The Daily Brief – 15th October, 2016

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• The BJP officially became part of the People’s Party of Arunachal (PPA) government. Arunachal Pradesh is the 14th State under a coalition government.

• Vice-President Hamid Ansari, in his four day visit to Hungary and Algiers is scheduled to have wide-ranging interaction sessions with government leaders and others in both Budapest and Algiers. This month marks the 60th anniversary of the Hungarian uprising against Soviet policies, and the visit is also timed for the occasion. In the case of Algeria, which has rich oil, gas and phosphatic resources, India sees this visit as an opportunity to kindle interest in cooperative ventures. Collaboration in the field of space missions is also on the horizon.
• The Army, after some initial reluctance, briefed members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence on the surgical strikes carried out on September 29 on terror launch pads along the LoC in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.
• The Centre has decided to utilise the vast network of post offices across the country to sell subsidised pulses to ensure that there is no shortage of the item during the ongoing festival season. An official statement of the Consumer Affairs Ministry said the committee also reviewed the availability and prices of essential commodities, especially pulses, and decided to release more chana (gram) from buffer stock to ensure its availability through retail distribution at reasonable prices during the season.
• Air India posted an operational profit of Rs.105 crore in 2015-16 compared with an operational loss of Rs.2,636 crore in 2014-15 due to an increase in traffic growth. This is the first time the national carrier has posted an operational profit since it was merged with erstwhile Indian Airlines in 2007.
• India and Russia have signed 16 agreements across diverse sectors including in defence, infrastructure, energy, space, ship building sectors etc. They were signed following delegation-level talks co-chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin during the 17th India-Russia Annual Bilateral Summit in Goa.
• The Union Government has launched a Mining Surveillance System (MSS), a pan-India surveillance network to check illegal mining using latest satellite technology.
• Brazil has won the inaugural BRICS U-17 Football Tournament 2016 held at Goa on the occasion of the 8th BRICS hosted in India.
• The researchers from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru have developed a cost-effective, high-performance, self-powered UV photodetector. The self-powered UV photodetector can use the harvested optical energy for direct self-charging of energy storage devices. It can also be used for operating electronic devices in the absence of an external power source.
• The Union Government has launched a National Seismic Programme (NSP) to trace hydrocarbon resources like oil and natural gas in the Mahanadi basin in Odisha.
• Senior IAS officer Ajay Kumar Bhalla has been appointed as new Director General of Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT).
• The International Day of Rural Women is observed annually across the world on 15 October to recognize the critical role and contribution of rural women.
• Bangladesh and China have agreed to elevate their bilateral relations to “strategic partnership”. It was announced during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Bangladesh.
• A Chicago disability rights group has sued Uber over wheelchair accessibility, arguing that the mobile ride-hailing company’s adherence to federal disability laws “ranges from token to non-existent” despite its expanding role in the American transportation system.

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