• Former Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke along with Douglas Diamond and Philip Dybvig won the 2022 Nobel Economics Prize “for research on banks and financial crises”.
• “Ben Bernanke in a paper from the 1983 showed with statistical analysis, and historical sources, that bank runs led to bank failures and this was the mechanism that turned a relatively ordinary recession into the depression in the 30s, the world’s most dramatic, and, severe crisis that we have seen in the modern history,” said John Hassler, member of committee for the Nobel Prize for Economics.
• The US trio joins such luminaries as Paul Krugman and Milton Friedman, previous winners of the prize.
• The majority of previous laureates have been from the US. Only two women have ever won, Elinor Ostrom in 2009 and Esther Duflo in 2019.
• The economics prize is not one of the original five awards created in the 1895 will of industrialist and dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel.

• The World Health Organisation recognises World Mental Health Day on 10 October every year.
• The theme of 2022’s World Mental Health Day, set by the World Federation for Mental Health, is ‘Make mental health and wellbeing for all a global priority‘.
• With the mental health treatment gap across 11 South East Asian nations, including India, estimated at 70 to 95 per cent, the government launched a toll-free, 24×7 helpline to cater to the rising demand for counselling services and guidance.
• The helpline number 14416 has been set up across the country and will allow callers to select the language of choice. The service, also accessible with 1-800-91-4416, launched at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru, under the Tele Mental Health Assistance and Networking Across States (Tele-MANAS) initiative of the Ministry of Health.
• The launch coincided with WHO urging member states in the South-East Asia region to intensify action to ensure access for all to quality mental healthcare, in line with the recently adopted Paro Declaration on universal access to people-centred mental healthcare and services.
• Globally, before the Covid pandemic, around one in eight people lived with a mental health condition. Gaps in treatment were unacceptably large, especially in low- and middle-income countries.
• “In South-East Asia, an estimated one in seven people lived with a mental health condition, and in countries where data are available, the treatment gap ranged from 70–95 per cent. The Covid crisis has impacted almost all areas of health, but a few as profoundly as mental health,” WHO SEARO Regional Director Poonam Khetarpal Singh said.
• She said in 2020, cases of major depressive disorder were estimated to have increased by more than 27 per cent globally, and cases of anxiety disorders by more than 25 per cent. “In many countries, this occurred alongside widespread disruptions to mental health services.
• Between November and December 2021, more than 33 per cent of WHO member states globally reported ongoing disruptions to mental, neurological and substance use services.

• Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Shri Anurag Singh Thakur has inaugurated a Water Sports Center in Koldam Barmana, Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh.
• The centre will be dedicated to training athletes in water sports like Rowing, Canoeing and Kayaking.
• The Minister said, 40 players will be chosen who will take part in Rowing, Kayaking and Canoeing. There are state of the art equipments and boys and girls will get hostel and training facilities.
• The Water Sports Centre, the very first of its kind in Himachal Pradesh, has been jointly initiated by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC).
• The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was also exchanged between SAI and NTPC during the event.

• To create cybersecurity awareness among all employees, Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Ltd. (IREDA) observed the “Cyber Jaagrukta Diwas”.
• It is observed on first Wednesday of every month.
• Shri Pradip Kumar Das, Chairman & Managing Director (CMD), IREDA, inaugurated the event.
• Cyber Jaagrukta Diwas is an initiative launched by the Ministry of Home Affairs that requires all government organizations to spread cybersecurity awareness.
• The purpose is to create awareness and sensitize the Internet users on safeguarding against cyber frauds and cybercrimes.

• Four engineer friends have claimed to have innovated a giant swing backed by Artificial Intelligence (AI) which will provide an “impeccable” security to the jumpers with more than 100 “jump styles”.
• The swing was built under a startup incubated at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mandi, and is claimed to be a first-of-its-kind in the world.
• Founded by four childhood friends who are also certified rock climbers and mountaineers, ‘ManaliSwing’ has completed its human jump trials and is in the process of filing patents — five in number — for concept and design.
• The team plans to launch the swing in Manali on coming New Year.
• One of the team’s members claimed that it has already been approached by the Dubai government to launch the swing in the country and is in conversation with interested agencies in Switzerland too.
• Soni said that the swing allows one to perform 100 possible jump styles with a 70-metre-free fall secured by AI.
• The plan is to launch it in Manali on New Year. The tourists will have to pay Rs 3,000 for each jump. The cost will include transportation from a certain point and professional photography and videography service,” he added.
• The startup conducted a full-scale trial of 1,000 dummy jumps followed by human jumps, all successful, under the presence of Industrial Rope Access Trade Association experts at IIT Hyderabad, the team member said.
• “The AI will also help track participants and Jump Master’s performance across millions of data points and deliver optimised approvals for jumping.
• Having a really intelligent AI will be an edge for a Jump Master and his team in ensuring no injury, incident, or causality happens on the site. For example, AI will not approve the jump if there is anything wrong with the jump protocol or international standards,” he said.
• The team, which has plans to launch a second swing in Goa and then take the technology to other countries, rued Indians’ dwindling interest in adventure sports, despite an increase of 178 per cent in adventure activity globally in the last three years.
• India, despite being the world’s youngest country with 50 per cent population below 25, stands at 96th position in global Adventure Tourism Competitive Index (ATDI) 2020. That too is consistently decreasing since the last four years. India ranks much lower than its neighbours, Bhutan (14th), and Nepal (67th).
• The project which was conceptualised five years back was commercially registered last year as a startup.

• In billiards, India’s leading cueist, Pankaj Advani has claimed his 25th gold medal on the world stage, winning the 2022 IBSF World Billiards Championship in Kuala Lumpur. He outclassed compatriot Sourav Kothari 4-0 in a one-sided final to defend the title for the fifth time in a row.
• Advani’s last world title came over 12 months ago in Qatar where he won the IBSF 6-Red Snooker World Cup. With 25 world titles, Advani has extended his record-breaking success as India’s winner of the most gold medals in world championships across all sports.

• The National Security Guard (NSG) is holding a multinational joint anti-terror exercise (JATE) at its campus at Manesar in Gurugram under the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) framework.
• The JATE “Manesar Anti-Terror 2022” is aimed at exchanging expertise and best practices and building synergy between the Counter Terrorism Forces of the SCO RATS member countries to enhance capabilities for conducting anti-terrorist operations and countering other security threats collectively, the NSG said in a statement.
• Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) is one of the permanent organs of the SCO and is Headquartered in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
• The objective of SCO RATS is to facilitate cooperation and coordination against Terrorism, Extremism and Separatism. India assumed the chairmanship of the Council of SCO RATS in Oct 2021. JATE is an annual Counter Terrorist Exercise held within the framework of the SCO RATS.
• The Stage 1 of the Exercise was conducted from July 27 to August 1 by the National Counter Terrorist Forces of SCO member countries in their respective territories.
• The Stage 2 of the Exercise is being conducted from October 8 to October 13, at NSG Manesar Garrison, in which eight representatives from National Counter Terrorism Forces of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Uzbekistan, Russian Federation and NSG of India are participating.
• During the exercise, nuances of planning, preparation and conduct of Counter Terrorist Operations will be discussed and deliberated upon. The Exercise will be witnessed by four “observers” from the Executive Committee of RATS, SCO and one observer from the State Committee for National Security of Tajikistan.
• The Exercise will provide a platform to the participating member countries to enhance their operational capabilities and exchange experience in combating terrorism, separatism and extremism, which are common regional security challenges.
• The Exercise will culminate in a closing ceremony which will be attended by high-level delegations from EC RATS SCO including Permanent Representatives, delegates from SCO member countries, representatives of the diplomatic missions of the SCO member countries in India, representatives of International organisations collaborating with RATS SCO and national delegates from India.
• During the Closing Ceremony, besides presenting the outcome of Stage-1 and Stage-2 by all SCO Member Countries, tactical demonstrations highlighting the operational capabilities of NSG to mitigate the terrorist threats will be showcased.

• The Election Commission has sent a communication to the Ministry of Law & Justice proposing that one candidate should be allowed to contest from one constituency only in a particular election.
• Sources in the poll panel said though this was not among the proposals sent to the Ministry on electoral reforms, the fresh move gained momentum after Rajiv Kumar was appointed as the Chief Election Commissioner.
• The proposal was sent to the Law Ministry and the government is in discussion with the Commission regarding the proposed electoral reforms. A meeting between senior officials of the government and the Commission is likely to take place soon on the issue, they added.
• According to the existing provisions, a candidate is permitted to contest from two different constituencies in a general election or a group of bye-elections or biennial elections. If a person is elected from more than one seat, then the person can hold on to one of the seats.
• The Commission is of the view that when a candidate contests from two seats, it is imperative that he has to vacate one of the two seats if he wins from both. This, apart from the consequent unavoidable financial burden on the public exchequer and the manpower and other resources for holding bye-election against the resultant vacancy, would be an injustice to the voters of the constituency which the candidate is quitting from, it said.
• In 1996, the Representation of the People Act was amended to restrict a person from contesting polls from more than two seats. Before the amendment, there was no bar on the number of constituencies from which a candidate could contest.
• As per the proposal, the Commission has recommended that the law must be amended to provide that a person cannot contest from more than one constituency at a time for conduct and better management of elections.
• In case the provision needs to be retained, then there is a need for an express provision in law requiring person who contests and wins election from two seats, resulting in bye-elections from one of the two constituencies, to deposit in the government account an appropriate amount of money being expenditure for holding the bye-election, the EC has proposed.

Election Commission of India

• It is a permanent constitutional body.
• Article 324of the constitution establishes the Election Commission of India.
• It was established on 25th January 1950.

The Chief Election Commissioner has suggested 6 key electoral reforms to the Union Law Ministry.

• Issue guidelines for the linking of Aadhaar with voter IDs.
• The election commission has asked the Powers to deregister political parties.
• Mandatory disclosure of all donations above Rs 2,000.
• Empowers the commission to register associations and bodies as political parties.
• Restrict the number of seats a candidate can contest from.
• Ban on exit polls and opinion polls

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has declared Modhera in Gujarat’s Mehsana district as India’s first 24×7 solar-powered village.
• PM Modi offered prayers at Modheshwari goddess Temple at Modhera. He also witnessed the beautiful 3d projection mapping and heritage light and sound show at iconic Modhera Sun temple.
• Modhera was well known for the Sun temple, now it will also be known as solar-powered village.
• The 80 crore rupees project in Modhera is the first solar-powered village is a joint effort by the central and state governments.
• Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) has also been installed at nearby Sajjanpura village for the storage of solar power that can be utilised during night.

• On Indian Air Force raising day, the Government has approved the creation of a new Weapon Systems branch in the Indian Air Force.
• The Chief of Air Staff said, the branch will enhance the war-fighting capability of the Force.
• The Ministry of Defence said the branch would encompass operators in four specialised streams of Surface-to-Surface missiles, Surface-to-Air missiles, Remotely Piloted Aircraft, and Weapon System Operators in twin-multi-crew aircraft.
• Terming this a historic step for the IAF, the Ministry said, creation of Weapon System branch would entail the unification of all weapon system operators under one entity.
• The IAF Chief of Air Staff also unveiled the new combat uniform for air force personnel.
• The new combat uniform is believed to borrow features that were unveiled earlier this year by the Army.
• This news uniform’s versatility also means it can be worn in different terrains – from the mountainous terrain of Kashmir to the vast coast of the peninsula.
• From the jungles of the northeast to the deserts of Rajasthan. With this, all three arms of the Indian military have upgraded to disruptive digital patterns for camouflage uniforms.