1. Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel wins UN refugee award
Tags: Awards Person in news International News
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on 4 October honoured former German Chancellor Angela Merkel with the UNHCR 'Nansen' Refugee Award for the year 2022 for her 'moral and political courage' during the refugee crisis in Syria.
Important facts
The award selection committee said she was chosen for her leadership, courage and compassion, which helped ensure the protection of millions of desperate asylum seekers.
Merkel will be honoured with the award on October 10 in Geneva.
Merkel's efforts for refugee protection
Under the leadership of former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Germany gave asylum to more than 1.2 million refugees and asylum seekers in 2015 and 2016.
These refugees had reached Germany to save lives from violent conflict in Syria and other places.
UN Refugee Agency High Commissioner Filippo Grandi praised the former chancellor's resolve to stand up for the protection of refugees, human rights and international law.
About UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award
This award was established in 1954.
This award is given every year in memory of Fridjof Nansen, devoted to Norway's scientific, diplomatic and human welfare work.
This award is awarded to an individual, group or organisation that has made efforts to protect refugees, displaced and homeless people.
2. Centre designates 10 members of Hizb- Ul- Mujahideen, LeT outfits as terrorists under UAPA
Tags: National National News
The Union Home Ministry on October 5 designated a total of 10 members of Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and other banned organizations as terrorists under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
Important facts
Five of these terrorists are associated with Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, two from Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen and one each from Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jammu and Kashmir Islamic Front and Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami.
The names of the five declared terrorists of Pakistan are Shaukat Ahmed Sheikh, who is currently a resident of Pakistan and serving as the Chief Launching Commander of Hizb-ul-l Mujahideen. Apart from this, the names of Habibullah Malik alias Sajid Jatt, Basit Ahmed Reshi and Imtiaz Ahmed Kandu alias Sajjad are included.
The Home Ministry has claimed that Malik has created a network of hardline terrorists and is the mastermind of several terrorist attacks in the Valley.
Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA)
This Act was passed in 1967.
The Act provides for special procedures for dealing with terrorist activities.
Illegal activities are those actions which promote activities by any individual/organization which violates the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the country.
This Act imposes reasonable restrictions on the freedom of speech and expression, the right to assemble without arms and to form associations provided by Article 19 of the Constitution.
3. MoU signed between Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and NAFED
Tags: National National News
The Department of Agriculture Farmers Welfare and the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on October 4 to celebrate and promote millet as the International Year of Millet 2023.
Important facts
Keeping in view the initiative of International Year of Millet (IYOM)-2023, both the organizations will work together for promotion and marketing of millet based products.
India is preparing to put nutritious cereals back on the world map.
Under the MoU, maximum value creation and support for coarse grain based products, organized promotion, market and effective market linkages will be established across the country.
International Year of Millet (IYOM)-2023
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted India's resolution and declared 2023 as the International Year of millets in March 2021.
India's proposal received the support of 72 countries.
In 2021, NITI Aayog signed a letter of intent with the United Nations World Food Program (WFP).
The partnership focuses on mainstreaming millets and helping India take a global lead in promoting its health benefits.
The objective of this partnership is to build resilient livelihoods for smallholder farmers and to build adaptability to climate change and changing food systems.
Why is millet called a superfood?
India is the 5th largest exporter of Millets globally.
Millets are one of the oldest food items in the country.
Known as a superfood, Millets can address issues related to nutritional security, food system security and farmers' welfare.
These are a rich source of protein, fibre, minerals, iron, calcium and have a low glycemic index.
They are known for their nutrient rich content and certain characteristics like drought tolerance, photo-insensitivity, resilience to climate change etc.
They can be cultivated with less water and less cost.
It can also grow well in dry areas or on land with low fertility.
What are Millets?
They include jowar (sorghum), ragi (finger millet), korra (foxtail millet), arke (kodo millet), sama (little millet), bajra (pearl millet), chena/barr (proso millet) and sanwa (barnyard millet).
4. NPCI to launch Rupay Debit Card in Oman
Tags: place in news Economy/Finance International News
Oman has become the latest country in the world where National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) will launch its RuPay Debit card.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed on 4 October 2022 between the Central Bank of Oman and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) for cooperation in digital payment systems.
The agreement was signed during the visit of the Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan to Oman. He was on a two day (3-4 October) visit to Oman.
This was his second visit to Oman and he met Oman’s foreign minister Sayyid Badr bin Hamad bin Hamood Albusaidi .
Rupay Card
RuPay is an Indian payment gateway like Visa or MasterCard and is increasingly being expanded to India's neighbouring countries or nations with a huge Indian diaspora.
Rupay card was officially launched for public in India on 8 May 2014
Singapore was the first foreign country where it was launched in May 2018, followed by Bhutan and the Maldives.
In West Asia, UAE was the first country where RuPay was launched during PM Modi's August 2019 visit.
Agreement has also been signed with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, France and Nepal for its launch in the respective countries.
National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)
- NPCI, an umbrella organization for operating retail payment and settlement systems in India, has been initiated by the 'RBI' and the 'Indian Banks' Association' (IBA) under the 'Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007'.
- It is a 'not-for-profit' company established under the provisions of Section 25 of the Companies Act 1956 (as amended in 2013), with the objective of providing physical and electronic payment infrastructure to the entire banking system in India.
5. Indian American Vivek Lall gets Lifetime Achievement award in US
Tags: Awards International News
Indian-origin General Atomics CEO Vivek Lal has been honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award by US President Joe Biden with a citation for 'With Grateful Recognition'.
Important facts
The award is given to him by AmeriCorps and by the Office of the President.
AmeriCorps operates as part of the US government, which aims to promote activities that inspire Americans to "serve communities".
Indian-American Vivek Lal is currently the Chief Executive Officer of General Atomics Global Corporation.
Lal was born on 05 March 1969 in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Lal completed his PhD in Aerospace Engineering from Wichita State University in Kansas.
He has also been the CEO and Chairman of Reliance New Ventures Reliance Industries Limited.
6. Alain Aspect, John Clauser, Anton Zeilinger chosen for the Nobel Prize for Physics 2022
Tags: Awards International News
The Royal Swedish Academy of Science has announced the winners of the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics on 4 October 2022. Three scientists; Alain Aspect of France, John Clauser of USA and Anton Zeilinger of Austria were honoured for their work in Quantum physics.
According to the Academy the awards were given for their "experiments with entangled photons, and pioneering quantum information science",
Quantum physics is a field of science that aims to study matter and energy at the most fundamental level. Each of the three winners conducted ground breaking experiments using entangled quantum states, where two particles behave like a single unit even when they are separated.
The Academy said that as a result of their work, development was underway to use the "special properties of individual particle systems to construct quantum computers, improve measurements, build quantum networks and establish secure quantum encrypted communication."
On 3 October 2022, Svante Paabo of Sweden was announced the winner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine.
The Nobel Prize will be conferred on 10 December 2022 in Stockholm, Sweden.
List of Nobel Prize winners from India -
- Rabindranath Tagore (1913) - Literature. First Asian to get a Nobel Prize.
- CV Raman (1930) - Physics
- Har Gobind Khurana (1968) - Medicine. He was an Indian born American citizen.
- Mother Teresa (1979) - Peace
- Subhramanyan Chandrashekhar (1983) - Physics. He was an Indian born American citizen.
- Amartya Sen (1998) - Economics.
- Venkatraman Ramakrishnan (2009) - Chemistry. He is an Indian born British and American citizen.
- Kailash Satyarthi (2014) - Peace
- Abhijit Banerjee (2019) - Economics. He is an Indian born American citizen.
7. Indian Ambassador to France Jawed Ashraf attends Paris Infra Week
Tags: International News
Indian Ambassador to France Jawed Ashraf attended the Paris Infra Week inaugural on October 3.
Important facts
In this event, he highlighted India's infrastructure, digitization, logistics support growth, inclusion, sustainability, sovereignty, strategic autonomy and resilience.
The event was attended by various dignitaries.
India - France relations
India and France have always had traditionally close and friendly relations.
In 1998, the two countries entered into a Strategic Partnership, which marks the convergence of their views on a number of international issues, apart from the close and growing bilateral ties.
There are more than 1000 French businesses in India in diverse sectors like Defence, ITeS, Consultancy, Engineering Services, Heavy Industries etc.
France is the 7th largest foreign investor in India with a cumulative FDI stock of USD 9 billion from 2 April 2000 to December 2020, representing 2% of the total FDI inflows into India.
During the second wave of COVID-19 in India, France supported India with a massive solidarity mission.
The mission was implemented by the Embassy of France in India led along with IFCCI and Team France.
During this mission, 29 state-of-the-art French-built oxygen-generating plants were set up in Indian hospitals across the country and 55 crores (6.1 million Euros) were raised from 55 French and Indian groups.
About France
Prime minister - Élisabeth Borne
Capital - Paris
President - Emmanuel Macron
Currency - euro
Official Language - French
Official Name - French Republic
8. Indian Railways converts 500 Mail Express trains to Superfast category
Tags: National National News
Indian Railways converted 500 Mail Express trains to the Superfast category on 4 October.
Important facts
In addition, 130 services (65 pairs) have been converted into superfast category.
The speed of trains has been increased from 10 minutes to 70 minutes.
Overall the average speed of all trains has increased by about 5 per cent, leaving about 5 per cent additional routes available for operation of more trains.
Indian Railways has released its new All India Railway Time Table known as 'TRAINS AT A GLANCE'.
This new timetable is effective from October 1, 2022.
Punctuality of Indian Railways during the year 2022-23
The punctuality of Indian Railways for Mail Express trains during the year 2022-23 is around 84%.
This is about 9 percent more than the nearly 75 percent punctuality achieved during the year 2019-20.
In addition, around 3,000 passenger trains and 5,660 suburban trains also operate on the Indian Railways network.
About 2.23 crore people travel by trains every day.
9. India's second Adarsha Veda Vidyalaya inaugurated by Dharmendra Pradhan in Puri
Tags: State News National News
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan inaugurated India’s second ‘Rashtriya Adarsha Veda Vidyalaya’ (National Model Vedic School) on the premises of Central Sanskrit University in Odisha’s Puri on 4 October.
Important facts
Adarsh Vedic Vidyalaya has been constructed in the Sri Sadashiv campus of the University.
Free education will be provided in this residential school.
The Puri campus will be the first Vedic school outside the main campus of Maharishi Sandipani Rashtriya Veda Vidya Pratishthan in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh.
Four more such schools will be opened in Badrinath in Uttarakhand, Sringeri in Karnataka, Dwarka in Gujarat and Guwahati in Assam.
The academic session of the new school will start from 2022-23.
Admission on the basis of merit will be done to Veda Bhusan fourth (Class-IX), Veda Bhusan fifth (Class-X), Veda Vibhusan first (Class-XI) and Veda Vibhusan second (Class-XII).
Apart from imparting education on the four Vedas – Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajurveda and Atharvaveda, courses such as Science, English, Mathematics, Vedic Mathematics, Social Science, Computer Science and Agriculture will be offered in this school.
Central Sanskrit University, Puri
It is established by an act of Parliament.
It is a Premier University for promoting Sanskrit studies in India and abroad.
It is currently the largest Sanskrit university in the world.
It was established on 15th October, 1970.
10. Digital India Conference of State IT Ministers concludes
Tags: National Summits National News
The three day "Digital India Conference of State IT Ministers" began on 1st October 2022 concluded on 3rd October in New Delhi.
Important facts
The Digital India Conference of State IT Ministers, along with the sixth edition of India Mobile Congress (IMC 2022) was inaugurated by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.
On the first day, detailed discussions were held with the States and Union Territories on the key priority areas of the Digital India initiative, chaired by the Minister of Communications, Electronics & Information Technology and Railways, Ashwini Vaishnav.
In his concluding remarks, Ashwini Vaishnav said that connectivity is the key to Digital India and its reach to every nook and corner of the country.
He said that Rs 26,000 crore has been sanctioned by the government for setting up 25,000 new towers in the next 500 days.
He congratulated all the States and Union Territories for swiftly joining PM Gati Shakti.
On the second day of the conference MeitY organized three sessions on important aspects like ‘IT Rules, Online Gaming and Data Governance’, ‘Digital India Bhashini & Digital Payment’, and ‘MyScheme and Meri Pehchaan’.
On the third day, MeitY organised five panel discussions.
The title of discussions were ‘Attracting Startups to Tier 2 Cities and Sustaining Them’, ‘Use of Emerging Tech in Public Services’, ‘Making India Talent Nation’, ‘Realization of Digital Government in States’, and ‘Make-in-India for the Globe – India as Semiconductor Nation’.
