Top Best Current Affairs 22 October 2020

Israel Embassy here will have a separate 'Water Attache' from January 2021 to help share their country's best practices and technologies for advancements in India's water management and agriculture sectors, Israeli Ambassador to India Ron Malka has said. In another significant development, Israel will soon nominate an honorary Consul in the North-East with the aim to increase its presence and collaboration in that region.

Odisha Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik has launched the electricity consumer service portal "Mo Bidyut" and a mobile app through video conference. The bilingual online electricity integrated consumer service portal www.mobidyut.com developed by the Energy Department and dedicated to the public under 5T (Teamwork, Transparency, Technology, Time leading to Transformation) initiative of the state government. Through this people will now be able to avail efficient, time-bound, and transparent online service delivery.

The Maharashtra government had constituted a committee to give suggestions about regulating prices of Masks and Sanitizers. By this Maharashtra becomes the first state in the country to cap prices of masks.

Veteran Economist and bureaucrat N K (Nand Kishore) Singh has released his autobiography titled "Portraits of Power: Half a Century of Being at Ringside". The book portrays the life of NK Singh who played an active role in the development of the Indian economy. He is currently serving as the Chairman of the 15th Finance Commission. The book is published by Rupa Publications India.

Renowned TV actress, Zarina Roshan Khan passed away. She was fondly remembered for her role in the television show 'Kumkum Bhagya' as Indu Dadi. Zarina had begun her career as a stunt woman, before taking up acting as a profession and has featured in several shows and films. The actor has also performed in serials like Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai and played the role of a mother in several Hindi films.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India have signed a loan agreement worth USD 177 million, to upgrade 450 km of state highways and major district roads in Maharashtra. The project aims to improve connectivity between rural areas and urban centres in the state to enable rural communities to have better access to markets, employment opportunities and services, which in turn will expand development and livelihood opportunities outside of the state's major urban centres to second-tier cities and towns thus reducing income disparities.

The Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari virtually laid the foundation stone for the first-ever multi-modal logistic park of India, at Jogighopa, in Bongaigaon district of Assam.

India has acquired the second rank in terms of the number of migrants going to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries and acquiring the citizenship of those countries. China retained its top spot with 4.3 lakh migrants, which was 1 per cent lower than the 2019 report.