• On 16th October 2022, 19-year-old Indian grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi defeated the reigning five-time World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen in round seven of the preliminaries of the Aimchess Rapid online chess tournament.
• This is the first victory of Erigaisi over Norwegian  Carlsen. Erigaisi had earlier lost to Carlsen in the Julius Baer Generation Cup final in September.
• Erigaisi, who had gone down to compatriot Vidit Santosh Gujrathi to make a losing start in the event, is currently in fifth place after eight rounds.
• Another Indian D Gukesh is in sixth place with 12 points after mixed fortunes on the second day of the preliminaries.
• The other Indian players in the fray, Gujrathi, Aditya Mittal, and Harikrishna, are in the 10th, 11th, and 15th spots after eight rounds of the 15-round preliminary phase.

• UNICEF has said that economic crisis due to Russia-Ukraine conflict has thrown more than 4 million children into poverty across eastern Europe and Central Asia.
• It said on Monday that Russian and Ukrainian children have been most affected since the conflict started in February. UNICEF drew its conclusions from a study of data from 22 countries.
• On other hand, the World Food Program estimated that nearly 19 million Afghans are facing food insecurity.
• On World Food Day, which was observed on Sunday, the World Food Programme in Afghanistan said that a survey conducted in February and March indicated that nearly 19 million people are facing food insecurity.

• In Nigeria, more than 600 people have died so far in the worst flooding that the country has seen in a decade.
• Nigerian Humanitarian Affairs Minister Sadiya Umar Farouq said that around 82 thousand houses and over 100 thousand hectares of farmland had been submerged and destroyed due to the worst flooding.
• Nigeria’s ministry for Humanitarian Affairs last week reported that around 1.4 million people had been displaced from their homes.
• President Muhammadu Buhari last week ordered to release of 12 thousand metric tonnes of food items from the strategic reserves for communities affected by catastrophic flooding.
• According to Nigeria’s Meteorological Agency, the flooding is expected to continue until the end of November. Nigeria is used to seasonal flooding, but this year has been significantly worse than usual. The devastation of farmland comes at a time Nigeria faces heightened food insecurity because of the high prices of food items.

• NATO began its long-planned annual nuclear exercises in northwestern Europe as tensions simmer over military action in Ukraine and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threat to use any means to defend Russian territory.
• Fourteen of NATO’s 30 member countries were due to take part in the exercises. The military alliance said around 60 aircraft including fighter jets and surveillance and refuelling planes will take part in the event. The bulk of the war games will be held at least 1,000 kilometres from Russia’s borders.
• US long-range B-52 bombers will also take part in the maneuvers, dubbed Steadfast Noon, which will run until October 30.  The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is not permitting any media access.
• NATO said that training flights will take place over Belgium, which is hosting Steadfast Noon this year, as well as over the North Sea and the United Kingdom. The exercises involve fighter jets capable of carrying nuclear warheads but do not involve any live bombs.
• The exercises were planned before President Putin ordered Russian military action in Ukraine in February.

• Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region (NCR) Delhi and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) has reiterated to all implementing agencies of the Central and State Governments to strictly implement actions under Stage I of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) in view of the air quality GRAP is a set of emergency measures taken to reduce air pollution.
• The Commission has also urged citizens to cooperate in adherence to the Citizen Charter of the respective stages and assist in the effective implementation of the GRAP measures to improve the overall Air Quality in the region. As the air quality has reached “poor” category again, actions under Stage I of the GRAP need to be intensified by all concerned.
• The Commission is reviewing measures undertaken towards abatement of air pollution and also closely monitoring air quality parameters in NCR.
• In a statement, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change said, the Commission is reviewing measures undertaken towards abatement of air pollution and also closely monitoring air quality parameters in NCR.  A 24-point action plan as per Stage 1 of GRAP is already in place in the entire National Capital Region from 5th of this month.
• The action plan includes steps such as closure of Construction and Demolition activities of projects with plot sizes equal to or more than 500 square meters which are not registered on the ‘web portal’ of the respective NCR State Government.
• It also includes proper implementation of guidelines on dust mitigation measures and sound environmental management of Construction and Demolition wastes.

What is the Graded Response Action Plan?

• The Graded Response Action Plan was first notified in January 2017 by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
• The GRAP is a set of emergency measures effected to prevent the deterioration of air quality after it reaches a certain threshold.
• It envisions a four-stage ad-hoc mechanism wherein Stage 1 of GRAP is activated when the AQI is in the ‘poor’ category (201 to 300), while the second, third and fourth stages are activated three days ahead of the AQI reaching the ‘very poor’ category (301 to 400), ‘severe’ category (401 to 450) and ‘severe +’ category (above 450) respectively.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will review the site work progress of the National Maritime Heritage Complex at Lothal in Gujarat. This will be followed by his address on the occasion.
• Lothal was one of the prominent cities of the Harappan civilization and is known for the discovery of the oldest man-made dockyard. A maritime heritage complex in Lothal is fitting tribute to the city’s historical legacy and heritage.
• The complex, whose construction started in March this year, is being developed at a cost of around three thousand 500 crore rupees.
• It is being developed as a one-of-its-kind project to not only display India’s rich and diverse maritime heritage and also help Lothal to emerge as a world class international tourist destination.

• President Droupadi Murmu has appointed Dr. Justice DY Chandrachud as the new Chief Justice of India.
• Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said, Justice Chandrachud’s appointment will come into effect from 9th of next month. He will succeed present Chief Justice of India Justice Uday Umesh Lalit.
• Justice DY Chandrachud would be the 50th Chief Justice of India. Born in 1959, Justice Chandrachud was appointed Judge of the Supreme Court of India on 13th May 2016. Earlier, he served as Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court.
• He had completed his LLB from Campus Law Centre from Delhi University and obtained LLM degree and a Doctorate in Juridical Sciences from Harvard Law School in USA.

• Was Operation Blue Star avoidable? Was it a botched-up operation? All such questions came alive in a scintillating session on the concluding day of the three-day Khushwant Singh Literary Festival at
• The session thrashed out the entire gamut of the operation that decisively changed the course of events not just in Punjab but also in the country.
• The session on the book “Turmoil in Punjab, Before and After Blue Star” written by former Punjab Chief Secretary RI Singh was anchored by Gul Panag.
• There was an animated discussion on the turbulent times in Punjab which mainly focused around Operation Blue Star.
• RI Singh explained how the entire administrative system was handed over to the Army in the entire state and how the entire communication system was paralysed overnight to give full power to the Army.
• Singh, who was Deputy Commissioner, Amritsar, during operation, underlined that the operation should have been executed with more precision to ensure that Sikh sentiments were not hurt.
• Justifying his acceptance of the Padma Shri, he said it was bestowed on him for his administrative services and was purely a professional call.
• Senior mediaperson Kanwar Sandhu, who was a co-panellist, said that the civil administration failed to discharge its duty during the operation and abjured all its powers and responsibilities to allow the Army a free hand.
• Sandhu said it was the failure of state governance that allowed the 1978 Baisakhi Day violence in Amritsar, causing the death of 13 persons. He said it was a glaring administrative failure that no subsequent inquiry was ordered into the incident and not even into Operation Blue Star.

• The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has set aside the Shimla Draft Development Plan (SDDP), 2041, approved by the state government, terming it illegal and in conflict with its earlier order of regulating haphazard construction activity in the state capital.
• The NGT, headed by Justice Adarsh Goel, in its 20-page order, dated October 14, said prima facie, the SDDP was in violation of the NGT order of November 16, 2017.
• The NGT had issued a notice to the state government after the SDDP was approved by the Cabinet and an interim injunction was granted against its implementation.
• The quashing of the SDDP has come as a major blow to the efforts of the government to placate those who had undertaken unauthorised construction in the poll-bound state.
• The NGT order is a validation of the crusade launched by environmentalists and social organisations to save the Queen of Hills from further concretisation and degradation.
• The SDDP had allowed construction not just in the core area but also in the no-construction 17 green belts where a ban had been imposed in December 2000.
• Shimla is still expanding on the basis of the 1979 Interim Development Plan (IDP) and the SDDP had taken into account the projected population of 6.25 lakh in 2041 against 2.41 lakh, to cater to the growing needs of the town.
• The Green Bench considered the contention of the petitioner, Yogendra Mohan Sengupta, against the validity of the draft development plan, including permitting construction of more floors, new constructions in the banned core and green areas and permitting development in sinking and sliding area in violation of the earlier NGT order.
• The petitioner had contended that the SDDP was contrary to the sustainable development principle.
• “The NGT has an overriding effect over any other law in force. Violating such directions is a criminal punishable offence under Section 26 of the NGT Act and the state departments concerned are liable to be prosecuted,” the NGT observed on the issue of the state questioning its jurisdictional powers. There was no jurisdiction with the state to annul or ignore the NGT, the order read.
• The NGT observed that there was an illegal and ill-conceived effort to violate its binding directions, having the force of binding court decree, subject to further orders of only the Supreme Court.
• The NGT, in its order of 2017, had imposed a complete ban on new construction in the core and green area and had restricted buildings to two and a half floors in the rest of the Shimla planning area.
• The NGT had clearly stated that no unauthorised buildings, raised in violation of the provisions of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1977, be regularised.

About:

• The centres, called bhasha kendras, will be established under the Union ministry of education’s Indian Knowledge System (IKS) initiative.
• These language centres will be in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, that emphasises on promoting regional languages.
• The centres will be given three broad responsibilities.
  • First, they will prepare small booklets of 100-200 pages of the IKS-related literature and manuscripts available in their designated languages.
    • The centres will also be translating these works into Sanskrit and English.
  • Second, these centres will be to enrich their designated Indian languages with modern science and social models.
    • They will be asked to translate 1,000 pages of material in other languages into their designated language.
  • Third, they will develop courses at the undergraduate level.