• PM has recently addressed 2nd UN World Geospatial Information Congress.
• It is being held in Hyderabad.
• About:
• The goal of this year’s UNWGIC is to promote a broad dialogue on global geospatial information management with all relevant governments, non-governmental organisations, academia, and the private sector.
• The theme of UNWGIC 2022 is ‘Geo-Enabling the Global Village: No one should be left behind’.
• It was hosted by the ministry of science and technology of the government of India.

United Nations World Geospatial Information Congress (UNWGIC)

• The United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) convened the conference on UNWGIC 2022 and was organised by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
• It is conducted every four years with the objectives of enhancing international collaboration among the Member States and relevant stakeholders in Geospatial information management and capacities.
• The first UNWGIC was organized by China in October 2018.

• Mining major National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) and RailTel Corporation of India signed an agreement covering ICT and Digital Transformation Services of NMDC, both at its Corporate Offices and Mining Complexes.
• Sundaram Prabhu, GM (C&IT), NMDC, and Manohar Raja, Executive Director, RailTel signed a (Memorandum of Understanding) MoU in the presence of Sumit Deb, CMD, NMDC at NMDC’s headquarters in Hyderabad.
• This partnership will focus on optimal utilization of resources and build mineral accountability, paving the way for a robust digital transformation in the mining sector.
• This MoU builds on the partnership that NMDC already has with the National Railway Telecom which has been providing MPLS VPN at 11 of NMDC’s locations, Internet Leased Lines (ILL) at 7 locations, and High-Definition Video Conferencing solutions for 7 years.

• International Monetary Fund has projected that global growth will slow from 6 percent in 2021 to 3.2 percent in 2022 and 2.7 percent in 2023.
• Projecting the growth, IMF said that this will be the weakest growth since 2001, except for the global financial crisis and the acute phase of the pandemic. It said that the world’s largest economies US, China, and the Euro area will continue to stall.
• In the World Economic Outlook 2022 report, IMF said that India will be the fastest-growing large economy in the world. Cutting India’s GDP growth forecast to 6.8 percent for Financial Year 2023, the IMF predicted that India will continue to remain on track to become one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.
• IMF expects that inflation in India will come down to 4 percent range next year. It said that global inflation will likely peak at 9.5 percent this year before slowing to 4.1 percent by 2024.
• IMF also warned that a major economic slump is yet to come, and 2023 will feel like a recession to many people.

• The Balod district has undertaken a unique initiative to provide hot cooked meals through ‘home tiffin service’ to the women who are unable to visit Anganwadis.
• The initiative taken under the state government’s ambitious ‘Mukhyamantri Suposhan Yojana’ was launched three years ago.
• In a bid to make this scheme a success, freshly prepared meals are being delivered to 650 women who are unable to visit Anganwadis at their doorstep in the Balod district.
• The move is aimed at ensuring nutritious food to pregnant and lactating mothers to keep them healthy.
• The scheme was launched on October 2, 2019, to provide healthy and nutritious meals to malnourished children under 6 years of age and to anaemic women and adolescent girls between 15 to 49 years of age.
• Since its inception till now, nearly 2.10 lakh children (50 per cent) have been freed from malnutrition in the state. In addition, about one lakh women are now anemia-free, a government communique claimed.
• A nutritious diet is extremely important for pregnant and lactating mothers. Lack of nutritious food causes anaemia and malnutrition in mothers and children.

• The ethanol blending programme interest subsidy scheme under which the centre disburses loans has been extended till March 2023.
• The scheme began in 2018 to help entrepreneurs to complete ethanol projects with government support.
• The Food Ministry issued a notification on October 6 stating the applicants who have submitted their applications to DFPD after the date of notification of the scheme but within the cut-off date prescribed in the notification dated 19.07.2018 and in case of whom, loans were disbursed to them prior to the in-principle approval of DFPD, will also be eligible for interest subvention under the scheme.
• The applicants have been asked to complete their projects within two and half years after receiving their first instalment.
• The centre has launched several schemes to boost ethanol production in the country. In April, the deadline for submitting applications under the scheme was extended by six months. The deadline was September 2022 earlier.
• India needs 1016 crore litres of ethanol by 2025 to achieve the 20% ethanol blending target.

• Union minister Nitin Gadkari launched Japanese car maker Toyota’s first-of-its-kind pilot project on flex fuel-strong hybrid electric vehicle (FFV-SHEV) that can run on 100 per cent ethanol.
• During the launch, the Toyota Corolla Altis FFV-SHEV, which has been imported from Toyota Brazil for the pilot project, was unveiled.
• In Brazil, flex fuel-strong hybrid electric vehicle technology has been introduced by Toyota Brazil.
• An FFV SHEV has a flex-fuel engine and an electric powertrain, thus providing dual benefit of higher ethanol use and greater fuel efficiency, as it can run for a significant time period on its EV mode, wherein the engine is shut off.
• Flex-fuel compatible cars can run on more than one type of fuel and also a mixture. Typically, a blend of petrol and ethanol or methanol is used.
• FFVs provide an opportunity of greater substitution of petrol by ethanol as it is capable of using any of the higher blends of ethanol mix from 20 per cent up to 100 per cent.
• Flex-fuel vehicles are available in Brazil, the USA and Canada.
• Ethanol is a major alternate fuel used globally and Brazil has the highest average blending of 48 per cent.

• India hosted the 6th meeting of the India-Norway Joint Working Group on Higher Education in New Delhi.
• The meeting was chaired by Ms. Neeta Prasad, Joint Secretary, International Cooperation, Ministry of Education from the Indian side and by Ms. Anne Line Wold, Director General, Ministry of Education and Research from the Norwegian side.
• The Ambassador of Norway to India also participated in the meeting.
• The Joint Working Group was established to monitor and oversee the implementation of the MoU on Cooperation in the field of Higher Education signed between India and Norway on 25th April, 2022.
• The two sides reviewed the progress made under the Indo-Norwegian Cooperation Programme developed under the ambit of the previous India-Norway MoU signed in 2014 and deliberated upon overall higher education policy and priorities, student/faculty mobility and cooperation in the field of skill development.

• The first retail store of natural farming products in the state was inaugurated in Shimla by Minister for Agriculture Virender Kanwar.
• Along with the store, the minister also launched a self-certification website for the practitioners of natural farming.
• “It’s the first attempt of its kind to provide market to natural farming produce and natural farming products to the consumers,” said Kanwar, adding that similar stores would be opened in other cities and towns of the state.
• “As the produce under natural farming grows, efforts will be made to reach the local populace as well through PDS,” he said.
• Naresh Thakur, Director, Prakritik Kheti Khushal Kisan Yojana, said consumers would get all kinds of fruit, vegetables and grains at the retail store, located at old barrier in the city.

• Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar released the poetry collection ‘Poh Ki Aakhri Raat’ by Savita Banta at Raj Bhavan.
• The author, who is a resident of Shimla, has expressed the moods of women through different poems.
• Arlekar said timely guidance and counselling should be made available for students so that their talents could be recognised.
• Pradhan Mantri – Mentorships’s Scheme for Young writers (PM-YUVA) has been launched by the Ministry of Education on 29 May 2021 for young writers up to the age of 30 years.

About:

• The International Day of the Girl Child aims to raise awareness about the importance and potential girls hold as the future of our society.
• It focuses attention on the need to address the challenges girls face and to promote girls’ empowerment and the fulfilment of their human rights.
• 2022 marks the 10th anniversary of International Day of the Girl Child.

Theme:

• This year’s theme is “Our time is now—our rights, our future”.

History:

• First time in history, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 1995, proposed an action plan to advance the rights of girls.
• In 2011, the United Nations General Assembly passed resolution 66/170 and adopted October 11 as the International Day of the Girl Child.
• It was an annual day commemorated to honour girls. Every year, a new theme is to be picked to focus on the most prevalent issue of the year.
• International Day of the Girl Child was first observed in 2012.