• Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal has called for strong legal and punitive actions against fraudulent activities on Government e Marketplace- GeM portal.
• The Minister said this while reviewing the progress of GeM in New Delhi.
• He said, in addition to detecting anomalies, GeM also plans to use Artificial Intelligence-Machine Learning to make proactive feature simplifications and product suggestions to buyers to ensure informed decision-making and savings in public spendings.
• Goyal also stressed on the need to bring all public procurement online to promote economies of scale and social Inclusiveness.
• The Minister suggested bringing in end-to-end online fulfillment and payment for all transactions by buyers on GeM and to improve monitoring of delivery against timelines.
• Significant technical upgrades have been planned by GeM to enable cutting edge use cases and improve user experience on the platform.

About GeM

• GeM is a short form of one stop Government e-Market Place hosted by DGS&D where common user goods and services can be procured.
• GeM is dynamic, self-sustaining and user friendly portal for making procurement by Government officers.
• The portal was launched on 9^thAugust 2016 by the Commerce & Industry Minister.
• Procurement on GeM has been authorized by General Financial Rules by making necessary changes in government rules. Presently more than 7400 products in about 150 product categories and hiring of transport service are available on GeM POC portal. Transactions for more than Rs 140 Crore have already been processed through GeM.
• GeM is a completely paperless, cashless and system driven e-market place that enables procurement of common use goods and services with minimal human interface.

• Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar today administered the oath of office and secrecy to Rameshwar Singh Thakur as the Chairman of the Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (HPPSC) at Raj Bhawan.
• Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, MLAs, Chief Secretary RD Dhiman, Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission PS Rana, Advocate General Ashok Sharma, senior government officers and other prominent people were present on the occasion.
• The Governor also administered the oath of office and secrecy to Rakesh Sharma, Col Rajesh Kumar Sharma (retd) and Dr Nain Singh as members of the commission. Rajesh Sharma, Secretary to the Governor, conducted the proceedings.

• Ishani Singh Jamwal of Kullu is the only girl from Himachal in the nine-member team of the Indian Mountaineering Federation (IMF) and the Navodit Samaj Seva Sansthan that will scale the 7,077-metre high Kun peak of Kargil.
• The Chhattisgarh Government is organising the expedition in collaboration with the IMF for the purpose of women empowerment.
• This expedition team will be mentored by Banshilal and comprises Shanti Rai from Sikkim, Aarti Kunjami, Dashmat Batti and Kalpana Bhaskar from Chhattisgarh, Anamika Bisht from Uttarakhand, Sabita Mahto and Mitali Prasad from Bihar and Ishani Singh Jamwal from Himachal.
• Ishani has done her entire training and mountaineering courses from the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports, Manali.

• Former chief economic adviser (CEA) Krishnamurthy V Subramanian will take over as the next executive director (ED) for India at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from November 1. He will replace economist Surjit Bhalla.
• According to an order by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, Subramanian’s term will continue for a period of three years or until further orders, whichever is earlier.
• Bhalla was appointed in 2019 after then ED for India and former RBI deputy governor Subir Gokarn died in July that year.
• After completing a three-year tenure as the CEA in December 2021, Subramanian returned to ISB Hyderabad where he is serving as a professor.
• A PhD in financial economics from the Booth School of Business, University of Chicago, and an alumnus of IIM Calcutta as well as IIT Kanpur, Subramanian is an expert in banking, corporate governance and economic policy.

• Government has notified Battery Waste Management Rules, 2022 to ensure environmentally sound management of waste batteries.
• Environment Ministry said, the new rules will replace Batteries (Management and Handling) Rules, 2001. The rules cover all types of batteries – Electric Vehicle batteries, portable batteries, automotive batteries and industrial batteries.
• The Ministry said, it mandates that all waste batteries to be collected and sent for recycling, refurbishment, and its prohibits disposal in landfills and incineration.
• The rules also promote setting up of new industries and entrepreneurship in collection and recycling of waste batteries.

• India was among the 13 countries who voted in favour of a proposal seeking to allow Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to address the United Nations Security Council virtually.
• As the UNSC meeting began, the Russian ambassador to the United Nations Vassily A Nebenzia requested a procedural vote concerning the Ukrainian president’s participation in the meeting through video conference.
• Russia voted against while China abstained from voting. The result of the voting was 13 was in favour, one vote against, and one abstention. The proposal to invite Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine to participate in today’s meeting via VTC, has been adopted.
• Earlier, India announced that it is ready to dispatch its 12th consignment of humanitarian aid to Ukraine consisting of twenty-six types of medicines on a special request from the Ukrainian side. Addressing a United Nations Security Council briefing, the country’s.
• Permanent Representative to the UN, Ruchira Kamboj said that the humanitarian aid includes ‘hemostatic bandages’ which are meant to stem the bleeding of deep wounds in children and adults and are included in the aid on the specific request by the Ukrainian side as the members meet to mark 6 months since the beginning of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
• This comes as the Ukrainian authorities by requested assistance from the govt of India to tackle the looming crisis in the country.
• The ambassador said that India’s approach will be to promote dialogue and diplomacy with an aim to end the conflict to mitigate the economic challenges emerging from the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine seeking an early resolution.

• Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) and NITI Aayog will establishing more than 500 Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs) in Jammu and Kashmir to nurture an innovative mind-set among high school students.
• ATL is the flagship initiative of the AIM launched by Centre to nurture an innovative mindset amongst high school students across India.
• The objectives of the AIM are to create and promote an ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship across the country via interventions at school, university, research institutions, MSME and industry levels.
• The programmes of AIM cover 34 states and Union Territories with the goal of leveraging India’s demographic dividend by inspiring greater participation in the innovation ecosystem.
• Recently an AIM team led by Mission Director, Dr Chintan Vaishnav inspected the Atal Tinkering Labs in J&K during which creative students displayed their innovative models and briefed about the challenges they faced while working on these innovations.
• The government has directed School Education Department to promote scientific temper among the students in areas such as machine learning and artificial intelligence by proactively engaging them in various experiments and scientific activities.

• The 38th Meeting of Ministerial level Joint Rivers Commission, JRC, of India and Bangladesh was held in New Delhi.
• The two sides finalized the text of MoU on ‘Interim Water Sharing of Kushiyara river’. Both sides also welcomed finalization of the design and location of the water intake point on the Feni River to meet the drinking water needs of Sabroom town in Tripura, as per the October 2019 India -Bangladesh MoU on the subject.
• The Indian delegation was led by Union Minister for Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and the Bangladesh delegation was led by State Minister for Water Resources Zaheed Farooque.
• The meeting assumes significance as it was held after a long gap of 12 years, though the technical interactions under the framework of JRC have continued in the intervening period. India and Bangladesh share 54 rivers, of which seven rivers have been identified earlier for developing framework of water sharing agreements on priority.
• During the meeting, it was agreed to widen the area of ongoing cooperation by including eight more rivers for data exchange.
• The matter will be further discussed at the Technical Level Committee of JRC.
• The Joint Rivers Commission of India and Bangladesh was constituted in the year 1972.

• Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Sweden’s LFV Air Navigation Services have joined hands for developing and operationalizing the next generation sustainable aviation technology to explore smart aviation solutions.
• AAI and Sweden’s LFV signed a Memorandum of Understanding today in New Delhi in this regard. Civil Aviation Ministry informed that the MoU will pave the way for bilateral exchange of aviation knowledge, expertise and technology transfer between the two countries.
• It will also allow the Indian companies to accelerate growth while leveraging Swedish innovation and expertise. MoU aims to expand technical cooperation in airports and support the development of a safe, secure, sustainable and efficient aviation sector.
• On the occasion, Chairman of Airports Authority of India, Sanjeev Kumar expressed confidence that the mutual exchange in civil aviation between AAI and LFV Sweden will go a long way in building and operationalization of next generation smart and sustainable aviation technology.
• Ambassador of Sweden in India, Klas Molin said, he is looking forward to seeing how the MoU can foster more opportunities for Sweden and India to explore climate-smart solutions within the aviation sector.

• The Ministry of Tribal Affairs and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, under its Aashwasan Campaign screened over one crore persons in over 68,000 villages.
• The Aashwasan Campaign started in January this year in Nandurbar District of Maharashtra for finding active case for Tuberculosis in 174 tribal districts of India, under the ambit of the Tribal TB Initiative.
• Recently, a national conclave was held at the National Tribal Research Institute (NTRI) in New Delhi to disseminate the learnings of the 100-day Aashwasan Campaign under ‘Tribal TB Initiative’.
• Addressing the event, Joint Secretary Ministry of Tribal Affairs Dr. Navaljit Kapoor said, the Aashwasan Campaign brought together about two lakh community influencers, including tribal leaders, tribal healers, Self Help Groups and youth in the tribal areas.
• The data indicates that the tribal communities are more vulnerable to respiratory diseases and TB, compared to other population groups.
• As a way forward, to mark 75 years’ of India’s Independence, 75 high-burden tribal districts have been selected for focused interventions in the coming months.