National
SC onboarded data on National Judicial Data Grid
- The Supreme Court onboarded its case data on the National Judicial Data Grid.
- The NJDG portal is a national repository of data relating to cases instituted, pending and disposed of by the courts across the country.
- The NJDG was built as part of Phase II of the e-Courts project, which is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme.
PM Vishwakarma scheme launched
- On 17 September 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the PM Vishwakarma scheme in New Delhi on the occasion of Vishwakarma Jayanti, for giving government support to workers engaged in traditional crafts and skills.
- The scheme is also being seen as a means for the government to reach out to the economically marginalised and socially backward communities – particularly the Other Backward Classes (OBC) groups.
Santiniketan inscribed on UNESCO World Heritage List
- Santiniketan, the famed place in West Bengal where poet Rabindranath Tagore built Visva-Bharati over a century ago, has been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
- The decision to include Santiniketan in the list was taken during the 45th session of the World Heritage Committee currently underway in Saudi Arabia.
Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam
- The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam — The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Eight Amendment) Bill, 2023, which provides for 33% reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state Assemblies — was passed by Parliament.
- The provisions of the new law shall come into effect “after an exercise of delimitation” undertaken “after the relevant figures for the first Census” carried out “after the commencement” of this law is “published”.
Hoysala temples on UNESCO heritage list
- Three Hoysala-era temples in Karnataka made it to UNESCO’s World Heritage List, under the collective entry of ‘Sacred Ensembles of the Hoysalas’.
- Hoysala temples are known for the rare beauty and finesse of their wall sculptures, and have been described as “art which applies to stone the technique of the ivory worker or the goldsmith”.
- The three temples include the Chennakeshava temple in Belur, the Hoysaleswara Temple in Halebidu, and the Keshava Temple in Somanathapura.
International
Separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh surrender
- Armenian separatist forces in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region of the South Caucasus surrendered and agreed to a ceasefire.
- For approximately four decades, territorial disputes and ethnic conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan have severely impacted the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
- The two countries went to war over Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020, and months after the war, Russia brokered a truce.
I2U2 announces joint space venture
- India, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States, or I2U2 have announced a new joint space venture on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in New York to take forward their partnership.
- Primarily using space-based observation data and capabilities of the four I2U2 partner countries.
The Five Eyes Alliance for intelligence-sharing
- The ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence-sharing alliance include Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.
- These partner countries share a broad range of intelligence with one another in one of the world’s most unified multilateral arrangements.
Amazon countries fail to agree on protection goals
- Leaders from the eight countries across the Amazon, including Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela, failed to agree on the goal to protect the rainforest at the ongoing Amazon Summitorganised by the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO).
- ACTO is an international organisation “aimed at the promotion of sustainable development of the Amazon Basin”.
China-Philippines tussle over South China Sea
- The Philippine coast guard said it had removed a floating barrier placed by China’s coast guard to prevent Filipino fishing boats from entering a disputed area in the South China Sea.
- The South China Sea is situated just south of the Chinese mainland and is bordered by the countries of Brunei, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.
- The countries have bickered over territorial control in the sea for centuries, but in recent years tensions have soared to new heights.
Economy
India slips in economic freedom index
- India has fallen one notch to the 87th position out of 165 countries on the economic freedom index. The country was at the 86th spot in previous year's rankings.
- The 'Economic Freedom of the World: 2021 Annual Report' by Canada's Fraser Institute has been released in India in conjunction with New Delhi-based think tank Centre For Civil Society.
- India has been ranked higher than China, which stands at the 111th position. Venezuela once again ranks last.
Science and Technology
Unique way to detect and kill cancer cells
- Scientists at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have made a significant breakthrough in cancer research by developing a new method to detect and kill cancer cells.
- The team has created hybrid nanoparticles, composed of gold and copper sulphide, which can destroy cancer cells through heat generation and enable their detection using sound waves.
- The hybrid nanoparticles exhibit photothermal, oxidative stress, and photoacoustic properties.
Planetary boundaries framework
- Six out of nine planetary boundaries, which can be imagined as blood pressure, that make Earth healthy and habitable have been transgressed because of human-induced pollution and destruction of the natural world.
- The study, ‘Earth beyond six of nine planetary boundaries’, has been carried out by a team of 29 scientists from eight different countries and published in the journal Science Advances.
- The planetary boundaries framework applies the newest scientific understanding of the functioning of the Earth system to identify a 'safe operating space' for humanity.
NASA's first asteroid samples land on Earth
- NASA's first asteroid samples fetched from deep space parachuted into the Utah desert to cap a seven-year journey.
- In a flyby of Earth, the Osiris-Rex spacecraft released the sample capsule from 63,000 miles (100,000 kilometers) out.
- Osiris-Rex, the mothership, rocketed away on the $1 billion mission in 2016. It reached Bennu two years later and, using a long stick vacuum, grabbed rubble from the small roundish space rock in 2020.
- Japan, the only other country to bring back asteroid samples, gathered about a teaspoon in a pair of asteroid missions.
IIT Guwahati develops fabric to tackle oil spills
- Researchers at IIT-Guwahati on 26 September 2023 said they have developed a fabric that can separate oil from water, which will help in tackling marine pollution caused by oil spills.
- The silica nanoparticles-coated cotton fabric has been developed using rice husk, an agricultural waste, as the primary source material.
- The aim is to convert an agricultural waste into a sustainable value-added product to mitigate marine oil pollution.
CALIPSO mission stops blasting lasers on Earth
- The CALIPSO mission that analysed climate, weather, and air quality ended, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
- The CALIPSO (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation) mission recorded more than 10 billion LIDAR measurements and helped create thousands of scientific reports over its 17 years of operation.
India retains its 40th position in GII 2023
- India retained its 40th position on the annual Global Innovation Index (GII) 2023 with a score of 38.1, due to its vibrant start-up ecosystem, knowledge capital and the work done by public and private research organisations.
- The index by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) was released on 28 September 2023 and ranked 132 economies on the Innovation Index.
Miscellaneous
Fourth state to introduce e-cabinet system
- Tripura launched an e-cabinet system at Agartala to promote digital infrastructure development and digitisation of government services and information.
- Tripura has thus become the fourth state—and second in the Northeast—after Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh, to have introduced an e-cabinet system.
House panel report on ASI protected monuments
- Claiming that many of the 3,691 centrally protected monuments (CMP) in India are “minor” monuments, a parliamentary committee has recommended that the list should be “rationalised and categorised” on the basis of their national significance, unique architectural and heritage value.
- The recommendations are part of the ‘359th Report on the Functioning of Archaeological Survey of India’ by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture, which was presented to Parliament recently.
Copyright infringement suit to HoB
- The Delhi High Court has issued summons to an Instagram account called People of India (POI), in a copyright infringement suit filed by the storytelling platform Humans of Bombay (HOB).
- “Copyright” refers to the right given by the law to creators of literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works and producers of cinematograph films and sound recordings.
- The Copyright Act, 1957 aims to safeguard creative works, which are considered to be the creator’s intellectual property.
India ageing report 2023
- United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) India, in collaboration with the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), has unveiled the much-anticipated "India Ageing Report 2023."
- This comprehensive report delves into the challenges, opportunities, and institutional responses surrounding elderly care in India as the nation undergoes a significant demographic shift towards an ageing population.
Gender inequality in Cancer care
- Around 63% of premature deaths due to cancers in Indian womencould have been prevented by reducing risk factors, screening, and diagnosis, while 37% could have been averted with timely and optimal treatment, a new Lancet Commission report on gender inequity in cancer care
- Titled ‘Women, Power and Cancer’, the report said around 6.9 million cancer deaths among women in India were preventable and 03 million were treatable.
IATA assigned ‘DXN’ to Jewar Airport
- The upcoming Noida International Airport (NIA) in Jewar was awarded its own unique international three-letter code, ‘DXN’, by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
- The D in DXN signifies Delhi, which is the national capital, and N stands for Noida, which shows our presence in the Western UP area. X, signifies connectivity within India and the world.
- Airport codes are unique identifiers assigned to each airport. While most people are familiar only with the codes assigned by IATA, a Montreal-based international aviation trade association.
Ozone Day 2023
- 16 September this year is celebrated as Ozone Day under the theme “Montreal Protocol: Fixing the ozone layer and reducing climate change.”
- Ozone is a molecule that is made up of three oxygen atoms. A layer of this gas sits in our planet’s stratosphere between 15 and 30 kilometres above the surface.
- The Montreal Protocol brought together world governments in a rampantly successful effort to protect the ozone layer by phasing out many ozone-depleting substances.
