• Legendary actress Asha Parekh will be honoured with Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2020. The award will be presented to her at the National Film Award ceremony in New Delhi on September 30.
• Announcing the decision, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said that the Dadasaheb Phalke Selection Jury has decided to award Ms. Parekh for her exemplary lifetime contribution to Indian Cinema.
• He also announced that the 68th National Film Awards will be held on 30th September and will be presided over by President Droupadi Murmu.
• Asha Parekh is a renowned film actress, director and producer and an accomplished Indian classical dancer. Starting her career as a child actor, she made her debut as lead heroine in Dil Deke Dekho and has gone on to act in over 95 movies.
• She has acted in various films like Kati Patang, Teesri Manzil, Love in Tokyo, Aya Saawan Jhoom Ke, Aan Milo Sajna, Mera Gaon Mera Desh. Ms. Parekh is also a winner of Padma Shri, which was awarded to her in 1992. She has also served as the head of Central Board for Film Certification from 1998-2001.

About the Dadasaheb Phalke Award:

• The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is the highest honour in Indian cinema.
• The award was instituted in 1969, the award is the highest honour for an artiste in Indian cinema.
• Devika Rani was the first winner, while actor Rajinikanth is the most recent winner of the prestigious honour, in 2021.

• Indian Railways has made nearly 500 railway stations Divyangjan, Aged and Children friendly by installing the lifts and escalators at railway stations across the country under the Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan.
• Indian Railways has been consistently trying to improve passenger amenities at various stations.
• It said that provision of escalators and Lifts at the railway platforms is a part of the Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan and also a necessity in view of the ever-increasing passenger volumes.
• Such facilities would facilitate improvement at exit and entry of passengers at stations.

About Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan:

• Launched by the Prime Minister of India on International Day of Persons with Disabilities on 3rd December 2015.
• Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD) has launched Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan) as a nation-wide Campaign for achieving universal accessibility for Persons with Disabilities (PwDs).

 It has the following three important components:

• Built Environment Accessibility: An accessible government building is one, where persons with disabilities have no barrier in entering it and using all the facilities therein.  This covers the built environment – services, steps and ramps, corridors, entry gates, emergency exits, parking – as well as indoor and outdoor facilities including lighting, signages, alarm systems and toilets.
• Transportation System Accessibility: The term transportation covers a number of areas including air travel, buses, taxis, and trains. An airport is accessible, if a person with a disability has no barrier in entering it, using all the facilities, and boarding and disembarking from airplanes.  This covers the built environment – surfaces, steps and ramps, corridors, entry ways, emergency exits, parking – as well as indoor and outdoor facilities including lighting, signage, alarm systems and toilets.
• Information and Communication Eco-System Accessibility:  Enhancing proportion of accessible and usable public documents and websites that meet internationally recognized accessibility standards. Enhancing the pool of sign language interpreters.

• Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar called upon industrialists to contribute towards making Himachal Pradesh a tuberculosis (TB) free state.
• The Governor, while addressing industrialists at Nalagarh, said, “Though tuberculosis has been eradicated from most of the countries, India still has a large number of TB patients. The Prime Minister has set a target of making the country TB-free by 2024.”
• The Governor said that the state government had decided to achieve the target by 2023. He added that the target could be easily achieved if TB patients were adopted for treatment.
• He said, “We need to work as a social organisation. The Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh Industries Association (BBNIA) has always discharged its social responsibility and I hope it will contribute to achieving the target.”
• As per the data, 12.30 lakh TB cases were reported in India in 2021. The total TB notification rate in the state was 191 cases per lakh population.
• The total TB cases in the state last year was 14,492, out of which 2.6 per cent were in tribal areas, 74 per cent in rural and 23.4 per cent in urban areas.
• Rajesh Sharma, Secretary to the Governor, urged the investors to help the 9,000 TB patients in the state, who had given their consent to register themselves on the Nikshay portal.
• Gopal Beri, Deputy Managing Director, National Health Mission, said that Himachal was adjudged the best state in effectively implementing the TB eradication programme.
• Subodh Gupta, president, CII Himachal Pradesh; Gagan Kapoor, vice-president, CII; and Rajender Guleria, president, BBNIA; were also present on the occasion.

• After a gap of nearly two-and-a-half years, the state capital finally got air connectivity with the Alliance Air aircraft from Delhi landing at the Jubbarhatti airport.
• Though the flights were to resume on September 6, inclement weather conditions hampered the restoration of the flights.
• The flight will not just connect the state capital to Delhi but also with Dharamsala and Kullu. Air Alliance has acquired a new fixed-wing aircraft ATR-42 (600). The resumption of flights will give a major impetus to tourism, especially during the festive season.
• Resumption of flights from Shimla has been a long-pending demand of the hoteliers. While the flight between Shimla and Delhi will operate on all days of the week, the flight linking Shimla-Kullu will be operational four days a week while the one between Shimla and Dharamsala will operate thrice a week.
• While the two airports at Bhuntar in Kullu and Gaggal in Dharamsala have regular and reliable air connectivity, the tourism sector in Shimla has suffered due to the absence of regular and dependable flights from Jubbarhatti airport.

• Uttar Pradesh has been awarded Ayushmann Utkrishta award 2022 for adding various health facilities to health facility register.
• The State was conferred this award by the Chief Executive officer (CEO) of the National Health Authority R.S Sharma at the closing ceremony of theAarogya Manthan organised by the National Health Authority in New Delhi on 26 September 2022.
• Uttar Pradesh is the best performing state in the country with 28728 Health facilities added to National health facility register.
• Also, the state is the second-best State in creating Ayushmann Bharat health account (ABHA) with almost 2 crores ABH Accounts.

• INS Sunayna has reached Seychelles, an island off the coast of East Africa, to participate in the annual training exercise “Operation Southern Readiness” of Combined Maritime Forces (CMF).
• According to the Ministry of Defence, “This not only reinforces Indian Navy’s commitment to maritime security in the Indian Ocean region, but also marks the maiden participation of an Indian Navy ship in the CMF exercise.”
• The US, Italy, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, Spain and India are among the participants.
• The Seychelles People’s Defence Force, European Union Naval Force and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime are part of the exercise. Forces of multiple nations will conduct training on boarding a ship, search and seizure techniques, search and rescue operations, maritime law and information-sharing.

Commissioned in 2013

• INS Sunayna, the second of the NOPV (Naval Offshore Patrol Vessel) class of ship was commissioned at Kochi on October 15 in 2013 by Vice Admiral Satish Soni, Flag Officer Commanding in Chief Southern Naval Command.

• The United Nations observes 26th September every year as the International Day for the Total Elimination of nuclear weapons.
• The aim of the day is to enhance public awareness about the threat posed to humanity by nuclear weapons and the necessity for their total elimination.
• It provides an opportunity to educate the public and their leaders about the real benefits of eliminating such weapons, and the social and economic costs of perpetuating them.
• In 1946, the General Assembly’s first resolution established that the Atomic Energy Commission has the mandate to make specific proposals for the control of nuclear energy and the elimination of not only atomic weapons but also all other major weapons adaptable to mass destruction.
• The General Assembly endorsed the objective of general and complete disarmament in 1959. The first Special Session of the General Assembly Devoted to Disarmament, held in 1978, further recognized that nuclear disarmament should be the priority objective in the field of disarmament.
• The international arms-control framework contributed to international security since the Cold War. It also acted as a brake on the use of nuclear weapons.
• On July 7, 2017, the Treaty on the Prohibition of nuclear weapons was adopted. This Treaty is so important since it is the first multilateral legally-binding instrument for nuclear disarmament to have been negotiated in 20 years.
• On August 2, 2019, the United States’ withdrawal spelt the end of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, though the United States and the Russian Federation had previously committed to eliminating an entire class of nuclear missiles.

• IGIA energy management: The Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport, managed by Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), has received the prestigious National Award for Excellence in Energy Management by CII-Green Business Centre (GBC) along with National Energy Leader Award for the year 2021 for its consistent performance at the highest level in the last four years (from 2018 to 2021).
• CII-GBC made the announcement during the Energy Efficiency Summit-2022.
• The event was attended by R K Rai, Secretary, Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), Government of India, Freddy Svane, Ambassador at the Royal Danish Embassy in New Delhi, and Ravi Chandran Purushothaman, Chairman, Energy Efficiency Council, CII-GBC and President Danfoss India.
• The award recognizes “Excellence” in Energy Management in industries and aims to instill a sense of competition to motivate Indian industries to achieve energy excellence and promote sustainable development.
• DIAL, a GMR Airports Infrastructure Limited-led consortium, presented the “Net Zero Carbon Emission Airport by 2030” roadmap and its progress update, along with the key energy saving and emission reduction initiatives, innovative projects, and other environmental aspects such as waste management, water management, climate change adaptation strategies etc.

• SymphoNE is the start of a series of dialogues on North Eastern Region’s Development Conference comprised of a broad range of Policy Thinkers, Stakeholders & Influencers with the aim to boost Tourism Sector in North Eastern Region.
• The Virtual Conference ‘SymphoNE’ being organized on 24th & 27th September 2022 by Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region on the occasion of World Tourism Day.
• This two-day conference will aim to create a roadmap to showcase the unexplored beauty of North East India & boost the tourism Sector in North Eastern Region.
• SymphoNE aims to develop one-stop solution to eliminate all obstacles that are being faced by the tourists, and the tour operators while carrying out the operations for the visitors.

• Rosh Hashanah or the Jewish New Year has begun, marking the start of the year 5783 in the Hebrew Calendar.
• The day is marked with Simanim – a special feast meant for Rosh Hashanah. Simanim literally means “signs” or “indicators” and is meant to herald better tidings.
• This is followed by the blowing of a traditional horn called ‘shofar’ considered to be one of the most anticipated features in these festivities. While it is typically blown in the morning, it is considered to be as old as the time of Abraham and Isaac.

What is Rosh Hashanah

• Considered to be one of the holiest days in Judaism, Rosh Hashanah literally means ‘start of the year.’ It begins in the seventh month of the Hebrew Calendar; this day mostly falls in either September or October (as per the Gregorian calendar) and starts on the first day of Tishrei month in the Hebrew calendar.
• Legend has Rosh Hashanah’s roots in the Talmud — the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law and Jewish theology — which believes that the world was created on the first day of the Tishrei. While it is not completely clear when Jewish people first celebrated this day, the Book of Leviticus includes a passage (without specifically naming Rosh Hashanah) in which God tells Moses that the first day of the seventh month is a day for rest, marked with the blowing of a horn.
• Jews view this two-day holiday as a time to reflect in anticipation of better tidings in the coming year. Also called the ‘day of judgment,’ this time also gives people an opportunity to reflect and come up with ways to grow and prosper in the coming year.
• The nature of celebrations varies across the globe. While some believe in going to the synagogue and not working, others light candles in their homes. However, the most interesting tradition is celebrating the day with ‘taschlich’ — a customary Jewish atonement ritual performed during the High Holy Days. The ritual is performed at a large, natural body of flowing water — a river, lake, sea or ocean, usually on the afternoon of Rosh Hashanah. The penitent believers recite a Biblical passage and prayers. During the Tashlikh prayer, the worshipers symbolically throw their sins into a source of water. While some throw pieces of bread into the water, many rabbis consider this to be forbidden by halakha — the collective body of Jewish religious laws.
• Food is synonymous with Rosh Hashanah celebrations. The Simanim platter typically includes apples dipped in honey, Challah bread baked in round loaves, ram, leeks, pomegranate, gourds, dates, black-eyed peas or green beans, beets, carrots and Pri Chadash (“New Fruit”).