TELANGANA

There is a marginal decrease in road fatalities in the last year, according to the annual report released by the Union ministry of road transport and highways.

The report said the number of road accidents had declined by 3.3 per cent to 4,64,910 in 2017, from 4,80,652 a year ago. This was reflected in the number of casualties that came down from 1,50,785 in 2016 to 1,47,913 in 2017.

The number of road crash deaths has increased by 23.4 per cent from 2008 to 2017.

Among the states, Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest road fatalities at 20,124, followed by Tamil Nadu (16,157), Maharashtra (12,264) and Karnataka (10,609). Telangana state stood at the ninth position with 6,529 fatalities from 22,484 road accidents. Andhra Pradesh was at the seventh position with 25,727 crashes and 8,060 deaths.

INTERNATIONAL

The United Nations’ (UN) International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is observed on October 17 each year since 1993.

It promotes people’s awareness of the need to eradicate poverty and destitution worldwide, particularly in developing countries.

· Canada Becomes the Second Country to Legalise Cannabis

Canada is just the second country in the world to legalize recreational marijuana nationwide. The first was Uruguay in 2013. Nine states in the United States have legalized recreational marijuana and medical use is legal in 30 states.

NATIONAL

NITI Aayog launched the Guidelines and Model Concessionaire Agreement, MCA for Public Private Partnership, PPP for Non Communicable Diseases.

The documents have been designed to supplement efforts for provision of prevention and treatment services of non-communicable diseases related to Cardiac Sciences, Oncology, and Pulmonary Sciences at the district hospitals especially in tier 2 & 3 cities.

On the occasion of Ayurveda Day celebrations, Ministry of AYUSH is organising First National Summit on Invest in AYUSH at Ambedkar International Centre, New Delhi on 4th November, 2018.

The summit is to encourage public sector undertakings (PSUs) under different Ministries/Departments of the Government and private companies to invest in AYUSH.

NITI Aayog and Department of Industrial and Policy and Promotion are the partner organisations of this first National summit in AYUSH.

Milkman” by writer Anna Burns scooped the 2018 Man Booker Prize, with the Northern Irish writer winning the literary award for her third full-length novel.

Established in 1969, the annual literary prize recognises the judges choice of “the best original novel written in English and published in the UK”.

Stephen Hawking’s final work, which tackles issues from the existence of God to the potential for time travel, was launched by his children, who helped complete the book after the British astrophysics giant’s death.

Hawking was forever being asked the same things and started work on “Brief Answers to the Big Questions” last year.

· Reserve bank of India norms to facilitate payments between mobile wallets using UPI

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)on released guidelines to facilitate payments among different mobile wallets, a move aimed at promoting digital transactions.
The interoperability would be achieved in a phased manner such as interoperability of PPIs issued in the form of wallets through UPI, between wallets and bank accounts through UPI, and interoperability for PPIs issued in the form of cards through card networks.
UPI is a payments system launched by the National Payments Corporation of India in August 2016. It facilitates instant fund transfer between two bank accounts on the mobile platform, without having to provide any detail of the beneficiary’s bank account.