National
Army’s Project Udbhav started
- The Indian Army has started an initiative, named Project Udbhav, to rediscover the “profound Indic heritage of statecraft and strategic thoughts” derived from ancient Indian texts of “statecraft, warcraft, diplomacy and grand strategy” in collaboration with the United Service Institution of India, a defence think-tank.
- The project endeavours to explore India’s rich historical narratives in the realms of statecraft and strategic thoughts.
India in Global Hunger Index-2023
- India ranked 111th out of 125 countries in the Global Hunger Index-2023, which was rejected by the government as erroneous and having malafide intent.
- The index, released, also stated that India has the highest child wasting rate in the world at 7 per cent, reflecting acute undernutrition.
- The Global Hunger Index (GHI is a tool for comprehensively measuring and tracking hunger at global, regional, and national levels.
‘Dynamic injunction’ against illegal broadcast
- The Delhi High Court restrained nine websites from illegally broadcasting the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023
- The court passed a “dynamic injunction” in favour of the cup’s broadcaster, Star India Private Limited, before the Cup’s commencement.
- A dynamic injunction is passed to protect copyrighted works even before they are publicly released, distributed, or created.
Arunachal Yak churpi gets GI tag
- Slightly sour and salty churpi, a naturally fermented cheese prepared from milk of Arunachali yak, reared in the high altitude areas in Arunachal Pradesh has received the Geographical Indication (GI) tag which boosts the hairy bovine species' conservation.
TRAI can’t regulate OTT platforms
- Over the top (OTT) platforms like Hotstar are not in the jurisdiction of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and are governed by the Information Technology Rules, 2021, notified by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), India’s telecom appellate panel has held.
National framework for climate services
- India is embarking on a major programme to launch its maiden national-level framework towards providing climate services and information.
- Spearheaded by the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the National Framework for Climate Services (NFCS) envisions to bring a seamless working platform for users of climate information and services, and help decide and mitigate climate risks for key sectors — agriculture, energy, disaster management, health and water.
Mera Yuva Bharat launched
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet approved the establishment of an autonomous body called Mera Yuva Bharat (MY Bharat) for “youth-led development and to provide equitable access to the youth”.
- The primary objective of MY Bharat is to become an overarching platform for youth development.
- The MY Bharat portal will be unveiled on 31 October to mark the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
Two green initiatives notified ahead of COP28
- The Union government has notified two initiatives—a green credit programme focusing on afforestation and water conservation and an ecomark scheme to promote “eco-friendly” products.
- These initiatives will take ahead Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Lifestyle for Environment, or Life, movement announced in 2021, the ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC) said.
- These initiatives, the Green Credit Program (GCP) and the Ecomark Scheme, seek to encourage environmentally friendly practices rooted in tradition and conservation; reflecting the ideas of Life concept.
International
India launched Operation Ajay
- The Indian government has launched ‘Operation Ajay’ to repatriate Indians from Israel and Palestine.
- The government will bring back its citizens through special chartered flights. The Navy will also be pressed into action if the need arises,
Russia may pull out of CTBT
- Russia might revoke its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
- The CTBT is a multilateral treaty that bans all nuclear explosions, whether for military or peaceful purposes.
- It was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1996, it’s still in the ratification stage — 18 countries are yet to ratify. While Russia ratified the agreement in 2000, the US is still to do so.
Israel-Palestine Conflict
- Thousands of rockets were fired at Israel from Gaza on 7 October 2023.
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with the highest number of fatalities in West Bank, which has been occupied by Israel since the 1967 Arab-Israeli conflict, in years.
- The Palestinian group Hamas claimed responsibility for the rocket assault on Israel, saying its militants had launched more than 5,000 rockets.
What is Hamas?
- Hamas is the largest Palestinian militant Islamist group and one of the two major political parties in the region.
- Currently, it governs more than two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The organisation, however, is also known for its armed resistance against Israel.
Economy
RBI’s Open Market Operation plan
- The Reserve Bank of India’s announcement to consider the Open Market Operation (OMO) sale of government securities to manage liquidity in the system took the bond market.
- The RBI uses Open market operations (OMOs) in order to adjust the rupee liquidity conditions in the market on a durable basis.
World's first green bond standards to avoid greenwashing
- European Union lawmakers approved new standards for companies issuing "green" bonds to help investors pick sustainable companies and avoid greenwashing or misleading climate-friendly claims.
Science And Technology
India’s first cell therapy for cancer treatment
- The Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) has issued market authorisation to CAR-T (Chimeric Antigen Receptor-T) cell therapy.
- It is a breakthrough treatment for treating relapsed/refractory (r/r) B-cell lymphomas and leukaemia, paving the way for its commercial launch of indigenous NexCAR19 in the country.
- ImmunoACT – an IIT Bombay incubated company – developed the treatment.
Psyche metal asteroid mission
- NASA launched a spacecraft from Florida on its way to Psyche, the largest of the several metal-rich asteroids known in our solar system and a body thought to be the remnant core of an ancient protoplanet.
UN authorises second malaria vaccine
- The R21/Matrix-M™ malaria vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and the Serum Institute of India, leveraging Novavax’s adjuvant technology, has been recommended for use by the World Health Organization (WHO) after meeting required safety, quality and effectiveness standards.
New Horizons mission explores Kuiper belt
- NASA’s New Horizons mission was an interplanetary probe launched in 2006.
- The mission was originally scheduled to end in 2024 but now, the American space agency is deciding to extend the mission’s life span till it exits the Kuiper, which could happen in 2028 or 2029.
First Internet satellite under Project Kuiper
- Amazon launched two satellites on 6 October 2023 as part of its plan to deliver the internet from space and compete with Elon Musk's Starlink service.
- The company founded by Jeff Bezos says its Project Kuiper will provide "fast, affordable broadband to unserved and underserved communities around the world," with a constellation of more than 3,200 satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO).
Biggest ever Ozone hole recorded
- Large-scale scans show that the ozone hole over Antarctica is growing larger every day.
- This was observed through the Copernicus Sentinel 5P Satellite, revealing that this year's ozone hole over Antarctica is one of the biggest on record, as massive as three times the size of Brazil.
- A hole, known as an "ozone-depleting area," reached a size of 26 million square kilometres.
Miscellaneous
Nobel Prize in Medicine 2023
- The 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has gone to scientists Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman, whose work enabled the development of mRNA vaccines against Covid-19.
- Through their groundbreaking findings, which have fundamentally changed our understanding of mRNA interacts with our immune system.
Nobel Prize in Physics for 2023
- The Nobel Prize in Physics for 2023 has gone to three scientists whose work made it easier to observe electrons, and which has potential applications in the field of diagnosing diseases and developing electronic gadgets.
- They have demonstrated a way to create extremely short pulses of light that can be used to measure the rapid processes in which electrons move or change energy.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2023
- The Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2023 has gone to Moungi Bawendi, Louis Brus and Alexei Ekimov for “the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots”.
- These smallest components of nanotechnology now spread their light from televisions and LED lamps, and can also guide surgeons when they remove tumour tissue, among many other things
Nobel Prize in Literature for 2023
- Norwegian novelist and dramatist Jon Fosse has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for the year 2023, the Swedish Academy announced on 5 October 2023.
- Fosse has been awarded the Nobel Prize “for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable”. The 64-year-old author writes the least common of the two official versions of Norwegian.
Nobel Prize in Peace for 2023
- Narges Mohammadi, jailed Iranian women’s rights advocate, won the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize on 6 October 2023.
- The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize to Narges Mohammadi for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all.
Economics Nobel 2023
- The Nobel Prize in Economics for 2023 was awarded on 9 October 2023 to Claudia Goldin, a Harvard University professor, for “having advanced our understanding of women’s labour market outcomes”.
- Goldin’s pathbreaking work has shed light on the participation of women in the labour market over the past 200 years, and why the pay gap between men and women refuses to close even as many women are likely to be better educated than men in high income countries.
