National

Karnataka mandates33% reservation for women

• Karnataka issued an order mandating reservations for outsourced govt contract jobs across all its departments, with 33% of these posts reserved for women. 
• This reservation is within the quota stipulated for SC/ST and other backward communities in government outsourced jobs.

International

US, Philippines to train Filipinos

• The Philippines and the United States agreed to train Filipinos in building and operating nuclear power plants to boost the Southeast Asian country's electricity supply. 
• The new deal will offer scholarships and exchange programs for Filipinos to study civil nuclear power and renewable energy.

AI Seoul Summit 2024

• The artificial intelligence (AI) summit is being held in Seoul, South Korea.
• Sixteen companies involved in AI including Alphabet’s Google, Meta, Microsoft and OpenAI, as well as companies from China, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates have committed to safe development of the technology.

Defence

Project Udbhav

• As part of Project Udbhav, a seminar-cum-exhibition on ‘Historical Patterns of Indian Strategic Culture’ was held at the National Museum in New Delhi. 
• Project Udbhav was launched by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh during the Indian Military Heritage Festival on October 21, 2023.

Sports

BWF Rankings

• Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have regained their top spot in the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) Rankings after a remarkable victory at the Thailand Open Super 500 in Bangkok last week.

World Para Athletic Championships

• India’s Ekta Bhyan secured gold medal with a season’s best throw of 20.12 metre in the women’ F51 club throw competition at the World Para Athletic Championships at Kobe in Japan.
• Kashish Lakra took the silver with an effort of 14.56 metre.

Asian Relay Championships

• Indian men's and women's 4x400m teams won silver medals in the inaugural Asian Relay Championships.

Junior Davis Cup

• Indian boys beat Indonesia 2-1 in the second league match of the Asia-Oceania Junior Davis Cup under-16 tennis tournament in Shymkent, Kazakhstan.

Person in News

Dammu Ravi

• Dammu Ravi, Secretary (Economic Relations), Ministry of External Affairs, represented India at the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers meeting in Astana, Kazakhstan.

Jagdeep Dhankhar

• Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar will represent India in the official ceremony in Tehran to condole the death of President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, and other Iranian officials.

Environment & Ecology

Blue Sheep Population Survey

• Wildlife authorities in Himachal Pradesh's high altitude, cold desert district of Lahaul & Spiti have started surveys as part of census to estimate the population of blue sheep or bharal and the Himalayan ibex, the main prey of the iconic snow leopard.

Miscellaneous

Travel & Tourism Development Index 2024

• India has climbed to the 39th position in the World Economic Forum's Travel & Tourism Development Index 2024, while US topped the list. 
• India also ranks the highest in South Asia among the lower-middle-income economies.
• On an overall index score of 7, where 1 is the worst, and 7 the best, India scored 4.25.

Global Land Outlook Thematic Report

• The report, Global Land Outlook Thematic Report on Rangelands and Pastoralists, was released. 
• The report by the UN Convention on Combating Desertification (UNCCD) said that almost half of the world’s rangelands are degraded due to climate change, population growth, land-use change and growing farmlands. 
• Less than 5 per cent of India’s grasslands fall within protected areas, and the total grassland area declined from 18 to 12 million hectares between 2005 and 2015,” the report added.
• Rangelands cover 80 million sq km, which is 54 per cent of the earth’s land surface. 

Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index

• Delhi has scored the 350th rank in the Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index, which has compared the world's 1000 largest cities on parameters ranging from economics to human capital. 
• Delhi is the best performing Indian city on the list.
• New York ranks first on the index, followed by London, San Jose, Tokyo, Paris, Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Melbourne and Zurich.