577,729

✈INTERNATIONAL NEWS

1. The flights between Bangladesh and India will resume from October 28 under the ‘air-bubble’ arrangement between the two countries. the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh said that three Bangladeshi airlines- Biman Bangladesh, US-Bangla Airlines and Novo Air will initially operate 28 flights a week to India. The flights between two countries will resume after nearly eight months.The travel between India and Bangladesh was disrupted due to the outbreak of Corona pandemic.
2. Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman participated in the 102nd meeting of World Bank Development Committee Plenary through video conferencing on Friday.
3. The Finance Minister shared that the Government has announced the first stimulus of 23 billion dollars to provide direct cash transfers and food security measures to the poor. This was followed by a special economic package of 271 Billion Dollars which is equivalent to 10% of India’s GDP based on a clarion call by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for AatmaNirbhar Bharat.
4. Another India-China meeting on the face-off at the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the 8th round, is expected next week. This time, the Indian contingent will comprise Lieutenant General PGK Menon, who has just taken over 14 corps in Leh and Naveen Srivastava, joint secretary, East Asia, of the Ministry of External Affairs. On the Chinese side, there will be major general Lin Liu.
5. The Army destroyed five unexploded 120-mm mortar shells fired by Pakistan during ceasefire violations in different villages along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday.
6. The Indian Air Force will get the second batch of three to four Rafale fighter jets in the first week of November, boosting its firepower amidst the ongoing tensions with China. These fighters will arrive at the Ambala airbase in Haryana by the first week of November from France.

🌎WORLD NEWS🌍

1. French President Emmanuel Macron on ordered a nightly curfew in Paris and eight other big cities where the coronavirus is rampant.
2. Every year, the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is marked on October 17 by the United Nations.
3. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardren secured a landslide victory in New Zealand’s general election to serve a second term after her success at tackling the coronavirus situation in the country.
4. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris on Saturday extended greetings to Hindu community in the US on Navratri and wished for victory of good over evil once again.
5. Coronavirus Cases:
   39,787,590
   Deaths: 1,111,931
   Recovered: 29,776,340
   ACTIVE CASES 8,899,319

🚣🚴🏇🏁🏊Sports:

IPL 2020 : Saturday, 17th October 2020

DELHI CAPITALS 185/5

CHENNAI SUPER KINGS 179/4 .

DC Won by 5 wkts

2. RAJASTHAN ROYALS 177/6
   ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE 179/3 Royal Challengers Bangalore won by 7 wickets
3. Sunday, 18th October 2020
   SUNRISERS HYDERABAD

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS

15:30 IST (10:00 GMT), 14:00 LOCAL
Match 35 Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi

3. MUMBAI INDIANS

KINGS XI PUNJAB

19:30 IST (14:00 GMT), 18:00 LOCAL
Match 36 Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai

4. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga vowed on Friday to do “whatever it takes” to organise the Tokyo Olympics 2021 next year by working closely with the International Olympics Committee and its Japan chapter.

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🇮🇳Facts about India🇮🇳

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar ( 28 May 1883 – 26 February 1966)politician, lawyer, writer and the formulator of the Hindutva philosophy.

Savarkar began his revolutionary activities as a high school student and continued to do so at Fergusson College in Pune. He and his brother founded a secret society called Abhinav Bharat Society. When he went to the United Kingdom for his law studies, he involved himself with radical organizations such India House and the Free India Society. He also published books advocating complete Indian independence by revolutionary means. One of the books he published called The Indian War of Independence about the Indian rebellion of 1857 was banned by the British authorities.

Savarkar was arrested and ordered to be extradited to India for his connections with the revolutionary group. Savarkar was sentenced to two life terms of imprisonment totalling fifty years and was moved to the Cellular Jail in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Savarkar served ten years of his prison sentence before being released in 1921. While in prison, Savarkar wrote the work describing Hindutva, Savarkar endorsed the idea of India as a Hindu Rashtra (Hindu Nation) and opposed to the Quit India struggle in 1942. In 1948 Savarkar was charged as a co-conspirator in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, however he was acquitted by the court for lack of evidence.

Airport at Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar’s capital was renamed Veer Savarkar International Airport in 2002.

😀Thought of the day

“Conquer the angry one by not getting angry; conquer the wicked by goodness; conquer the stingy by generosity, and the liar by speaking the truth.”– Gautama Buddha

JOKES OF THE DAY English and Hindi jokes presented separately

ENGLISH JOKES:

1)In Film Parlance HUSBAND and WIFE are like 2 tyres of a vehicle

If 1 punctures, the vehicle can’t move further….😟🤔🙄

Moral: Always Keep a SPARE TYRE….and some filmstars take it seriously.😜

2) The Indian Medical Association has weighed the demonetization high value notes and this is what they have to say:

The Allergists voted to scratch it, but the Dermatologists advised not to make any rash moves.

The Gastroenterology had a sort of a gut feeling about it, but the neurologists thought the Government had a lot of nerve.

The Obstetricians felt they were all labouring under a misconception.

Ophthalmologists considered the idea short-sighted.

Pathologists yelled, “Over my dead body!” while the Pediatricians said, “Oh, Grow up!”

The Psychiatrists thought the whole idea was madness, while the Radiologists could see right through it.

The Surgeons were fed up with the cuts and decided to wash their hands of the whole thing.

The ENT specialists didn’t swallow it, and just wouldn’t hear of it.

The Pharmacologists thought it was a bitter pill to swallow, and the Plastic Surgeons said, “This puts a whole new face on the matter….”

The Anaesthetists thought the whole idea was a gas, but the Cardiologists didn’t have the heart to say no.

The Pediatricians thought it was a step forward, but the Urologists were pissed off at the whole idea.

In the end, the Proctologists won, leaving the entire decision up to the a***holes in Government.

3)There was an old Priest who got sick of all the people in his Parish who kept confessing to adultery.

One Sunday, in the pulpit, he said, “If I hear one more person confess to adultery, I’ll quit !”

Well, everyone liked him, so they came up with a code word. Someone who had committed adultery would say they had “fallen”.

This seemed to satisfy the old Priest and things went well, until the Priest died at a ripe old age.

About a week after the new Priest arrived. He visited the Mayor of the town and seemed very concerned.

The Priest said, “You have to do something about the sidewalks in town. When people come into the confessional, they keep talking about having fallen.”

The mayor started to laugh, realizing that no one had told the new Priest about the code word.

Before the Mayor could explain, the Priest shook an accusing finger at the Mayor and said, “I don’t know what you’re laughing about, your wife fell three times last week and your children six times!”

4)Happy Children’s Day –

Yesterday morning, a woman said to her husband, “I’ll bet you don’t know what day this is.”

“Of course I do,” he answered as if he was offended, and left for the office.

At 10:00 AM, the doorbell rang and when the woman opened the door, she was handed a box of a dozen long stemmed red roses.

At 1:00 PM, a foil-wrapped, two-pound box of her favorite chocolates was delivered. Later, a boutique delivered a designer dress.

The woman couldn’t wait for her husband to come home.

“First the flowers, then the chocolates and then the dress!” she exclaimed. “I’ve never had a more wonderful Children’s Day in my life!”

5)How do you respond to your BOSS who calls you when you are at the washroom urinal and asks, “How are you doing?”

This is how the subordinate responded…

I was under a lot of pressure, but things seem to be flowing well now. I’ve got a firm grip on the situation and am seeing some good volumes & output. It may take a while before I achieve completion, but it’s important to take one’s time in order to stay focused on objectives.
I expect to wash my hands off the whole thing soon !

HINDI JOKES:

1. समाचार पत्र में विज्ञापन आया, हमारे पास एक ऐसा उत्पाद हैं, जिसको पहनकर आप पूरी दुनिया को देख सकते हैं, मगर आपको कोई नही देख सकता।पहले इस्तेमाल करें फिर विश्वास करे!

दस हज़ार में यह सुविधा आपके घर तक फ्री में पहुंचाई जायेगी।

एक लड़की ने विज्ञापन पढ़ते ही 10,000 रुपये भेज दिए।

कुछ दिनों बाद एक पैकेट लेकर आया, लड़की ने उसे जल्दी से खोला तो अन्दर से एक ‘बुर्क़ा’ निकला वो भी टोपी वाला।

2)अमेरिकी अंतरिक्ष एजेंसी नासा ने घोषणा की कि उन्होंने मंगल ग्रह पर पानी खोज निकाला है। अब इस घटना पर हमारे देश की राजनीति में कैसी प्रतिक्रियाएं हुई, जरा देखिये:

नरेन्द्र मोदी:
मितरों… 75 साल हो गए देश आज़ाद हुए, आज तक पानी मिला क्या?

जनता: नहीं मिला

तो अब मंगल ग्रह पर पानी मिलने के बाद मैं आप सबसे पूछना चाहता हूँ कि…

आपको बुध पर पानी चाहिए कि नही चाहिए?

जनता: चाहिए

आपको शुक्र पर पानी चाहिए कि नहीं चाहिए?

जनता: चाहिए

आपको शनि पर पानी चाहिए कि नहीं चाहिए?

जनता: चाहिए

तो आपसे मेरी हाथ जोड़कर प्रार्थना है कि इस बिहार चुनाव में मुझे अपना आशीर्वाद दीजिये और भाजपा की सरकार बनवाइए।

राहुल गांधी:
पानी – पानी क्या होता है? आज मैं आपको बताता हूँ कि पानी क्या होता है? पानी, दरअसल पानी होता है। ये जो मंगल ग्रह का पानी है, वो किसानों और मजदूरों का पानी है, गरीबों का पानी है, और ये सूटबूट की सरकार – ये मोदी सरकार उस पानी को उद्योगपतियों को देना चाहती है लेकिन मैं आपको ये बताने आया हूँ कि हम ऐसा होने नहीं देंगे।

अरविन्द केजरीवाल:
मंगल पर पानी ढूँढने के लिए मैं वैज्ञानिकों को बधाई देता हूँ लेकिन ये केंद्र की सरकार पानी का कंट्रोल अपने हाथों में रखना चाहती है, दिल्ली की चुनी हुई सरकार को पानी से दूर रखना चाहती है।

ओवैसी:
कोई ये न समझे कि मंगल के पानी पर सिर्फ किसी एक कौम का हक है। ध्यान रहे कि उस पानी पर मुसलमानों का भी बराबर का हक है।

लालू यादव:
ई मंगल पे पानी, मंगल पे पानी, मंगल पे पानी का करता है रे? धुत! अरे ऊ तो बिहार का पानी है जो हमरे गया से जाता है। गया में जा के पुरखों को पानी देते हो कि नहीं? बोलिए? उहै पानी पहुँचता है मंगल पे बुडबक!

जी न्यूज़:
यहाँ आपके लिए ये जानना बेहद जरूरी है कि मोदी जी इस देश के ऐसे पहले प्रधानमन्त्री बन गए हैं जिनके कार्यकाल में मंगल पर पानी मिला है।

दीपक चौरसिया:
इस वक़्त मैं मंगल पर हूँ और जैसा कि यहाँ मैं देख पा रहा हूँ ये दरअसल एक स्विमिंग पूल है, जो ललित मोदी का है, जो अपनी पत्नी के इलाज के लिए पेरिस हिल्टन के साथ यहाँ आये हुए हैं।

मोदी भक्त:
देख लो, इसे कहते हैं अच्छे दिन। तुम लोग साले दाल की मंहगाई का रोना ही रोते रहना, बस।

3)पत्नी: खाने में क्या बनाऊं?

पति: कुछ भी बना लो, क्या बनाओगी?

पत्नी: जो आप कहो?

पति: दाल चावल बना लो।

पत्नी: सुबह ही तो खाये थे।

पति: तो रोटी सब्जी बना लो।

पत्नी: बच्चे नहीं खायेंगे।

पति: तो छोले पूरी बना लो।

पत्नी: मुझे तली हुई चीज़ें भारी लगती हैं।

पति: अंडे की भुर्जी बना लो।

पत्नी: आज वीरवार है।

पति: परांठे?

पत्नी: रात को परांठे नहीं खाने चाहिए।

पति: होटल से मंगवा लेते हैं।

पत्नी: रोज-रोज बाहर का नहीं खाना चाहिए।

पति: कढ़ी चावल?

पत्नी: दही नहीं है।

पति: इडली सांभर?

पत्नी: समय लगेगा, पहले बोलना था।

पति: एक काम करो मैग्गी बना लो।

पत्नी: पेट नहीं भरता मैग्गी से।

पति: तो फिर क्या बनाओगी?

पत्नी: जो आप बोलो।

4)एक औरत अपने पति को रसोईघर से बर्तन धोने में मदद के लिए पुकार रही थी, पर उसे कोई जवाब नहीं मिला।

जब वह अपने पति को देखने बेड रूम में गयी तो पति थक कर अपने ऑफिस के फाइलों के ऊपर सोया हुआ था।

वो उसके पास गयी और पति के निर्दोष चेहर को प्यार से सहलाया और ‘चट…ट…टा…क…’ करके एक थप्पड़ मारा

पति हड़बड़ाकर उठा और पूछा क्या हुआ?

फिर पत्नी ने उसे उसका फोन दिखाया जिसमें लिखा था,

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