TIT
BITS:
1. In the first direct
conversation between Foreign Ministers of India and Pakistan since 2015,
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign
Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar spoke twice in less than 24 hours, and there were
indications that these talks explored the idea of resuming some form of
cricketing ties between the two countries.
2. A marginal increase in
exports, driven by textiles, engineering and electronic goods that compensated
for lower petroleum exports, alongside a sharp decline in gold imports, helped
India's goods trade deficit ease to a five-month low of $21 billion in September,
compared to a ten-month high of $30 billion in August, official data
released.
3. A Supreme Court bench led
by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud took up the issue of appointments of
temporary police chiefs, clubbing three petitions and issuing contempt notices
to eight states that will make their submissions before the court on October
21.
4. Europa Clipper, the
biggest interplanetary spacecraft that NASA has ever built, lifted off from the
Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday afternoon with a mission to tackle
one of biology's core questions: The spacecraft's destination is Europa, a moon
of Jupiter, where water sloshes beneath a shell of ice that could be more than
10 miles thick. Such ocean worlds are fairly common in the outer Solar System.
5.
INS Samarthak
INS Samarthak launched.
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India’s first-of-class Indigenous multi-purpose vessel
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Highly specialised, multi-role platform envisaged to be a trial
platform for the development of next generation weapons and sensors for the
Indian Navy.
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Can achieve a maximum speed of 15 knots.
·
Also useful in launch and recovery of surface and aerial
targets, maritime surveillance and patrolling, humanitarian assistance,
combating sea pollution, etc.
6.
Nanaji Deshmukh
Recently, the Prime Minister of India paid
tribute to Bharat Ratna Nanaji Deshmukh on his birth anniversary.
·
A social reformer and politician
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Established Chitrakoot Gramoday
Vishwavidyalaya, India’s 1st rural university,
and served as its Chancellor.
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He was instrumental in shaping the Janata Party.
·
Posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna in
2019.