Monthly Current Affair GK Digest: October 2024

International News

The elected countries are Benin, Bolivia, Colombia, Cyprus, Czechia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Gambia, Iceland, Kenya, Marshall Islands, Mexico, North Macedonia, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Spain, Switzerland, and Thailand.
These members will serve three-year terms starting January 1, 2025.
The election was conducted via a secret ballot, ensuring a fair and transparent process.

The dialogue, themed "Advancing Digital Transformation and Strengthening Cybersecurity Cooperation",.
The theme aimed to bolster the ASEAN-India Comprehensive Strategic Partnership by discussing cyber threat landscapes, national cyber policies, threat assessment, and recent ICT developments at the UN.
Key highlights included exploring cooperation in capacity building and training and implementing the ASEAN-India Joint Statement on Advancing Digital Transformation.

Objective: The WEP Telangana chapter aims to support women entrepreneurs by providing resources, tools, and a robust network to enhance their business growth.
Digital Skilling: Training and resources to improve digital literacy and technical skills.
Financial Services: Access to funding, including government-backed loans and grants.
Mentorship and Networking: Connections with industry leaders, potential investors, and other entrepreneurs.
Market Linkages: Helping women-led businesses connect with markets to increase sales and expand their reach.
Nodal Organization: WE Hub, India’s first incubation center dedicated to women entrepreneurs, will manage and implement the platform.
This initiative is expected to significantly enhance opportunities for women entrepreneurs in Telangana, helping them overcome challenges and scale their businesses.

Objective: To create generative AI systems that can generate high-quality text and multimodal content (text, speech, and images) in various Indian languages.
Multimodal Large Language Models: BharatGen is the world’s first government-funded project focused on creating multimodal large language models.
Inclusivity and Accessibility: The project aims to make AI accessible to all citizens, addressing India’s socio-cultural and linguistic diversity.
Open-Source Models: BharatGen will develop open-source foundational models to democratize AI across India.
Lead Institution: IIT Bombay under the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS).
Collaborating Institutions: Includes IIT Bombay, IIIT Hyderabad, IIT Mandi, IIT Kanpur, IIT Hyderabad, IIM Indore, and IIT Madras.

Increased Minimum Investment: The minimum amount required to invest in index futures and options (F&O) contracts will be raised from the current range of ₹5-10 lakh to ₹15 lakh. This change aims to make these contracts less accessible to smaller investors.
Upfront Collection of Option Premiums: Starting February 1, 2025, brokers will need to collect option premiums upfront from buyers. This measure is intended to discourage excessive intraday leverage.
Removal of Calendar Spread Benefits: The benefit of offsetting positions across different expiries (calendar spread) will no longer be available on the expiry day for contracts expiring on that day, effective February 1, 2025.
Intraday Monitoring of Position Limits: From April 1, 2025, stock exchanges will begin intraday monitoring of position limits for equity index derivatives to prevent positions from exceeding permissible limits.
Reduction of Weekly Expiries: Starting November 20, 2024, the number of weekly expiries for index derivative contracts will be reduced to one per benchmark index per exchange.
Higher Margin Requirements: An additional extreme loss margin (ELM) of 2% will be implemented for all open short options on the day of expiry to protect investors from extreme market fluctuations.
These measures are designed to enhance market stability and protect retail investors from the risks associated with speculative trading.

This loan will cover 80% of the total project costs, with the remaining 20% funded through government grants and MMRDA’s contributions.
The projects include the Thane-Borivali Twin Tunnel Project, the Thane Coastal Road (Phase I), and the extension of the Eastern Freeway from Ghatkopar to Thane.
These initiatives aim to enhance connectivity, boost economic growth, and improve the overall quality of life in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

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