23 Sept 2021 , Thursday, Headlines
NATIONAL
1. India achieve yet another milestone in COVID vaccination drive with total vaccination crosses 83 crore mark.
2. The Central govt on 22 Sep apprised the Supreme Court that the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has recommended an amount of Rs 50,000 as ex-gratia to be paid to families of those who died of COVID-19 including those who were involved in relief operations or associated in preparedness activities to the cause of death.
3. Govt asks power plants to auction fly ash through transparent bidding process: Minister of Power and New and Renewable Energy R K Singh held a meeting on Wednesday to review the status of fly ash transportation to the end users and the fly ash utilisation.
4. Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment will celebrate ‘Sign Language Day’ today. The objective of the program is to sensitize the general public about the importance of Indian sign languages, and the information and communication accessibility for persons with hearing disabilities. Sign language not only plays an important role in educating people, but is also vital in creating employment and vocational training for persons with hearing disabilities.
5. Andhra Pradesh : The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) has made Covid19 test or vaccination certificate mandatory for pilgrims visiting the hill town of Tirumala. Only those with the Coronavirus-negative certificate or vaccination second dose certificate will be allowed entry into the hill temple for darshan, likely, from October 1.
6. Andaman : Under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, 56.53% of foodgrains have been lifted in the country under Phase IV. Andaman and Nicobar is topmost in the country to have lifted highest percentage of foodgrains. The union territory has lifted 93 percent of the allocated foodgrains under PMGKAY -IV from July to 15 Sep this year.
7. J&K: Govt Sacks 6 Employees for Alleged Terror Links: Six govt employees, including two police constables, were dismissed from their services for “anti-national activities” in J&K on 22 Sep, taking the total sackings to over a dozen since April this year for allegedly having terror links.
8. Karnataka: Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday asked officials to complete the second phase of Bengaluru Metro work by 2024, a year before the deadline.
9. Kerala : The Supreme Court on 22 Sep (Wednesday) declined a plea filed by Shree Padmanabha Swamy Temple Trust seeking to exempt it from the audit of 25 years as ordered by the top court last year.
10. Schools in Kerala to re-open in staggered manner from 01 Nov, says CM. Schools closed in Kerala for a year-and-a-half following the Covid-19 outbreak.
11. Leh: Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur will inaugurate the first Himalayan Film Festival on 24 Sep, 2021. The festival spanning five days is being held at Leh, Ladakh from 24 to 28 Sep 2021.
12. Maharashtra: State cabinet on Wednesday cleared a proposal that seeks to make modifications in the ordinance to restore reservation to the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in local bodies. OBCs used to get up to 27% reservation in electoral wards of municipal bodies and zilla parishads (district councils).
13. After Tamil Nadu, now Demand to Scrap implementing the centralised medical entrance exam – National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) in Maharashtra.
14. Manipur* CM N. Biren Singh inaugurated 28 fully completed projects for two hill districts of the State- Tamenglong and Noney on 23 Sep (Wednesday). Shri Biren also laid the foundation stone for four projects for these hill districts.
15. Meghalaya : Union Minister of State for Panchayati Raj, Kapil Moheshwar Patil reviewed the schemes and programmes of the Ministry which are being implemented by the Govt of Meghalaya. During his visit, the Minister reviewed MGNREGA, PMAY-G, NRLM, RGSA and other flagship programmes of the Government in Shillong.
16. Punjab : Former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday made it clear that he would oppose PPCC President Navjot Singh Sidhu’s elevation to the Punjab Chief Ministerial post making all efforts possible.
17. Telangana: The South Central Railway zone recently launched Biometric Token Machine services for the first time at Secunderabad railway station.; In a bid to ensure passengers’ safety as well as ease the passenger congestion during boarding time, Railway latest news: A major advantage of the biometric token machine is that the criminal acts committed by the passengers in the train can be checked. Since the railways will have the details of every passenger, it can be easily caught if any crime is committed.
18. *Uttar Pradesh: The Anti Terror Squad in Uttar Pradesh has arrested Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui, a resident of Muzaffarnagar, in connection with country’s largest religious conversion syndicate.
19. The Supreme Court on 22 Sep (Wednesday) refused to accept the Centre’s request to allow women candidates to appear for the entrance exam to the NDA from next year, saying it doesn’t want women to be denied their right. The induction of women cannot be posted by one year.
20. The Supreme Court says NDA exam for women can’t be delayed, turns down Centre’s plea. Observing that the induction of women to the NDA cannot be postponed by one year, the Supreme Court allowed female candidates to take the exam in November this year and not wait till May 2022 as requested by the govt.
21. IIT Kanpur and the Indian Air Force have joined hands in their endeavour to build robust technologies both in the academic and research front in the domain of aerospace technology.
22. India participated in the 6th edition of the multi-nation counter-terror exercise in the Orenburg region of Russia. The exercise has been organized under the aegis of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). The Indian Army informed that India has sent a team of 200 personnel for the 6th edition of ‘Exercise Peaceful Mission’ which will be held from September 13 to September 25, 2021.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
1. PM Modi has embarked on a three-day visit to the United States on 22 Sep (Wednesday) where he will address the UN General Assembly and attend the Quad Summit as well as hold a bilateral meet with US President Joe Biden at the White House, Vice-President Kamala Harris, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Japanese Premier Yoshihide Suga.
2. PM Modi is also likely to hold meetings with several other head of states apart from interacting with CEOs of top American tech companies. PM Modi will be addressing the 76th session of the UN General Assembly on 25 Sep before heading back to New Delhi.
3. India participated in the 6th edition of the multi-nation counter-terror exercise in the Orenburg region of Russia. The exercise has been organized under the aegis of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is an eight-member economic and security bloc that has also emerged as one of the largest transregional international organisation. Both India and Pakistan became a permanent member of SCO in 2017.
4. India hosted the first India-United Kingdom Consular Dialogue through video conferencing on 22 Sep (Wednesday).
MORE WORLD NEWS
1. Chinese, Russian and Pakistani special envoys have met the top officials of the Taliban’s interim government in Kabul and discussed the formation of an inclusive government, combating terrorism and humanitarian situation.
2. Miscreants vandalised several Durga idols being constructed for the upcoming Durga Puja in the Kushtia town of Bangladesh on Tuesday night.
3. Pakistan PM Imran Khan has recently commented that preventing women from accessing education in Afghanistan would be un-Islamic, but he hoped that the Taliban leadership would soon allow women to resume studies.
4. Attackers struck Taliban vehicles in an eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, witnesses said, killing at least two fighters and three civilians in the latest violence since the group’s takeover of the country in mid-August.
5. The United Nations aid chief said, he had released $45 million in emergency funds to help prevent Afghanistan’s battered healthcare system from collapsing.
6. A 5.9 magnitude earthquake has rattled southeast Australia, damaging buildings in the city of Melbourne. The earthquake happened about 09:15 local time (23:15 GMT) on Wednesday at Mansfield.