Russian company took over Essar Oil

Russia's state-controlled oil giant Rosneft took over India's second biggest private oil firm Essar Oil in an all-cash deal valued at about $13 billion.The all-cash acquisition, which includes the assumption of Essar Oil’s $5.5bn debt, marks the largest foreign direct investment in India to date.The deal was announced in the presence of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a BRICS summit in Goa on October 15.Rosneft bought a 49 per cent stake in Essar Oil's refinery port and petrol pumps, while Netherlands-based Trafigura Group Pte, one of the world's biggest commodity trading companies, and Russian investment fund United Capital Partners split another 49 per cent equity equally. The remaining 2 per cent is held by minority shareholders after delisting of Essar Oil. 

World Food Day

World Food Day is observed globally on 16 October in honor of the date of the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 1945. The day is celebrated widely by many other organisations concerned with food security, including the World Food Programme and the International Fund for Agricultural Development. World Food Day (WFD) was established by FAO's Member Countries at the Organization's 20th General Conference in November 1979.

2016 Theme: “Climate is changing. Food and agriculture must too”. It highlights the issue of food security related to climate change. It calls adopting sustainable practices for growing more food with less area of land and use natural resources wisely.

8th BRICS Summit

India hosted the 8th BRICS Summit on 15-16 October 2016 in Goa. The theme of India’s BRICS Chairmanship is Building Responsive, Inclusive and Collective Solutions. First-ever BRICS-BIMSTEC Outreach Summit was also held on side-lines of 2016 BRICS Summit. Leaders from both forums planned to jointly explore possibilities of expanding ties between them on issues such as terrorism, economy, trade and connectivity. BIMSTEC stands for Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation. BIMSTEC member countries are Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal.The two day summit was attended by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Brazilian President Michel Temer and South African President Jacob Zuma.Ninth BRICS Summit will be hosted by China in 2017.

International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

'United Nations’ (UN) International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is observed on October 17. It promotes people’s awareness of the need to eradicate poverty and destitution worldwide, particularly in developing countries.2016 Theme: “Moving from humiliation and exclusion to participation: Ending poverty in all its forms”. It highlights importance to recognize and address the humiliation and exclusion suffered by many people living in poverty.