- Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated 35 Pressure Swing Absorption (PSA) Oxygen Plants set up under PM CARES Fund in 35 states and union territories at an event at AIIMS Rishikesh, Uttarakhand on October 07, 2021. On this occasion, the Prime Minister has said that, with the efforts of the State Government and the Centre, 4,000 new oxygen plants will be set up in India under the PM CARES Fund. He said, “Our country and its hospitals have become very capable now.”.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi has unveiled the Gati-Shakti National Infrastructure Masterplan. The Gati Shakti scheme was announced by Prime Minister Modi on the occasion of Independence Day, 2021.This master plan will bring 16 ministries and seven key infrastructure sectors on a single platform to coordinate various project plans among all stakeholder ministries to avoid duplication of work, plug gaps and expedite timely approvals.
- The government has notified new rules related to abortion, under which the time limit for medical abortion for certain categories of women has been increased from 20 weeks to 24 weeks. These new rules have been notified under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2021, passed in Parliament in March. Under the old rules, abortion of a foetus up to 12 weeks required the advice of one doctor and medical termination of pregnancy at 12 to 20 weeks required the advice of two doctors.
- The Ministry of Home Affairs has decided to increase the jurisdiction of the Border Security Force (BSF) from 15 km to 50 km inside the International Border in the states of Punjab, West Bengal and Assam. The decision has been taken to “improve operational efficiency” and “crackdown on smuggling rackets”. The Ministry of Home Affairs, in a gazette notification issued on October 11, 2021, said that it is amending the notification of the year 2014 on the jurisdiction of the BSF to exercise its powers in the States where it protects the International Border.The jurisdiction of BSF has now been increased to 35 km in Punjab, Assam and West Bengal and Gujarat, this jurisdiction has been reduced to 30 km.
- According to government data released, retail inflation declined to 4.35 per cent in September, mainly due to lower food prices. Consumer Price Index-based (CPI) inflation stood at 5.30 per cent in August and 7.27 per cent in September 2020. According to data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), inflation in the food basket declined to 0.68 per cent in September 2021, from 3.11 per cent in the previous month.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Indian Space Association (ISpA) through videoconferencing. Its founding members include Bharti Airtel, Larsen & Toubro, Nelco (Tata Group), OneWeb, MapmyIndia, Walchandnagar Industries and Anant Technology Limited. Other key members include Godrej, Hughes India, Azista-BST Aerospace Pvt Ltd, BEL, Centum Electronics and Maxar India. ISpA is a private industry body that will act as a major industry body for space and satellite companies in the country. ISpA will be represented by domestic and global corporations with advanced capabilities in space and satellite technologies. ISpA will work towards promoting space technology in India, with a focus on capacity building and space economic hubs and incubators in India.
- India has been elected to the membership of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for the sixth time. India’s term will start in 2022. India’s election was held by secret ballot and India won an overwhelming majority in it. After this, the Indian Mission in the United Nations spoke of continuing to work for the promotion and protection of human rights through respect, dialogue and cooperation.
- After battling two waves of Corona, India’s economy has started showing improvement. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has predicted that India’s growth rate will be the fastest in the world till next year. The IMF has projected economic growth for India at 9.5%in 2021 and 8.5% in 2022. This clears that the Indian economy is coming out of the grip of Corona. IMF Chief Economist Gita Gopinath said after the release of this report that vaccination has happened rapidly in India. This has helped in a faster recovery in the economy.
- India has slipped to the 101st rank in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2021 of 116 countries. Last year India was ranked 94th out of 107 countries. In this index, India is also behind its neighbouring countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. It has been said in the report that people in India have been badly affected by COVID-19 and the restrictions imposed due to it.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi today dedicated seven new defence companies to the nation on the auspicious occasion of Vijayadashami. During this, he also gave a video address at a program organized by the Ministry of Defence. Rajnath Singh and representatives of defence industry associations were present on the occasion. The government has decided to convert the Ordnance Factory Board from a single department into seven wholly-owned government corporations, as a move to improve self-reliance in the country’s defence preparedness.