Kapil Kathpal

APIPL Partners NPCI to launch

EMIs on RuPay Credit Cards
• Amazon Pay India Private Limited (APIPL) in partnership with
National Payments Corporation of India has introduced the option
of Equated Monthly Instalment on RuPay credit cards in Amazon
Pay.

• The service will be available across eight prominent issuing banks.

Amazon Pay India Private Limited:

• Director – Vikas Bansal
• Headquarters – Bengaluru
 Kapil Kathpal
IRDAI Mandates Insurance Cover For
Employees In Employer’s Vehicle
• The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India
(IRDAI) has mandated all general insurers with motor insurance
business to provide an inbuilt feature in the Third Party policy (TP)
to cover to employees travelling in an employer’s vehicle
(including paid driver, if applicable) under IMT. 29 of the Indian
Motor Tariff 2002.

• The compulsory cover of IMT-29 should be provided as an in-built

coverage under the Compulsory Motor Third Party(TP) Liability
Section of Private Car Package/ Bundled Policies and under
standalone policies insuring Compulsory Motor Third Party
Liability.
 Kapil Kathpal

• The insurer will pay for any damages that the insured is legally liable for under the
Fatal Accidents Act, 1855, if an employee (other than a paid driver) is killed or
injured while using the insured vehicle (Upon payment of premium
Rs.25/employee).

• The compulsory cover of IMT-29 shall be provided as an inbuilt coverage under the
Compulsory Motor Third Party Liability Section of Private Car Package/ Bundled
Policies and under standalone policies insuring Compulsory Motor Third Party
Liability.

Clause 7 of Section 2 of IMT:

• The employees travelling in or driving the employer’s motor vehicle will be covered
under the insurance with the payment of premium of Rs.50/employee.

• The tenure of the premium is extended till 12 months on payment of additional

amount (Rs.50/employee).

• The maximum number of employees covered under the insurance equals the
maximum licensed seating capacity of the vehicle.
 Kapil Kathpal
Kasaragod Becomes 1st District in India to
Declare Official Tree, Flower, Bird, Species
• The Kasaragod district of Kerala became the first district in India to
officially designate its official tree, flower, bird and species

• The district’s official tree is ‘Kanjiram‘ (Strychnos nux-vomica Linn),

named after ‘kasara’, meaning wormwood, which is the origin of the
district’s name.” It is often referred to as poison nut tree, and is used for
medicinal purposes.

• The district’s flower, ‘Periya Polathali‘ (Malabar river lily), was declared as
its official flower. Discovered in 2012, these white and red flowers grow
near the red sand hills of Kasargod.

• ‘Vellavayaran Kadal Paranthu‘ (White-bellied sea eagle, Haliaeetus

leucogaster) is declared as the district’s bird. It is seen in a 150 kilometre
stretch from Mahe to Manjeshwar.

• “Palappoovan Aamma”, also known as Beeman Aamma (Cantor’s Giant

Softshell Turtle), was declared the district’s creature. Endangered species’
eggs were found in 2019. It has a soft shell, weighs up to 100 kilograms,
and rarely leaves the water.”
 Kapil Kathpal
MeitY Launches Indigenous Portable DC
Charger to Boost Electric Vehicle Adoption
• Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology launched the
indigenous (Made in India) technology of “2KW DC Portable
Charger” designed to meet the new safety standard IEC 60950-11.

• It envisages boosting electric vehicle (EV) adoption in India by

encouraging the development of indigenous technology.

• It was developed by the Centre of Excellence at Indian Institute Of

Technology (IIT) Madras Research Park in Chennai in
collaboration with Flowtrik Technologies.

• IEC 60950 is a safety standard for information technology

equipment (ITE) that is published by the International
Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).
 Kapil Kathpal
MeitY Inaugurated UP’s 1st RPA Lab under
FutureSkill PRIME Project in NIELIT Gorakhpur
• S Krishnan, Secretary of the Ministry of Electronics and
Information Technology (MeitY), inaugurated the Robotic Process
Automation (RPA) Lab in National Institute of Electronics and
Information Technology (NIELIT), Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh

• This is the First-of-its-kind lab in UP was built under the Future

Skill PRIME Project funded by MeitY to bridge the gap between
Industry and Academia.
 Kapil Kathpal
Uttarakhand launches Nandagaura
Yojana Portal for Girls
• Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Pushkar Singh Dhami, launched the
Nandagaura Yojana Portal, an online facility to be annually available to
about 50 thousand girls who are permanent residents of Uttarakhand.

• It allows girls in Uttarakhand to apply for financial assistance.

• It aims to improve the gender ratio and education of girls.

• Under this scheme, eligible parents will get Rs 11,000 at the time of birth
of the girl child and later the girl child will receive Rs 51,000 on clearing
class XII.

• The CM also inaugurated the online portals of Nanda Gaura Yojana

(NGY), a scheme to improve the gender ratio; and Mukhyamantri
Mahalakshmi Kit Yojana (MMKY) aimed at providing nutrition and extra
care to the mother and the girl child after delivery on the occasion.
 Kapil Kathpal
IBM & MeitY Signed 3 MoUs to Advance AI,
Semiconductor & Quantum Innovation
• IBM signed 3 Memorandam of Understanding with 3 entities under
the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to
advance and accelerate innovation in Artificial intelligence (AI),
Semiconductor, and quantum technology in India.

• The 3 MoUs were signed with IndiaAI – Digital India Corporation,

India Semiconductor Mission (ISM), and Centre for Development
of Advanced Computing (C-DAC).

• IBM and IndiaAI – Digital India Corporation collaborate to establish

a world-class national AI Innovation Platform (AIIP) for India.

IBM:
• Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) – Arvind Krishna
• Headquarters –New York, United States of America
 Kapil Kathpal
Nobel Laureate Narges Mohammadi Conferred with
Mother Teresa Memorial Award for Social Justice 2023
• Narges Mohammadi, Iranian women’s rights campaigner and the
2023 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, will be conferred with the
Harmony Foundation’s Mother Teresa Memorial Award for Social
Justice 2023.

• The 19th Mother Teresa Memorial Award for Social Justice Award
(2023) Ceremony is scheduled for November 26, 2023, in
Mumbai, Maharashtra.

• Narges Mohammadi is currently serving a 10-year, 9-month jail

sentence in Evin Prison in Tehran (Iran) on various charges,
including actions against national security and propaganda against
the state.

• She from Iran is a woman Human Rights Defender (HRD), and

Deputy Director and spokesperson of the Defenders of Human
Rights Centre (DHRC) in Iran.
 Kapil Kathpal

• She has fought against the oppression of women in Iran for 30 years and
opposes the death penalty in a country that reports most state executions.

• She has been imprisoned 13 times and convicted 5 times. In total, she
has been sentenced to 31 years in prison and 154 lashes by the Iranian
regime.

• She has also authored a book titled “White Torture: Interviews with Iranian
Women Prisoners” in 2022.

• In 2023, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, for her fight against the
oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and
freedom for all.

• She became the 19th woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize and the 2nd
Iranian woman after human rights activist Shirin Ebadi, who won in 2003.

• In 2023, she was also awarded the Olof Palme Prize, the PEN/Barbey
Freedom to Write Award, and the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press
Freedom Prize.
 Kapil Kathpal

Mother Teresa Memorial Awards for Social Justice:

• It was instituted in 2005 and is a platform to acknowledge and

recognize the extraordinary work of individuals or organizations
who aim to promote peace, harmony, and social justice.

• It is presented to celebrate and commemorate the memory and

legacy of Mother Teresa.

• This is the only award endorsed by Sister Mary Prema Pierick,

who served as the Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity
(MC), Kolkata (West Bengal) from 2009 to 2022. MC was was
started by Mother Teresa in 1950.
 Kapil Kathpal
Mahsa Amini & The Women of Iran Won the
2023 Sakharov Prize of European Parliament
• Roberta Metsola, President of European Parliament named Jina Mahsa
Amini and Iranian women protest movement as the winners of Sakharov
Prize for Freedom of Thought 2023 (Sakharov Prize), the European
Union’s (EU) top human rights prize.

• The prize will be given at a ceremony in European Parliament’s hemicycle

in Strasbourg, France on December 13, 2023.

• Jina Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman, was arrested
for allegedly violating Iran’s mandatory hijab (headscarf) law in September
2022. She died 3 days after arrest.

• Her death under suspicious circumstances led to the massive women led
protests in Iran.

• The women are protesting under the slogan ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ i.e.
Iranian Women Protest Movement against the hijab law and other
discriminatory laws.
 Kapil Kathpal

• The award is named after Soviet physicist and political dissident

and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov.

• The award carries a cash prize of 50,000 Euro.

• In 2022, it was presented to the People of Ukraine represented by

their President (Volodymyr Zelenskyy), elected leaders and civil
society.

• The first prize in 1988 was awarded jointly to South African Nelson
Mandela and Russian Anatoly Marchenko.
 Kapil Kathpal
Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri Launched
Ashok Tandon’s New Book “The Reverse Swing”
• Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Ministry of
Petroleum and Natural Gas(MoPNG) launched a book
titled “The Reverse Swing: Colonialism to Cooperation”
authored by Ashok Kumar Tandon, a veteran journalist
and political commentator.
 Kapil Kathpal
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen Wins
US Grand Prix 2023
• Max Verstappen, the Belgian-Dutch driver of Red Bull won the
Formula 1 (F1) United States Grand Prix 2023 held at the Circuit
of The Americas in Austin, Texas, The United States of
America(USA)

• This marks Max Verstappen’s 50th career win in the F1 and he

joins Lewis Hamilton(103), Michael Schumacher(91)(Germany),
Sebastian Vettel(53) )(Germany) and Alain Prost (51)(France) in
the 50-win club.

• This also marks Verstappen’s 15th win out of 17 races of the 2023
season, in this 15 he won 11 races in a row.

• McLaren Driver Lando Norris of the United Kingdom(UK) finished

second place while Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz(Spain) finished
third place in the podium.
 Kapil Kathpal
International Lead Poisoning Prevention
Week 2023- October 22 to 28
• International Lead Poisoning Prevention Week (ILPPW) is annually
observed across the globe on the last full week of October to raise
awareness about the harmful effects of lead poisoning(lead exposure).

• The day also aims to promote the action to eliminate the use of lead in
paint.

• This is an initiative of the Global Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint (Lead

Paint Alliance), jointly led by the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

• The 2023 campaign of ILPPW focuses on “End Childhood Lead

Poisoning”.
 Kapil Kathpal
World Snow Leopard Day 2023- October 23
• World Snow Leopard Day, also known as International Snow
Leopard Day, is annually observed across the globe on 23
October to raise awareness about the conservation and protection
of Snow Leopard

• The Day commemorates the adoption of the ‘Bishkek Declaration,’

as well as the Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection
(GSLEP) Program, by all snow leopard range countries on 23
October 2013, in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.