• Vijayawada Railway Station has been awarded the ‘Green Railway Station’ certification with the highest rating of Platinum by the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) for its efforts in improving environmental standards and providing eco-friendly services to passengers.
• This is an upgrade of the station’s ratings, from gold in 2019 to platinum in 2023.
• This is a moment of pride for the Vijayawada railway station, second in the South-Central Railway (SCR) zone after Secunderabad to have bagged the platinum rating.

• The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) will be holding a ‘Festival of Democracy’ at Bihar’s Nalanda University exhibiting India’s rich democratic traditions.

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF DEMOCRACY

• In 2007 the United Nations General Assembly resolved to observe 15 September as the International Day of Democracy—with the purpose of promoting and upholding the principles of democracy
• This year’s theme for the International Day of Democracy, “Empowering the next generation,”

ANCIENT CITY OF VAISHALI:

• It is a great Buddhist pilgrimage and birthplace of Lord Mahavira, the last Tirthankar of Jainism. It is believed to be the first republic in the world.
• Buddha visited this place thrice, delivered his last sermon and announced his Nirvana here at Vaishali.
• After the death of Buddha, the Second Buddhist Council was held at Vaishali.

NALANDA UNIVERSITY

• It was a centre of higher learning that attracted scholars from different parts of the country as well as the world from the 5th century CE to 12th century CE.
• It was located in present day Rajgir, Bihar.

• On 13th September, 1948, India’s military action known as “Operation Polo” was launched to integrate the princely state of Hyderabad, a significant event in Indian history.
• The Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Shah, had hesitated to join India or Pakistan after Independence, capitalizing on the Indian government’s preoccupation with the Kashmir
• A standstill agreement signed in November 1947 maintained the status quo between Hyderabad and India for a year, allowing the Nizam to continue governing independently.
• However, escalating tensions, cross-border raids, and intentions to establish an independent state, prompted India to act.
• The operation saw well-planned military thrusts from multiple directions, ultimately leading to the surrender of the Hyderabad state forces.
• This pivotal campaign, carried out under the watchful eye of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, culminated in a ceasefire declaration on 17th September, 1948 effectively placing Hyderabad under Indian control by 18th September, 1948.

• The Karnataka Forest Department recently directed the Bandipur Tiger Reserve’s eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) monitoring panel to act against illegal cottages built within the reserve’s ESZ.

ABOUT BANDIPUR TIGER RESERVE (BTR):

• It is situated in two contiguous districts (Mysore and Chamarajanagar) of Karnataka and located at the tri-junction area of the States of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
• Geographically, it is an “ecological confluence” of the Western and Eastern Ghats.
• It was established in 1931 as Venugopala Wildlife Park by the Maharaja of Mysore.
• It was then expanded with the name Bandipur Tiger Reserve under Project Tiger in 1973.
• It is part of the larger Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, which is recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• BTR is surrounded by Nagarahole Tiger Reserve(Tamil Nadu) in the North West (Kabini Reservoir separates the two).
  • Mudumalai Tiger Reserve(Tamil Nadu) in the South.
  • Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary(Kerala) in the South West.
• It is surrounded by River Kabini in its north and River Moyar in its south.
• Bandipur has a typical tropical climate with distinct wet and dry seasons.

Flora:

• It comprises diverse vegetation ranging from dry deciduous to tropical mixed deciduous.
• It includes rosewood, Indian kino tree, sandalwood, Indian laurel, clumping bamboo, giant clumping bamboo etc.

Fauna:

• It is a shelter for the largest population of wild Asian elephants in South Asia.
• It comprises other mammals such as Bengal tiger, gaur, sloth bear, golden jackal, dhole, four-horned antelope, etc.

• The Indian Air Force received the first C-295MW transport aircraft from Airbus in Seville, Spain.

ABOUT C-295 MW AIRCRAFT:

• It is a transport aircraft of 5-10 tonne
• It will replace the legacy Avro aircraft in the Indian Air Force (IAF) procured in the 1960s.
• It is a versatile and efficient tactical transport aircraft which can perform a number of different missions.
• Under the contract, 16 aircraft will come in fly-away condition from Seville, while 40 will be manufactured by Airbus jointly with Tata Advanced Systems Ltd. (TASL).

FEATURES

• The aircraft, with a flight endurance of up to 11 hours, can carry out multi-role operations under all weather conditions.
• It can routinely operate day as well as night combat missions from desert to maritime environments.
• It can also operate on short, unprepared airstrips as it is capable of Short Take-off and Landing (STOL).
• It has a rear ramp door for quick reaction and para dropping of troops and cargo. Short take-off/land from semi-prepared surfaces is another of its features.
• It can be converted into an air tanker that can deliver up to 6,000 kg of gasoline to fixed and rotary wing receivers by adding a detachable refueling kit.
• Airborne Early Warning (AEW): It has a cutting-edge radar with 360-degree coverage to give a complete picture of the airspace in its Airborne Early Warning variant.
• Water-Bomber: The C-295 can be transformed into a powerful water bomber that can put out forest fires with up to 7,000 litres of water due to a flexible roll-on/roll-off system.
• It is equipped with a close-air-support operation that uses an Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) with a multi-mission radar that can also be weaponised.
• The aircraft can be utilised for casualty or medical evacuation as well as airdropping loads and paratroopers.
• It is equipped to handle special missions, disaster relief operations, and maritime patrol responsibilities.

• The Union Cabinet has approved the third phase of the eCourts Projects with a budget allocation of 7,210 crore.

ABOUT

• The eCourts Mission Mode Project is the prime mover for improving access to justice using technology.
• As part of the National eGovernance Plan, the e-Courts Project has been under implementation since 2007 for ICT enablement of the Indian Judiciary, the Phase II of which has concluded in
• Phase III of the e-Courts Project in India is rooted in the philosophy of “access and inclusion” and aims to create a unified technology platform, which will provide a seamless and paperless interface between the courts, the litigants and other stakeholders.
• Taking the gains of Phase-I and Phase-II to the next level, the e-Courts Phase-III aims to usher in a regime of maximum ease of justice by moving towards digital, online and paperless courts.
• It includes digitization of the entire court records including legacy records and by bringing in universalization of e-Filing/ e-Payments through saturation of all court complexes with e-Sewa Kendras.
• It will put in place intelligent smart systems enabling data-based decision making for judges and registries while scheduling or prioritizing cases.
• It is being implemented under the joint partnership of Department of Justice, and eCommittee, Supreme Court of India, in a decentralized manner through the respective High Courts to develop a judicial system that would promote ease of justice.

• India and Saudi Arabia recently agreed to speed up the implementation of the $50 billion West Coast refinery project.
• West Coast Refinery Project first conceptualised in 2014, the West Coast refinery project, also known as the Ratnagiri Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd. (RRPCL), was envisioned as India’s largest greenfield refinery with a capacity of 60 million tonnes per annum and is touted to become the largest integrated refinery and petrochemical facility in the world.
• The project is supposed to be set up on India’s western coast, specifically in Ratnagiri, Maharashtra.
• The refinery is expected to produce around 2 million barrels of oil a day when completed, alongside the various petroleum products that will be produced by attached petrochemical plants.
• Three of India’s leading government-owned public sector undertakings in the oil and gas sector came together in a joint venture partnership called
• RRPCL is a 50:25:25 joint venture formed in 2017 by India’s three national oil companies, Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL).
• In 2019, Saudi Aramco and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) decided to get involved as well, collectively acquiring a 50 percent stake in the project, which is estimated to be worth around Rs 3 lakh crore purely in set-up costs.

INDIA-SAUDI ARABIA STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP COUNCIL

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) recently chaired the first meeting of the India-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council (SPC).
• Strategic Partnership Council established in 2019, aims to enhance the relationship between the two countries and has two main pillars: the Committee on Political, Security, Social, and Cultural Cooperation and the Committee on Economy and Investments.
• These committees have four levels of engagement, including summit-level meetings, ministerial-level discussions, senior officials’ meetings, and joint working groups.
• During their recent meeting, India and Saudi Arabia agreed to expedite the $50-billion West Coast refinery project and identified areas such as energy, defence, semiconductor, and space for intensified cooperation.
• West Coast Refinery Project aims to set up Asia’s largest refinery in Ratnagiri, Maharashtra.
• It is a trilateral project between ARAMCO (Saudi), ADNOC (UAE) and Indian companies.
• India and Saudi Arabia have signed eight agreements during the State visit of Crown Prince and PM of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. These are:
  • Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the field of
  • Agreement in the field of digitalisation and electronic manufacturing between the IT ministries of both sides
  • Agreement between Central Vigilance Commission of India and its counterpart the Saudi Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority.
  • Agreement between the National Archives.
  • Agreement between Invest India on the Indian side and the Ministry of Investment on Saudi.
  • Agreement between the two EXIM banks
  • Agreement between the Small and Medium Enterprises Bank of two sides, that is SIDBI and the SME Bank of Saudi Arabia
  • Agreement in the field of

• The Union Cabinet has decided to extend the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) to 75 lakhs more consumers by providing them LPG connections over three years from 2023-24 to 2025- 26.
• Costing Rs 1,650 crore, this expansion will elevate the total number of PMUY beneficiaries to 5 million.
• The government announced this extension after reducing the price of cooking gas by Rs 200 across all markets last month.

ABOUT UJJWALA YOJANA

• It is a scheme of the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas for providing LPG connections to women from Below Poverty Line (BPL) households.
• The scheme was originally launched on May 1, 2016, in Ballia, Uttar Pradesh by the Prime Minister of India with a target of releasing 8 crore connections by March 2020.
• During Ujjwala 1.0, a target was set to provide LPG connections to 5 crore women members of BPL households.
• Subsequently, the scheme was expanded in April 2018 to include women beneficiaries from seven more categories (SC/ST, PMAY, AAY, Most backward classes, tea garden, forest dwellers, Islands).
• The PMUY 2.0 was launched in the financial year 2021-22 making a provision for the release of additional one crore connections.

• Germany won their first-ever men’s FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 title by beating Serbia in Manila.
• The 19th edition of FIBA’s flagship event, co-hosted by the Philippines, Indonesia, and Japan.
• Germany became the first team to win a FIBA World Cup crown in their final debut since Spain in 2006.

• Tamil Nadu government has launched social welfare scheme “Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thogai Thittam”.
• Under the scheme, Tamil Nadu government will provide monthly assistance of Rs 1,000 to more than 1.06 crore female family heads through Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thogai Thittam.
• Beneficiaries will receive financial assistance through direct bank transfers and will be provided with ATM cards for easy access.
• The government emphasizes on effective implementation and will use SMS notifications to communicate with beneficiaries.