The Covid-19 crisis has impacted almost all areas of health, but few as profoundly as mental health, said the World Health Organisation (WHO) on the occasion of World Mental Health Day on Oct 10 , and called on member states in South-East Asia region (SERO) to intensify action to achieve access for all to quality mental health care.

World Mental Health Day is observed on October 10 to raise awareness of mental health issues worldwide and to mobilise efforts to support mental health.

At a time when moonlighting or dual employment has emerged as a major issue in the IT industry, TCS during the company’s second quarter (Q2)  earnings conference, said moonlighting is an ethical issue and it is against the company’s core values and culture in general.

TCS CEO Rajesh Gopinathan said, “It is codified in our employment contract that they(employees) are not allowed to work for any other organisation.”

Wipro has fired 300 employees recently for moonlighting and Infosys too warned its employees against dual employment.

TCS, which has onboarded 35,000 freshers in the first two-quarters of this fiscal, said it has honoured all the job offers that it had made. Its net addition during the second quarter was 9,840 employees. The company will be recruiting 10,000-12,000 freshers in the coming two quarters.  

The Reserve Bank of India, which recently released a concept note on Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), aims to project the digital rupee as an additional payment avenue to users and not to replace the existing payment systems.

It wants CBDC to complement, rather than replace current forms of money. Also, once introduced, it will be accepted as a medium of payment, legal tender and also as a safe store of value by everyone.

Experts say it can be a new way to make payments, especially in the e-commerce sector. It will be one of the payment avenues for the public if they order anything on e-commerce platforms.

RBI has said that the digital rupee will be introduced in a phased manner, and once introduced innovation around the product could expand the choices available.  Also, CBDC might have offline capabilities, without which it will not prove to be an attractive and accessible medium of payment for users.

It is expected that every CBDC project will start with a limited-scale pilot and would subsequently be scaled up at a population scale.

India has received the fourth set of Swiss bank account details of its nationals and organisations as part of an annual automatic information exchange under which Switzerland has shared particulars of nearly 34 lakh financial accounts with 101 countries.

Officials said the new details shared with India pertain to "hundreds of financial accounts", including many cases of multiple accounts associated with some individuals, corporates and trusts.

In a statement, the Federal Tax Administration (FTA) said that the exchange of information this year saw five new additions to the list -- Albania, Brunei Darussalam, Nigeria, Peru and Turkey.

The count of financial accounts increased by nearly one lakh.

While the exchange was reciprocal with 74 countries, Switzerland received information but did not provide any in the case of 27 countries, including Russia, either because those countries do not yet meet the international requirements on confidentiality and data security or because they chose not to receive data.

India had received the first set of details from Switzerland under AEOI (Automatic Exchange of Information) in September 2019.

It was among the 75 countries to get such information that year.

Last year, India was among 86 such partner countries.

Iga Swiatek lost in a final for the first time in three years as Barbora Krejcikova claimed her second title in successive weeks at the Agel Open on Oct 9.

Home favourite Krejcikova rallied from a set down to win the final 5-7, 7-6 (4), 6-3.

The Indian bowlers hardly broke sweat to dismiss minnows Thailand for a paltry 37 before knocking off the runs in just six overs with nine wickets in hand to top the seven-team group league in the Women's Asia Cup.

The emphatic win was India's fifth victory in six games, with the only defeat coming in a low-scoring match against arch-rivals Pakistan.

India have 10 points from six games and are expected to be joined by Pakistan, Sri Lanka and one among Thailand and Bangladesh in the semifinals.

A third cruise ship was hired by World Cup organizers in Qatar to operate as a soccer fan hotel docked in Doha Port to add much-needed rooms for the tournament.

Geneva-based MSC Cruises announced the agreement only six weeks before the World Cup is scheduled to start on Nov. 20. The 1,075-cabin MSC Opera will be available from Nov. 19 to Dec. 19.

Qatar does not have the hotel capacity for all teams, workers, volunteers and fans at the World Cup and is creating camping and cabin sites, hiring cruise ships, and encouraging fans to stay in neighboring countries and fly in for games.

Qatar is a Muslim-majority country that typically limits the consumption of alcohol to luxury hotels but has eased its rules for FIFA’s commercial partners, including the corporate hospitality provider at stadiums and World Cup sponsor AB InBev, the brewer of Budweiser.

Q1. Name the Malaysian PM on whose recommendation the parliament  has been dissolved ahead of snap polls ?

1. Ismail Sabri Yaakob
2. Muhyiddin Yassin
3. Mahathir Mohamad
4. Anwar Ibrahim
5. None of These

Q2. Which of following Nobel Prize award wasn’t established in Alfred Nobel’s will of 1895 but by the Swedish central bank in his memory and  the first winner was selected in 1969 ?

1. Peace
2. Literature
3. Economics
4. Medicine
5. None of These

Q3. Name the embattled AAP minister who has resigned from Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s cabinet after he stoked a controversy by participating in a mass religious conversion event ?

1. Sandeep Kumar
2. Gopal Rai
3. Kailash Gahlot
4. Rajendra Pal Gautam 
5. None of These

Q4. Name the TMC MLA who has been arrested by the  Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the irregularities in the recruitment of primary teachers ?

1. Rafiqur Rehman
2. Narayan Goswami
3. Dhiman Roy
4. Manik Bhattacharya
5. None of These

Q5. Name the Kashmiri separatist leader and  son-in-law of the late Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelan who  died of cancer at the AIIMS New Delhi ?

1. Sheikh Abdul Aziz
2. Mohammad Abbas Ansari
3. Altaf Ahmad Shah
4. Asiya Andrabi.
5. None of These

Answers

1------------------------------------------- 2  Ismail Sabri Yaakob

2--------------------------------------------3    Economics

3--------------------------------------------4  Rajendra Pal Gautam 

4-----------------------------------------------4   Manik Bhattacharya

5----------------------------------------------  3  Altaf Ahmad Shah