International Literacy Day is celebrated worldwide on September 8th every year. Education is the most crucial yet basic human right that transforms human behavior and enables betterment of mankind. The development came as a result of an idea that highlighted the need to eradicate illiteracy from the world during the World Conference of Ministers of Education in Iran that was held from September 8th to September 19th in the year 1965.

However, the current world literacy rate varies from country to country – for Niger it was 19.1% (2015) on the other hand it was 100% for North Korea in the same report. Although the education scene is not what it should be, we have come a long way since 1966 when the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) decreed September 8th as International Literacy Day.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday unveiled a mobility road map that seeks investments in manufacturing electric vehicles and increased use of public transport for travel.

Congestion-free mobility was critical to check economic and environmental costs of congestion. The Indian economy was the world’s fastest growing major economy that was building 100 smart cities and constructing roads, airports, rail lines and ports at a greater pace, Mr. Modi said at the Global Mobility Summit MOVE.

Clean mobility, powered by clean energy, was the most powerful weapon to fight climate change. “This means a pollution-free clean drive, leading to clean air and better living standards for our people. We should champion the idea of ‘clean kilometres’. My vision for the future of mobility in India is based on 7 Cs: common, connected, convenient, congestion-free, charged, clean, cutting-edge,” he said.

India and France have signed an implementation agreement on "Mobilise Your City" (MYC) in the presence of Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) Hardeep Singh Puri and Alexander Ziegler, Ambassador of France in India.

The agreement was signed by Mukund Kumar Sinha, OSD and Ex-Officio Joint Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs for India, while Regional Director, Agence Française de Developpement (AfD), Nicolas Fornage, signed the agreement on behalf of AfD.

MYC is part of an international initiative which is supported by the French and German Governments and was launched at the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) meeting in December, 2015. Based on a proposal made by AFD in 2015, the European Union has agreed to provide funds of Euro 3.5 million through the AFD to contribute to specific investments and technical assistance components within the Mobilise Your City (MYC) programme in India.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) on Thursday displayed a space suit developed by the agency. The suit was displayed at the launch of the sixth edition of Bengaluru Space Expo. The orange-coloured prototype space suit was developed over the past two years at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram.

The suit can hold one oxygen cylinder, allowing an astronaut to breathe in space for 60 minutes.

Isro has developed two suits and will create one more suit as three astronauts will be part of mission to send Indians into space on an Indian spacecraft by 2022.

The space research body also displayed the crew model and the crew escape model. A prototype crew model has already been tested by the Isro.

Kathmandu and Beijing have finalised a transit protocol that will give Nepal access to Chinese ports for trade with China and beyond. This will bring to an end Nepal’s heavy dependence on Indian ports for trade with other countries.

Officials of the two governments signed the protocol after a marathon meeting on Thursday night, giving final shape to the framework treaty signed between the two countries when Nepal Prime Minister K P Oli visited China in March 2016 in the wake of economic blockade by India.

The Delhi Police Special Cell on Friday nabbed two terror suspects from the Inter-State Bus Terminus at Kashmiri Gate, near Red Fort on charges of transporting weapons to the Islamic State in Jammu and Kashmir (ISJK). The two youths were enroute to Kashmir after procuring sophisticated weapons from Amroha District in Uttar Pradesh under directions from the top level operatives from ISJK, police claimed. “ We recovered two sophisticated pistols and ten cartridges that the two accused were taken to Kashmir. Delhi was the transit point they used to supply the weapons,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (special cell) PS Kushwaha.

The two accused were identified as Parvez Ahmad Lone (24) and Jamshed (19), both belonging to Shopian, Jammu and Kashmir. The police claimed that they have recovered four mobile phones which will now is a part of the investigation to ascertain if other operatives were facilitating them.

The threat of auto tariffs is back on the agenda, and Japan could be President Donald Trump's new "number one target."

In a recent conversation with the Wall Street Journal, Trump described his good relations with the Japanese leadership but then added: "Of course that will end as soon as I tell them how much they have to pay."

"The president likes to pick trade fights," said Derek Scissors, Asia economist at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative public policy think-tank based in Washington D.C. He added that, if a new NAFTA deal is signed with Canada and Mexico, then those countries would be exempted from the ongoing American auto investigation. Given that the European Union has already won an exemption on such tariffs, that would make Japan — a key U.S. ally in Asia — "the number one target."

India and the U.S. on September 6 signed the foundational or enabling agreement COMCASA on the side-lines of the inaugural 2+2 dialogue.

COMCASA stands for Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement and is one of the four foundational agreements that the U.S. signs with allies and close partners to facilitate interoperability between militaries and sale of high end technology.

COMCASA is an India-specific version of the Communication and Information on Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA). It comes into force immediately, and is valid for a period 10 years.

ammu and Kashmir police chief Shesh Paul Vaid was transferred on Thursday, and posted as a transport commissioner in the same state.

Dilbagh Singh, a 1987 batch IPS officer, will take charge as the new DGP. He will also hold the post of DG (Prisons).

NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Parrty MP and Minister of State Giriraj Singh on Friday alleged that the pictures from Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's Kailash yatra were photoshopped. Tweeting a picture of Rahul in which he can be seen along with a fellow pilgrim, the BJP leader said, "This is photoshopped. Where is the shadow of the wooden cane?" Rahul can be seen holding a cane in the photo.

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