• This year, the theme for the International Day of Older Persons is “Resilience of Older Persons in a Changing World”
• The day was introduced by the United Nations General Assembly with an aim of honouring the contribution of older persons and looking into the problems that they face.
• The United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution on December 14, 1990, to establish October 1 as the International Day of Older Persons.
• The day came into being after the Vienna International Plan of Action on Ageing initiative, which was adopted by the World Assembly on Ageing in 1982.
• The UN General Assembly in 1991 approved the United Nations Principles for Older Persons. Later in 2002, the Second World Assembly on Ageing embraced the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing.
• It was done to address and understand the opportunities and challenges faced by the older generation in the 21st century and to promote the development of a society for all ages.

About:

• Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and the Ivory Coast to the southwest.
• It was previously called Republic of Upper Volta.
• Its capital and largest city is Ouagadougou.
• The country owes its former name of Upper Volta to three rivers which cross it: the Black Volta (or Mouhoun), the White Volta (Nakambé) and the Red Volta (Nazinon).

• Since May 2021, Zhurong has been exploring Utopia Planitia, in Mars’s northern hemisphere.
• Images from the rover’s ground-penetrating radar found layered patterns under the surface, which are made of sedimentary rocks carried in by two major floods around 1.6 billion years ago.
• China’s Zhurong rover landed in the Utopia Planitia, a 2,000-miles-wide (3,300 kilometers) basin in the Northern Hemisphere of Mars, in May 2021.
• Since then, the rover has been studying local geology, chemical composition of rocks, and local weather conditions using its six scientific instruments.
• Zhurong has already completed its primary mission of 90 sols. But the rover is continuing its way to the south of its landing site, collecting data as it goes.

• Science and Technology Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh said that India’s geospatial economy is expected to cross Rs. 63100 crore rupees by 2025 at a growth rate of 12.8 percent.
• He said, geospatial technology has become one of the key enablers in socio-economic development by enhancing productivity, ensuring sustainable infrastructure planning, effective administration, and aiding the farm sector.
• The government is consistently playing an enabler’s role in expanding the scope of geospatial applications in multiple spheres to benefit every section of the society. He said, the government has been digitizing and mapping the entire rural sector to ensure better planning and implementation of the developmental schemes.
• The Second United Nations World Geospatial Information Congress is scheduled to held in Hyderabad from 10th to 14th October this year.
• The conference will be attended by over two thousand delegates including 700 plus international delegates and participants from about 120 countries.

• Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has said that the government plans to set up 100 labs for 5G technology across India and at least 12 of them will be used to train students and conduct experiments.
• The minister also asked companies participating in the Indian Mobile Congress to provide their input for the new telecom bill through which the government aims to simplify licensing regime.
• Vaishnaw said the government is working significantly towards simplifying the licensing regime for all telecom players. Telecom Minister said he is really happy to see the energy of startups and MSMEs, who are going to rural areas to benefit people.
• Indigenous telecom gear maker HFCL announced the launch of 5G Lab-as-a-Service to accelerate the rollout of 5G solutions and services. It will provide an automated test environment for the private sector, academia, and government to work together on product innovations from concept to reality.
• Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said that the launch of 5G is going to be a defining moment for not only India but for the world. He said, we are now indigenously designing, developing, and manufacturing goods and showing the world the scale and speed with which we will take 5G through the length and breadth of India.

• Lumpy skin disease (LSD) is caused by lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV), a virus from the family Poxviridae, genus Capripoxvirus. Sheeppox virus and goatpox virus are the two other virus species in this genus.
•  LSDV is highly host specific and causes disease only in cattle (Bos indicus and B. taurus) and water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis).
  LSDV is not zoonotic, so humans cannot get affected by the disease
• The disease is characterized by viremia, nodules on the skin, sit-fast formation, weight loss, emaciation, and reduction in milk and meat production.
• Transmission occurs in a wide variety of biotypes, from semi-desert to temperate grasslands and irrigated land. It has the potential to extend its range further.
• The morbidity rates for LSD during outbreaks vary between 10 and 20% although it has been reported in some places to be as high as 45%, and mortality rates of 1 to 5% are considered usual.
• Successful control and eradication of LSD relies on early detection of the index case, followed by a rapid and widespread vaccination campaign. It is unlikely that total stamping-out (killing all clinically affected cattle and unaffected herd-mates) and partial stamping-out (killing only clinically affected cattle) alone, in the absence of vaccination, can eradicate LSD.
• There is no known carrier state. Once an animal has recovered, it is well protected and cannot be the source of infection for other animals. In infected animals that do not show clinical signs, the virus may remain in blood for a few weeks and eventually disappear.

• Defence Minister Rajnath Singh formally inducted the indigenously-developed Light Combat Helicopters (LCH) in the Indian Air Force at a ceremony held at Air Force Station, Jodhpur in Rajasthan. LCH would be inducted into the 143 Helicopter Unit. LCH has been named as ‘Prachanda’.
• LCH has been developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL).  It is a state-of-the-art modern combat helicopter, primarily designed for deployment in high-altitude regions. LCH is the only attack helicopter in the world which can land and take-off at an altitude of 5,000 m with a considerable load of weapons and fuel.
• This helicopter is powered by two Shakti engines and is equipped with stealth features, all-weather combat capability, armour protection, night attack capability, and crash-worthy landing gear. The narrow fuselage with tandem cockpit configuration makes LCH extremely maneuverable and agile. Stealth features like low radar cross section and minimal infrared signature allow it to go behind enemy lines undetected and attack with precision.
• LCH has a range of 550 km and an operational ceiling of 6500 m.  It is armed with air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles, 70 mm rockets and a 20 mm gun. It boasts of a full glass cockpit, Electronic Warfare suite and helmet-mounted display for the flying crew.
• LCH can perform a range of roles, including combat search and rescue, destruction of enemy air defence and counter-insurgency operations in the jungle and urban environments. The Cabinet Committee on Security approved the purchase of 15 indigenous LCH helicopters in March this year.
• The induction of LCH in the Indian Air Force is expected to provide further impetus to Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan.
• Under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan, the government is encouraging indigenous design, development and manufacture of defence equipment in the country to reduce their import.

• Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) will invest around Rs 1.5 lakh crore over the next 7-8 years in various power projects within and outside the country. The power giant will make this investment to achieve its targeted installed capacity of 25,000 MW by 2030.
• The SJVN said the work on the Sunni Dam Hydroelectric Project, around 40 km from Shimla, will start in a month’s time. The project with 382 MW capacity will cost around Rs 2,600 crore.
• All formalities have been completed and clearances received. The investment approval from the Centre is expected in the next 15 days. The work on the project will start in a month’s time, and the project will be commissioned in five years,” said SJVN chairman and Managing Director Nand Lal Sharma.
• The work on hydroelectric plants in the state – 210 MW Luhri Stage 1 and the 66 MW Dhaulasidh project – was on at war footing. “These projects were declared unviable but SJVN has made them viable and these will be commissioned by 2024-25.
• The SJVN would invest around Rs 1.5 lakh crore over the next 7-8 years, mainly in renewable sources like solar and wind, to achieve its revised and upscaled target of becoming a 25,000 MW company by 2030.
• The company’s current installed capacity is 2,016 MW.
• SJVN has 14 projects under construction within and outside the country with a capacity of around 4,500 MW.
• SJVN has provided employment to around 15,000 people directly and indirectly.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of a medical devices park in Nalagarh, Solan.
• Tilak Raj Sharma, Additional Director (Industries), said that the Union Government had approved a medical devices park for the state on February 10.
• The detailed project report of the medical devices park for Rs 349.83 crore was submitted to the Central Government, which would provide a grant-in-aid of Rs 100 crore while the state government would contribute Rs 249.83 crore.
• The Department of Industries has signed memorandums of understanding (MoU) with NIPER, Mohali, for engaging it as a knowledge partner and Center for Innovation and BioDesign (CIBioD), PGIMER, Chandigarh, as a ‘technical partner’.
• “The MoUs with an investment intent of more than Rs 800 crore have been signed with investors in Chandigarh. The Department of Industries has chalked out an investment outreach programme both in India and abroad for attracting investment and technology. Consultations with industrial associations from the medical devices sector have been already initiated.”

• Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority, PFRDA will observe 1st of October as the National Pension System Diwas (NPS Diwas) to promote pension and retirement planning among the citizens. PFRDA is organising this campaign under ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’.
• The pension regulator aims to encourage every citizen, whether working professionals or self-employed professionals, to plan towards creating a pension corpus to ensure a financially sound future after retirement.
• NPS subscribers will enjoy the benefits of tax deduction on contribution, power of compounding and reap the benefits of regular income after retirement.

About Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority, PFRDA

• It is the statutory Authority established by an enactment of the Parliament, to regulate, promote and ensure orderly growth of the National Pension System (NPS).
• It works under the Department of Financial Services under the Ministry of Finance.

Functions:

• It performs the function of appointing various intermediate agencies like Pension Fund Managers, Central Record Keeping Agency (CRA) etc.
• It develops, promotes and regulates the pension industry under the NPS and also administers the APY.