• Army chief General Manoj Pande visited the Ladakh sector to review Exercise Parvat Prahar. The exercise saw the deployment of all new major inductions of the Army.

About:

• The exercise, which was held in the Ladakh plateau at an altitude of 14,000 feet, used newly inducted all-terrain vehicles transported by Chinook heavy lift helicopters and K9-Vajra howitzers, among others.
• The exercise comes as India and China are undertaking disengagement from Patrolling Point-15 in eastern Ladakh, as announced on September 8. Gen.
• Pande is scheduled to visit Siachen.
• Simultaneously on the western front, Exercise Gagan Strike culminated with a fire power display of attack helicopters supporting deep operations by Strike Corps.
• Western Army Commander Lt. Gen. Nav K. Khanduri, who witnessed the culmination, lauded the professional readiness of combat forces for contingencies on the western front, the Western Command said on Twitter.

• Gujarat government announced the first-ever Cinematic Tourism Policy in Ahmedabad.
• The policy will be effective for five years from 2022 to 2027. Announcing the policy, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel said, this policy will help in strengthening the film infrastructure in the state.
• It will also bring all the service providers associated with filmmaking on one platform and will boost tourism activities in the State.
• This scheme aims to promote cinematic tourism through the development of film infrastructure and the creation of attractive opportunities for cinema in Gujarat.
• This scheme offers various financial and non-financial incentives for filmmakers.
• Four MoUs worth 1022 crore rupees were signed in the presence of Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and various leading investors from the film industry including famous Bollywood actor Ajay Devgan.

• Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has announced that President Droupadi Murmu will inaugurate this year’s Dasara festival to be held in Mysuru from September 26 to October 5.
• He said that the Government has received a letter from the President accepting its invitation to inaugurate the World famous Dasara festivities on September 26th.
• The President will offer prayers at the Chamundeshwari temple atop Chamundi hills on that day to mark the inauguration of a 10 days festival.
• The Chief Minister further informed that Dasara will be celebrated at a grand scale this year.
• He said that they were happy to receive the President’s acceptance letter to inaugurate Dasara this year.

About Mysore Dasara

• Mysore Dasara is a Royal Festival Celebrating victory of Truth over Evil. Legend has it that the Goddess Chamundeeswari or Durga slew the demon Mahishasuran on Vijayadashami day.
• Dasara is a 10-day festival in the region culminating on Vijayadashami or tenth day.
• In Karnataka, Dasara is observed as State festival – Nadahabba, because of the celebration of the festival is steered by the Royal Family of Mysore.
• The royal family of Mysore performs special pooja on the occasion of Dasara.

• Indian Railways’ overall revenue has grown by 38 per cent till August 2022 over the corresponding period of last year.
• The overall revenue of Indian Railways at the end of August this year was around 95 thousand 486 crore rupees showing an increase of 26 thousand 271 crore rupees over the same period of last year.
• The Ministry of Railways said that the revenue from passenger traffic was nearly 25 thousand 276 crore rupees showing an increase of 116 per cent over the corresponding period of last year.
• Passenger traffic also increased compared to last year in both the segments, reserved as well as unreserved.
• The growth from the long-distance reserved mail express trains has been sharper than the same in passenger and suburban trains.
• The Ministry also said that other Coaching revenue grew by 50 per cent while Goods revenue grew by 20 per cent as compared to the same period of last year.

• Scrub typhus, also known as bush typhus, is a disease caused by a bacteria called Orientia tsutsugamushi
• As many as 582 cases of scrub typhus have been reported this year in the state. The cases this year are lesser in comparison to the last year.
• According to health officials, the guidelines for the prevention, management and control of the disease had already been disseminated to all the health institutions.
• All patients diagnosed with scrub typhus were given free medicines in the government health facilities.
• Health officials advised that a person should immediately report to the nearest health facility in case of high fever, headache and joint pain.
• “Generally, people involved in agricultural work are more prone to scrub typhus. One should keep the whole body covered while working in the fields, and surroundings around the house should also be kept clean, bereft of grass and weeds,”

• Ishani Singh Jamwal from Pahnala village of Kullu has created history by scaling the Kun peak of Kargil.
• Ishani was a member of the first women’s expedition from the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF) to successfully scale 7,077-metre high Kun peak of Kargil on September 4.
• The first national women expedition to Mt Kun having eight female members left for the expedition on August 24.
• Out of the team, four female mountaineers, Shanti Rai from Sikkim, Ishani Singh Jamwal from Himachal Pradesh, Dashmat Batti from Chhattisgarh and Sabita Mahto from Bihar successfully scaled Mt Kun.
• Mt Kun is a highly technical peak in the Zanskar region of Ladakh. The other teams that had left for Mt Kun around on these dates were unable to summit the peak.
• This expedition was led by Shanti Rai, who has led expeditions to several challenging peaks in India. Shanti summited the peak at 9.44 am followed by Ishani Singh Jamwal, who summited the peak at 10.11 am.
• Ishani Singh was the only mountaineer from Himachal Pradesh in this national expedition of the IMF which was organised in collaboration with the Chhattisgarh government.

• India ranks 132 out of 191 countries in the Human Development Index (HDI) 2021, after registering a decline in its score over two consecutive years for the first time in three decades.

About:

• The drop is in line with the global trend since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic during which 90% of the countries have fallen backward in human development.
• The Index is part of the Human Development Report 2021-2022 released by the United Nations Development Programme.
• The HDI measures average achievement of a country in three basic dimensions of human development — a long and healthy life, education and a decent standard of living.
• It is calculated using four indicators — life expectancy at birth, mean years of schooling, expected years of schooling, and the Gross National Income (GNI) per capita.
• India’s HDI score of 0.633 places it in the medium human development category, lower than its value of 0.645 in 2018, indicating a reversal in progress.
• Like global trends, in India’s case, the drop in HDI from 0.645 in 2018 to 0.633 in 2021 can be attributed to falling life expectancy at birth — 70.7 years to 67.2 years.
• India’s expected years of schooling stand at 11.9 years, and the mean years of schooling are at 6.7 years. The GNI per capita level is $6,590.
• The COVID-19 pandemic has also exacerbated gender inequality, which increased 6.7% globally.

• Volker Turk of Austria has been appointed as the next United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
• United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed Turk following approval by the General Assembly.
• The new High Commissioner is currently coordinating global policy work as an Under-Secretary-General in the UN’s Executive Office.
• Previously, he was the Assistant High Commissioner for Protection at UN refugees, UNHCR, in Geneva where he played a key role in the development of the landmark Global Compact on Refugees.
• Turk will succeed Michelle Bachelet of Chile.

• In Ladakh, the UT Administration and Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council are focusing on sustainable development of the people keeping in view making Ladakh the First Organic UT of India and Mushroom Cultivation is an area of Focus
• A batch of 17 Progressive Members of Self-Help Groups from Shargole Constituency were flagged off by Former Executive Councillor & Councillor of LAHDC, Kargil Mohammad Ali Chandan in presence of Dr. Mehdi Akhone, Dr. Faizan and other Officers of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture Sciences and Technology and Krishi Vigyan Kendras to Wadora Sopore Agriculture University.
• The Progressive Farmers will go for a 10-day training programme on ‘Mushroom cultivation’.
• Speaking on this occasion, Mohammad Ali Chandan said that this is the first step towards realizing the dream. He dreamt to make Shargole Constituency Mushroom hub in whole UT of Ladakh.
• He said that the support by Dr. Mehdi Akhone and Dr. Faizan has made this day possible and this will lead to start an era for sustainable development through Mushroom Cultivation.
• He informed that these progressive farmers will have another round of training in Himachal Pradesh at the Directorate of Mushroom Research.
• It is pertinent to mention here that the lean period of the winters will be utilized for the progressive farmers to earn a living within a limited space available.
• Mushroom farming is one of the most profitable agri-businesses that one can start with a low investment and less space.
• Mushroom cultivation in the country is growing gradually as an alternative source of income for many people.

• Uttar Pradesh government will provide a unique farm ID similar to Aadhar number to the farmers, which will be linked with Aadhar to provide them benefits of all government schemes.
• Aadhar verification will be used to implement this scheme in the coming days.
• Speaking at a workshop regarding the recent initiatives taken to make the use of Aadhar more simple, Chief Secretary Durga Shankar Mishra said that with the help of Aadhar, UP Government has given the benefit of the government schemes to maximum number of people.
• He said the government has saved around 8400 crore rupees with the use of Aadhar verification.
• Around one crore 92 lakh school children are also getting the benefit of various schemes with the help of Aadhar card verification.
• Mr Mishra also said that Uttar Pradesh government will start providing Family ID very soon as it is already working on the scheme.
• He said that Government will bring those families into the ambit of this scheme who are not getting any kind of benefits till now.
• Chief Executive Officer of Unique Identification Authority of India, Saurabh Garg Said that the credibility of the Aadhar is being discussed worldwide and many African countries also want to implement Aadhar system.