Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar recently inaugurated the 9th Session of Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, which is being held in New Delhi from September 19 to 24 this year.

• The Governing Body convened as per Article 19 of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA)
• It focuses on aspects concerning general policy and implementation of the international treaty and the administrative and budgetary matters.

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation honoured 4 changemakers, with the 2022 Goalkeepers Global Goals Awards as a part of its annual Goalkeepers campaign.

• The award recognises their efforts to advance progress towards the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in their communities and around the world.
• The Gates Foundation’s sixth annual Goalkeepers Report, “The Future of Progress,” was released. It was co­authored by foundation co­chairs Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates.

In a significant achievement and recognition to country’s efforts against hypertension, India has won a UN award for its initiative to control and prevent hypertension under the government's National Health Mission.

• The India Hypertension Control Initiative (IHCI) which is a large-scale hypertension intervention under National Health Mission, has been recognized for its exceptional work within India’s existing primary healthcare system.
• The award recognizes the outstanding commitment and action of India to prevent and control Non-Communicable Diseases and deliver integrated people-centric primary care.

‘2022 UN Interagency Task Force, and WHO Special Programme on Primary Health Care Award’ was conferred to India for its India Hypertension Control Initiative (IHCI).

• The UN award was conferred at the UN General Assembly side event that was held on September 21, 2022 in New York.
• The India Hypertension Control Initiative (IHCI) is a joint initiative of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), state governments and World Health Organization-India.
• It was launched in 2017 and expanded in a phased manner to cover more than 130 districts across 23 states in India.
• It was given recognition for its ability to prevent and control non-communicable diseases and delivering integrated people-centric primary care.

Swati Piramal, Vice Chairperson, Piramal Group has been conferred the Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur (Knight of the Legion of Honour).

• The highest French civilian award comes in recognition of Piramal’s outstanding achievements and contribution in the fields of business and industry, science, medicine, art and culture, both nationally and internationally.
• The award was presented to her by H.E. Catherine Colonna, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France on behalf of President Emmanuel Macron.
• In 2006, she was also awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite (Knight of the Order of Merit), France’s second highest civilian honour.
• Swati Piramal is also a recipient of the Padma Shri, one of the highest civilian honours of India, as a champion of developing frameworks and policies to support women in leadership roles.

GRSE 2021-22. Awarded the prestigious ‘Rajbhasha Kirti Puraskar’ for Honored by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineering Limited (GRSE) with ‘Rajbhasha Kirti Puraskar’ For best implementation of Official Language under Public Sector Undertakings in Region ‘C’ during the year 2021-22 Hindi Divas Celebrations held in Surat

• GRSE is the same Defense and Public Sector Undertakings in Kolkata who has been awarded this award.
• ‘Rajbhasha Kirti Puraskar’ Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Kumar Mishra.
• GRSE received ‘Rajbhasha Kirti Puraskar’ for Best Official Language Implementation during this period 2011-2012, 2012-2013, 2014-2015, 2015-2016 and 2016-2017.

Rajbhasha Kirti Puraskar

• ,Rajbhasha Kirti Puraskar is the highest award and is presented by the Government of India in the field of Official language implementation.

Bengaluru FC and their talismanic captain Sunil Chhetri won their maiden Durand Cup football tournament title after beating Mumbai City FC 2-1 in the summit clash at the Salt Lake Stadium here on Sunday.

• Siva Sakthi (10th minute) and Brazilian Alan Costa (61st) scored for the winners while Apuia got the lone goal for the Mumbai side in an entertaining match.
• The Blues took an early lead through a fifth tournament goal from Siva Sakthi

Banking system liquidity has turned into a deficit mode for the first time since May 2019.Banking system liquidity has turned into a deficit mode for the first time since May 2019.

• On September 20 this year, the banking system liquidity situation has turned into deficit mode of Rs.21,873.4 crore.
• On the same day last year, the liquidity surplus was Rs.6.7 lakh crore.
• The deficit was caused because of increased bank credit, advanced tax payments by corporates, interventions by the Reserve Bank of India into the foreign exchange market and incremental deposit growth not keeping pace with the credit demand.
• The RBI’s persistent interventions to stop the fall of rupee against the US dollar is one of the causes of the deficit.
• As of August 26, the outstanding bank credit was Rs 124.58 lakh crore. This is a 4.77 per cent increase when compared to March 2022.

Private sector lender IDFC First Bank announced the start of its integration with ‘payments on WhatsApp’ to enable simple and secure FASTags recharge for the Bank’s customers.

• IDFC FIRST Bank’s customers will now be able to recharge their FASTags right within IDFC FIRST’s WhatsApp chatbot and complete the transaction from within the chat thread.
• Customers can recharge Fasttag by sending ‘Hi’ to the bank’s official WhatsApp chatbot number +919555555555.

Former President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday released a book titled "Ambedkar and Modi: Reformer's Ideas, Performer's Implementation" here in presence of Union Minister I&B Anurag Thakur, MoS Dr L. Murugan and former Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan.

• The former President said that this book is a collection of Baba Saheb Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's multidimensional ideologies and their works for the nation.
• Whether this is industrial development, labours' rights, self-reliance, electricity and water resources' development, planning wise development of cities, education or gender equality, this book gives an ideological foundation and solid information on these important issues, said Kovind.

‘Muskurate chand lamhe, aur kuchh khamoshiyan’ a bouquet of poems written by Shri Jiwesh Nandan was released by renowned film actor Manoj Bajpayee at Multipurpose Hall at India International Centre, New Delhi.

• The event was also graced by Secretary, Information and Broadcasting Shri Apurva Chandra. The wife of Shri Jiwesh Nandan, Smt. Leela Nandan was also present at the event.
• On the occasion, Shri Apurva Chandra said that the book contains philosophy, humour, romance in it.
• He also recited some lines from the book. Shri Apurva Chandra said that Jiwesh Nandan has a multi-faceted personality and all these are reflected in the book and the poems.

The Indian Government has inked a Rs.1,700 crore contract with BrahMos Aerospace Pvt Ltd for procuring BrahMos missiles.

• The contract was signed by the Defence Ministry to purchase 35 combat and 3 practice BrahMos supersonic dual-role surface-to-surface cruise missiles.
• The range of these missiles is 290 km and they are capable of both land attack and anti-ship strikes.
• Their speed is 2.8 Mach, which is almost three times the speed of sound.
• These missiles will be equipped in two P-15B class stealth guided missile destroyers of the Indian Navy.

The Indian Air Force is set to retire its Srinagar-based MiG-21 squadron ‘Sword Arms’ that Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was a part of when he had downed an F-16 combat aircraft of Pakistan a day after the Balakot strike in February 2019..

In Ladakh, Chief of Army Staff General Manoj Pandey has inaugurated Kargil International Marathon.

• It was inaugurated with by flagging off a 42 Km Full Marathon.
• Over 2000 runners took part in the Full (10 Km) and Half (5 Km) run in the marathon organized by Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council Kargil, Ladakh Police in collaboration with Sarhad Pune.
• Meanwhile, the start and finish point of all races was the Khree Sultan Cho Sports Stadium Biamathang where participants were appreciated for showing their performance in the marathon and were felicitated with medals and certificates.

Amity University Uttar Pradesh (AUUP) and the Indian Navy have joined hands by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for academic linkages.

As per provisions of the MoU, Amity University will conduct customised courses for the Indian Navy in niche domains, such as 5G Technology and lot, Control System Integration, AI, Blockchain, Machine Learning, Cryptology, Data Science, Big Data Analysis, Digital Marketing, Computer Networks, Anti Drone Warfare, Cyber Warfare Security, Automation, Surveillance and Tracking etc. 

These endeavours will also contribute towards grooming 'Scholar Warriors' who can think better and adapt to the future challenges of conflict in all domains, said the government statement.

The Indian Air Force is now planning to go ahead with its Project Cheetah under the Make in India route where Indian defence manufacturers would arm the Israeli Heron drones with strike capabilities.

• Under the ambitious Project Cheetah, the Indian Air Force wants to upgrade its existing fleet of Israeli-origin Heron unmanned aerial vehicles with better communication facilities and missiles which can target enemy positions from long range.
• As per plans, the project was to be completed with Israeli weapon manufacturers.

Google Cloud has announced it has launched the first cohort of its computing foundations with Kubernetes course in collaboration with FutureSkills Prime, an IT Ministry and Nasscom digital skilling initiative. 

• The beginner-level course aims to provide participants an opportunity to experience cloud computing, cloud basics, big data and machine learning (ML).
• Google Cloud certifications will help individuals validate their cloud expertise, elevate their careers, and transform businesses with Cloud technology.
• The course will offer hands-on training (via Google Cloud Skills Boost platform), for diverse career paths including IT infrastructure, data analytics, and Cloud-native application development, among others.
• The course will be offered free to students at higher education Institutions and freshers seeking to skill themselves on emerging technologies.

Union Minister of Science and Technology Dr Jitendra Singh has recently provided financial aid to around 53,000 students under the INSPIRE Scheme.

• The Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) scheme has been implemented by Indian Government’s Department of Science and Technology (DST) to encourage people aging 10 to 32 years to pursue science and a career in research.
• Its purpose is to attract talent to science at an early age and create the required resource pool for strengthening the science and technology system and research and development base in the country.
• It has three components – Scheme for Early Attraction of Talent (SEATS), Scholarship for Higher Education (SHE) and Assured Opportunity for Research Careers (AORC).

The APEDA has facilitated the export of first contingent of plant-based meat products under vegan food category from Gujarat to California, US.

Key facts

• Vegan food products are highly popular in the developed countries because of their rich fibre, high nutrient content and lesser cholesterol levels.
• India’s first contingent of plant-based meat products were exported by Greenest Foods, an Indian company based in Gujarat.
• This feat was achieved through the collaboration between Greenest Foods and Wholesome Foods.
• This makes plant-based meat and vegan food products a new highly potential addition to India’s export basket.

The Foreign Trade Policy of India was amended , as the government announced the insertion of a new Para under the same. Under the new rules, international trade invoicing, payment and settlement will be allowed to be settled in the Indian Rupee.

• The move has thus activated the Reserve Bank of India’s mechanism to facilitate trade in the Indian currency.
• The move has come into effect on an immediate basis, as per the order of the DGFT.
• The RBI has put in place an arrangement for invoicing, payment, and settlement of exports/ imports, allowing invoicing and payments for international trade in the rupee.

The new canal was opened on the 83^rd anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland during the Second World War.

• This was done to symbolically demonstrate the end of Russia’s influence on the country’s economy and development.
• The new canal cuts across the Vistula Spit, east of Gdansk, enabling ships sailing to travel from the Baltic Sea and the Bay of Gdansk to Elblag and other ports of the lagoon without getting authorization to travel through Russia’s Strait of Pilawa.
• It also reduces the Baltic-to-Elblag route by some 100 km.
• Currently, while the smaller ships and yachts can use this route, cargo ships cannot sail through until the approach to the Port of Elblag is deepened to 5 meters. This is expected to cost 21 million USD.
• The overall cost of this project is 2 billion USD. 

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das launched three key initiatives during the Global Fintech Fest 2022 — RuPay Credit Card on UPI, UPI LITE, and Bharat BillPay Cross-Border Bill Payments.

• Governor Das stated that by linking the RuPay Credit Card to UPI, users would have more opportunities to use their credit cards, and retailers will profit from greater consumption by being part of the credit ecosystem by accepting credit cards utilising assets such as QR codes.
• RuPay Credit Cards will be connected to a Virtual Financial Address (VPA), also known as a UPI ID, allowing for safe and secure payment transactions. Customers of Punjab National Bank, Union Bank of India, and Indian Bank will be the first to be able to use their RuPay Credit Cards with UPI and the BHIM App.

• The International Day of Sign Languages (IDSL) is celebrated annually across the world on 23 September.
• The day is a unique opportunity to support and protect the linguistic identity and cultural diversity of all deaf people and other sign language users. Sign language gives people, who are hard of hearing, a medium to converse.
• As the name suggests, this day aims to spread awareness regarding the importance of sign language in the realisation of the human rights of people who are deaf.
• The theme for the 2022 International Day of Sign languages is “Sign Languages Unite Us!”.

September 21 is observed as the International Day of Peace.

• The International Day of Peace is observed to strengthen the ideals of peace through the observance of 24-hours of non-violence and ceasefire.
• Its main objective is to create a world where compassion and empathy overcome suspicion and hatred.
• The theme for 2022 is “End racism. Build peace.” It aims to eradicate racism and put an end to race-based discrimination.

World Bamboo Day is observed every year on September 18, in order to create public awareness about bamboo and its various uses.

• Bamboo is a natural resource that has to be used sustainably for a variety of global business needs. In places like Southeast Asia, East Asia, and South Asia, the use of bamboo is extremely important.
• The purpose of celebrating this day is to support the developing bamboo market in rural regions. Because it will give the local inhabitants living close to the bamboo industry a means of subsistence.
• This year the theme of World Bamboo Day 2022 is-  Bamboo for Green Life and Sustainable Development. 

International Equal Pay Day is celebrated on 18 September. The inaugural edition of the day was observed in the year 2020. 

• The day aims to achieve equal pay for work of equal value and break the walls against all forms of discrimination, including discrimination against women and girls.
• The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution to observe September 18 as International Equal Pay Day, on November 15, 2019, which was introduced by the Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC).
• The resolution was co-sponsored by a total of 105 member states. As well as recognising the contribution of workers’ and employers’ organizations, and businesses, the resolution also acknowledged the work and contribution of EPIC to achieving equal pay.

The Union Ministry of Power is currently calling for the Market-Based Economic Dispatch (MBED) mechanism – a radical shift from the current decentralized, voluntary pool-based electricity market.

• The MBED mechanism envisages a centralized scheduling for dispatching the entire yearly consumption of electricity of around 1,400 billion units.
• It proposes a centralized scheduling of power dispatches both at the inter-state and intra-state levels.
• This will interfere in the autonomy of states in managing their electricity sector, including their own generating stations.

The Union cabinet approved the second tranche of the Performance Linked incentive (PLI) scheme on ‘National programme on High Efficiency Solar PV Modules’ for achieving manufacturing capacity of Giga Watt (GW) scale to boost manufacturing of solar photovoltaic (PV) modules in India, Union minister Anurag Thakur announced in a press briefing.

• With the second tranche of the PLI scheme the government is hoping that about 65GW per annum manufacturing capacity of fully and partially integrated, solar PV modules would be installed in the country.
• “The second tranche of the PLI scheme for the national programme on ‘high efficiency solar PV modules’ has been approved with an outlay of Rs.19,500 crore.

Union Minister of Education and Skill Development Dharmendra Pradhan launched the SCALE (Skill Certification Assessment for Leather Employees) app which provides a one-stop solution for skilling, learning, assessment, and employment needs of the leather industry, during a visit to CSIR-Central Leather Research Institute, Chennai.

According to the statement by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, the Leather Skill Sector Council has developed an Android App SCALE to change the way skill development programmes are designed and delivered to trainees in leather industry.

Abhyas drill: The Coast Guards of India and the United States participated Off the coast of Chennai in the massive Abhyas drill or the Abhyas joint drill.

• The United States Coast Guard (USCG) Cutter Midgett’s four-day visit came to an end. The USCG ship and the Indian Coast Guard discussed best practices for search and rescue operations while they were in port.
• The joint training exercises aimed to promote a “free and open” Indo-Pacific region and familiarise the coast guards of the two nations with one another’s capabilities.
• Fleet manoeuvres, which simulate the hijacking of a ship and subsequent rescue of its crew in a planned cooperative anti-piracy operation, are the show’s high points.

The SEBI has unveiled a framework for the SSE, which was notified in July 2022.

• Under the new rules, the Social Stock Exchange (SSE) will be a separate segment from existing stock exchanges.
• Social enterprises eligible to participate in the SSE must be not-for-profit organizations and for-profit social enterprises having social intent and impact as their primary goal.
• These enterprises must focus on eligible social objectives for the development and welfare of undeserved and less privileged populations or regions.

Ethereum – the world’s second largest blockchain – has transitioned from the legacy “proof-of-work” to a “proof-of-stake” consensus mechanism.

• The Ethereum Merge is an upgrade that changes how new crypto transactions take place on the blockchain.
• The Ethereum Merge is the joining of the Ethereum’s proof-of-stake (PoS) Beacon Chain with the Ethereum Mainnet.
• Before this update, the Ethereum operated on a proof-of-work mode, which required nodes (computers that are part of a large network) to compete with one another to solve complex math problems. The successful ones are able to mine the next block of a transaction and create new coins.

In Iran, anti-hijab protests have reached 80 other cities and towns, besides the capital Tehran following the custodial death of a 22-year-old woman Mahsa Amini after being detained by the morality police.

• Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish woman from the north-western city of Saqez, died in hospital in Tehran following three days in a coma.
• A human rights group said at least 31 civilians had been killed, while state television put the death toll at 17.
• Mahsa Amini was visiting the capital on 13 September when she was arrested by morality police officers, who accused her of violating the law requiring women to cover their hair with a hijab, or headscarf.

India has emerged as the largest bilateral lender for Sri Lanka, overtaking China. India has provided a total of 968 million US dollars in loans to the island nation in four months of 2022. In the past five years from 2017-2021, China has been the largest bilateral lender to Sri Lanka.

• Asian Development Bank (ADB) has been the largest multilateral lender in the past five years and disbursed funds amounting to 610 million dollars in 2021.
• India's Permanent Representative to the UN, Ruchira Kamboj had said that India had provided nearly 4 billion dollars in food and financial assistance to Sri Lanka. On August 22, India handed over 21,000 tonnes of fertilizer to crisis-ridden Sri Lanka.

Poland has opened a new sea waterway to enable ships to sail from the Baltic Sea and the Bay of Gdansk to ports of Vistula lagoon without relying on Strait of Pilawa in Russia.

• The new canal was opened on the 83^rd anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland during the Second World War. 
• This was done to symbolically demonstrate the end of Russia’s influence on the country’s economy and development.
• The new canal cuts across the Vistula Spit, east of Gdansk, enabling ships sailing to travel from the Baltic Sea and the Bay of Gdansk to Elblag and other ports of the lagoon without getting authorization to travel through Russia’s Strait of Pilawa. 
• It also reduces the Baltic-to-Elblag route by some 100 km. 
• Currently, while the smaller ships and yachts can use this route, cargo ships cannot sail through until the approach to the Port of Elblag is deepened to 5 meters. This is expected to cost 21 million USD. The overall cost of this project is 2 billion USD.

For the first time in 30 years, rest of developing Asia will grow at faster pace than China.

• Previously, when China’s growth fell to 3.9 per cent in 1990, the GDP of the rest of Asia witnessed a 6.9 per cent growth.
• The report has cut the growth predictions of Asia’s developing economies because China’s zero-COVID-19 policy.
• The ADB has slashed its 2023 forecast for China’s economic growth to 4.5 per cent from 4.8 in April. This is mainly because of the falling external demand minimising investment in manufacturing.

The QUAD countries have signed the Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) partnership guidelines recently.

• The recently signed the HADR partnership guidelines ensures expansion of scope of the QUAD alliance.
• The signing took place during the QUAD foreign ministers’ meeting held at the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
• The HADR partnership was announced during the Quad Leaders’ Tokyo Summit on May 24, 2022 as part of the grouping’s shared vision of free and open Indo-Pacific.
• These guidelines trace their origins to the 2004 ad hoc Tsunami Core Group, which sought to strengthen international response during the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami.

Asian Palm Oil Alliance (APOA) was formed at the Globoil Summit organized in Agra on September 21.

• The APOA brings together the apex edible oil industry associations from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal, which are the major importers of palm oil.
• Atul Chaturvedi, Director of Adani Wilmar Ltd and President of SEA, was elected as the first chairman of the alliance during the first general body meeting.
• The secretariat of the APOA would initially be managed by the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA).
• The newly formed alliance would protect the economic and business interests of palm oil importing countries and create level playing field for all fats and oils used in food, feed and oleo-chemicals in Asia.
• It aims to create collective bargaining power and make imports sustainable.
• It will also work towards boosting consumption of sustainable palm oil in member countries.

India hosted the 10th Ministerial Commission of Foreign Ministers of the India-Brazil-South Africa Trilateral Cooperative Forum (IBSA), on the sidelines of the 77th United Nations General Assembly.

• External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar, on a 10-day official visit to the United States, met with his Brazilian counterpart Carlos Franca and South African Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla.
• The trio reaffirmed the cooperation between India, Brazil and South Africa.

Nagaland Prison Department goes digital by introducing the mobile attendance application for Prison staff. Advisor for Prisons, Printing & Stationery, H. Haiying launched the Prison staff Attendance App at the District Jail Kohima.

• The mobile app was initiated by the State Prison Department in collaboration with Excellogics Technology Solution Private Limited.
• The Prison Staff Attendance is a mobile app along with an admin portal that aims to provide a comprehensive attendance management system that can make processes hassle-free and provide a seamlessly integrated system for monitoring and tracking the employee’s attendance.

The 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA77) opened on September 13 and will include a high-level debate organized from September 20 to 26 this year.

• The theme of the UNGA 77 is “A watershed moment: transformative solutions to interlocking challenges”.
• The theme recognizes the shared roots of global crisis like COVID-19, climate change and conflict and highlights the importance of building global sustainability and resilience.
• The event is being organized at the UN Headquarters in New York.

The RBI has directed urban cooperative banks (UCBs) belonging to tier 3 and tier 4 categories to create a Board-approved policy and compliance function. 

• The central bank has asked the urban cooperative banks with more than Rs.10,000 crore deposits (tier 4 category) to create a board-approved compliance policy and a compliance function, including the appointment of a Chief Compliance Officer (CCO), by April 1, 2023.
• Tier 3 UCBs i.e., those having more than Rs.1,000 crore and up to Rs.10,000 crore deposits are given the deadline of October 1,2023.
• The board approved Compliance Policy should give clear outline on the implementation of compliance philosophy, expectations on compliance culture, structure and role of the Compliance Function, the role of the CCO and the processes for the identification, assessment, monitoring, management and reporting on the compliance risk.
• The framework requires the Senior Management of these UCBs to undertake Compliance Risk Assessment every year.

Jayanta Baruah gifted Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a copy of the Braille version of the Assamese Dictionary ‘Hemkosh’.

According to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Hemkosh was one of the first Assamese dictionaries published in the nineteenth century.

PM Modi praised Jayanta Baruah and his colleagues for their efforts that resulted in the publication of the Braille version.

The Asia-pacific Institute of Broadcasting Development (AIBD) has unanimously extended India’s presidency for one more year.

• The member countries of the AIBD have decided to extend India’s presidency at the two-day General Conference of the Institute that was held in New Delhi.
• The General Conference of the AIBD was inaugurated by the Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Youth Affairs and Sports.
• It was organized from September 19 to 20 this year.
• The conference focused on theme “Building a Stronger Future of Broadcasting in post pandemic era”.
• During the event, all participating countries and member broadcasters have committed to work together for creating sustainable broadcasting environment, promoting latest technology know-how, quality content creation and various cooperative activities.
• A five-year plan for cooperative activities and exchanges programmes were finalized during the conference.

Global Registry of Fossil Fuels is the world’s first public database on fossil fuel reserves, production and emissions. 

• The Global Registry of Fossil Fuels is the “first-ever fully transparent” public database that tracks fossil fuels across the world.
• It was launched by the Carbon Tracker and Global Energy Monitor.
• It was released to coincide with the two important international climate talks – the UNGA, which is set to commence in New York on September 13 and COP27, which will be organized in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt in November.
• This inventory has data from more than 50,000 oil, gas and coal fields in 89 countries.
• This accounts for 75 per cent of global production.

Retired Gujarat cadre officer Bharat Lal has been appointed as the Director General, National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG).

• Bharat Lal, a 1988-batch Indian Forest officer of Gujarat cadre, had served as Gujarat government’s resident commissioner in Delhi and has been known to be close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the then chief minister of the state.
• Earlier, during December 2021, Lal was appointed as the Secretary to the Lokpal.
• The National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG) is an autonomous institute under the aegis of Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, Government of India. Its head office is at New Delhi and the branch office at Mussoorie.

Former international swimmer from Assam, Elvis Ali Hazarika has become the first from Northeast India and the oldest Indian to swim across the North Channel, a strait between north-eastern Northern Ireland and south-western Scotland.

• Hailing from Guwahati, 40-year-old Elvis clocked a time of 14 hours and 38 minutes to accomplish what remains a dream for many swimmers.
• According to the Irish Long Distance Swimming Association, the distance of the route recognised as a North Channel swim is 34.5 km (21.4 miles)

Comedian Raju Srivastava, a popular face in the entertainment industry, has passed away.

• Srivastava has been on a ventilator since August 10 after he collapsed while running on a treadmill.
• Raju Srivastava was declared dead at 10.20 am, according to hospital sources. 
• The postmortem of comedian Raju Srivastava was performed using a novel technique with help of high-tech digital X-rays and CT scan instead of traditional autopsy.

Valery Polyakov, who held the record for the achieving the longest single stay in space, has passed away at the age of 80.

• Valery Polyakov’s record of 437 days in space started on January 8, 1994.
• While aboard the Soviet Space Station Mir, he orbited the Earth more than 7,000 times before returning back to Earth on March 22, 1995.
• Earlier, Polyakov spent 288 days in space on a mission that took place in 1988-89.
• This was his first mission into space. He returned to Earth in the year 1989 after 8 months.
• He served as the Deputy Director of the Institute of Biomedical Problems in Moscow.

IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2022 was released recently.

• 1,103 individuals from 122 Indian cities have cumulative wealth of Rs.1,000 crore wealth – a 62 per cent increase in the last five years.
• Cumulative wealth has surged by 9.4 per cent, while average wealth has fallen by 1 per cent.
• 602 individuals have witnessed their wealth increase or stay at constant. Of these, 149 were new entrants.
• 415 people have witnessed their wealth decline and 50 have dropped out from this list.
• Number of billionaires in India has dropped to 221.
• Chemicals and Financial Services have the largest number of new entrants and the pharmaceutical sector is the largest contributor of wealth creation and it has contributed towards 126 entrants.

USD 350 million in aid has been approved by the World Bank for the “Systems Reform Endeavors for Transformed Health Achievement” in Gujarat or the SRESTHA-G project.

This project will be costing USD 500 million and the World Bank is providing USD 350 million to support this project and the rest will be borne by the state government. The funding be provided by International Bank of Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), with a maturity of 18 years, including a grace period of 5.5 years.

Key focus of the area

This project aims on transforming key health delivery systems in Gujarat. This programme will also be focusing on the key areas of improving equity, quality, and inclusiveness of primary healthcare services for all adolescent girls in the state.

The Sample Registration System (SRS) Statistical Report 2020 was released recently by the Registrar General of India (RGI).

Key findings

• As per the report, India has been witnessing a progressive reduction in  of child mortality rates such as Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), Under-five mortality rate (U5MR) and Neonatal mortality rate (NMR) since 2014 towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) targets by 2030.

Under 5 Mortality Rate (U5MR)–

• U5MR for the country has shown significant decline of 3 points (Annual Decline Rate: 8.6%) from 2019 (32 per 1000 live births in 2020 against 35 per 1000 live births in 2019). 

Infant Mortality Rate (IMR)- 

• IMR has registered 2-point decline to 28 per 1000 live births in 2020 from 30 per 1000 live births in 2019 (Annual Decline Rate: 6.7%).
• The Rural-Urban difference has narrowed to 12 points (Urban 19, Rural-31).
• No gender differential has observed in 2020 (Male -28, Female – 28).

Neonatal Mortality Rate-

• It has also declined from 22 per 1000 live births in 2019 to 20 per 1000 live births in 2020 (Annual Decline Rate: 9.1%). 
• It ranges from 12 in urban areas to 23 in rural areas.

As per SRS 2020 Report,

• Six (6) States/ UT have already attained SDG target of NMR (<=12 by 2030):  Kerala (4), Delhi (9), Tamil Nadu , Maharashtra, Jammu & Kashmir and Punjab.
• Eleven States/UT have already attained SDGs target of U5MR (<=25 by 2030): Kerala (8), Tamil Nadu (13), Delhi, Maharashtra, J&K, Karnataka, Punjab, West Bengal, Telangana, Gujarat, and Himachal Pradesh.

Kerala-based CSB Bank announced the appointment of Pralay Mondal as the bank’s new Managing Director and CEO.

• According to a press release, the Board of Directors of the Bank authorised the appointment of Mondal as the MD & CEO of the Bank on September 15, 2022, based on the consent granted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
• Mondal’s appointment is for three years, from September 15, 2022 to September 14, 2025, in accordance with RBI permission, according to the bank.
• Mondal joined the bank as President (Retail, SME, Operations, and IT) on September 23, 2020, and was named Deputy Managing Director on February 17, 2022.

A new type of crystal was discovered by researchers in China from the near side of the Moon.

• The newly discovered crystal was named Changesite-(Y) after the Chinese moon goddess Chang’e.
• This small and transparent crystal was found among the volcanic debris of the near side of the moon.
• It is more than a billion years old and its width is almost comparable to human hair.
• It has a unique composition and is related to other minerals found only found on the lunar surface or in meteors.
• The crystal was found among the 1.8 km of lunar rocks brought back by Chang’e-5 mission in 2020.
• These samples are the first to the delivered to the Earth from Moon since 1976 and the first ever lunar samples collected by China.

UK-headquartered TerraPay has partnered with NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL), the international arm of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to allow Indian customers and merchants with an active Unified Payments Interface (UPI) ID to make and accept cross-border payments.

• The UPI-enabled QR code-based service will allow Indian customers with active UPI IDs to make transactions through 350 million bank accounts across the globe.
• The firms seek to expand the use of UPI payments and QR for international transactions by merchants.
• The customer-initiative UPI payments and QR transactions require two-factor authentication.
• The two-factor authentication is capable of minimizing disputes and issues related to grievance redressal.

Power sector focussed NBFC REC Ltd has been accorded the status of Maharatna central public sector enterprise (CPSE).

• The granting of ‘Maharatna’ status will impart enhanced powers to the company’s board while taking financial decisions. REC Ltd. is the 12th company to be given the Maharatna Status.
• The board of a ‘Maharatna’ CPSE can make equity investments to undertake financial joint ventures and wholly-owned subsidiaries and undertake mergers and acquisitions in India and abroad, subject to a ceiling of 15 per cent of the net worth of the CPSE concerned, limited to ?5,000 crores in one project. The board can also structure and implement schemes relating to personnel and human resource management and training.

NASA’s DART Mission to collide with an asteroid: In order to test a crucial technology that might be used to divert asteroids heading towards Earth, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission, which is nearing the end of its life, will fall on an asteroid.

• The spacecraft has travelled along a celestial path under Jupiter’s supervision, which is the largest planet in the solar system.
• On September 26, the spacecraft will travel at a speed of 24,000 kilometres per hour as it collides with the Didymos binary asteroid system, softly deflecting and altering its orbit.

2023 Breakthrough Prizes conferred to individuals who made key contributions in the scientific growth.

• The Breakthrough Prizes are international awards conferred under three categories – mathematics, fundamental physics and life sciences.
• These awards give recognition to scientific advances in these fields.
• The awards were created in 2010 by a group of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs – Milner (venture capitalist), Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan of Facebook and Sergey Brin of Google.
• The Breakthrough Prizes were conferred for the first time in 2012 and the ceremony was hosted by Morgan Freeman.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully tested a hybrid motor, which will pave way for a new propulsion system for the upcoming launch vehicles. 

• The test was conducted at ISRO Propulsion Complex (IPRC) at Mahendragiri in Tamil Nadu supported by Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) .
• The Bengaluru-based space agency claimed that the 30 kN hybrid motor tested at the ISRO Propulsion Complex (IPRC) at Mahendragiri in Tamil Nadu is stackable and scalable.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has found another partner to help further its moon exploration ambitions.

• The UAE's Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the China National Space Agency (CNSA) to work together on future lunar efforts.
• The two agencies will "collaborate on future moon missions involving the landing of an MBRSC rover aboard a CNSA lander," the MBRSC said via Twitter today(opens in new tab).
• The agreement marks "the first joint space project between the UAE and China," the agency said in another tweet(opens in new tab).

NASA’s Perseverance rover has collected some of the most promising samples yet in its ongoing search for signs of life on the Red Planet.

• Among them are several mudstone samples collected from a one-metre-wide rock named Wildcat Ridge that are packed with organic compounds – chemicals that are essential for life.
• Perseverance has been trundling around an area known as the Jezero Crater since September 2021 and has so far collected 12 samples of rock.

The UAE is expected to launch the Rashid rover in November this year aboard a Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket.

Adobe announced it has entered into a definitive merger agreement to acquire Figma, a leading web-first collaborative design platform, for approximately $20 billion in cash and stock. 

The combination of Adobe and Figma will usher in a new era of collaborative creativity.

Adobe’s mission is to change the world through digital experiences.

The Central Government will constitute a national commission to study the social, economic and educational status of members of Scheduled Castes or Dalits who have converted to religions other than Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism. 

• This proposed commission is significant as several petitions are currently pending before the Supreme Court seeking SC reservation benefits for Dalits who have converted to Christianity or Islam.
• The Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 under Article 341 states that no individual belonging to religion other than Hinduism, Sikhism or Buddhism can be recognized as a member of the Scheduled Caste.
• The proposed commission would have 3 to 4 members with its chairman being a Union Cabinet Minister.

Recently, the Union Minister for Education launched Ramakrishna Mission’s ‘Awakening’ Programme for school students.

• It is an initiative towards ensuring overall personality development of a child in line with the philosophy of National Education Policy (NEP), 2020.
• It is for the students of classes I to V.
• Ramakrishna Mission’s ‘Awakening’ Program aims to enable children to build “ATMASHRADDHA” (Self-esteem) and make responsible choices.
• Ramakrishna Mission’s ‘Awakening’ Program helps them to find solutions for all problems of life.

The Central Government has launched the Sign Learn to make Indian Sign Language usage more widespread.

• Sign Learn is a mobile application-based Indian Sign Language Dictionary having 10,000 words.
• The application was launched by the Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Pratima Bhoumik.
• It was developed based on the Indian Sign Language Dictionary of the Indian Sign Language Research And Training Centre (ISLRTC).
• In the application, all the words can be searched either in Hindi or English.
• The purpose of this mobile application is to make Indian Sign Language (ISL) more accessible for the general public.
• All sign videos in the application can be shared via social media.
• It was launched on the occasion of Sign Language Day.
• On this occasion, ISL e-content of NCERT textbooks of class 6 and Indian Sign Language versions of selected books of ‘Veergatha’ series were launched.
• The e-content was developed after an MoU was signed in 2020 for converting NCERT textbooks for classes 1 to 12 into digital ISL format to make them more accessible for children having hearing disabilities.

Union Social Justice and Empowerment minister Dr. Virendra Kumar virtually inaugurated 9 model District Disability Rehabilitation centres(DDRC). The minister was inaugurating 9 DDRCs which had been upgrading to model DDRCs. 

• The upgraded model DDRCs are situated in Badaun, Pilibhit, Bareilly, Balaghat, Golaghat, Ahmedabad, Amravati, Kullu and Rampur.
• They were virtually inaugurated by the Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment.
• In these model DDRCs, services like hearing aids testing lab, speech therapy room, visual therapy room, psychologist room, physiotherapist room, gait practice parallel bar and telemedicine/tele-therapy facilities are provided.
• They will also assist persons with disabilities to register in the Unique Disability ID portal.

Roger Federer's final match will see him play alongside old rival Rafael Nadal in the Laver Cup doubles in London.

The pair will represent Team Europe against Team World's Jack Sock and Frances Tiafoe at London's 02 Arena.

Before that match, Andy Murray will start the evening session in singles against Alex de Minaur.

Czech Republic’s 17-year-old, Linda Fruhvirtova scripted a brilliant comeback to win the Chennai Open 2022 WTA 250 tennis singles. The teenager beat Magda Linette of Poland, the third seed, in the final. At 17 years and 141 days old, she is the youngest titlist of the season on the WTA Tour so far.

• In doubles, the top-seeded pair of Brazil’s Luisa Stefani and Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski defeated Russian Tennis Federation’s Anna Blinkova and Georgia’s Natela Dzalamidze 6-2, 6-1 in the one-sided final.
• The Chennai Open was the first WTA tournament held in India in 14 years.

MotoGP, the premier motorcycle race, will be held in India for the first time at the Buddh International Circuit, Greater Noida in 2023.

• Dorna Sports, which owns the commercial rights for MotoGP, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Fairstreet Sports to host the premier two-wheel racing championship in India for seven years.
• This isn’t the first time that a major racing event has visited India. Formula One (F1 Race), a motor racing championship, organized the “Indian Grand Prix” from 2011 to 2013 at the Buddh International Circuit, Greater Noida.

Lt General V K Saxena on Saturday inaugurated a community policing initiative here aimed at spreading awareness about various schemes of the Delhi Police among people.

• Saxena inaugurated the 'We Care' initiative at an event organised at Kartvaya Path at India Gate on the occasion of 'Sewa Diwas', which is being celebrated to mark 72nd birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• The aim of this initiative is to spread awareness among people about different schemes of the Delhi Police to maintain coordination and establish a police-public interface

India’s first lithium cell manufacturing facility will be inaugurated today by Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar at Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh.

• The cell manufacturing facility has been setup by the Chennai based Munoth Industries Limited at the cost of Rs. 165 crores.
• The facility is located in one of the two Electronics Manufacturing Clusters set up in Tirupati.

The Maharashtra tourism department will propose the renaming of Daulatabad fort located near Aurangabad city to its old name ‘Devgiri’.

• This decision comes after Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray. It is a national heritage monument, which is maintained by the Archeological Survey of India (ASI). Previously Maharashtra’s former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray was renamed Aurangabad Sambhajinagar.
• The decision of renaming Daulatabad fort to Devgiri came after Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray renamed Aurangabad to Sambhajinagar after a long demand from Sena Foot Soldiers.

CM Da Haisi: The Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh at Imphal launched a web facility to gather complaints and concerns from the general public.

• The web portal is called “CM Da Haisi,” which translates to “to inform the CM,” and the public can express their complaints there by visiting www.cmdahaisi.mn.gov.in. The status of the complaints may also be checked by the complainants.
• The Public Grievances Redressal and Anti-Corruption Cell, located at the CM Secretariat, will use the portal to communicate with the relevant departments.

Prime Minister Modi virtually inaugurated the National Conference of Environment Ministers held in Gujarat.

• National Conference of Environment Ministers of all States is a two-day event held at Ekta Nagar in Gujarat on September 23 and 24 this year.
• The objective of this conference is to promote cooperative federalism through the promotion of synergized working of central and state governments on issues pertaining to the environment and climate change.

The Indian Government announced the launch of the Innovation Roadmap of the Mission Integrated Biorefineries at the Global Clean Energy Action Forum 2022 in Pittsburgh, US.

• The Innovation Roadmap of the Mission Integrated Biorefineries developed using co-leads and active inputs from Brazil, Canada, European Commission and the UK.
• It aims to enhance global collaboration and funding for energy research, development and demonstration (RD&D) during the next five years.
• It will focus on the development of bio-based sustainable fuels, chemicals and materials, which are vital to reduce GHG emissions, strengthen and diversify supply chain and help the world to achieve the net-zero targets and 2030 sustainable development goals.
• The roadmap will identify gaps and challenges in current biorefining value chains and take required actions to support the mission goals.

Fridays for Future activists have launched climate change protests in Germany and other countries.

Key facts

• About 280,000 people in over 270 cities and towns across Germany are taking part in demonstrations as part of the Fridays for Future movement.
• One of the biggest rallies took place in Berlin, where over 36,000 people gathered to conduct climate demonstrations.
• These protesters are calling for the stopping of global warming and demanding the German government to set up a 100 billion euro funding to expand renewable energy use.
• They are also demanding the cancellation of financial and climate debts to developing countries.
• These protests were organized 6 weeks before the start of the UN Climate Summit (COP27), which is set to take place in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.
• Countries like Italy, South Korea, the United States and the Democratic Republic of Congo have also witnessed similar protests.

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Cadet Corps (NCC) to tackle the issue of plastic pollution and achieve the universal goal of clean water bodies through ‘Puneet Sagar Abhiyan’ and ‘Tide Turners Plastic Challenge programme’.

• The MoU was signed in the presence of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi on September 22, 2022. The agreement was signed by DG NCC Lt. Gen. Gurbirpal Singh and Bishow Parajuli, Resident Representative, UN World Food Programme.
• The aim of the MoU between NCC and UNEP is to synergise and collate efforts towards engaging youth for promoting clean water bodies.

Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh will lead the Joint Indian Ministerial Delegation of Power, New and Renewable Energy and Science and Technology to America to take part in Global Clean Energy Action Forum.

• He will be on a five-day visit to participate in the joint convening of Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM13) and Mission Innovation (MI-7) from 21st to 23rd September, 2022 at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
• The event will bring together thousands of clean energy leaders from around the world, including CEOs, innovators, young professionals, civil society and Ministers from over 30 countries to accelerate clean energy innovation and deployment

A wild Arctic wolf was successfully cloned for the first time in the world by a Beijing-based gene firm. The cloning of the Arctic wolf, also known as the white wolf or polar wolf, which is native to the High Arctic tundra of Canada’s Queen Elizabeth Islands, is considered a milestone achievement in conserving rare and endangered species through cloning technology.

• The wolf named Maya is in good health. The donor cell of the wolf came from the skin sample of a wild female Arctic wolf and its oocyte was taken from a female dog.
• According to the Global Times report, Maya’s surrogate mother was a beagle, a dog breed.
• The dog was selected as the surrogate as it shares genetic ancestry with ancient wolves and hence, ensures success in cloning.