KERALA

Drawing heavily from the State’s planning process, the Central government is launching its People’s Plan Campaign (PPC) for panchayats from October 2 with the slogan Sabki Yojana Sabka Vikas.

The Centre’s Plan document defines it as People’s Plan Campaign/Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP). It is being construed as a major pre-poll political exercise to reach out to rural voters across and a precursor to revive the Five Year Plan in local bodies .

When the Centre relinquished the Five Year Plan and substituted Planning Commission with NITI Aayog, Kerala resolved to pursue the traditional planning process and revived the People’s Plan Campaign model.

The State had devolved powers as well as a substantial component of its Plan funds to both urban and rural local bodies for planning and executing the projects and complemented it with capacity-building initiatives too. The campaign would be redundant for the State since it has made remarkable strides in the thrust areas mentioned in the document such as augmenting minor irrigation, fisheries, women SHGs and rural electrification.

INTERNATIONAL

United Nations World Tourism Organization has been celebrated World Tourism Day as international observances on September 27 since 1980.

This date was chosen as on that day in 1970, the Statutes of the UNWTO were adopted.

The purpose of this day is to raise awareness on the role of tourism within the international community and to demonstrate how it affects social, cultural, political and economic values worldwide.

· India ranks 96th on Economic Freedom Index; Hong Kong, Singapore retain top spot

As per the 2018 report on Economic Freedom in the World, released by the Centre for Civil Society (CCS) in conjunction with Canada’s Fraser Institute, India stands at 96th rank out of 162 countries in economic freedom. Last year, India’s rank was 98.
Hong Kongand Singapore again topped the index ranking first and second
The other countries in the top 10 were: New Zealand, Switzerland, Ireland, the US, Georgia, Mauritius, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada (tied for 10th) respectively.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been awarded with the UN’s highest environmental honour, bestowed upon five other individuals and organisations, for his leadership of the International Solar Alliance and pledge to eliminate single use plastic in India by 2022.

Six of the world’s most outstanding environmental changemakers have been recognised with the Champions of the Earth Award, the UN’s highest environmental honour.

NATIONAL

· IISc Bangalore named India’s Best University in Times World University rankings 2019

Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore has been named the top Indian institute for the fifthstraight year in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings and was placed in the 251-300 bracket.
IIT Indore(351-400) was placed second, ahead of IIT Bombay and IIT Roorkee.
Globally, Oxford Universitycontinues to hold the first place, followed by Cambridge, Stanford, and MIT.

TheIndian Railways is set to launch the ‘Make in India’ Smart coaches. The smart coaches have several new features like black box and artificial intelligence (AI)-powered CCTVs, matching international standards, Wi-Fi hotspot information system.
The coaches have been equipped with sensors that can detect defects on bearings, wheels, and the railway track and gives constant inputs to those in the control room to avoid accidents, carry out maintenance, and to improve the efficiency of operations. A water-level indicator technology to know whether the water in the coach is sufficient and when it needs to be filled is also available.
The maiden smart coach was unveiled at the Modern Coach Factory in Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh as part of launching 100 such trains in a pilot project to improve the safety and security of commuters and to boost efficiency.

The Centre has approved ₹8,606 crore for 60 projects being implemented under the umbrella scheme of Border Infrastructure and Management (BIM) to meet special development needs of people living in those areas.

The umbrella scheme Border Infrastructure and Management containing 60 projects and with an outlay of ₹8,606 crore has been approved, a home ministry official said.

The projects are implemented in 111 border districts to meet special development needs of border population with focus on people living within 50 kms of the international border.

India shares borders with Pakistan (3,323 km), China (3,488 km), Nepal (1,751 km), Bhutan (699 km), Myanmar (1,643 km) and Bangladesh (4,096 km).

A pre-induction trial of India’s indigenously developed beyond visual range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM) ‘Astra’ was successfully conducted on Wednesday over Bay of Bengal near Chandipur in Odisha,

The missile was fired from a fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force in the afternoon and targeted an unmanned aerial vehicle ‘Banshi’ which it successfully engaged.

The government appointed Rajni Kant Mishraas the Director-General of Border Security Force (BSF) in the place of K.K. Sharma. He is a 1984 batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre.
Mishra is currently the head of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB). He is to head the BSF till August 31, 2019. Special D-G (BSF) S.S.Deswal, will replace Mr.Mishra in SSB.

Eastern Air Command chief Anil Khosla will take over as the new vice chief of the Indian Air Force (IAF) with Air Marshal SB Deoset to retire.
According to other approved postings by the Indian Air force, new Deputy Chiefof Air Force will be Air Marshal VR Chaudhari, New DG of Air operations’ post went to Air Marshal Amit Deo.