BIHAR
- Bihar claims open defecation free status, announcement delayed
Though most urban and rural areas of Bihar achieved the open defecation free (ODF) status on October 2, its formal announcement was yet to be made.
All urban areas, including 141 urban bodies, had become ODF as per the deadline and was declared ODF after third party inspection.
The government not only built toilets but also stressed behavioural change, a complex phenomenon. After building toilets, their use had to be sustained for at least one year for change in habit.
The primary focus was on behavioural change by creating awareness on safe sanitation practices in villages.
Till July, only 5 of the 38 districts of Bihar were declared ODF.
INTERNATIONAL
● WEFs 33rd India Economic Summit to be held
The World Economic Forum’s 33rd India Economic Summit is to be held from 3-4 October in New Delhi, India. The theme of the WEF’s 33rd India Economic Summit is Innovating for India: Strengthening South Asia, Impacting the World.
Bangladesh’s PM, Singapore’s Deputy PM and more than 800 leaders from 40 countries including policymakers from the Indian government and senior government officials from India and South Asia will be participating in the event.
● Google partners with Dineout for reservations for consumers via Google Maps
Google to enhance the user experience by adding more features to Google Maps with the help of technology powered by Dineout.
The users will now have more actions to explore within Google Maps by discovering dining out options near them, choosing from the available offers at restaurants and also reserve a table for their preferred time and date. Finding a restaurant with the best available offers at any day and time will now be easy on Google Maps via this partnership with Dineout.
The Offers shortcut on Google Maps the service can be leveraged by Google Maps users across 15,000+ Dineout partner restaurants in 17 cities such as Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Pune, Chennai, Surat, Ahmedabad, Indore, Lucknow, Kochi, Nagpur, Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Jaipur and Goa.
● World first satellite launch by Soviet led US to create NASA
The Soviet Union launched the world’s first artificial satellite Sputnik I on October 1957. The US-Soviet Cold War, Sputnik’s launch directly led to the foundation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
The Weight of the Sputnik is 83.6 kg, the 58-cm-wide satellite transmitted signals for 21 days before losing speed and burning up in the atmosphere in 92 days.
NATIONAL
● Union Government launches unified portal for licensing of eating and lodging houses in Delhi
Union minister G Kishan Reddy launched a single-window online system for licensing of eating and lodging houses, a move aimed at facilitating the ease of doing business.
The portal is a step in the direction to achieve Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision to establish a corruption-free economy by bringing in welfare-oriented economic reforms, the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs said.
India has progressively improved its ease of doing business ranking and the government is encouraging entrepreneurs to start up new businesses.
The food and beverages is a big sector and by 2021, it would be having over two percent contribution in India’s GDP.
● DGTR launched an online system named ARTIS
The commerce ministry’s arm Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) has launched ARTIS, an online system.
Applications for Remedies in Trade for Indian Industry and other Stakeholders (ARTIS) will be used for the filing of anti-dumping applications by the domestic industry.
It aims to facilitate a speedy resolution to the injury faced by the Indian domestic industry and to increase the accessibility of directorate to all the stakeholders.
ARTIS is developed for filing applications, responses and other related submissions with respect to various trade remedial.
● Annu Rani Becomes First Indian To Qualify For Women’s Javelin Throw Final
Annu Rani became the first Indian to qualify for the women’s javelin throw final in World Athletics Championships
She did her best attempt of 62.43m which is a National Record.
She finished fifth in the qualifying round of World Athletics Championships in Doha, a place above the current World Record holder Barbora Spotakova.Annu Rani had smashed her own national record during the qualification round of the World Athletics Championships.