WHY IN THE NEWS?

• Assam is setting up a tea Park at Chayygaon in Kamrup District. This tea garden will have rail and port connectivity, cargo and warehouse amenities, processing facilities like tea grinding, blending, packaging and other utility services under one roof.
• Tea garden companies using garden lands for plantation of Segun and agar or selling off the tea estates, the Minister stated that tea garden owners cannot sell off their estates as the leased land still belongs to Assam Government and instead asked them to focus on innovation and branding of Assam Tea.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• Guinness World Records has certified two Japanese sisters as the world’s oldest living identical twins at 107.
• Umeno Sumiyama and Koume Kodama were born the third and fourth of 11 siblings on Shodoshima island in western Japan on Nov. 5, 1913.
• Sumiyama and Kodama were 107 years and 300 days old as of Sept 1, breaking the previous record set by famous Japanese sisters Kin Narita and Gin Kanie at 107 years and 175 days.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• CISF official Geeta Samota became the “fastest Indian” to summit two peaks located in Africa and Russia.
•  Earlier this month, Sub Inspector Geeta Samota had scaled Mount Elbrus in Russia, the highest peak in Europe. While Mt Elbrus (5,642 mts) is in Russia, the Kilimanjaro peak (5,895 mts) is located in Tanzania and is Africa’s highest peak.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• Renowned Theoretical physicist and cosmologist Professor Thanu Padmanabhan passed away. He was a distinguished professor at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA).
• He had authored over 300 research papers and several books, with important contributions in areas of gravitation, quantum gravity, and structure and formation of the universe.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• The 3rd edition of Bilateral Exercise ‘Samudra Shakti’ is scheduled from September 20 to Sep 22.
• Indian Naval Ships Shivalik and Kadmatt had already arrived in Jakarta, Indonesia in the preparedness of this one of a kind exercise aimed at improving bilateral ties between India and Indonesia.
• The Indian navy will be participating in Samudra Shakti with the Indonesian navy to enhance mutual understanding and interoperability in maritime operations between the two navies.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Mansukh Mandaviya has released the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)’s 3rd State Food Safety Index (SFSI) to measure the performance of States across five parameters of food safety.
• The Minister felicitated nine leading States/UTs based on the ranking for the year 2020-21 for their impressive performance.

Here is the list of nine leading States/UTs in the Index:

Larger States:

• Gujarat
• Kerala
• Tamil Nadu

Smaller States:

• Goa
• Meghalaya
• Manipur

Among UTs:

• Jammu and Kashmir,
• Andaman and Nicobar Islands
• New Delhi

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• India has been ranked at 46th place in the Global Innovation Index 2021 released by World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). India has jumped 2 spots from last year’s ranking.
• Under the Lower middle-income category group, India has been ranked at the second spot after Vietnam.
• The Global Innovation Index 2021 captures the innovation ecosystem performance of 132 economies and tracks the most recent global innovation trends.

Top 5 countries in Global Innovation Index 2021 rankings:

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• Iran was officially admitted as a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). The decision to admit Iran as a full member was declared in the 21st summit of the SCO leaders in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
• At the end of the 21st Summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), the leaders of the eight main members of the organisation agreed to change the membership of the Islamic Republic of Iran from an observer member to a full member and signed the relevant documents.
• Accordingly, the technical process of Iran becoming one of the main members of the organisation has begun and Iran will henceforth cooperate and interact with member countries as the main member of the important regional organisation.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• Eminent Odia litterateur, social worker and journalist Manorama Mohapatra passed away. She was a former editor of Odia daily ‘The Samaja’.
• She had won the Sahitya Academy Award in 1984, Soviet Nehru Award in 1988, Critic Circle of India Award in 1990, Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar Samman in 1991 and Rupambara Award in 1994.

WHY IN THE NEWS?

• The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has joined hands and signed the agreement with Cordelia Cruises being operated by M/s Waterways Leisure Tourism Pvt. Ltd for promotion and marketing of the first indigenous luxury cruise in India.
• This is another incredible luxury travel offering under IRCTC”s umbrella of tourism services to the public.
• The luxury travel offering in the form of the indigenous cruise will take guests on-boards to some of the most popular Indian and international tourist destinations – such as Goa, Diu, Kochi, the Lakshadweep islands, and Sri Lanka.
• Cordelia Cruises is one of India’s premium cruise liners and aspires to promote and drive the cruise culture in India through experiences that are “stylish, luxurious, and most importantly, inherently Indian.”