TODAY’S TOP HEADLINES
1. India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has crossed 81 Crore landmark milestone today. Till now 81 crore 73 lakh 95 thousand 763 vaccine doses have been administered.
2. Govt to resume COVID-19 vaccine exports to COVAX under Vaccine Maitri: Health Minister Mansukh informed that India will be resuming export of Vaccines under Vaccine Maitri in order to fulfill the commitment of India towards COVAX, in line with the motto Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam.
3. Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal virtually flagged-off the dwarf container train service from Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) on 20 Sep. With this, the first consignment of laden Dwarf containers from Dwarf container depot (DCD) at the port was moved by train to ICD Kanpur.
4. PM Modi to share his thoughts with people in ‘Mann Ki Baat’ on Sep 26.
5. Union Minister for Social Justice & Empowerment Virendra Kumar says Centre has been extending all cooperation to border states to fight against drug menace. He says, border states like Rajasthan, Punjab and Sikkim, among others, the problem of drugs is a major issue of concern.
6. Union Minister of Road Transport & Safety Nitin Gadkari said the Centre will get revenues worth Rs 1,000-Rs 1,500 crore every month from the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway (World’s longest expressway- 1,380-km-long) when it becomes operational in 2023. The eight-lane expressway is likely to be completed by 2023.
7. *Andhra Pradesh* : Andhra Pradesh government will soon start online sale of cinema tickets in the state. This has become a reality after all stakeholders, including producers, distributors and exhibitors, have expressed a unanimous view on the issue.
8. *Chandigarh*: Public bicycles stolen and taken home, vandalism hits Chandigarh’s public bike-sharing system
Officials said that there have been several instances when the basket of a bicycle has been found damaged. Even the seat, pedal and lock of the bikes have been damaged by unruly users.
9. *Gujarat* : Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Kanhaiya Kumar and independent Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani are set to join the Congress on October 2,
10. *Punjab* : Charanjit Singh Channi Ji sworn-in as Punjab’s Chief Minister on 20 Sep.
11. *Uttar Pradesh*: President of Akhil Bhartiya Akhada Parishad and Mahant of Bade Hanuman temple Narendra Giri,was found dead in Prayagraj. Chief minister yogi adityanath has condoled the death of the Mahant. Police team investigating the reasons behind the death. The police are suspecting it to be a case of suicide.
12. *Tamilnadu* : If the centralised medical entrance *exam — NEET* — continues then there might not be enough expert doctors for being employed in the Government Hospitals, reveals 165 pages report of Retired Justice Rajan Committee titled “Report of the High-Level Committee To Study The Impact of NEET on Medical Admissions in Tamil Nadu”. The Justice AK Rajan committee was formed by the government of Tamil Nadu to study the socio-economic impact of NEET.
13. *Telangana* : Led by the Congress, all Opposition parties in Telangana decided to fight unitedly against the anti-farmer policies of the BJP government at the Centre and the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) government in the state. The Opposition parties also decided to launch a series of agitation programmes on subjects pertaining to tribal lands, land acquisitions and Dharani portal.
14. *West Bengal* : BJP president J P Nadda on 20 Sep appointed former Uttarakhand governor Baby Rani Maurya and former West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh as national vice presidents of the party, with Lok Sabha MP from Balurghat, Sukanta Najumdar as West Bengal BJP president.
15. Babul Supriyo formally joined Trinamool Congress on 18 Sep after he had quit the BJP following the recent Union cabinet reshuffle. He said West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee is among the top frontrunners for the prime ministerial post in 2024.
16. *Bollywood* : Actor Sonu Sood, breaking his silence on tax raids at his Mumbai home and offices last week and allegations of tax evasion, said today that “every rupee” in his foundation was “awaiting its turn to save a life.” He also took a swipe at the Income Tax department, commenting that he had been “busy attending to guests” for four days.
17. Raj Kundra has been granted bail in the porn films case and is likely to walk out from jail at 10:30am on Tuesday, September 21
DEFENCE
18. President Ram Nath Kovind conferred the National Florence Nightingale Award 2020 to Deputy Director General of Military Nursing Service Brig S V Saraswati. She has been conferred the award in a virtual ceremony for her immense contribution to the MNS as nurse administrator.
19. Locals of Arunachal Pradesh accorded a heartwarming welcome to the Swarnim Vijay Mashaal on its Victory March from Jang to Tawang.
20. Defence ministry plans uniform retirement age for army, navy & air force, more years of service. The move is expected to help cut salary, pension bills & address issues of re-employment & staff shortage. India is the world’s third-largest defence spender, but much of it is on wages.
21. India had earlier this year emerged as the world’s third-biggest defence spender, after US and China. India outranked Russia, on which it is heavily dependent for defence equipment.
22. India is set to conduct the first user trial of nuke capable intercontinental-range ballistic missile (ICBM) Agni-V signalling its early induction in the armed forces. Elaborate preparation has started at a defence facility off Odisha coast for the mission by the Strategic Forces Command of Indian Army. The 5,000-km range missile is likely to be flight-tested on September 23.
23. Ayni Air Force Base, also known as Gissar Air Base, is a military air base in Tajikistan, just 10 km west of the capital Dushanbe. The base is jointly operated by the Indian Air Force and the Tajik Air Force. It is also India’s first overseas air base. Since 2014 India has deployed Su-30MKI in limited numbers at this base. The base was extensively used by Indian Air Force as a standby base for its aircraft to evacuate Indian Nationals from Kabul Airport amidst the Afghan Crisis.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
1. PM Modi met Minister of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud on 20 Sep. The meeting reviewed progress on various ongoing bilateral initiatives, including those taken under the aegis of the Strategic Partnership Council established between both countries.
2. The meeting also allowed exchange of perspectives on regional developments, including the situation in Afghanistan. The Prime Minister conveyed his special thanks and appreciation to Saudi Arabia for looking after the welfare of the Indian diaspora during the COVID-19 pandemic.
3. The United Kingdom is forming a group of ‘red zone’ countries, arrivals from which will be considered to be ‘unvaccinated’ even if they’re fully vaccinated. However, fully vaccinated people of non-red countries such as Africa, or South America or countries including UAE, India, Turkey, Jordan, Thailand, Russia, as per the Boris Johnson-led government will be treated as unvaccinated.
4. Passengers who aren’t recognized as being fully vaccinated with authorized vaccines and certificates under England’s international travel rules will still have to take a pre-departure test, a day 2 and day 8 PCR test, and self-isolate for 10 days upon their return from a non-red list country under the new two-tiered travel program, as per the new UK travel rules.
5. Amid a decline in Covid cases in the country, India may soon reopen its doors for foreign tourists for the first time in one-and-a-half years. First five lakh foreign tourists will be issued visas free of cost in an attempt to revive the tourism, hospitality and aviation sectors.
MORE WORLD NEWS
1. The Taliban’s effective ban on women working sank in on Monday, sparking rage over the dramatic loss of rights after millions of female teachers and girls were barred from secondary school education. After pledging a softer version of their brutal and repressive regime of the 1990s, the Islamic fundamentalists are tightening their control of women’s freedoms one month after seizing power.
2. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the deadly bombings that targeted the Taliban in eastern Afghanistan. In the attack at least eight people including scores of Taliban fighters were killed in last week.
SPORTS
1. Kolkata Knight Riders beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 9 wickets at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhab.
2. Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Anurag Thakur virtually interacted with Sports Ministers of States and Union Territories across the country to discuss the further promotion of sports in the country.