• The birthday of Sir M. Visvesvaraya observes as Engineers Day.
• The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has greeted engineers on Engineers Day.
• Shri Modi has also remembered the pathbreaking contribution of Sir M. Visvesvaraya on Engineers Day.

About Sir M. Visvesvaraya

• Visvesvaraya – The father of Indian engineering
• He received India’s highest honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 1955. He was knighted as a Knight Commander of the British Indian Empire (KCIE) by King George V for his contributions to the public good.
• His birthday, 15th September, is celebrated as Engineers’ Day in India, Sri Lanka and Tanzania in his memory.
• He is credited and known for inventing the Block System, i.e., automated doors that close in the conditions of overflow.
• He was the chief engineer responsible for the construction of the Krishna Raja Sagara Dam in Mysore as well as the chief designer of the flood protection system for the city of Hyderabad.

• This decision taken in the meeting of the Union Cabinet has been announced by the Minister of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Development Affairs Arjun Munda during a press conference in the presence of Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur.
• It will benefit the1,60,000 people from the Hati community of Sirmaur would be benefitted by the cabinet’s decision.

• Pramod Sharma, Senior Scientist, Department of Fruit Science, Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, has bagged the ‘Outstanding Young Researcher Award in Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR)’ for sustainable agriculture at the 7th Asian International Conference for Sustainable Agriculture held at Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia recently.
• The conference was organised by the Asian PGPR Society and the Malaysian PGPR Society.
• The award was given in recognition of his service, scientific innovations and accomplishments. Pramod was additionally awarded ‘Certificate of Appreciation’ for oral presentation on a research paper.

• He will visit Uzbekistan on September 15-16 to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit where leaders are expected to review the grouping’s activities
• The summit will be attended by leaders of SCO member states, observer states, Secretary General of the SCO, Executive Director of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS), President of Turkmenistan and other invited guests
• External Affairs Ministry said the SCO Summit will be attended by leaders of SCO Member States, Observer States, Secretary General of the SCO, Executive Director of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure, President of Turkmenistan, and other invited guests.

About SCO

• The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is a Eurasian political, economic and security organization. In terms of geographic scope and population, it is the world’s largest regional organization, covering approximately 60% of the area of Eurasia, 40% of the world population, and more than 30% of global GDP

Important facts of the report

• There are 49.6 million people are trapped in modern slavery on any given day.
• They are either forced to work against their will or are in a marriage that they have been forced into..
• Forced labour accounted for 27.6 million of those in modern slavery and forced marriage for 22 million.
• The new estimates showed that forced labour and forced marriage had increased significantly in the last five years.

ILO

• The ILO is a UN agency involved in the promotion of social and economic justice by setting up international labour standards. It was founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, the predecessor of the UN.

• HDFC Bank, India’s largest private sector bank, became the first bank in the country to issue an Electronic Bank Guarantee (e-BG) in partnership with National E-Governance Services Limited (NeSL).
• The paper based, time-consuming process has been eliminated with the new electronic bank guarantees that can be processed, stamped, verified and delivered instantly with enhanced security.
• Digitisation of issuance of BG is a transformational step towards increasing the ease of doing business for MSMEs who are major applicants for bank guarantees.
• HDFC Bank will migrate to eBG platform completely in order to expedite the issuance of BGs for our customers.”

What is e-BG?

• Electronic Bank Guarantee eliminates the physical documentation associated with a bank guarantee and it becomes available digitally to the beneficiary.

• This edition marks the 10th anniversary of JIMEX, which began in Japan in 2012
• The sixth edition of Japan-India Maritime Exercise 2022 (JIMEX 22) hosted by Indian Navy began in the Bay of Bengal from Sunday.
• The Japan Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF) ships are being led by Rear Admiral Hirata Toshiyuki, Commander Escort Flotilla Four, and Indian Naval ships by Rear Admiral Sanjay Bhalla, Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet.
• The Japanese warships in the exercise include JMSDF ships Izumo, a Helicopter Carrier and Takanami, a Guided Missile Destroyer. The Indian Navy is being represented by three indigenously designed and built warships INS Sahyadri, a multi-purpose stealth frigate, and Anti Submarine Warfare Corvettes INS Kadmatt and INS Kavaratti.
• Additionally, Guided Missile Destroyer INS Ranvijay, Fleet Tanker INS Jyoti, Offshore Patrol Vessel INS Sukanya, submarines, MIG 29K fighter aircraft, Long Range Maritime Patrol Aircraft and a number of ship-borne helicopters are also participating in the exercise.

• FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2022 is scheduled to be held in India between 11th and 30th October 2022.
• The seventh edition of the biennial youth tournament will be the first-ever FIFA women’s competition to be hosted by India.
• Carrying on the positive legacy from the FIFA Under-17 Men’s World Cup 2017, the nation is preparing for a seminal moment for women’s football when the best young female footballers from across the world will be showcasing their skills to lift the coveted trophy.
• Financial outlay of Rs. 10 crore assistance to All India Football Federation (AIFF) for Field of play Maintenance, Stadium power, Energy & Cabling, Stadia & Training Site Branding etc will be met from the budgetary allocation for the Scheme of Assistance to National Sports Federations (NSFs).

• On the occasion of Hindi Diwas, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday highlighted the significance of the Hindu language in ‘uniting’ the nation. The Home Minister said that the Modi government was committed to the development of all local Indian languages, including Hindi.
• In 1949, the constituent Assembly of India recognized Hindi as the official language of the country and adopted an Indo-Aryan language written in the Devanagari script as the Hindi language was mostly spoken in most areas in India.
• To promote the Hindi language in every region of the country, from 1953 on September 14, Hindi Diwas is celebrated every year.

Difference between World Hindi Day and National Hindi Day?

• To promote the language at the international level, World Hindi Day is celebrated on January 10 while National Hindi Day is celebrated when the constituent Assembly declared Hindi as the official language of India.

• Athletes from the state, who won medals at the Commonwealth Games, will get cash awards as per the new sports policy that was enacted a few months back. As per the policy, the CWG medallists will get Rs 50 lakh for gold, Rs 30 lakh for silver and Rs 20 lakh for bronze.
• “Two athletes won medals while one other participated from the state at the CWG 2022. Renuka Thakur was part of the Indian Women’s Cricket team, which won the silver medal. Weightlifter Vikas Thakur won silver medals.
• Rajesh Bhandari, who was the chef de mission of the Indian contingent to Birmingham, said the increased cash awards would encourage and motivate the sportspersons to perform better.