PUNJAB
- Punjab hikes stamp duty rates
- Cash starved Punjab decided to mobilise additional resources for the state with the Cabinet approving an ordinance to enable increase in the stamp duty rates on property transactions.
- Stamp duty rates for 17 items stand to double following the amendment, which the Cabinet found to be essential to boost the revenue receipts of the state.
- Punjab currently raises Rs 50 crore from stamp duty, which would now go up by Rs 100-150 crore.
INTERNATIONAL
- World Food Day: 16 October
- World Food Day is a day of action dedicated to tackling global hunger.
- The theme of World Food Day 2018 is ‘Our actions are our future – A zero hunger world by 2030 is possible’.
- India is 58th most competitive economy in WEF index
- India has been ranked as the 58th most competitive economy on the World Economic Forum’s global competitiveness index for 2018, which was topped by the US.
- India’s rank rose by five places from 2017, the largest gain among G20 economies
- On the list of 140 economies, the US is followed by Singapore and Germany at the second and the third positions respectively.
- India was ranked 58th with a score of 62.0 in the latest Global Competitiveness Report.
NATIONAL
- Goa Maritime Symposium – 2018
- The Goa Maritime Symposium – 2018, the second edition of the Goa Maritime Symposium (GSM) – a forum towards fostering friendly relations with the maritime neighbours – was inaugurated by the Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Sunil Lanba PVSM, AVSM, ADC, at INS Mandovi at Goa on 16th October 2018.’
- The theme of the seminar, this year was “Building Stronger Maritime Partnerships in IOR”.
· Union Government Announces Rs 100 Crore Award For States Completing Household Electrification
- A part from employees would also collectively get 50 lakh rupees award for completing the task of electrifying households under the scheme which was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September 2017.
- The decision was taken at a review meeting of the scheme in New Delhi, chaired by Power Minister RK Singh and attended by state representatives.
- IITs dominate first-ever Indian university rankings
- The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) dominate the first-ever standalone ranking of India’s higher education institutions released by a UK-headquartered think tank.
- IIT Bombay tops the ‘QS India University Rankings’, with IITs Madras (3), Delhi (4), Kharagpur (5), Kanpur (6), Roorkee (9) and Guwahati (10) grabbing seven of the top 10 slots.
- Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore comes in at second, with University of Hyderabad and University of Delhi among the others making a top-10 mark at seventh and eighth respectively in the list released by QS Quacquarelli Symonds.
· IRCTC gets New AI-Based Assistant ‘Disha’ To Help Resolve Problems
- Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) launched a new AI-based assistant, ‘Ask Disha’ for its website.
- This new assistant will be prompt in answering generic queries about most frequently asked questions on the ticket booking platform.
- The chatbot ‘Disha’ is unable to answer more detailed or personal queries like details about trains between two particular stations or exact PNR status but it can direct the user to the page where the query can be resolved.
· Panwar won the silver medal at Youth Olympic Games
- Suraj Panwar Sorenwon the silver medal in the men’s 5000m race walk event at the Youth Olympic Games, Buenos Aires, Argentina. He opened India’s account in athletics in the third edition. The athletic events were held in two stages. Suraj finished the first stage in 20:23.30s, the second stage in 20:35.87 and won the silver. Ecuador’s Oscar Patin won the first stage in 20:13.69, won the gold after finishing second.
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