1. Doordarshan emerges most watched Hindi channel
i. Public broadcaster Doordarshan today claimed that it has emerged as the most watched Hindi channel in terms of time spent per viewer ahead of top General Entertainment Channels.
ii. The "monumental development" comes in as Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) released the much awaited All India viewership data, which includes rural India, for the very first time, a statement released by Doordarshan said.
iii. This indicates that after tuning to the channel, viewers preferred to continuously watch it for a longer duration of time rather than frequently switching the channels, as compared to other GECs, it added.
iv. The channel also witnessed a significant rise in ratings and moved up to the 7th position in Hindi Speaking Markets in the week 41, according to the data, the statement said.
2. India's first double-decker Shatabdi train to run between Mumbai, Goa
i. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has announced that the Railways would soon start country's first-ever double decker Shatabdi Express that would ply between Mumbai and Goa.
ii. Residents of Goa seeking Rajdhani luxury train services have to rely on the Trivandrum Rajdhani which passes through Goa and makes a halt at Margao in South Goa.
iii. Responding to concerns to allow more tourists to make train journeys into Goa, Prabhu said the Railways can also start holiday train for tourists.
iv. The first double-decker air conditioned train between Howrah and Dhanbad was flagged off in October 2011, and since then the service is operational between many cities, including Ahmadabad-Mumbai, Chennai-Bangalore, Delhi-Jaipur and Delhi-Lucknow.
3. NDRF ties up with 30 PSUs to jointly tackle emergencies
i. National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has partnered with about 30 Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) to jointly tackle and mitigate man-made or natural disasters or emergencies.
ii. In this regard, a coordination meeting was held between NDRF and prominent PSUs like ONGC, Air India, GAIL and others involved in the mining and shipping and heavy industries sector.
iii. The maiden meeting was attended by over 40 senior officials from these PSUs for enhancing each other others capabilities for disasters or emergencies.
iv. The first of its kind initiative aimed to ensure efforts for building a good synergy between the government organisations. It will also ensure that two sides can act as one strong unit in case of any king emergency or disasters in case of small or mid-level exigencies.
4. Ministry of Railways flagged off Vigithon to fight against corruption
i. Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu on 25 October 2015 flagged off Vigithon marathon in Mumbai to sensitise people for a fight against corruption at the grass-root level. Vigithon was a run for corruption free India and was organised by public sector lender Union Bank of India.
ii. Several school children, common people, customers and employees of the bank participated in Vigithon. It brought in all the stakeholders together on a common platform to create sensitisation against corruption.
iii. Vigithon was aimed at educating the people about several instances of corruption and empowering them with the means to fight the problem. The run will be organised at other metro centres across the country as well.
iv. The run was organised as a precursor to the Vigilance Awareness Week which is going to be observed from 26 October 2015 till 31 October 2015. Vigilance awareness week is observed every year since 2000 as per the guidelines of the Central Vigilance Commission.
5. World Polio Day observed globally
i. World Polio Day was observed on 24 October 2015. The day was observed to create awareness about the hazards of the crippling disease. The Day was established by Rotary International over a decade ago to commemorate the birth of Jonas Salk, who led the first team to develop a vaccine against poliomyelitis.
ii. Use of this inactivated poliovirus vaccine and subsequent widespread use of the oral poliovirus, developed by Albert Sabin, led to the establishment of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) in 1988. Since then, GPEI has reduced polio worldwide by 99percent.
iii. A Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) aims to eradicate polio worldwide by 2018. GPEI is a public-private partnership led by national governments and spearheaded by the World Health Organization (WHO), Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and UNICEF.
iv. According to UNICEF data, polio does not exist in most of the world, as the cases are down by 99.9 percent worldwide. There have been 51 cases of wild polio virus globally since the beginning of 2015, compared with 242 wild polio cases for 2014.
v. Just two countries, Afghanistan and Pakistan, have reported cases of wild polio so far in 2015, while on 24 July 2015, Nigeria, Africa's last remaining polio-endemic country, recorded the first year in history without a single case.
6. Sin Tax to be imposed on alcohol, tobacco during GST regime
i. Sin Tax has been included under the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST) law that will be effective from 1 April 2016. GST is being seen as one of the biggest tax reforms in the country.
ii. Sin tax is an excise tax levied on products and services like alcohol, tobacco and gambling considered bad for health or society.
iii. These additional taxes are also seen as efforts to discourage people from use of such products or services.
iv. This kind of tax is often used by government to attract higher their tax revenues as people generally refrain from opposition to such levies as they are indirect in nature and affect only their end users.
7. Renowned Hollywood actress Maureen O’Hara passes away
i. Renowned Irish-American actress and singer Maureen O’Hara passed away in Boise, US. She was 95. She was one of the last living stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood of the 1940s and 1950s. She was known for playing fiercely passionate but sensible heroines roles.
ii. O’Hara was born in 1920 in Dublin in then United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (present Ireland). She started her career in 1939 after she was brought to Hollywood by legendary actor Charles Laughton.
iii. Her first film was The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939). Since then she had she had starred in more than 60 films.
iv. After retiring from acting career in 1970s, she successfully ran an airline business with her aviator husband Charles Blair. After her husband’s death she became first woman in US history to head a scheduled commercial airline.
v. Though she was never nominated for a competitive Academy Award, but in 2014 she was presented with an Honorary Academy (an honorary Oscar). She is only the second actress to receive an Academy Award for acting without having been nominated previously after Myrna Loy.
8. Bengali actor Pijush Ganguly passes away
i. Bengali film, television and stage actor Pijush Ganguly passed away in Kolkata, West Bengal. He was 50. Ganguly died because of multiple organ failure after he was critically injured in a road accident on 20 October 2015 at Santragachi in Howrah district.
ii. Ganguly was born on 2 January 1965 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He had started his career as an employee of NABARD and later shifted to acting career.
iii. His acting career began as a stage actor and later worked in television and films. He had started his television career with TV series Abar Jakher Dhan.
iv. He had acted in acclaimed films like Goynar Baksha, Byomkesh Phire Elo,Laptop, Iti Srikanta and Mahulbanir Sereng.
9. Abhishek Verma became first Indian to win Silver Medal in Archery World Cup Final
i. Indian archer Abhishek Verma 24 October 2015 created history by winning a silver medal in the Archery World Cup Final medal in the compound section held in Mexico City. With this, he became the first ever Indian to bag Archery World Cup Final medal.
ii. Verma went down 143-145 to Turkey's Demir Elmaagcli in the summit clash.
iii. In 2014, Verma bagged the gold medal in the men's compound archery team event along with Rajat Chauhan and Sandeep Kumar, and the silver medal in the men's individual compound event at the Asian Games held at Incheon, South Korea.
iv. He also won a gold medal in the compound men's individual section on 15 August 2015 in the third leg of Archery World Cup held in Wroclaw, Poland.
10. Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won 2015 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix title
i. Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton on 25 October 2015 won the 2015 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix title. It was the third title for Hamilton at the Circuit of the Americas in Elroy, Texas of the USA where championship is being held annually.
ii. In the final race, while his team-mate Nico Rosberg of Germany stood at the second position, Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel (Germany) was at the third.
iii. Also, driver of Force India Sergio Perez (Mexico) was the fifth person to complete the race. For Hamilton, it was the tenth title in the 2015 season having won the races in Australia, China, Bahrain, Canada, the UK, Belgium, Italy, Japan and Russia prior to the US championship.
iv. With this win, he also won the 2015 World Drivers’ Championship (WDC). It was the third title for Hamilton as he won the WDCs in 2008 and 2014 also.
v. So far, Hamilton won more races compared to any other British driver in the history of Formula One and is currently 3rd on the all-time list, with 43 wins.
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