1. Egypt, Japan, Senegal, Ukraine and Uruguay to serve as non-permanent members on UNSC

(i) Recently, the UN General Assembly elected Egypt, Japan, Senegal, Ukraine and Uruguay to serve as non-permanent members on the Security Council for two-year terms i.e. from January 1, 2016 till December 31, 2017. 

(ii) The other non-permanent members, namely Angola, Malaysia, New Zealand, Spain and Venezuela, are expected to be in Council until the end of 2016.

2. Malaysia to invest $30 billion in urban development and housing projects in India

(i) The Construction Industry Development Board of Malaysia has come forward to invest $30 billion in urban development and housing projects in India. 

(ii) The 30-member strong business delegation from Malaysia met India’s Union Urban Development and Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation minister Venkaiah Naidu in New Delhi to discuss plans for two proposed projects-redevelopment of the area adjoining New Delhi railway station and a green city project at Garhmukhteshwar, Uttar Pradesh, comprising housing and Ganga cleaning activities.

3. US Congress releases International Religious Freedom 2014 

(i) The US Congress recently released a report on International Religious Freedom 2014, stating that India witnessed “religiously motivated killings, arrests, riots and coerced religious conversions”.

(ii) The US Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom David Saperstein said that the US will encourage the current government to turn the principles of “tolerance and civility” into reality across India. 

(iii) The Indian government, however, downplayed the report insisting that violations in India is handled through internal processes, which include the judiciary, an active press, the civil society, National Human Rights Commission, among others.

4.Myanmar signs ceasefire agreement with ethnic rebel groups

(i) After two years of negotiations, Myanmar recently signed a nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA) with eight ethnic rebel groups, thereby ending decades of conflict with them. 

(ii)President Thein Sein said the deal had opened up the “road to future peace” in Myanmar.

(iii) However, seven of the 15 rebel groups have refused to commit to the agreement. Karen National Union (KNU), Myanmar’s oldest armed group, was one of the groups that signed the NCA. 

(iv) The KNU fought one of the world’s longest-running conflicts with the Myanmar military spanning nearly 70 years. Ethnic minorities rebelled against the government due to increasing discrimination and sought greater autonomy since the nation’s independence from the British in 1948. 

5. European Union Summit – Turkey to get 3 billion euros as aid

(i) Recently, the European Union (EU) summit which ended in Brussels saw member nations agreeing on an ‘action plan’ with Turkey. 

(ii) The EU has offered to Turkey an aid of 3 billion euros ($3.4 billion), in addition to the likelihood of easier travel visas and “re-energised” talks on joining the bloc in lieu of Turkey’s help to contain the flow of migrants to Europe.

6. Supreme Court rejects NJAC amendments as unconstitutional and void

(i) The Supreme Court recently rejected the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act and the 99th Constitutional Amendment as “unconstitutional and void” because it sought to give politicians and the civil society a final say in the appointment of judges to the highest courts. 

(ii) Justice J.S. Khehar, the presiding judge on the five-judge Constitution Bench said, “In India, the organic development of civil society, has not as yet sufficiently evolved. 

(iii) The expectation from the judiciary, to safeguard the rights of the citizens of this country, can only be ensured, by keeping it absolutely insulated and independent, from the other organs of governance”.

7. RBI to create a single Financial Inclusion Fund 

(i) Recently, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced merger of two funds-the Financial Inclusion Fund and Financial Inclusion Technology Fund-to create a single Financial Inclusion Fund (FIF), which will have a corpus of Rs.2000 crore. 

(ii) The new FIF will be administered by the reconstituted Advisory Board constituted by the government and maintained by NABARD. 

(iii) It will support developmental and promotional activities to enhance financial inclusion.

8. International Day for the Eradication of Poverty observed on October 17

(i) October 17 is annually observed as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. 

(ii) The theme set by the UN for this year is-‘Building a sustainable future: Coming together to end poverty and discrimination’. 

(iii) Celebrating this day comes at a critical stage as the world is about to adopt the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, which comprises 17 new goals, one of them being “ending poverty in all its forms everywhere”. 

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