• RD Dhiman, Chief Secretary, will inaugurate the international Renuka Ji fair on November 3.
• Though the fair is traditionally inaugurated by the Chief Minister, owing to the model code of conduct, the Chief Secretary will inaugurate it this time.
• The fair marks the union of Lord Parshuram with his mother Goddess Renuka on Dashmi. Every year on Devprobodhini Ekadashi, traditional Renukaji fair is organised on the banks of the Renuka Lake where lakhs of devotees converge. They take a holy dip in the religious Renuka lake on ‘Prabodhini Ekadashi’.
• As per the tradition, the palanquin of Lord Parshuram is brought to Renuka from the ancient temple in Jamu Koti village. It departs after religious ceremonies, including a dip in the Renuka lake. Attired in traditional colourful attire and dancing to the tune of folk music, the devotees lend religious fervour to the occasion.
• This fair is celebrated for Six days.
• Renuka fair starts ten days after the Diwali festival.

• It aims to acknowledge the contributions of Infantry, the largest fighting arm of the Indian Army.
• This day is commemorated to honour the brave soldiers of the infantry who fought and laid down their lives during the India-Pakistan war in 1947.
• The operation was started on October 27, 1947; to protect the people of Kashmir from the Pakistani invaders after Maharaja Hari Singh of Kashmir had signed the Instrument of Accession of Kashmir to India.
• The Indian Air force carried out the task of flying the troops of 1st Sikh Regiment into Srinagar on this day.

About:

• National Investigation Agency (NIA) is the Central Counter Terrorism Law Enforcement Agency of India.
• It comes under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.
• NIA was created after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks with the enactment of the National Investigation Agency Act 2008.
• It is headquartered in Delhi.
• Branches: Hyderabad, Guwahati, Kochi, Lucknow, Mumbai, Kolkata, Raipur, Jammu, Chandigarh, Ranchi, Chennai and Imphal.
• Jurisdiction:
  • The agency is empowered to deal with terror related crimes across states without special permission from the states.
  • A State Government may request the Central Government to hand over the investigation of a case to the NIA, provided the case has been registered for the offences as contained in the schedule to the NIA Act.
• NIA special courts:
  • Various Special Courts have been notified by the Govt. of India for trial of the cases arising out of offences committed in various states of the Union.
  • These are presided over by a judge appointed by the Central Government on the recommendation of the Chief Justice of the High Court with jurisdiction in that region.

• IIT Bombay is the best educational institute in India, as per the ‘QS World University Rankings: Sustainability 2023’.
• In the rankings, released in London recently, IIT Bombay was evaluated as India’s top higher education institute for its excellence in employability, social concern, and environment.
• IIT Bombay was featured in the 281-300 rank range, followed by IIT Delhi (321-340 rank) and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) at the third rank (361-380).
• Apart from this, IIT Bombay was also included in the world’s top 100 institutes based on the employability of its graduates.
• IIT Delhi was ranked for its employability and environment while Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) was ranked for gender equality and removing other inequalities.
• In terms of competition and academic freedom, Delhi University ranked fourth in India.
• Globally, the University of California was declared the top university, followed by the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia in second and third ranks, respectively.
• The US dominates the rankings with 135 ranked universities (19.2 per cent of the total). Of these, 30 universities are included in the top 100.
• Similarly, the UK was ranked second with 67 British universities being included in the rankings.
• After the US and the UK, Australia and Germany are at the forefront of this ranking.
• The students and teachers of JNU are excited by the university’s performance in the rankings.

• Lebanon signed and delivered its copy of a US-mediated sea border deal with Israel to a US mediator, hoping to soon start exploring gas in its southern maritime blocs to bring economic stability to the crisis-ridden country.
• The agreement to demarcate the maritime border comes after months of indirect talks mediated by Amos Hochstein, the US envoy for energy affairs, and would mark a major breakthrough in relations between the two nations, which have formally been at war since Israel’s creation in 1948.
• Lebanon and Israel both claim around 860 square kilometres (330 square miles) of the Mediterranean Sea that are home to offshore gas fields.
• Lebanon hopes that demarcating maritime borders will pave the way for gas exploration to help lift it out of its crippling economic crisis, which has plunged three-quarters of its population into poverty.
• Israel hopes that the deal will reduce the risk of war with Lebanon’s Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

• Gujarat has been declared as a 100 percent ‘Har Ghar Jal’ state. It means all households in rural areas have access to safe drinking water through taps in the state.
• As per the government data, all 91,73,378 houses in the state now have water connections.
• Gujarat is now the third big state, after Haryana and Telangana that has now declared completion of the Jal Jeevan Mission.
• Jal Jeevan Mission focuses on water service delivery and not just building water supply infrastructure.
• The motto of the Jal Jeevan Mission is ‘no one is left out’, thus ensuring every household irrespective of its socio-economic status, gets tap water supply.
• Under the scheme, the government plans to provide potable tap water to all the villages in the country by 2024.

• Health and Family Welfare Ministry has decided to depute a high-level team to Kerala to take stock of the Avian Influenza outbreak in the state.
• The team will investigate the outbreak in detail and submit a report with recommendations.
• The Ministry said, a seven-member team comprises experts from the National Institute of Tuberculosis & Respiratory Diseases, National Centre for Disease Control, National Institute of Epidemiology and All India Institute of Medical Sciences.
• The team is headed by Dr. Rajesh Kedamani. The team will also assist the State Health Departments in terms of public health measures, management guidelines and protocols to manage the increasing cases of Avian Influenza.

About Institutes:

• The National Institute of Tuberculosis & Respiratory Diseases located in Delhi.
• National Centre for Disease Control located in New Delhi.
• The National Institute of Epidemiology(NIE) is a medical research organisation located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

• Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone of a C-295MW transport aircraft manufacturing project for the Indian Air Force (IAF) at Vadodara in Gujarat on the 30th of this month.
• Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia and Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendrabhai Patel and other dignitaries will attend the function.
• Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar said, this transport aircraft manufacturing project will create an entirely new ecosystem for the aviation sector in the country.
• He said, this facility will enhance India’s overall position in transport aircraft manufacturing. Terming this a big step towards ease of doing business to promote Make in India, he said, several steps have been taken in the direction of self-reliance in the defence sector.
• He said, this state-of-the-art transport aircraft of 5 to 10 tons capacity is going to be manufactured for the first time in the country.
• This is the first project of its kind in which a military aircraft will be manufactured in India by a private company. The aircraft will strengthen the logistic capabilities of the IAF.
• 16 aircraft will be delivered in flyaway condition and 40 will be manufactured in India by the Indian Aircraft Contractor, TATA Consortium of Tata Advanced Systems Limited and Tata Consultancy Services.
• In September 2021, Cabinet Committee on Security had approved the procurement of 56 C-295MW transport aircraft from Airbus Defence and Space S.A. The first 16 fly-away aircraft are scheduled to be received between September 2023 and August 2025.
• The first Made in India aircraft is expected in September 2026. The total cost of the project will be 21 thousand 935 crore rupees. The aircraft can be used for civilian purposes also.
• All 56 aircraft will be fitted with an Electronic Warfare suite supplied by Bharat Electronics Limited and Bharat Dynamics Limited,
• The transport facility will generate several skilled and indirect jobs.
• It is estimated that 600 highly skilled jobs and more than three thousand indirect jobs will be generated with this initiative. Nearly 240 engineers will be trained at the Airbus facility in Spain.

• Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dr Mansukh Mandaviya has said that the central government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership attached the topmost importance to the health sector.
• He stressed that India is committed to protecting global health and making sure to leave behind for the coming generations a better and healthier planet. This was stated by Dr Mandaviya while addressing the second G20 Health Ministers Meeting in Bali, Indonesia.
• The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the progress and way forward on priorities in the healthcare sector.
• He also elaborated on building global health resilience wherein the proposal of a Financial Intermediary Fund was discussed.
• Mandaviya highlighted the need to acknowledge existing fault lines in the Global Health Architecture and the importance of building an inclusive, agile and responsive framework for health emergency management.
• The Health Minister encouraged all G20 members to contribute their public keys to the proposed Global Federated Public Trust Directory for ensuring seamless worldwide mobility of people and goods.

• The ambitious Kufri re-development project to revive ski slopes of this tourist destination and make it stink free from piles of horse dung has hit a roadblock as there has been no response from Central Potato Research Institute (CPRI) in regard to no objection certificate (NOC) for the proposed land.
• The Shimla district administration had identified one hectare land near Chini Bangla to est ablish a horse stable, parking, biomethanation plant and an integrated complex with rural ‘haat’ and parking.
• The project estimated to come up at around Rs 50 crores envisages setting up a stable to accommodate 1,500 horses and a biomethanation plant adjacent to the stable to produce methane gas from horse dung besides construction of parking spaces to decongest the area, beautification with installation of street sitting, fountain and light and sound show, pedestrian paths, toilets, rain shelters and a rural ‘haat’ (food and craft bazaar).
• “The said land is under the ownership of Himachal government but the possession is with the CPRI and we have written several times to the agriculture department and CPRI but there is no response yet,” said Deputy Commissioner Shimla Aditya Negi, when contacted.
• As per the proposal, the biomethanation plant funded by the state Pollution Control Board in collaboration with the Science and Technology Department would go a long way in providing a clean and serene environment, as horse dung that creates unhygienic conditions would be treated there.
• The possibility of reviving skiing and associated activities to increase the footfall was also being explored. Moreover, the Detailed Project report (DPR) to upgrade the Kufri-Chail road and increase its width from 5 – 7 metres to 7 -9 metres at a cost of Rs 39 crores have been also prepared for overall development of the area.
• A large number of resorts have come up in the area and ‘Chini Bangla’ is located on the Kufri-Chail road. Hundreds of vehicles heading to Chail pass through this stretch and the beautification and creation of more facilities would improve tourist experience.
• At present, the tourist attractions in Kufri include Kufri Fun Worlds, Hip Hip Hurray adventure park, Himalayan Nature Park, Indira Tourist Park, Tobogganing, horse riding in Mahasu peak, trekking, cycling, Kufri main Bazaar, nature and culture photography and yak Ride and another mega private project coming up at Kufri is India’s first indoor ski park.
• Skiing was a major winter attraction in Shimla and Kufri where hill slopes covered with a thick blanket of snow provided thrill and excitement to skiers and tourists. The last ski carnival at Kufri was held in February 1968 but over the years, the snowline had shifted upwards and barring a few sessions in 1982 and 1991, skiing in Kufri had been a fond memory of the past.