• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will review the site work progress of the National Maritime Heritage Complex at Lothal in Gujarat. This will be followed by his address on the occasion.
• Lothal was one of the prominent cities of the Harappan civilization and is known for the discovery of the oldest man-made dockyard. A maritime heritage complex in Lothal is fitting tribute to the city’s historical legacy and heritage.
• The complex, whose construction started in March this year, is being developed at a cost of around three thousand 500 crore rupees.
• It is being developed as a one-of-its-kind project to not only display India’s rich and diverse maritime heritage and also help Lothal to emerge as a world class international tourist destination.

• President Droupadi Murmu has appointed Dr. Justice DY Chandrachud as the new Chief Justice of India.
• Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said, Justice Chandrachud’s appointment will come into effect from 9th of next month. He will succeed present Chief Justice of India Justice Uday Umesh Lalit.
• Justice DY Chandrachud would be the 50th Chief Justice of India. Born in 1959, Justice Chandrachud was appointed Judge of the Supreme Court of India on 13th May 2016. Earlier, he served as Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court.
• He had completed his LLB from Campus Law Centre from Delhi University and obtained LLM degree and a Doctorate in Juridical Sciences from Harvard Law School in USA.

• Was Operation Blue Star avoidable? Was it a botched-up operation? All such questions came alive in a scintillating session on the concluding day of the three-day Khushwant Singh Literary Festival at
• The session thrashed out the entire gamut of the operation that decisively changed the course of events not just in Punjab but also in the country.
• The session on the book “Turmoil in Punjab, Before and After Blue Star” written by former Punjab Chief Secretary RI Singh was anchored by Gul Panag.
• There was an animated discussion on the turbulent times in Punjab which mainly focused around Operation Blue Star.
• RI Singh explained how the entire administrative system was handed over to the Army in the entire state and how the entire communication system was paralysed overnight to give full power to the Army.
• Singh, who was Deputy Commissioner, Amritsar, during operation, underlined that the operation should have been executed with more precision to ensure that Sikh sentiments were not hurt.
• Justifying his acceptance of the Padma Shri, he said it was bestowed on him for his administrative services and was purely a professional call.
• Senior mediaperson Kanwar Sandhu, who was a co-panellist, said that the civil administration failed to discharge its duty during the operation and abjured all its powers and responsibilities to allow the Army a free hand.
• Sandhu said it was the failure of state governance that allowed the 1978 Baisakhi Day violence in Amritsar, causing the death of 13 persons. He said it was a glaring administrative failure that no subsequent inquiry was ordered into the incident and not even into Operation Blue Star.

• The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has set aside the Shimla Draft Development Plan (SDDP), 2041, approved by the state government, terming it illegal and in conflict with its earlier order of regulating haphazard construction activity in the state capital.
• The NGT, headed by Justice Adarsh Goel, in its 20-page order, dated October 14, said prima facie, the SDDP was in violation of the NGT order of November 16, 2017.
• The NGT had issued a notice to the state government after the SDDP was approved by the Cabinet and an interim injunction was granted against its implementation.
• The quashing of the SDDP has come as a major blow to the efforts of the government to placate those who had undertaken unauthorised construction in the poll-bound state.
• The NGT order is a validation of the crusade launched by environmentalists and social organisations to save the Queen of Hills from further concretisation and degradation.
• The SDDP had allowed construction not just in the core area but also in the no-construction 17 green belts where a ban had been imposed in December 2000.
• Shimla is still expanding on the basis of the 1979 Interim Development Plan (IDP) and the SDDP had taken into account the projected population of 6.25 lakh in 2041 against 2.41 lakh, to cater to the growing needs of the town.
• The Green Bench considered the contention of the petitioner, Yogendra Mohan Sengupta, against the validity of the draft development plan, including permitting construction of more floors, new constructions in the banned core and green areas and permitting development in sinking and sliding area in violation of the earlier NGT order.
• The petitioner had contended that the SDDP was contrary to the sustainable development principle.
• “The NGT has an overriding effect over any other law in force. Violating such directions is a criminal punishable offence under Section 26 of the NGT Act and the state departments concerned are liable to be prosecuted,” the NGT observed on the issue of the state questioning its jurisdictional powers. There was no jurisdiction with the state to annul or ignore the NGT, the order read.
• The NGT observed that there was an illegal and ill-conceived effort to violate its binding directions, having the force of binding court decree, subject to further orders of only the Supreme Court.
• The NGT, in its order of 2017, had imposed a complete ban on new construction in the core and green area and had restricted buildings to two and a half floors in the rest of the Shimla planning area.
• The NGT had clearly stated that no unauthorised buildings, raised in violation of the provisions of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1977, be regularised.

About:

• The centres, called bhasha kendras, will be established under the Union ministry of education’s Indian Knowledge System (IKS) initiative.
• These language centres will be in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, that emphasises on promoting regional languages.
• The centres will be given three broad responsibilities.
  • First, they will prepare small booklets of 100-200 pages of the IKS-related literature and manuscripts available in their designated languages.
    • The centres will also be translating these works into Sanskrit and English.
  • Second, these centres will be to enrich their designated Indian languages with modern science and social models.
    • They will be asked to translate 1,000 pages of material in other languages into their designated language.
  • Third, they will develop courses at the undergraduate level.

• October 15 is marked as Global Handwashing Day, with the aim of increasing awareness and understanding about the importance of handwashing with soap as an effective and affordable way to prevent diseases and save lives. The world has leveraged the lessons from the last two years since the coronavirus outbreak took a toll on everyone.
• As the world moves beyond COVID-19 to a new normal, it is time to accelerate hand hygiene progress to prevent any kind of infection, and it requires a collective effort to enact real change.
• Additionally, the day is an opportunity to encourage people to maintain personal hygiene, including washing their hands, using hand sanitizers, and other appropriate toiletries. The day also observes government efforts in designing and replicating the hygiene message among its citizens.
• The day was founded by the Global Handwashing Partnership, a coalition of international stakeholders who work explicitly to promote handwashing with soap. The first Global Handwashing Day was held in 2008, when over 120 million children around the world washed their hands with soap in more than 70 countries. Since then, Global Handwashing Day has continued to grow.
• This year’s theme, “Unite for Universal Hand Hygiene”, calls on all of society to work together to scale up hand hygiene.

• India-Africa Defence Dialogue will be held on the sidelines of DefExpo 2022 in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
• The dialogue will explore new areas of convergence for mutual engagement, including in areas like capacity building, training, cyber security, maritime security and counter-terrorism.
• The broad theme of the dialogue is India-Africa: Adopting Strategy for Synergising and Strengthening Defence and Security Cooperation. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will host the Defence Ministers of African Nations.
• India and Africa share close and historical ties. India’s approach towards Africa is guided by the Kampala Principles enunciated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2018.
• The first-ever India-Africa Defence Ministers Conclave was held in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh in conjunction with DefExpo in 2020.

• India is hosting the 90th General Assembly of the International Criminal Police Organization, INTERPOL from 18th to 21st of October in New Delhi.
• The General Assembly is INTERPOL’s supreme governing body, comprising representatives from each of 195 member countries. It meets once a year.
• India is one of the oldest members of Interpol and joined the organization in 1949.
• All member countries of INTERPOL have agreed to ensure and promote the widest possible assistance between all criminal police authorities in the prevention and suppression of ordinary law crimes.
• The role of INTERPOL is to enable police around the world to work together to make the world a safer place.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the PM Kisan Samman Sammelan 2022 at Indian Agricultural Research Institute in New Delhi.
• More than 13 thousand farmers from across the country and around one thousand five hundred Agri Startups will participate in the conference.
• More than one crore farmers, from various institutions are also expected to attend the event virtually. The conference will also witness participation of researchers, policy makers and other stakeholders.
• The Prime Minister will also release the 12th installment amount of 16 thousand crore rupees under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi through Direct Benefit Transfer.
• Under the scheme, eligible farmer families are provided a benefit of six thousand rupees per year in three equal installments of two thousand rupees each. So far, eligible farmer families have received benefits of more than two lakh crore rupees under PM-KISAN.
• Prime Minister will also inaugurate the Agri Startup Conclave and Exhibition. About three hundred startups will showcase their innovation related to Precision Farming, Post-Harvest and Value Add Solutions, Allied Agriculture and Supply Chain Management among others.
• Prime Minister will inaugurate six hundred Pradan Mantri Kisan Samruddhi Kendras. Under it the fertilizer retail shops in the country will be converted into Pradan Mantri Kisan Samruddhi Kendras in a phased manner.
• The Kendras will cater to a wide variety of needs of the farmers and provide agri-inputs, testing facilities for soil, seeds, fertilizers and generate awareness among farmers. More than three lakh 30 thousand retail fertilizer shops are planned to be converted into Pradan Mantri Kisan Samruddhi Kendras.
• During the event, Mr Modi will also launch Bharat Urea Bags, India’s biggest move in fertilizers-One Nation One Fertilizer Scheme for Farmers.
• The government is making it mandatory for fertilizer companies to market their goods under the brand name Bharat to standardize fertilizer brands across the nation.

• Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw inaugurated India’s First Aluminum Freight Rake at Bhubaneswar Railway Station in Odisha.
• The indigenously built rake will reduce carbon footprint due to lower consumption of fuel.
• A single rake can reduce 14,500 tonnes Carbon dioxide emissions during its lifetime, said the Minister.
• Union Minister MR Vaishnaw who is also the minister for Communications and Electronics & Information has said that high-speed 5G internet service will be rolled out in a few cities of Odisha by March 2023.
• In the first phase of rollout, 200 cities of India will be connected with the 5G network.
• In this phase, all big cities of Odisha will also receive a 5G network by the end of March 2023.
• By the end of 2023, under phase II, around 80 percent of the State will be covered under the high-speed internet service, the minister revealed.
• All the big cities will be covered in phase -1 and the service will be subsequently extended to semi-urban areas and then, rural areas.