• The Union Environment Ministry has for the third time extended the deadline by which coal plants must install pollution-control technologies to reduce emissions, drawing criticism from environment and clean-energy activists.

About:

• The Ministry first specified emission norms for the control of sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and mercury (Hg) from coal-fired power plants.
• However, non-compliance and limited progress by the plants led to a new extension following the recent notification pushing it to 2025.
• According to the latest notification, power plants within a 10-km radius of the NCR and in the vicinity of cities with a population of more than one million have until December 31, 2024, to meet the deadline.
• For power plants within a 10-km radius of “critically polluted” areas (as designated by the Environment Ministry), the deadline has been extended to December 31, 2025.
• Finally, for all other power plants across the country, the deadline stands at December 31, 2026.

• The European Central Bank made its largest-ever interest rate increase.
• The action came following the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks in a global stampede of rapid rate hikes to arrest record inflation.
• The bank’s 25-member Governing Council raised its key benchmarks by an unprecedented 75 basis points for the 19 countries, using euro currency.
• The ECB had never raised its key bank lending rate by three-quarters of a point since the euro’s launch in 1999.
• The bank said, it expects more hikes ahead because inflation may rise further in the near term.
• The central bank noted that the economy was expected to stagnate later in the year.

About the European Central Bank (ECB)

• The European Central Bank (ECB) is headquartered in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
• It has been responsible for monetary policy in the Euro area since 1999, when the euro currency was first adopted by some EU members.

• Australian Parliament has passed government legislation in view of a pledge to reduce carbon emissions by 43 percent by 2030 and further bring it to zero by 2050.
• The Senate passed the bill with 37 votes to 26 with amendments from independent senator David Pocock, before being passed by the House of Representatives hours later.
• The legislation, which still needs royal assent before it officially becomes law, will set a target greenhouse gas emissions reduction of 43 percent by 2030. It also enshrines net zero emissions by 2050.
• Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen said that the passage of the climate change legislation sends a message to the world that Australia is serious about driving down emissions and serious about reaping the economic opportunities from affordable renewable energy.
• Bowen said, it also strengthens transparency and accountability through the annual climate change statement and will ensure public debate informs government decisions.
• The bill is passed with the support of the Greens party and independents.
• This is the first step in climate action following Labour Party coming to power this year.

• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that bringing inflation down cannot be the sole responsibility of the Centre.
• She stressed states also play a critical role in management of prices.
• Inaugurating a conference of Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relation in New Delhi, Ms Sithraman said, during covid pandemic, immediately, handling inflation has become only a subset of handling the economy.
• She said, looking at the context about inflation particularly since 2020, there are so many different factors.
• She said, India’s entire import had two per cent of Russian component and it was ramped up to 12 to 13 per cent within a couple of months.
• The Minister said, there are sanctions but countries are finding their own way to get that Russian crude, gas.

About Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relation (ICRIER)

• Established in August 1981, ICRIER is a policy-oriented, not-for-profit, economic policy think tank. ICRIER’s main focus is to enhance the knowledge content of policy making by undertaking analytical research that is targeted at informing India’s policy makers and also at improving the interface with the global economy.
• ICRIER has two office locations in Delhi.
• ICRIER’s Board of Governors include leading academicians, policymakers, and representatives from the private sector.
• Pramod Bhasin is ICRIER’s chairperson and Dr. Deepak Mishra is Director & Chief Executive.

ICRIER conducts thematic research in the following five thrust areas:

• Growth, Employment and Macroeconomics (GEM)
• Trade, Investment and External Relations (TIER)
• Agriculture Policy, Sustainability and Innovation (APSI)
• Digital Economy, Start-ups and Innovation (DESI)
• Climate Change, Urbanization and Sustainability (CCUS)

• Deputy Commissioner Ashutosh Garg presided over a meeting to review the preparations for the Kullu Dasehra festival.
• He said that after two years, cultural evenings would be organised in the open air auditorium at the Kala Kendra during the seven-day festival, which would commence on October 5. Every cultural evening would have a special theme.
• Garg said that a Sufi Sandhya would be organised on the first day, a Punjabi song and music show on the second, a Qawwali night on third, comedy on fourth, Amrit Mahotsav night with police band on fifth, superstar night on sixth and a Pahari night on the seventh day of the festival.
• He said that this year, the festival would be linked to the ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’.
• He added that local artistes would be given preference but care would be taken to maintain international standards of the festival.

About Kullu Dussehra 

• According to historians, the idol of Lord Raghunath was brought to Kullu from Ayodhya in 1651 when Raja Jagat Singh was the ruler of Kullu state.
• Dussehra celebrations in Kullu started after 1660 when the Raja invited all deities before Lord Raghunath
• The village gods and minor deities are also a part of this celebration. The centre of the festivities is the Dhalpur maidan.
• Kullu Dussehra was declared an international event in 1972.

• Brave heroes, who belonged to tribal areas, have contributed significantly to the freedom struggle, said Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur while presiding over a programme on the theme “Contribution of Tribal Heroes to the Freedom Struggle”.
• The Institute of Tribal Studies, Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla, National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, New Delhi, and the All India Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram organised the programme.
• He said that freedom fighter Tilka Majhi organised the Paharia tribe against the atrocities of British East India Company and attacked the Company Fund, for which he was sentenced to death.
• Another freedom fighter Bhagwan Birsa Munda took part in the struggle to end the British rule.
• CM said, “Many tribal heroes such as Thalakal Chanthu, Nilambar, Radho ji Bhangre took part in the freedom struggle for which they were tortured.
• Many freedom fighters were sent to jail and some were hanged. Several of them like Munshi Saje Ram, Thakur Devi Singh, Thakur Shiv Chand from Lahaul and Spiti and Jangi Ram and Bhag Saran from Kinnaur played an important role in the movement.”
• He announced Rs 2 crore for the alumni building at the HPU.

• Indian hockey team players PR Sreejesh, Harmanpreet Singh and Savita Punia have been shortlisted for the 2021-22 year-end FIH awards. Harmanpreet Singh has been nominated for the FIH Men’s Player of the Year award while PR Sreejesh and Savita Punia are in the running for the FIH Men’s and Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year, respectively.
• All three had won the awards in their categories in the 2020-21 edition.
• Indian men’s team head coach Graham Reid is in the shortlist for the FIH Men’s Team Coach of the Year award while women’s team coach Janneke Schopman is also in the running for the women’s coach of the year honour.
• Graham Reid was voted the men’s team coach of the year for 2020-21.

• Union Health Minister Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya virtually laid the foundation stone for National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) branches in 6 States namely Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Tripura and Uttar Pradesh.
• The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) is an institute under the Indian Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
• Currently, NCDC has eight branches in States with focus on one or few diseases, these will be repurposed and new branches are being added with the mandate for integrated disease surveillance activities, dealing with Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR), multi-sectoral and entomological investigations etc.
• The NCDC has its headquarters in Delhi and has eight outstation branches located at Alwar (Rajasthan), Bengaluru (Karnataka), Kozhikode-Calicut (Kerala), Coonoor (Tamil Nadu), Jagdalpur (Chhatisargh), Patna (Bihar), Rajahmundry (Andhra Pradesh) and Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh).

• India’s National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) and the UK Government in collaboration with BAE Systems successfully designed and conducted the Cyber Security Exercise for 26 Countries.
• The exercise has been conducted as part of the International Counter Ransomware Initiative- Resilience Working Group which is being led by India under the leadership of National Cyber Security Coordinator (NCSC).
• National Security Council Secretariat in a statement said that the exercise has been facilitated by BAE Systems through the Immersive Labs platform, and the scenario has been written specifically for the participants based on Threat Intelligence and operational experiences.
• The theme of the exercise is based on Energy Sector in which the respective National Cyber Crisis Management Teams of the CRI Partner Nations will have to deal with a ransomware attack on multiple electricity distribution companies.
• The aim to organise this virtual Cyber Exercise on Ransomware Resilience is to simulate a large, wide-spread cyber security incident affecting organisations within a country.

• US President Joe Biden has nominated Indian-American attorney Arun Subramanian to be US District Judge for the Southern District of New York.
• A Communication in this regard was sent to the Senate by the White House along with other judicial nominations.
• If confirmed by the Senate, Mr Subramanian will be the first South Asian judge to serve on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
• Currently a partner at Susman Godfrey LLP in New York.
• National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) has congratulated Mr Subramanian on his nomination.
• Acting president of NAPABA AB Cruz III said Mr Subramanian is an experienced trial and appellate attorney with a strong track record of pro bono service.
• Indian-American Impact has welcomed the nomination by describing it as a notable nomination.
• Indian-American Impact Executive-Director Neil Makhija said, South Asians and Asian Americans have long been underrepresented in the federal judiciary – with less than five per cent of Article III district judges being of AAPI descent – but in the past year we have made historic strides.