Today's Event – 8TH October 2021

• 314 – Constantine I defeats Roman Emperor Licinius, who loses his European territories

• 1480 – The Great Stand on the Ugra River puts an end to Tartar rule over Moscow

• 1573 – End of the Spanish siege of Alkmaar, the first Dutch victory in the Eighty Years' War.

• 1645 – Jeanne Mance opens the first lay hospital in North America.

• 1813 – The Treaty of Ried is signed between Bavaria and Austria.

• 1821 – The Peruvian Navy is established during the War of Independence.

• 1829 – Stephenson's Rocket wins the Rainhill Trials.

• 1856 – The Second Opium War between several western powers and China begins with the Arrow Incident.

• 1862 – American Civil War: The Confederate invasion of Kentucky is halted at the Battle of Perryville.

• 1871 – Slash-and-burn land management, months of drought, and the passage of a strong cold front cause the Peshtigo Fire, the Great Chicago Fire and the Great Michigan Fires to break out

• 1912 – The First Balkan War begins when Montenegro declares war against the Ottoman Empire.

• 1921 – KDKA in Pittsburgh's Forbes Field conducts the first live broadcast of a football game.

• 1952 – The Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash kills 112 people.

• 1956 – The New York Yankees's Don Larsen pitches the only perfect game in a World Series.

• 1962 – Der Spiegel publishes an article disclosing the sorry state of the Bundeswehr, and is soon accused of treason.

• 1967 – Guerrilla leader Che Guevara and his men are captured in Bolivia.

• 1969 – The opening rally of the Days of Rage occurs, organized by the Weather Underground in Chicago.

• 1970 – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wins the Nobel Prize in literature.

• 1973 – Yom Kippur War: Israel loses more than 150 tanks in a failed attack on Egyptian-occupied positions.

• 1973 – Spyros Markezinis begins his 48-day term as prime minister in an abortive attempt to lead Greece to parliamentary rule.

• 1974 – Franklin National Bank collapses due to fraud and mismanagement; at the time it is the largest bank failure in the history of the United States.

• 1978 – Australia's Ken Warby sets the current world water speed record of 275.97 knots at Blowering Dam, Australia.

• 1982 – Poland bans Solidarity and all other trade unions.

• 1982 – After its London premiere, Cats opens on Broadway and runs for nearly 18 years before closing on September 10, 2000.

• 1990 – First Intifada: Israeli police kill 17 Palestinians and wound over 100 near the Dome of the Rock.

• 1991 – Upon the expiration of the Brioni Agreement, Croatia and Slovenia sever all official relations with Yugoslavia.

• 2001 – A twin engine Cessna and a Scandinavian Airlines System jetliner collide in heavy fog during takeoff from Milan, Italy, killing 118 people.

• 2001 – U.S. President George W. Bush announces the establishment of the Office of Homeland Security.

• 2005 – The 7.6 Mw  Kashmir earthquake leaves 86,000–87,351 people dead, 69,000–75,266 injured, and 2.8 million homeless.

• 2014 – Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person in the United States to be diagnosed with Ebola, dies.

• 2019 – About 200 Extinction Rebellion activists block the gates of Leinster House (parliament) in the Republic of Ireland

National Events- 

•  Criticising the proposed changes to the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat on Thursday said it will end up privatizing forests and forest resources.

•  The Congress-led UDF opposition on Thursday demanded a comprehensive programme, involving international experts, to end the increasing incidents of man-animal conflict in forest fringe areas of Kerala and protect the lives and livelihood of people.

• Bengal BJP continued to suffer organizationally with more leaders continuing to quit the party --- senior saffron leader and former MLA Sabyasachi Dutta being the latest of the lot. Dutta, a former Mayor of Rajarhat-Bidhannagar Corporation on Thursday returned to the Trinamool Congress. 

•  Four days after winning the by-elections by a record margin of 58,832 votes Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday was sworn in as a regular Member of the Bengal Legislative Assembly by Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar.

• Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday demanded a probe by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court or a High Court into the Lakhimpur Kheri violence and said Union Minister Ajay Kumar Mishra, whose son is among those booked, should resign to ensure an impartial probe.

International Events- 

•  The shift of Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence chief Lt Gen Faiz Hameed to Peshawar Corps in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa could be aimed at posting a trusted Taliban official in the region which hosts Pashtuns in significant numbers and effectively manage the evolving Afghan situation as also control the Government in Kabul.

•  Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Thursday an agreement has been reached with Republicans to extend the Government’s borrowing authority into December, temporarily averting a debt crisis.

•  A powerful 5.9-magnitude earthquake jolted a mountainous part of Pakistan’s Balochistan province early on Thursday, resulting in the collapse of a coal mine and several mud houses that left at least 22 people dead and over 300 others injured, officials said.

•  America’s “humiliating” troop withdrawal from Afghanistan resulting in the Pakistan-backed Taliban capturing power in Kabul has created an “extremely dangerous” situation in South Asia where India could suffer a cycle of sectarian violence similar to the one seen in the Middle East, a former US NSA has said during a key Congressional hearing.

• UK-based Tanzanian writer Abdulrazak Gurnah, whose experience of crossing continents and cultures has fed his novels about the impact of migration on individuals and societies, won the Nobel Prize for Literature on Thursday.

Job alerts-

• VSSC Jobs for apprentice and other posts. Last date 8th October 2021

• APPSC Jobs for assistant engineer and other posts. Last date 11th November 2021

• APSC Jobs for research assistant and other posts. Last date 3rd November 2021

• JK Bank Jobs for recovery agent and other posts. Last date 25th October 2021

• Delhi University Jobs for professor and other posts. Last date 20th October 2021

Sports-

•  Kolkata Knight Riders' swashbuckling injured all-rounder Andre Russell is likely to be available for the play-offs stage of the Indian Premier League (IPL) beginning on Sunday, the team's chief mentor David Hussey said.

•  Kolkata Knight Riders produced a clinical performance to beat Rajasthan Royals by a massive 86-run margin and take a huge step towards securing their play-off berth in the Indian Premier League here on Thursday.

•  India will have to wait for its first woman world champion in wrestling as teenager Anshu Malik settled for a silver medal after losing her 57kg final to 2016 Olympic champion Helen Lousie Marouli here on Thursday. Coming into the match after becoming India's first-ever woman finalist at the World Championship, the 19-year old began in an aggressive fashion with positive intent. She led 1-0 at the breather but the bout changed in dramatic fashion in the second.

•  KL Rahul saved his best for the last as his unbeaten 98 off 42 balls, which for a change was full-on intent quotient, helped Punjab Kings crush Chennai Super Kings by six wickets in an inconsequential IPL encounter on Thursday. Chasing 135 for victory, the Punjab team stormed to victory in 13 overs as the CSK skipper MS Dhoni could not find answers to stop Rahul's onslaught.

• Punjab Kings beat Chennai Super Kings by six wickets in the Indian Premier League here on Thursday.

Awards and honours-

•  Chief of Air Staff citation to be given to 3 air force units

Technology-

•  With festive sales set to bring record revenues for the commerce platforms, smartphones worth $16.9 billion are expected to be sold during the October-December festive quarter, new data showed on Friday.

•  Google has made Android 12 open-source earlier this week and now, the company has said it is focused on helping organisations achieve the right balance between protecting employee privacy and equipping IT with necessary security and controls.

•  Microsoft has acquired productivity platform Ally.io to help improve employe experience by aligning their work to the companys strategic mission and core priorities.

•  Social networking giant Facebook has announced new mental health resources, tools and programming across its apps, ahead of the World Mental Health Day 

• Through the IPO, the company plans to offer shares aggregating to Rs 1,900 crore. Out of the total, Rs 1,500 crore will be mopped up through fresh issue of shares.

Economy – 

•  The Centre on Thursday released Rs 40,000 crore to States and UTs to compensate for the shortfall in GST revenues, taking the total amount released as loan so far this fiscal year to Rs 1.15 lakh crore.

•  Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Friday said he has asked US-based Tesla several times to manufacture its iconic electric vehicles in India, while assuring that all support will be provided by the government to the company. 

•  The 30-share Sensex was trading 223.79 points or 0.37 per cent higher at 59,901.62. Similarly, the Nifty rose 77.75 points or 0.44 per cent to 17,868.10.

•  The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday retained the FY22 projection for real GDP growth at 9.5 per cent.

• India's GDP is expected to grow at 9.1 per cent in 2021-22 as economic recovery, post the second wave of the pandemic, seems to be holding ground, Ficci said on Thursday.

Environment –

•  Monsoons starting to withdraw from western Rajasthan

Local –

•  Only vaccinated employees allowed in government offices in Delhi

•  KSRTC to operate from 13th October 2021 with 1k buses in Karnataka

•  4k cops to be on the streets of Kolkata from Tritya

•  IIT Madras study finds heavy metals and drugs in Kaveri River 

• Puja organisers in Orissa planning to live puja activities

GK – 

“SVAMITVA” scheme is implemented by which Union Ministry?

[A] Ministry of Agriculture
[B] Ministry of Rural Development
[C] Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs
[D] Ministry of Panchayat Raj

“MITRA” scheme announced in Budget 2021-22 is associated with which sector?

[A] Defence
[B] Textile
[C] Automobile
[D] Medicine

The Indian dish “Mihidana” which is a GI tagged product, belongs to which state?

[A] West Bengal
[B] Rajasthan
[C] Haryana
[D] Punjab

Where was the Business Summit on the National Mission on Edible Oil – Oil Palm for North East held recently?

[A] Guwahati
[B] Agartala
[C] Itanagar
[D] Gangtok

Which state / UT has approved to issue a unique health card to “each and every citizen” under its Health Information Management System (HIMS) project?

[A] Tamil Nadu
[B] Telangana
[C] Delhi
[D] Puducherry