NATIONAL NEWS

First Solar Power Plant in India by Hitachi Astemo

• Hitachi Astemo installed its India's first ground mounted solar power plant of 3 megawatt (MW) at Jalgaon manufacturing plant.
• The 3 megawatts (MW) solar power plant will be built in an area of 43301 Sqm.
• The ground-mounted solar power plant will consist of 7128 ground-mounted solar panels and 10 inverters.
• Hitachi Astemo is a known for the development, manufacture, sale and service of automotive and transportation components.
• This solar power plant will embark on its new journey in the field of sustainable energy in India.

JALDOOT App

• Rural Development Ministry has developed a JALDOOT App to capture the water level of selected wells in a village across the country.
• The App was jointly launched by Minister of State for Panchayati Raj- Kapil Moreshwar Patil, Ministers of State for Rural Development- Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti and Faggan Singh Kulaste in New Delhi.
• The App will enable Gram Rojgar Sahyak to measure the water level of well twice a year pre-monsoon and post-monsoon.
• The App will also facilitate panchayats with robust data, which can be further used for better planning of works.

Health Insurance Scheme CMHIS

• The Government of Nagaland will launch its health insurance scheme called the Chief Minister’s Health Insurance Scheme (CMHIS) on 01 October 2022.

• It is to reduce out-of-pocket expenditure on hospital care for all bonafide citizens of Nagaland.

• The scheme will cover two beneficiary categories: State government employees and pensioners including legislators/ex-legislators and their dependents and all the Indigenous and or Permanent residents of the State who are not beneficiaries under AB PM-JAY or any public-funded insurance scheme.
• It provides free health insurance coverage of up to 5 lakh rupees per family per year.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

INS Tarkash at Port Gentil

• INS Tarkash made a port call at Port Gentil, Gabon as part of the ongoing deployment in the Gulf of Guinea for anti-piracy patrol.

• This marks the first visit by any Indian Naval Ship to Gabon.

• During the stay, the ship and her crew will participate in official and professional interactions as well as sports fixtures.

• The professional interactions will include discussions and drills on fire fighting and damage control, medical and casualty evacuation issues and diving operations.
• The ship will also remain open to visitors.

BANKING

ADB to Transfer $ 14 billion to Asia-Pacific

• The Asian Development Bank plans to provide at least $14 billion over 2022-2025 in a comprehensive program of support to ease a food crisis in Asia and the Pacific.

• It plans a comprehensive program of support to help the 1.1 billion people in the region who lack healthy diets due to poverty and soaring food prices.

• The ADB announced that the funds will go to both existing and new projects spanning farming, food production and distribution, water resources management and social supports.

• The Manila, Philippines-based ADB made the announcement during its annual meeting on 27 September 2022.
• In a recent update, the bank downgraded its forecast for growth in the region to 4.3% from an earlier estimate of 5.2%.

BUSINESS

Extension of Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20

• Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20 has been extended for a further period of six months.

• The extension will come into effect from 01 October 2022.

• Ministry of Commerce and Industry announced that the government has received requests from Export Promotion Councils and leading exporters to extend the policy.

• Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20 was unveiled in 2015. It emphasizes on improving the ease of doing business.
• The policy provides a framework for increasing exports of goods and services keeping Make in India vision of Prime Minister in focus.

SPORTS

Laver Cup 2022

• Team World, beat Team Europe to win the Laver Cup for the first time.

• Frances Tiafoe and Felix Auger of Team World defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas and Novak Djokovic of Team Europe to win the competition.

• Laver Cup is an international indoor hard-court tournament between Team Europe and Team World.

AWARDS & PRIZES

Dada Sahed Phalke Award

• Veteran actress Asha Parekh has been conferred the recipient of the 2020 Dadasaheb Phalke award.
• The award was announced by the Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Anurag Thakur.
• She worked in more than 95 films and was the chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification from 1998-2001.
• Asha Parekh was awarded the Padma Shri in 1992.
• The 68th National Film Awards will be held on 30 September 2022 and will be presided over by President Droupadi Murmu.

Breakthrough Prizes 2023

• The Breakthrough Prizes are international awards conferred under three categories – mathematics, fundamental physics and life sciences.

• 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.

• Awardees receive 3 million USD each in prize money, which is higher than the 1 million USD received by Nobel laureates.

• This year, three prizes were conferred in the life sciences category, one for mathematics and one for fundamental physics.

• Daniel Spielman of Yale University was given recognition for multiple discoveries in theoretical computer science and mathematics.
• Charles Bennett, Gilles Brassard, David Deutsch and Peter Shor received the prize for their research in quantum information in the category of fundamental physics.
• Clifford Brangwynne and Anthony Hyman received the prize for discovering a new mechanism of cellular organization in the category of life sciences.

ASQ Award

• The Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) has been awarded the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) award 2022 by the Airport Council International.

• The award is considered to be the highest honour in the global aviation sector.

• CIAL received the award for implementing its ‘Mission Safeguarding’ programme, which ensured seamless traffic and reinforced passengers’ satisfaction during the pandemic.

APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

MD and CEO of NPCI

• The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has reappointed Dilip Asbe as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (MD & CEO) of the company for a period of five years.

• Dilip Asbe took over as MD&CEO of NPCI in January 2018.

• NPCI is an umbrella organisation for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India.

• Prior to this, he served as Chief Operating Officer of NPCI.

New Director General of ICMR

• The Central government appointed Rajiv Bahl as a Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Secretary Department of Health Research (DHR) for 3 years.

• He will replace Balram Bhargava, who was appointed to the post in April 2018 for 4 years.

• Bahl currently serves as head of research in the maternal, newborn child and adolescent Health-cum-Newborn unit of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva.