In this article, we have shared all the important current affairs for the month of October 2019. This is highly helpful for students preparing for West Bengal Civil Services (WBCS) examination. At the end of this post, we have shared a link to download the current affairs in PDF format.
Awards
- The Uighur economist, in prison in China who has been chosen for the 2019 Sakharov Prize by the European Parliament – Ilham Tohti
- The former Attorney General of India who has been awarded the Most Eminent Senior Citizen award by Age Care India – Shri K Parasaran
- The noted film director and producer who has been chosen for the Kishore Kumar Samman by the Madhya Pradesh government – Priyadarshan
- The pioneer of Chipko movement who has been chosen for the 31st Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration for the years 2017-18 – Chandi Prasad Bhatt
- The Indian Forest Services officer who has been chosen for the Asia Environmental Enforcement Award by the United Nations Environment Programme – Ramesh Pandey
- The UN Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous People from Philippines who has been awarded the 2018 Peace Award by the UK based Gandhi Foundation – Ms Victoria Tauli Corpuz
- The sportsperson who has been presented the most effective Swachchta Ambassador award on the occasion of 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi at the India Today Safaigiri Summit – Shri Sachin Tendulkar
Defence
- The joint exercise by the armies of India and France to be held at Mahajan Field Firing Ranges in Rajasthan – Exercise Shakti 2019
- The joint military exercise by the air forces of India and Oman being held at Air Force base Masirah in Oman is named – Exercise Eastern Bridge V
- The venue of Joint Military Exercise DHARMA GUARDIAN-219 between India and Japan to be conducted from 19 Oct 2019 to 02 Nov 2019 – Vairengte, Mizoram
- The rank of India in the 2019 Military Strength Ranking released by Global Firepower (the list topped by USA, Russia and China) – Fourth
- The venue of the 4th edition of annual military exercise KAZIND 2019 between India and Kazakhstan army being conducted from 02 Oct to 15 Oct 2019 – Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand
- The venue of the 14th edition of Indo–Mongolian joint military training Exercise Nomadic Elephant-XIV, to be conducted from 05 Oct 19 to 18 Oct 19 – Bakloh, Himachal Pradesh
- The venue of the tenth Joint Military Exercise Ekuverin between the Indian Army and the Maldives National Defence Force to be organised from 07 to 20 October 2019 – Aundh Military Station in Pune
Persons
- The world’s oldest yoga teacher who passed away at the age of 99 years on 26 Oct 2019 – Nanammal
- The 1987 batch IAS officer who has been appointed the CEO of Unique Identification Authority of India – Shri Pankaj Kumar
Places
- The city of Uttar Pradesh which has been designated as the most polluted in India by the Central Pollution Control Board – Varanasi
- The venue of the 18th Non-Aligned Movement summit being held from 25 to 26 October 2019, India being represented by the Vice-President Shri Venkaiah Naidu – Baku, Azerbaijan
- The place at which the world’s oldest natural pearl (radio carbon dated to 5800 to 5600 BCE) was discoveredby archaeologists – Marwah Island, Abu Dhabi
Sports
- The team which has won the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2019-20 defeating Tamil Nadu in the finals in Bengaluru – Karnataka
- The Indian cricketers who have been awarded the Wisden India Almanack Cricketer of the Year Award 2019 – Jasprit Bumrah and Smriti Mandhana
- The Argentine footballer who has awarded the European Golden Shoe award for the sixth time – Lionel Messi
- The Mumbai cricketer who has become the youngest in the world (aged 17 years 192 days) to score a double hundred in one-day cricket while playing against Jharkhand – Yashasvi Jaiswal
- The former cricketer and captain of Indian team who has been chosen to be the new President of BCCI – Saurav Ganguly
- The Indian badminton player who has won the Dutch Open men’s singles title (his first BWF World Tour title) – Lakshya Sen
- The former South African cricketer who has been granted permanent membership of the Marylebone Cricket Club, London – Graeme Smith
Miscellaneous
- The Indian nuclear power plant (under Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd) at which computer systems were affected by a malware – Kundankulam
- The aptitude test developed by CBSE and NCERT for senior school students to enable the stakeholders know the aptitude of students of classes 9 and 10 is named – TAMANNA
- The two PSUs which have been conferred the Maharatna status by the Govt of India – HPCL and Power Grid Corp
- The theme of Vigilance Awareness Week observed from 28 Oct to 02 Nov 2019 by Central Vigilance Commissions – Integrity – A way of life
- The satellite launched by NASA from an aeroplane to explore the mysterious, dynamic region where air meets space is named – ICON (Ionospheric Connection)
- The tropical cyclone which hit the Kantō region of Japan causing substantial loss of lives and property was named – Typhoon Hagibis
- India’s first private train which was flagged off by UP CM Yogi Adityanath is scheduled to run between the stations – Lucknow – New Delhi
- The company which has been chosen for the UN Global Climate Action Award for Carbon Neutral Now category – Infosys Ltd
New Governors
- Goa – Satya Pal Malik
- Jammu and Kashmir – Girish Chander Murmu (Lt Governor)
- Ladakh – Radha Krishna Mathur (Lt Governor)
Nobel Prizes 2019
| # | Field | Winners | Contribution |
| 1. | Medicine | 1. William G. Kaelin Jr 2. Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe 3. Gregg L. Semenza | for their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability. |
| 2. | Chemistry | 1. John B. Goodenough 2. M Stanley Whittingham 3. Akira Yoshino | for the development of lithium-ion batteries. |
| 3. | Physics | 1. James Peebles | for theoretical discoveries in physical cosmology. |
| 2. Michel Mayor 3. Didier Queloz | for discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar type star | ||
| 4. | Peace | 1. Abiy Ahmed Ali (PM of Ethiopia) | for his efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation, and in particular for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighbouring Eritrea. |
| 5. | Economic Sciences | 1. Abhijit Banerjee 2. Esther Duflo 3. Michael Kremer | for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty. |
| 6. | Literature 2019 | 1. Peter Handke | for an influential work that with linguistic ingenuity has explored the periphery and the specificity of human experience |
| 7. | Literature 2018 | 1. Olga Tokarczuk | for a narrative imagination that with encyclopedic passion represents the crossing of boundaries as a form of life |
India Innovation Index 2019
Released by NITI Aayog and Institute for Competitiveness
| # | Major States | NE & Hill States | UTs |
| 1. | Karnataka | Sikkim | Delhi |
| 2. | Tamil Nadu | Himachal Pradesh | Chandigarh |
| 3. | Maharashtra | Uttarakhand | Goa |
IAAF World Athletics Championships 2019
- From 27 Sep 2019 to 06 Oct 2019
- Venue: Doha, Qatar
- Stadium: Khalifa International Stadium
- No of participating countries: 209
Medals Tally
| # | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1. | USA | 14 | 11 | 4 | 29 |
| 2. | Kenya | 5 | 2 | 4 | 11 |
| 3. | Jamaica | 3 | 5 | 4 | 12 |
| 4. | China | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 |
| 5. | Ethiopia | 2 | 5 | 1 | 8 |
Winner of men’s 100m dash: Christian Coleman (USA) 9.76 seconds
Winner of women’s 100m dash: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Price (Jamaica) 10.71 seconds
Important Days of October
| International Day of Older Persons: 01 October Designated by : United Nations General Assembly First Observed in: 1991 Theme: The Journey to Age Equality |
| International Day of Non-Violence: 02 October Designated by : United Nations General Assembly First Observed in: 2007 |
| World Teacher’s Day: 05 October Established by : UNESCO Theme: Young Teachers: The Future of the Profession First Observed in: 1994 |
| World Habitat Day: 1st Monday of October (07 October) Designated by: United Nations General Assembly First observed: 1986 Theme: Frontier Technologies as an innovative tool to transform waste to wealth |
| World Post Day: 09 October Designated by : Universal Postal Union First Observed in: 1969 |
| World Mental Health Day: 10 October Designated by : World Health Organisation Theme: Mental Health Promotion and Suicide Prevention First Observed in: 1992 |
| International Day of the Girl Child: 11 October Designated by : United Nations General Assembly Theme: GirlForce: Unscripted and Unstoppable First Observed in: 2012 |
| World Sight Day: 10 October (2nd Thursday of October) Designated by : International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness Theme: Vision First First Observed in: 2000 |
| International Day of Disaster Reduction: 13 October Designated by : United Nations General Assembly Theme: Reducing Disaster Damage to Critical Infrastructure and Disruption of Basic Services First Observed in: 2010 |
| International Day of Rural Women: 15 October Designated by : United Nations General Assembly Theme: Rural Women and Girls Building Climate Resilience First Observed in: 2008 |
| World Food Day: 16 October Designated by : Food and Agricultural Organisation Theme: Our actions are our future – Healthy Diets for a #ZeroHunger World. First Observed in: 1980 |
| International Day for Eradication of Poverty: 17 October Designated by : United Nations General Assembly Theme: Acting together to empower children, their families and communities to end poverty First Observed in: 1993 |
| World Development Information Day: 24 October Designated by : United Nations General Assembly First Observed in: 1972 |
| United Nations Day: 24 October The day marks the coming into effect of the UN Charter (the founding document of UNO) in 1945. UN Day Concert in the General Assembly Hall, featuring Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra with the participation of Dana Al Fardan, Hala Al-Emadi and Aisha. The theme of this year’s concert was “Building Prosperity for All through Culture, Education, Gender Equality, Sports and Sustainability”. |
| World Day for Audiovisual Heritage: 27 October Designated by : UNESCO Theme: Engage the Past through Sound and Images First Observed in: 2005 |
| World Cities Day: 31 October Designated by : UN General Assembly Theme: Changing the world: innovations and better life for future generations First Observed in: 2014 |
Global Health Security Index 2019
Released by Nuclear Threat Initiative and John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
| # | Country | # | Country |
| 1. | United States | 51 | China |
| 2. | United Kingdom | 57 | India |
| 3. | Netherlands | 85 | Bhutan |
| 4. | Canada | 111 | Nepal |
| 5. | Australia | 105 | Pakistan |
Doing Business Rankings 2020
Released by: World Bank
| # | Country | # | Country |
| 1. | New Zealand | 31 | China |
| 2. | Singapore | 63 | India |
| 3. | Hong Kong SAR | 89 | Bhutan |
| 4. | Denmark | 94 | Nepal |
| 5. | South Korea | 108 | Pakistan |
NOTE: India has moved 14 places upwards from its rankings in 2019
2019 Booker Prize
Joint winners
- Margaret Atwood (Canada) for The Testaments
- Bernardine Avaristo (UK) for Girl, Woman, Other
NOTE: Margaret Atwood has earlier won the Booker in 2000 for The Blind Assassin and Bernardine Avaristo is the first black woman to be awarded the Booker
Global Competitiveness Index 2019
Released by: World Economic Forum
| # | Country | # | Country |
| 1. | Singapore | 28 | China |
| 2. | United States of America | 68 | India |
| 3. | Hong Kong SAR | 84 | Sri Lanka |
| 4. | Netherlands | 105 | Bangladesh |
| 5. | Switzerland | 110 | Pakistan |
NOTE: India has slipped 10 places from its rankings in 2018
Global Hunger Index 2019
| # | Country |
| 25 | China |
| 73 | Nepal |
| 69 | Myanmar |
| 88 | Bangladesh |
| 94 | Pakistan |
| 102 | India |
Abbreviations in News
- PRAKASH – Power Rail Koyla Availability through Supply Harmony
- TAMANNA – Try And Measure Aptitude And Natural Abilities
Books in News
- How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions we have and the breakthroughs we need by Bill Gates
- Bridgital Nation by Shri N Chandrasekaran and Ms. Roopa Purushottam
- Mind Master: Winning Lessons from a Champion’s Life by Vishwanathan Anand