Daily Current Affairs : 08th October 2013

1. The Indian Air Force Day is celebrated on 8 October 2013. It is the 81st anniversary of the Indian Air Force. On this day, various celebrations are organised across the country along with parades at the airbases all over India. The Indian Air Force was officially established on 8 October 1932 as an auxiliary air force of the British Empire. Therefore, every year 8 October is celebrated as the Indian Air Force Day.

2.  Peter Higgs of Britain and Francois Englert of Belgium won the Nobel Physics Prize today for the discovery of the "God particle". The pair were honoured for "the theoretical discovery of a mechanism that contributes to our understanding of the origin of mass of subatomic particles. This was recently confirmed through the discovery of the predicted fundamental particle," the jury said.

3. Ethiopia's parliament elected Mulatu Teshome to be the country's new president on Monday, for a six-year term in a largely symbolic and ceremonial post.

4. The Union Cabinet today approved official amendments to the UIDAI Bill. This will give statutory status to UIDAI which is responsible for issuing the Aadhar number. Besides giving statutory status to the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the Bill seeks to provide legal backing to Aadhaar, which is used to disburse subsidies.

5. Turkey has assured India of backing its bid for full membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and would take up the issue with other members of the 47-nation grouping, President Pranab Mukherjee said on Tuesday. In the recent past, Turkey has made it clear that it does not object to India's quest for membership in the NSG but would like to see it joining the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), a prerequisite for being part of the NSG.

6. Supreme Court has directed Central and the state governments to provide 3 percent jobs to the disabled. In its landmark order the apex court has asked the centre and states to implement reservation for disabled within three months in all government departments, companies and institutions.

8. Industry lobby All-India Association of Industries, AIAI today entered into an agreement with the Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry to promote trade between the two countries. The memorandum of understanding signed in Mumbai today aims to enhance trade and investments between the two nations.

9. Finance Minister P Chidambaram will leave for the US on Tuesday to attend the annual meeting of the IMF and the World Bank. The world leaders will deliberate on prevailing uncertainty in global economy. Discussions will also focus on the much-awaited quota reforms that will benefit emerging economies including India. Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan and Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram, among others, will also be attending the annual meetings. The visit comes against the backdrop of external sector pressure with the country's foreign exchange reserves dipping by over 15 billion dollars since March 2013 to 276 billion dollars as on September 27.

10. Tata Power has inked a deal to acquire AES Saurashtra Windfarms, a subsidiary of US-based AES Corp, which owns a 39.2 MW wind energy farm in Gujarat. The purchase was made through the Tata Power subsidiary, Tata Power Renewable Energy, for an undisclosed amount. With this acquisition, Tata Power's total generation capacity now stands at 8,560 MW of which 437 MW capacity is from wind energy.

11. Canara Bank and Apollo Munich Health Insurance (AMHI) have entered into a bancassurance tie-up. This is the first such tie-up for the insurance company in its six years of existence. Bancassurance is distribution of insurance products through a bank’s network.

12. The National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), one of the largest banks in United Arab Emirates, has put in place an Indian IT solution that would enable real-time analysis and enrichment of revenue streams, its developer said Tuesday. The enterprise IT solution by Kerala capital headquartered SunTec, a leading provider of revenue management and business assurance solutions, is the first to be implemented in the Middle East market.

13. Tata Power has forayed into Myanmar and has begun feasibility studies to set up a coal-fired power station there. The project is expected to be commissioned in 2019-20. This would be the first project by the Tata Group Company in the South-East Asian nation. Tata Power has executed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Government of Myanmar for setting up an imported coal-based power plant. In Myanmar, the power plant is proposed to be located in Ngayok Kaung, Ayeyarwaddy region, and would have captive coal berthing arrangements.

14. Karan Thapar, television journalist chosen for the International Press Institute (IPI) – India award for excellence in journalism 2013 on 8 October 2013 for his interviews on the Devil's Advocate programme on CNN IBN. He was selected by a distinguished jury of editors and publishers headed by the former Chief Justice of India, A. S. Anand. The members of the jury included IPI-India Chairman and The Hindu Editor N Ravi, PTI Editor-in-Chief M K Razdan, Business Standard Chairman and Chief Editor T N Ninan and Malyala Manorama Senior Assistant Editor Riyad Mathew.

15. The International Cricket Council has announced that the final stages of the ICC World Twenty 20 Qualifier 2013 will be held at Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

16. Indian cyclist Deborah on 7 October 2013 won a gold medal in the women’s junior individual sprint at Asian Cycling Confederation (ACC) Track Asia Cup in Thailand. Teen cyclist Deborah from Andaman Nicobar Island had earlier grabbed gold in 500m Time Trial event.

17. Union HRD Minister M.M. Pallam Raju, who has tendered his resignation over the Telangana issue, on Tuesday skipped the Union Cabinet meeting.

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