ANSWER: A

• India hosted the 6th meeting of the India-Norway Joint Working Group on Higher Education in New Delhi.
• The meeting was chaired by Ms. Neeta Prasad, Joint Secretary, International Cooperation, Ministry of Education from the Indian side and by Ms. Anne Line Wold, Director General, Ministry of Education and Research from the Norwegian side.
• The Ambassador of Norway to India also participated in the meeting.
• The Joint Working Group was established to monitor and oversee the implementation of the MoU on Cooperation in the field of Higher Education signed between India and Norway on 25th April, 2022.
• The two sides reviewed the progress made under the Indo-Norwegian Cooperation Programme developed under the ambit of the previous India-Norway MoU signed in 2014 and deliberated upon overall higher education policy and priorities, student/faculty mobility and cooperation in the field of skill development.

ANSWER: D

• Union minister Nitin Gadkari launched Japanese car maker Toyota’s first-of-its-kind pilot project on flex fuel-strong hybrid electric vehicle (FFV-SHEV) that can run on 100 per cent ethanol.
• During the launch, the Toyota Corolla Altis FFV-SHEV, which has been imported from Toyota Brazil for the pilot project, was unveiled.
• In Brazil, flex fuel-strong hybrid electric vehicle technology has been introduced by Toyota Brazil.
• An FFV SHEV has a flex-fuel engine and an electric powertrain, thus providing dual benefit of higher ethanol use and greater fuel efficiency, as it can run for a significant time period on its EV mode, wherein the engine is shut off.
• Flex-fuel compatible cars can run on more than one type of fuel and also a mixture. Typically, a blend of petrol and ethanol or methanol is used.
• FFVs provide an opportunity of greater substitution of petrol by ethanol as it is capable of using any of the higher blends of ethanol mix from 20 per cent up to 100 per cent.
• Flex-fuel vehicles are available in Brazil, the USA and Canada.
• Ethanol is a major alternate fuel used globally and Brazil has the highest average blending of 48 per cent.

ANSWER: C

• The ethanol blending programme interest subsidy scheme under which the centre disburses loans has been extended till March 2023.
• The scheme began in 2018 to help entrepreneurs to complete ethanol projects with government support.
• The Food Ministry issued a notification on October 6 stating the applicants who have submitted their applications to DFPD after the date of notification of the scheme but within the cut-off date prescribed in the notification dated 19.07.2018 and in case of whom, loans were disbursed to them prior to the in-principle approval of DFPD, will also be eligible for interest subvention under the scheme.
• The applicants have been asked to complete their projects within two and half years after receiving their first instalment.
• The centre has launched several schemes to boost ethanol production in the country. In April, the deadline for submitting applications under the scheme was extended by six months. The deadline was September 2022 earlier.
• India needs 1016 crore litres of ethanol by 2025 to achieve the 20% ethanol blending target.

ANSWER: D

• The Balod district has undertaken a unique initiative to provide hot cooked meals through ‘home tiffin service’ to the women who are unable to visit Anganwadis.
• The initiative taken under the state government’s ambitious ‘Mukhyamantri Suposhan Yojana’ was launched three years ago.
• In a bid to make this scheme a success, freshly prepared meals are being delivered to 650 women who are unable to visit Anganwadis at their doorstep in the Balod district.
• The move is aimed at ensuring nutritious food to pregnant and lactating mothers to keep them healthy.
• The scheme was launched on October 2, 2019, to provide healthy and nutritious meals to malnourished children under 6 years of age and to anaemic women and adolescent girls between 15 to 49 years of age.
• Since its inception till now, nearly 2.10 lakh children (50 per cent) have been freed from malnutrition in the state. In addition, about one lakh women are now anemia-free, a government communique claimed.
• A nutritious diet is extremely important for pregnant and lactating mothers. Lack of nutritious food causes anaemia and malnutrition in mothers and children.

ANSWER: D

• International Monetary Fund has projected that global growth will slow from 6 percent in 2021 to 3.2 percent in 2022 and 2.7 percent in 2023.
• Projecting the growth, IMF said that this will be the weakest growth since 2001, except for the global financial crisis and the acute phase of the pandemic. It said that the world’s largest economies US, China, and the Euro area will continue to stall.
• In the World Economic Outlook 2022 report, IMF said that India will be the fastest-growing large economy in the world. Cutting India’s GDP growth forecast to 6.8 percent for Financial Year 2023, the IMF predicted that India will continue to remain on track to become one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.
• IMF expects that inflation in India will come down to 4 percent range next year. It said that global inflation will likely peak at 9.5 percent this year before slowing to 4.1 percent by 2024.
• IMF also warned that a major economic slump is yet to come, and 2023 will feel like a recession to many people.

ANSWER: D

• Mining major National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) and RailTel Corporation of India signed an agreement covering ICT and Digital Transformation Services of NMDC, both at its Corporate Offices and Mining Complexes.
• Sundaram Prabhu, GM (C&IT), NMDC, and Manohar Raja, Executive Director, RailTel signed a (Memorandum of Understanding) MoU in the presence of Sumit Deb, CMD, NMDC at NMDC’s headquarters in Hyderabad.
• This partnership will focus on optimal utilization of resources and build mineral accountability, paving the way for a robust digital transformation in the mining sector.
• This MoU builds on the partnership that NMDC already has with the National Railway Telecom which has been providing MPLS VPN at 11 of NMDC’s locations, Internet Leased Lines (ILL) at 7 locations, and High-Definition Video Conferencing solutions for 7 years.

ANSWER: C

• PM has recently addressed 2nd UN World Geospatial Information Congress.
• It is being held in Hyderabad.
• About:
• The goal of this year’s UNWGIC is to promote a broad dialogue on global geospatial information management with all relevant governments, non-governmental organisations, academia, and the private sector.
• The theme of UNWGIC 2022 is ‘Geo-Enabling the Global Village: No one should be left behind’.
• It was hosted by the ministry of science and technology of the government of India.

United Nations World Geospatial Information Congress (UNWGIC)

• The United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) convened the conference on UNWGIC 2022 and was organised by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
• It is conducted every four years with the objectives of enhancing international collaboration among the Member States and relevant stakeholders in Geospatial information management and capacities.
• The first UNWGIC was organized by China in October 2018.

ANSWER: C

• The Japanese space agency said a rocket carrying eight satellites failed just after lift off and had to be aborted by a self-destruction command, in the country’s first failed rocket launch in nearly 20 years.
• The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said its Epsilon-6 rocket experienced an unidentified “abnormality” and its flight had to be aborted less than seven minutes after take-off from the Uchinoura Space Center in the southern Japanese prefecture of Kagoshima.
• JAXA officials said the agency sent a self-destruction signal after deciding that the rocket was not able to fly safely and enter a planned orbit. They said the rocket was believed to have fallen into the sea with the payloads.
• The cause of the failure was still being investigated, the agency said.
• The Epsilon rocket was carrying eight payloads, including two developed by a private company based in Fukuoka, another southern prefecture. It was the first time an Epsilon rocket carried commercially developed payloads.
• The 26-meter (85-foot) -long, 95.6-ton and solid-fuel Epsilon-6 rocket is the final version before JAXA plans to develop another variation, Epsilon-S. After five upgrades since the early 2010s, the Epsilon-6 is designed for a compact launch as JAXA aims to develop a commercial satellite launch business.
• This failure ended success records for the Epsilon series since its first launch of the original version in 2013. It was also a first for JAXA since its H2A rocket failed in 2003.

ANSWER: C

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off the new Vande Bharat Express from the Una railway station on 13th October 2022.
• The train will run between Amb-Andaura in Una district and New Delhi, six days a week — except on Wednesday.

Fourth semi-high-speed train:

• The Amb-Andaura to Delhi train will be the fourth Vande Bharat Express
• During its 412 km-long journey, the train will halt at Una, Nangal, Chandigarh and Ambala

ANSWER: D

• The state will get four more hydroelectric projects, which will produce 281 million units power annually.
• The financial assistance agreement for the construction of these projects — Sai Kothi-I (15 MW), Sai Kothi-II (18 MW), Devi Kothi (16 MW) and Hail (18 MW) in the Tissa region of Chamba – was signed in New Delhi between the Union Government and KfW Development Bank, Germany.
• The assistance will be around Rs 654 crore, along with a grant of Rs 12 crore approximately.
• These projects will help in employment generation in Chamba.
• The other benefits include the strengthening of the road, the grid network in the area and better life for people due to better infrastructure facilities.
• These projects would be executed by the HPSEBL under the ‘Hydropower in the Himalaya’ programme.
• It would help the state to emerge as the clean power state as the government was laying more emphasis on its development.