Gadkari, Union Minister for Road, Transport & Highways, has unveiled Toyota Corolla Altis Flex-fuel car, which has been touted as first of its kind pilot project on Flexi-Fuel Strong Hybrid Electric Vehicles (FFV-SHEV) in India.

This project intends to examine whether ethanol-powered flex fuel vehicles can be viable in Indian conditions.

In this regard, a Memorandum of Understanding was also signed between Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

India’s retail inflation surged to a 5-month high in September, surpassing RBI’s upper margin of 6 per cent for the ninth consecutive time.

• Retail inflation, measured using the Consumer Price Index (CPI), has increased from 7 per cent in August to 7.4 per cent in September this year.
• CPI inflation in the January-March quarter averaged 6.3 per cent, in April-June it was 7.3 per cent and now, in July-September it is 7 per cent.
• With this, the CPI inflation has completed three full years above the central bank’s medium-term target of 4 per cent and outside the mandated 2 to 6 per cent for three consecutive quarters. 

The 2022 Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index or CRI Index, that was recently released, is the fourth edition. According to this report, India has shown improvement in reducing inequality.

• The CRI Index tracks 161 countries’ performance in reducing inequality among its population.
• The index ranks countries based on their policies and actions in the areas of Public services (health, education and social protection), Taxation and Workers’ rights
• It is a joint project of Oxfam International and Development Finance International.
• Oxfam International is an international private organization based in England. It was originally founded in 1942.

Living Planet Report 2022 found drastic decline in the global wildlife population.

• Living Planet Report 2022 is a joint endeavor of the World Wildlife Fund and Zoological Society of London.
• According to the flagship publication, there has been a 69 per cent decline in the global wildlife population between the years 1970 and 2018.
• This does not mean that 69 per cent of individual animals across the world has declined
• The report gives average of changes in population sizes of different species of animals and not of the number of creatures lost.

The NASSCOM has launched the Responsible AI Hub and resource kit to support the responsible adoption of the artificial intelligence.

• The President of the National e-Governance Division (NeGD), Abhishek Singh, recently launched the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) Responsible AI hub and Resource Kit.
• According to NASSCOM, data and AI hold immense potential for generating economic and social value across sectors, yet it has become critical to balance this tremendous promise with the ethical use of data and artificial intelligence (AI) to ensure public trust.
• To address this need, NASSCOM in collaboration, with industry partners from leading technology and management companies, has developed a Responsible AI Resource Kit.
• This kit comprises openly accessible self-regulation guidance and tools to enable industry actors to adopt and implement responsible AI practices.

International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction is observed each year on October 13.

• The International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction aims to promote the international awareness about disaster risks and preparedness.
• It also recognizes the efforts of individuals and communities towards minimizing their vulnerabilities to disasters.
• The theme for International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction 2022 is Early Warning.
• Early Warning is the Target G of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030.

CERT-In and Power-CSIRTs recently organized the cybersecurity exercise called PowerEX.

• Cyber Security Exercise “PowerEX” was designed and organized jointly by Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) and Power-CSIRTs (Computer Security Incident Response Teams in Power sector).
• The CERT-In hosted the cybersecurity exercise on its simulation platform.
• The event witnessed the participation of more than 350 officials from various power sector utilities.
• 193 power sector utilities were invited to take part in this exercise.
• Officials of Exercise Planner Team of Power-CSIRTs collaborated with the CERT-In team as Exercise Coordinators.

CERT-In and Power-CSIRTs recently organized the cybersecurity exercise called PowerEX.

• Cyber Security Exercise “PowerEX” was designed and organized jointly by Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) and Power-CSIRTs (Computer Security Incident Response Teams in Power sector).
• The CERT-In hosted the cybersecurity exercise on its simulation platform.
• The event witnessed the participation of more than 350 officials from various power sector utilities.
• 193 power sector utilities were invited to take part in this exercise.
• Officials of Exercise Planner Team of Power-CSIRTs collaborated with the CERT-In team as Exercise Coordinators.

Over 400 whales have died after being stranded on New Zealand’s Pitt Island.

• While majority of the stranded pilot whales died naturally, the survivors were euthanized because of the threat of them being consumed by sharks as well as the logistical challenges in Pitts Island, which hosts less than 100 inhabitants.
• Refloating these stranded whales is unsafe since dead whales on beaches or shallows are likely to attract sharks closer to the shore, posing risks to humans attempting to refloat the whales.
• The whales got stranded on the Chatham Islands archipelago, which is situated some 840 km off the east coast of New Zealand’s South Island. This archipelago has the Pitts Island and Chatham Island, both of which have little human presence.
• The mass deaths of pilot whales occurred in Chatham Islands Archipelago because of whale beaching.

Special Chief Secretary (School Education) B. Rajasekhar has said that the World Bank (WB) has extended an unconditional loan of $250 million to the Supporting Andhra’s Learning Transformation (SALT) project in appreciation of the path-breaking reforms implemented by the State government. 

• Besides, the facilities in schools were vastly improved under the Nadu-Nedu programme to provide an atmosphere that was conducive for teaching and learning. 
• The SALT is the first project in the school education sector to be funded by the World Bank without any precondition. 

The state government of Himachal Pradesh has started a new scheme named ‘HIMCAD’, to provide irrigation facilities to farmers. According to the latest data, about 80% of the agricultural area of Himachal Pradesh is rain-fed.

• The scheme will provide end-to-end connectivity of farmers’ fields for better water conservation, crop diversification and integrated farming.
• Under the scheme, it is planned to provide command area development activities to 23,344 hectares of cultivable command area by March 2024, and the State Technical Advisory Committee has approved 379 minor irrigation schemes worth Rs 305.70 crore. 
• About 80 per cent of the agricultural area of the state is rain-fed.

World Sight Day is a special annual day of awareness that is celebrated around the world each year in order to focus on blindness and vision impairment.

• This day was created by the World Health Organization in collaboration with the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness and awareness is spread through a large number of different events.
• A large number of organizations around the world have been involved with World Sight Day for many years.
• Some people choose to show their support by planting trees, while other people get involved by submitting a photograph that will be used to create an international photograph montage focusing on the theme of blindness.