• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the National Conference of Environment Ministers held in Gujarat through video conferencing.
• He will also address the gathering on the occasion.
• Taking forward the spirit of cooperative federalism, Conference is being convened to create further synergy amongst the Central and State Governments in formulating better policies on various issues.
• The two-day Conference being organized on 23rd and 24th September will have six thematic sessions with topics focusing on LiFE, Combating Climate Change (Updating State Action Plans on Climate Change for Mitigation of Emissions and Adaptation to Climate Impacts), PARIVESH (Single Window System for Integrated Green Clearances), Forestry Management, Prevention and Control of Pollution, Wildlife Management, and Plastics and Waste Management.

• Veteran Assamese swimmer Elvis Ali Hazarika – has become the first from the North East to cross the North Channel.
• The North Channel is the strait between north-eastern Northern Ireland and south-western Scotland.
• Elvis and his team clocked a timing of 14 hours 38 minutes to achieve this feat.
• With this, Elvis has become the oldest Indian swimmer to cross the North Channel.

About the North Channel:

• The North Channel starts north of the Isle of Man, where the Irish Sea ends, and flows northwest into the Atlantic Ocean.
• The narrowest part of the strait lies between Mull of Kintyre and Torr Head. The width of the channel here is 19 kilometers.
• The deepest part is known as Beaufort’s Dyke.
• The North Channel is a part of the marine area and International Hydrographic Organisation officially classifies it as the “Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland”.

• The Defence Ministry has signed a memorandum of understanding, MoU, with Bank of Baroda and HDFC Bank under the SPARSH- System for Pension Administration initiative with an objective to cover seventeen lakh, defence pensioners, across the country.
• System for Pension Administration (RAKSHA) (SPARSH) is being implemented by Ministry of Defence for meeting the pension sanction and disbursement requirements for Armed Forces viz. Army, Navy, Air Force and Defence Civilians.
• Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar said that seventeen lakh pensioners out of the total thirty-two lakh defence pensioners will be added with SPARSH by the end of this month.
• The Defence Secretary highlighted that the average time in pension settlement has come down significantly to about 16 days.
• The Ministry said that the MoU will onboard more than 14 thousand bank branches as Service Centres to provide an effective medium for pensioners to perform profile update requests, register grievances and seek redressal, pensioner data verification and many more.
• So far, the SPARSH initiative has crossed one million pensioners onboard mark and disbursed 11 thousand 6 hundred crore rupees in the 2021-22 fiscal year.

• Urban Development Minister Suresh Bhardwaj kicked-off Kayakalp Initiative at Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital. The minister donated Rs 5 lakh from MLA Fund to help the hospital run the initiative smoothly.
• IGMC was the first hospital in the state to implement the Kayakalp Initiative.
• A part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA), the ‘Kayakalp’ initiative was launched by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in
• The main objectives of the initiative include promotion of cleanliness, hygiene and infection-control practices in public healthcare facilities through incentivising and recognising the public healthcare facilities that show exemplary performance in adhering to standard protocols of cleanliness and infection control.
• “There are six themes in the initiative – hospital upkeep, sanitation and hygiene, waste management, infection control, hospital support services and hygiene promotion. We will focus on all six themes to provide quality service to the patients.”

• The 34th All-India Postal Kabaddi Tournament 2022-23 commenced at Rajiv Gandhi Government Degree College, Chaura Maidan, Shimla.
• Manish Kumar, Director General of National Academy of Audit and Accounts, inaugurated the event. International Kabaddi player DSP Ajay Thakur was the guest of honour. As many as 12 teams from various postal circles in the country are participating in the tournament.
• In the first round, Gujarat defeated Chhattisgarh by 43-32, Karnataka beat Rajasthan by 56-21, Maharashtra defeated Haryana by 54-16 while the Delhi and Himachal match ended in a draw with 30-30.
• The four-day competition will conclude on September 23. The orchestra of the HP Police, Harmony of the Pines, will perform at the cultural programme, besides performing arts students of Himachal Pradesh University, said a spokesperson for the Department of Posts.
• Meanwhile, National Postal Week will be organised starting October 9 (World Post Day). The week-long celebrations will include Banking Day, Postal Life Insurance Day, Philately Day, Business Development Day and Mails Day.

• Bangladesh won a historic victory at the SAFF Women’s Championship to lift the maiden title at the Dashrath Rangshala Stadium in Kathmandu. The Bangladesh team defeated hosts Nepal by 3-1 in the finals.
• Bangladesh skipper Sabina Khatun was the top scorer of the tournament with 8 goals in 5 matches.
• She was also named as the Most Valuable Player of the tournament for her extraordinary game.
• The Bangladesh team won the fair play award
• Skipper Sabina dedicated the SAFF Women’s Championship trophy to the people of Bangladesh.
• Goalkeeper Rupna Chakma from Bangladesh was named the best goalkeeper. She conceded just one goal in the tournament.

About SAFF

• The SAFF Women’s Championship, also called the South Asian Football Federation Women’s Cup, is the main association football competition of the women’s national football teams, governed by the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF). All seven members are eligible to participate in this tournament.
• The current SAFF members are Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
• Formerly, eight members used to compete, prior to the departure of Afghanistan from SAFF
• It is held every two years and India won first 5 edition so far.

• Maharashtra Tourism Ministry has decided to rename the Daulatabad fort to Devgiri which is located near Aurangabad.
• It is a national heritage monument, which is maintained by the Archeological Survey of India (ASI).
• Previously Maharashtra’s former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray was renamed Aurangabad Sambhajinagar.
• The decision of renaming Daulatabad fort to Devgiri came after Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray renamed Aurangabad to Sambhajinagar after a long demand from Sena Foot Soldiers.

About Daulatabad Fort:

• Daulatpur Fort is a historic fortified citadel located in Devagiri Village near Aurangabad, Maharashtra.
• It was earlier the capital of the Yadava Dynasty for a brief time the capital of the Delhi Sultanate.
• The fort was renamed Daulatabad by Mohammed Tughlaq in the 14th century who understood its Importance as a base for military operations in southern India and conceived the Idea of making his capital.
• The fort was later known as Qubbatul Islam and coins were minted with this name.

• ENC Yachting Championship was conducted by INWTC, INS Circas under the aegis of HQENC at Vishakhapatnam.
• Prize distribution and closing ceremony were facilitated by the Chief Guest, Cmde Sumantra Hazarika, Director MWC (V).

About ENC Yachting Championship:

• In total 38 races were conducted in Enterprise Dinghly, ILCA 6, ILCA 7 classes, and BicNova Wind Surfer.
• A total of 46 yachtsmen and 8 yatchwomen took part in the ENC Yachting Championship.
• The races were conducted among seven different teams of ENC.
• Local Ashore B was declared the overall winner and Fleet B was runner-up for the ENC Yachting Championship.

The main of the championship was to inculcate sportsmanship, camaraderie, and a spirit of adventure among the participants

• With the GI tagging of Kashmiri Saffron in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, the farmers have been able to market their produce on national and international marketing platforms.
• This was stated by Director Agriculture Kashmir, Chowdhury Mohammad Iqbal, who visited India International Kashmir Saffron Trade Centre at Dussu in the Pampore area of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district to take stock of its functioning there.
• Speaking on the occasion, the Director of Agriculture expressed satisfaction over the performance of IIKSTC over the period of the last two years.
• He said, the lab at IIKSTC which the Department uses on trial bases for the last two years has been able to process more than 3000 kgs of fresh saffron flowers from which more than 300 kgs of saffron was harvested.
• He said the e-auctioning and GI tagging facility has helped our products to reach global markets like Dubai and other international destinations.
• Mr Chowdhury said, we are expecting much better results in the coming times and asked the concerned officers to ensure that all the set parameters of quality adhere to every time.
• He observed that MoU has been made with different global marketing platforms and in coming times, it could be expected that the Kashmiri Saffron will cover more marketing platforms on a global level.

• Himachal Pradesh is also referred to as Devbhoomi and millions of devotees visit the state every year to explore a variety of sacred sites.
• Religious tourists donate millions of dollars at these shrines, in addition to copious amounts of gold and silver. Now the donated gold and silver stored in the Himachal temples will be transformed into coins.
  Instructions have been provided to the District Commissioners of the corresponding districts to ensure minting of coins from the gold and silver stored in the temples, and to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Mines and Minerals Trading Corporation (MMTC).
• The government’s action will give the temple management more financial clout.
• According to the Himachal Pradesh Language and Culture Department, the state government has requested all 36 of the government-run temples to sign an agreement with Following the signing of this MoU, the gold and silver pyrite found in Himachal Pradesh’s temples can be transformed into gold cookies and coins.
• It will be offered for sale to visitors to the temple, and the proceeds will go toward the development and building of the temple. The 36 temples that the state government controls, store tonnes of gold and silver, crores of rupees, and enormous bank deposits.
• The Chintpurni temple is the wealthiest in the state; it has cash offerings totaling Rs. 1.57 crores, fixed deposits worth Rs. 102 crore, 1.98 quintals of gold, and 71.42 quintals of silver. The Naina Devi temple in Bilaspur comes in second place with Rs. 11.47 crore in cash offerings and Rs. 58.97 crore in fixed deposits.
• The total gift offerings made by the pilgrims to the temple include 1.80 quintals of gold and 72.92 quintals of silver. Baba Balak Nath Temple in Hamirpur,has cash in hand totaling Rs 16.66 crore, fixed deposits totaling Rs 28.45 crore, 26.649 kg of gold, and 3.82 quintals of silver.
• Despite the fact the government controls 36 temples; a court lawsuit surrounding the Shri Sadadshiv Mahadev Temple in the Sirmaur district is still unresolved.
• The temple trusts are in charge of these temples’ upkeep and maintenance in addition to building new buildings and improved infrastructure, and the funds raised through offerings are used for that purpose.