GK and Current Affairs Updates

Nick Kyrgios shelved the on-court histrionics and let his tennis do the talking to win an enthralling battle against rising Belgian David Goffin 4-6 6-3 7-5 and clinch the Japan Open on Sunday.
●    The Australian number one, long criticized for his temper tantrums, was a model of composure as he overhauled the world number 14 for the biggest title of his career and his third overall.
●    The world number 15 returned home to help Australia retain their place in the Davis Cup World Group with victory over Slovakia in their Sydney playoff and his triumph in Japan featured an impressive semi-final win over world number eight Gael Monfils.
●    Kyrgios picked up a $310,000 winners' cheque and a shot of confidence in time for this week's Shanghai Masters.
●    Nicholas Hilmy"Nick" Kyrgios(born 27 April 1995) is an Australian professional tennis player.

India, through its company Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), has performed exceedingly well in terms of vastly improving access to LED lighting while reducing their cost drastically.
●    The LED programme by EESL has been so successful that IEA is partnering with it to take the programme global. 
●    The price at which EESL has been purchasing LED lights to distribute under the government’s UJALA scheme has been consistently falling over the last couple of years. 
●    The company purchased LEDs at Rs.310 per piece in 2014, and the price fell to Rs.55 as of March 2016.
●    Along with this, production has also been ramped up to about four crore per month from the 10 lakh a month that were produced two years ago. 

The U.S. on 7 October 2016 lifted sanctions against Myanmar that have been in place for nearly two decades.
●    The move came after President Barack Obama’s announcement that the US was ready to lift sanctions on the Asian country during Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi’s visit to Washington in September 2016.
●    As a result of Obama’s announcement, the Treasury Department stated that the economic and financial sanctions administered by the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control were no longer in effect.
●    Lifting economic and financial sanctions will support trade and economic growth in Myanmar.
●    Treasury will continue to work with Burma to implement a robust anti-money laundering regime that will help to ensure the security of its financial system.
●    The Government of Myanmar was under economic sanctions by the US Treasury Department.

October 10th marks World Mental Health Day, created to raise awareness of mental health issues around the world. 
●    This year's theme is "psychological first aid," deemed equally important as physical first aid.
●    Key messages that will be conveyed during the day include the importance of providing a framework on how to provide psychological first aid and respond in a natural, supportive and practical manner.
●    Despite its name, psychological first aid covers both psychological and social support. 
●    Just like general health care never consists of physical first aid alone, similarly no mental health care system should consist of psychological first aid alone. 
●    The Day provides an opportunity for all stakeholders working on mental health issues to talk about their work, and what more needs to be done to make mental health care a reality for people worldwide

The Supreme Court has constituted a fresh bench of three judges to hear an age-old dispute related to the sharing of Cauvery water between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. 
●    The new bench would comprise justices Dipak Misra, Amitava Roy and AM Khanwilkar and will take up all the issues arising out of the Cauvery water dispute on October 18. 
●    Earlier, on October 4, a bench comprising justices Dipak Misra and UU Lalit had agreed to the counsels representing both the sides that the matter had to be heard by a three-judge bench. 
●    The bench was told during the last hearing that when the appeals were filed against the order of the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal, it was decided that the matter would be heard by a three-judge bench. 
●    The bench, in an interim order, had directed Karnataka to release 2,000 cusecs of Cauvery water per day to Tamil Nadu from October 7 to 18, while deferring its order asking the Centre to set up the Cauvery Water Management Board till it finally decided on appeals relating to the dispute. 

The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated the Berhampore Military Station on  October 8, 2016 at Berhampore, West Bengal. 
●    Speaking on the occasion the President said that Berhampore Military Station has great importance because it is the only such station between Siliguri and Kolkata which is very near to Bangladesh border. 
●    He appreciated the sacrifices of the soldiers on the occasion and said that our soldiers have shown exemplary courage in every battle field. 
●    He saluted the brave hearts whose sacrifices are unparalleled. 
●    The foundation stone of the Berhampore Military Station was laid by Shri Pranab Mukherjee two years back in February, 2014. 
●    Shri Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Shri Abhijit Mukherjee, Members of Parliament, Shri Zakir Hussain, Labour Minister, West Bengal, and Lt. Gen. Praveen Bakshi, GoC-in-C Eastern Command were also present on the occasion.

Scientists have succeeded in creating the world's smallest transistor, producing a switch with a working 1-nanometre gate. 
●    Unlike regular transistors, the researchers' new prototype isn't made out of silicon – and the smaller size means we can still improve performance in integrated circuits by populating them with greater amounts of incredibly small components.
●    And it could help us keep Moore's Law alive too.
●    Named after Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, Moore's Law predicts that the amount of transistors in an integrated circuit will double approximately every two years, enabling more complex and powerful computer processors.
●    ‘ Unfortunately, transistors have already gotten so small, we're running out of ways to make them smaller. But now, thanks to a team of researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, we've gotten past the 5-nanometre threshold that was previously considered to be the peak of transistor miniaturization.’
 

India’s foreign exchange reserves scaled a new high of USD 371.99 billion, up USD 1.223 billion for the week to September 30, as per the Reserve Bank data.
●    The central bank said the increase was primarily on account of a USD 1.468-billion surge in the foreign currency assets.
●    In the previous week, the reserves had risen by USD 1.166 billion to USD 370.766 billion. Previously, they had touched a high of USD 371.279 billion in the week to September 9.
●    After remaining steady for multiple weeks, gold reserves declined USD 236.4 million to USD 21.406 billion.
●    The reserves as on September 23 comprised of foreign currency assets at $345.24 billion, gold at $21.64 billion, special drawing rights at $1.49 billion and the reserve position in IMF at $2.39 billion.
 

The Territorial Army celebrated it’s 67th Raising Day on 09 October 2016. To mark the occasion, an impressive parade was held at the Army Parade Ground in New Delhi. In a befitting ceremony, General Dalbir Singh, the Chief of Army Staff reviewed the parade and complimented the Territorial Army fraternity for doing yeoman service to the nation. 
●    Territorial Army was exemplified by a spectacular display of their capabilities during the parade which was commanded by Col Krishnandu Barker and comprised of ten marching contingents, fifteen bands and three tableaus of Railway Engineers, Oil Sector & Ecological Territorial Army units. 
●    Territorial Army soldiers, resplendent in their regimental attires, marched with military precision to the martial tunes displaying their impeccable standards and enviable bearing with enthusiasm and zeal. Tableaus of Ecological Task Force, Railway Engineers and the Oil Sector units showcased the valuable contribution of the Departmental Territorial Army units to the nation in the fields of environment conservation and in maintenance of essential services like Railways and Oil production and supply. 
●    The parade was witnessed by other civil and military dignitaries, including military and defence-attaches from friendly foreign countries. Several prominent personalities have come forward to join the citizens’ Army and have not only enriched it organisationally but have contributed immensely in enhancing its image amongst the youth of the nation. Territorial Army has grown into a force with multi-dimensional capabilities. 
●    The Chief of Army Staff applauded the good work done by the Territorial Army personnel in various fields and wished all ranks and their families’ good luck for a glorious future.

Ms. Rita Teaotia, Commerce Secretary, launched a more informative, user-friendly, dedicated website for DGAD for disseminating information/activities being performed by DGAD. 
●    She also inaugurated the additional office space developed by NBCC to meet the requirements of increased work responsibilities and to ensure optimal functioning of the Directorate.
●    The Commerce Secretary appreciated the activities of a dedicated CVD Cell that was created in DGAD to defend the interests of Indian exporters against the anti-dumping/countervailing investigations initiated by foreign governments on Indian exports.
●    DGAD has continuously raised its working standards, which are reflected in the record number of 51 cases of findings issued by DGAD in 2015-16. 
●    In the current FY 2016-17, DGAD has already issued 18 cases of final findings and 3 cases of preliminary findings.
●    DGAD has also in collaboration with Centre for WTO Studies and WTO Secretariat organized a Regional Anti-Dumping Workshop in New Delhi, India during 3rd – 5th October, 2016 to exchange information and views on laws and regulations relating to trade remedy measures and to enhance cooperation in the area of trade remedies.