President Xi Jinping is expected to be handed a historic third term in control of China on October 23, it emerged on  Oct 15, after a spokesman confirmed the Communist Party's 20th Congress will end the previous day.

About 2,300 party delegates from every province will gather at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing from  oct 16 for the mostly closed-door conclave, to rubber-stamp the country's next leadership make-up.

At the highly choreographed conclave, the 2,296 participants will also pick members of the party's roughly 200-member Central Committee, which in turn selects the 25-person Politburo and its all-powerful Standing Committee -- the country's highest leadership body.

The day after Congress closes, the new Standing Committee -- currently a group of seven men including General Secretary Xi -- should be revealed, if this year follows the same convention as previous Congresses.

Discoms in India reported a loss of Rs 50,281 crore in 2020-21, according to a report by state-run Power Finance Corporation (PFC). It is 66% more compared to Rs 30,203 crore in 2019-20. The aggregate losses due to power subsidy, after excluding regulatory income and revenue grant under UDAY (discoms revival scheme), increased from Rs 63,949 crore in 2019-20 to Rs 88,500 crore in 2020-21. 

Discoms’ tariff subsidy increased from Rs 1,20,828 crore in 2019-20 to Rs 1,32,416 crore in 2020-21. As a percentage of total revenue, tariff subsidy billed by the discoms increased from to 18.53% in 2020-21 from 16.52% in 2019-20. As per the report, all states barring 13 released the entire subsidy amount billed to their respective discoms.

Those which have not made the full payments include Delhi (which paid 92.5% of the subsidy amount), Karnataka (92.07%), Bihar (91.24%), Punjab (87.36%), Maharashtra (86.30%), Rajasthan (77.17%), Tripura (73.79%), Jharkhand (73.74%), Madhya Pradesh (70.75%) and Andhra Pradesh (36.84%), among others. The report on performance of power utilities in 2020-21 was unveiled by power minister R K Singh at state power ministers’ conference in Udaipur.

Kochi-based Federal Bank  has reported a 50% jump in its September quarter consolidated net profit at Rs 733.34 crore on the back of healthy growth in both interest and other income streams. The private sector lender posted a 52% jump in standalone net profit at Rs 703.71 crore. 

The Indian Army has signed agreements with 11 banks including the private sector banks like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank for providing banking facilities to Agniveers on enrolment.

The MoUs were signed by Lt Gen V Sreehari, DG (MP & PS) and senior officials of Banks in a ceremony presided over by Lt Gen C Bansi Ponappa, the Adjutant General of the Indian Army on 14 October 2022.

Eleven banks with which the Indian Army has signed the agreement include State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, IDBI Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Yes Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IDFC First Bank and Bandhan Bank.

The features and benefits offered under Agniveer Salary Package are similar to the Defence Salary Package. In addition, the banks have offered soft loans to exiting Agniveers to promote and enhance their entrepreneurial skills.

The government  has hiked windfall tax on domestically produced crude oil by more than a third while doubling the rate on export of diesel and re-introducing the levy on overseas shipment of jet fuel (ATF) in line with rise in international oil prices.

The tax on crude oil produced by firms such as state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) was increased to Rs 11,000 per tonne beginning October 16 from Rs 8,000.

In the fortnightly revision of windfall tax, the government doubled the rate on export of diesel to Rs 12 per litre from Rs 5 a litre.

The levy on jet fuel, which was brought down to nil at the beginning of this month, was re-introduced at Rs 3.50 a litre.

The levy on diesel includes Rs 1.50 per litre road infrastructure cess (RIC.

The hike reverses the reduction in two previous rounds in September. 

It was always expected to be a comfortable victory for India. Unless their skipper Chamari Athapaththu went berserk with the bat, the Lankans had very little chance on the slow surface that was on offer in the final of the Asia Cup in Bangladesh. But once she was run out early, the match was going only one way.

Deepti Sharma planted the seeds of doubts early on with the new ball before seamer Renuka Thakur took charge. The seamer — not amongst wickets on turning conditions — adjusted well and used the change of pace well to finish with three wickets for just five runs as Sri Lanka was reduced to 16/5. From thereon, they scrapped their way to 65/9 in 20 overs.

Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur added another feather to her hat after she surpassed New Zealand all-rounder Suzie Bates to become the most capped Women's T20I player in the history of the game.

The 33-year-old made her 137th appearance in the final of the Asia Cup against Sri Lanka at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium in Bangladesh on oct 15.

Harmanpreet played her 136th T20I against Thailand in the semi-finals of the Asia Cup to level the record with Bates. The New Zealander is now placed second on the list with 136 matches in T20Is. Bates has scored 3613 runs with a century to her name.

England's Danielle Wyatt is third on the overall list with 135 appearances in the T20 format. She has scored 2159 runs with two centuries to her name. Her highest score is 124.

Alyssa Healy from Australia has played the fourth most games in T20Is with 132 games to her name. She has scored 2207 runs with the highest score of 148.

West Indian Deandra Dottin is fifth on the list with 127 matches for the West Indies. She has scored 2697 runs with the highest score of 124 runs with two centuries to her name.

The veteran Indian all-rounder debuted for India in the shorter format of the game at the ICC Women's T20 World Cup on June 11, 2009, against England.

She became the first Indian woman to smash a T20I hundred when she played a breathtaking inning of 103 runs against New Zealand at the 2018 ICC Women's T20 World Cup.

The flamboyant batter led the Indian team to a seventh Asia Cup title against Sri Lanka.

Q1. Which of the following has been  ranked 107 out of 121 countries in the Global Hunger Index 2022 with its child-wasting rate at 19.3 per cent, being the highest in the world ?

1. Pakistan
2. Sri Lanka
3. India
4. Bangladesh
5. None of These

Q2. Name the  state which has increased from Rs 16,000 to Rs 20,000 the monthly pension given to people who were jailed under two Acts used to quell political dissent during the Emergency ?

1. Uttar Pradesh
2. Uttarakhand
3. Assam
4. Bihar
5. None of These

Q3. Name the  state which has decided not to extend the benefits of various beneficiary schemes to families with more than four children ?

1. Tripura
2. Mizoram
3. Meghalaya
4. Manipur
5. None of These

Q4. Name the  Lok Sabha MP from Odisha  who has been elected as a member of the executive committee of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) from Asia Pacific Group (APG) countries ?

1. Aparajita Sarangi
2. Pramila Bisoyi
3. Pratap Chandra Sarangi
4. Suresh Kumar Pujari
5. None of These

Q5. Name the   city which has has won the overall 'World Green City Award 2022' and another in the category 'Living Green for Economic Recovery and Inclusive Growth' at the International Association of Horticulture Producers (AIPH) 2022 World Green City Awards 2022 held in Jeju, South Korea on October 14 ?

1. Chennai
2. Hyderabad
3. Lucknow
4. Jaipur
5. None of These

Answers

1---------------------------3 India

2---------------------------2  Uttarakhand

3-----------------------------4   Manipur

4-----------------------------1  Aparajita Sarangi

5-----------------------------2   Hyderabad