• Retail inflation, based on the consumer price index (CPI), rose to 7.41 per cent in September this year compared to seven per cent in preceding month.
• As per the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation data released today, inflation climbed mainly due to modest rise in prices of Food & Beverages, Clothing & footwear and Fuel & light segments.
• In September, inflation in the food basket stood at 8.41 per cent, compared to 7.57 per cent in August this year. During September 2022 inflation in clothing & footwear stood at 10.17 percent while fuel & light witnessed 10.39 percent inflation.
• The government has mandated the central bank to maintain retail inflation at four per cent with a margin of two per cent on either side.

• The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) and National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL) are organizing 3-day long WADA Athlete Biological Passport ABP Symposium- 2022 from Oct 12, 2022 in New Delhi.
• The first WADA ABP Symposium was hosted by the Anti-Doping Lab Qatar ADLQ in November 2015, in Doha, Qatar.
• The second WADA ABP Symposium was organized by the Italian Federation of Sports Medicine FMSI in 2018, in Rome, Italy.
• This is the third WADA ABP Symposium and is being hosted in India for the first time.
• Two hundred plus participants from 56 Countries, WADA Officials, representatives and Experts from different National Anti-Doping Organizations, Athlete Passport Management Units APMUs and WADA Accredited Laboratories are participating in this Symposium.
• The main topic of discussion in this symposium will be recent trends, successes and challenges with the ABP, Managing confounding Factor affecting the steroidal Module, Evolving strategic testing for the ABP etc and will help WADA to work towards the detection and eradication doping in sports through APMUs.
• Since NDTL is in the process of setting up an APMU in India, this Symposium would help to create the necessary expertise in the country and will help the Indian Sports by strengthening the Anti-doping programme of India and also enable us to become a regional leader in anti-doping.

• INS Tarkash reached Port Grequhrea, also known as Port Elizabeth in South Africa to participate in the seventh edition of IBSAMAR, a joint multinational maritime exercise among Indian, Brazilian and South African Navies.
• The harbour phase of IBSAMAR VII includes professional exchanges such as damage control and fire-fighting drills, and interaction among special forces.
• The Indian Navy is represented by the Teg class guided missile frigate, INS Tarkash, a Chetak helicopter and the personnel from the Marine Commando Force (MARCOS).
• The Joint Maritime Exercise will strengthen maritime security, joint operational training, sharing of best practices and building interoperability to address common maritime threats.
• The previous edition of IBSAMAR (IBSAMAR VI) was conducted off Simons Town, in South Africa in October 2018.

• It aims to spread awareness about protection and conservation of sloth bears.
• A proposal for observing the World Sloth Bear Day was mooted by Wildlife SOS India, an organisation involved in sloth bear conservation and protection for over two decades and the IUCN-Species Survival Commission sloth bear expert team accepted the proposal and declared the day to be celebrated worldwide.

Sloth bears ( Melursus ursinus):

• Sloth bears are endemic to the Indian sub-continent with small populations in Nepal and Srilanka and 90% of the species population is found in India.
• They are classified as ‘Vulnerable’ on the IUCN Red List.
• They are identified by their very distinct long, shaggy dark brown or black fur, distinct white V-shaped chest patch and four-inch long ivory-coloured curved claws used for digging out termites and ants from rock-hard mounds. Listed under Schedule I of the (Wildlife Protection) Act of India, 1972 the species has the same level of protection as tigers, rhinos and elephants.
• They are found in all parts of the country except Jammu and Kashmir and north-eastern States.

• The Offshore Security Exercise, ‘Prasthan’ in the Offshore Development Area (ODA) off Kakinada was conducted by  Eastern Naval Command.
• The Half Yearly Exercise was conducted in the KG basin to validate SOPs, address various contingencies and strengthen the command & control organisation towards Maritime Security.
• The exercise is coordinated by the Indian Navy and involves all stakeholders in the maritime domain, including oil and gas operators, the State Marine Police, Dept of Fisheries and the Indian Coast Guard, etc.

• The Centre has formed a four-member expert committee to investigate the report sent by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on the deaths of 66 children in Gambia by consumption of cough syrups from Sonipat-based company Maiden Pharmaceuticals Limited.
• The Expert committee will be chaired by Vice Chairperson of Standing National Committee on Medicines Dr YK Gupta.
• Members of the Committee are Dr Pragya Yadav of ICMR – National Institute of Virology Pune, Dr Arti Bahl of Division of epidemiology, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) New Delhi and A K Pradhan, Joint Drugs Controller of Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation CDSCO. Official sources said, the Government is alert and has formed a committee to investigate the report sent by the WHO.
• It said, production of cough syrups by Maiden Pharmaceuticals Limited has been suspended and lab report is awaited.

• The Union Cabinet has approved the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill, 2022. It seeks to amend the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act,
• It will improve governance, enhance transparency and accountability in the Multi State Cooperative Societies.
• Election authority will be set up to ensure fair, free and timely elections. The proposed amendments covering major areas of operation and management will go a long way in strengthening the co-operative movement in the country.
• India has more than 1500 multi-State co-operative societies serving as an important tool to promote economic and social betterment of their members.
• In order to make the governance of these multi-State Cooperative societies more democratic, transparent and accountable, provisions for setting up of the Cooperative Election Authority, Cooperative Information Officer and Cooperative Ombudsman have been proposed in the amendment.
• Provisions relating to representation of women and Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe members in the board of co-operative societies have been included to facilitate inclusiveness.
• Co-opted directors with experience in the field of banking, management, cooperative management and finance will be appointed to promote professional management.
• The amendment has also been proposed to enhance ease of doing business by reducing the period of registration with a provision for the applicants to seek additional time of two months for rectification of mistakes.
• It also provides for electronic submission and issuance of documents.

• The state will get four more hydroelectric projects, which will produce 281 million units power annually.
• The financial assistance agreement for the construction of these projects — Sai Kothi-I (15 MW), Sai Kothi-II (18 MW), Devi Kothi (16 MW) and Hail (18 MW) in the Tissa region of Chamba – was signed in New Delhi between the Union Government and KfW Development Bank, Germany.
• The assistance will be around Rs 654 crore, along with a grant of Rs 12 crore approximately.
• These projects will help in employment generation in Chamba.
• The other benefits include the strengthening of the road, the grid network in the area and better life for people due to better infrastructure facilities.
• These projects would be executed by the HPSEBL under the ‘Hydropower in the Himalaya’ programme.
• It would help the state to emerge as the clean power state as the government was laying more emphasis on its development.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off the new Vande Bharat Express from the Una railway station on 13th October 2022.
• The train will run between Amb-Andaura in Una district and New Delhi, six days a week — except on Wednesday.

Fourth semi-high-speed train:

• The Amb-Andaura to Delhi train will be the fourth Vande Bharat Express
• During its 412 km-long journey, the train will halt at Una, Nangal, Chandigarh and Ambala

• The Japanese space agency said a rocket carrying eight satellites failed just after lift off and had to be aborted by a self-destruction command, in the country’s first failed rocket launch in nearly 20 years.
• The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said its Epsilon-6 rocket experienced an unidentified “abnormality” and its flight had to be aborted less than seven minutes after take-off from the Uchinoura Space Center in the southern Japanese prefecture of Kagoshima.
• JAXA officials said the agency sent a self-destruction signal after deciding that the rocket was not able to fly safely and enter a planned orbit. They said the rocket was believed to have fallen into the sea with the payloads.
• The cause of the failure was still being investigated, the agency said.
• The Epsilon rocket was carrying eight payloads, including two developed by a private company based in Fukuoka, another southern prefecture. It was the first time an Epsilon rocket carried commercially developed payloads.
• The 26-meter (85-foot) -long, 95.6-ton and solid-fuel Epsilon-6 rocket is the final version before JAXA plans to develop another variation, Epsilon-S. After five upgrades since the early 2010s, the Epsilon-6 is designed for a compact launch as JAXA aims to develop a commercial satellite launch business.
• This failure ended success records for the Epsilon series since its first launch of the original version in 2013. It was also a first for JAXA since its H2A rocket failed in 2003.