New Delhi: 

India ranked 94 among 107 nations in the Global Hunger Index 2020 and is in the 'serious' hunger category with experts blaming poor implementation processes, lack of effective monitoring, siloed approach in tackling malnutrition and poor performance by large states behind the low ranking.

Last year, India's rank was 102 out of 117 countries.

The neighbouring Bangladesh, Myanmar and Pakistan too are in the 'serious' category but ranked higher than India in this year's hunger index. While Bangladesh ranked 75, Myanmar and Pakistan are in the 78th and 88th position.

Nepal in 73rd and Sri Lanka in 64th position are in 'moderate' hunger category, the report showed.

Seventeen nations, including China, Belarus, Ukraine, Turkey, Cuba and Kuwait, shared the top rank with GHI scores of less than five, the website of the Global Hunger Index, that tracks hunger and malnutrition, said on Friday.

According to the report, 14 per cent of India's population is undernourished.

It also showed the country recorded a 37.4 per cent stunting rate among children under five and a wasting rate of 17.3 per cent. The under-five mortality rate stood at 3.7 per cent.

India on Friday successfully conducted a night trial of the indigenously developed nuclear-capable Prithvi-2 missile as part of a user trial by the Army from a test range in Odisha

India on Friday

successfully conducted a night trial of the indigenously developed nuclear-capable Prithvi-2 missile as part of a user trial by the Army from a test range in Odisha, defence sources said.

The state-of-the-art surface-to-surface missile blasted off around 7.30 pm from launch complex 3 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur near Balasore and the trial was successful, they said.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has won re-election in a landslide.

The win wasn't surprising; Ardern's leadership has helped New Zealand become one of the most successful countries in handling the coronavirus pandemic. Going into the election, polls showed Ardern's Labour Party with a wide lead over the nearest competitor, the conservative National Party.

With most of the votes counted, Ardern's liberal Labour Party has won 49%. It's the best showing for the Labour party in at least 50 years. It's also the highest result for any party since the country switched to a proportional representation system in 1996.

The Labour Party was projected to win 64 seats of the 120-member Parliament, giving it the ability to govern without the coalition building that typically characterizes proportional representation. With 27 percent of the vote, the National Party took 35 seats; the libertarian ACT New Zealand and the left-wing Green Party each took 10 seats; and the Maori Party — a center-left party focused on indigenous rights — secured one seat.

The Supreme Court on Friday appointed Justice (retd) Madan B Lokur, a former judge of the top court, to act as the one-man monitoring committee to prevent stubble burning in the states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

A bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde, while hearing a plea highlighting the issue of stubble burning in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, said that the court is only concerned that the citizens of Delhi-NCR get to breathe clean and fresh air.

The bench said that the new committee, which will monitor the stubble burning and take preventive steps, will get assistance from chief secretaries of all states.

World Students' Day 2020: The United Nations declared October 15 as World Students' Day in 2010 to honour Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. Here are some quotes by Kalam and inspirational wishes to share:

World Students' Day is celebrated every year on October 15. It marks the birth anniversary of former President of India Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. The United Nations declared October 15 as World Students' Day in 2010.

“He was, and will remain, a household name in this country.”
New Zealand’s oldest surviving Test cricketer and former captain John Reid has died here at the age of 92, the country’s cricket board said on Wednesday.

Reid, regarded as one of the world’s best all-rounders during his heyday in the fifties and early sixties, captained New Zealand in 34 Tests including, most notably, the country’s first three victories.

“He was, and will remain, a household name in this country, having helped pave the way for everything that has come in his wake,” New Zealand Cricket chief executive David White said in a statement offering his tributes.

The NZC release, however, did not specify the cause of Reid’s death.

The Union Cabinet has approved World Bank supported Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for States -STARS project. The Project seeks to support States in developing, implementing, evaluating and improving interventions with direct linkages to improved education outcomes. Briefing media after the Cabinet meeting, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said that the total project cost is 5 thousand 718 crore rupees with the financial support of World Bank amounting to 500 million US dollar.  

Mr Javadekar said, STARS project would be implemented as a new Centrally Sponsored Scheme under Department of School Education and Literacy. He said, it will cover six States, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Odisha. The Minister said, this is an important milestone and the beginning of the New Education Policy.

WHO Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus hailed India's COVID 19 tracking App Aarogya Setu for its role in helping the authorities to identify cluster areas and expand testing in a targeted way. Mr. Ghebreyesus said  the pandemic can be overcome quickly if countries use the right tools.  

 World Health Organization has warned against the idea that herd immunity might be a realistic strategy to stop the COVID-19 pandemic. WHO chief said that such proposals are scientifically and ethically problematic. He said, health officials typically aim to achieve herd immunity by vaccination. WHO chief added that herd immunity is achieved by protecting people from a virus, not by exposing them to it.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced major schemes to boost demands in the country by nearly 73 thousand crore rupees.

Addressing a media briefing in the National Capital today, the minister laid out the details of the fiscally prudent proposals to stimulate demand in the economy. Ms. Sitharaman informed that the new proposals aim at giving a thrust of around 36 thousand crore rupees to the consumer demands by the Leave Travel Concession LTC Voucher and Festival advance scheme.

Additionally she said, 37 thousand crore rupees will be infused in the capital expenditure by the Centre and the State Governments.

Briefing about the schemes, the Minister informed that in lieu of the LTC for the 2018-21 block term, payments will be made to the government employees for their 10 day Leave encashment and eligible travel fare.

A total of 322 projects in a length of 12,413 Km have been awarded under Bharatmala Pariyojana till August, 2020.

Further, 2921 Km has been constructed under the Project till the same date.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has taken up detailed review of NHs network and has given overall investment approval for Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase I Scheme for development of about 34,800 km (including 10,000 Km residual NHDP stretches) at an estimated outlay of Rs 5,35,000 Crore.

Bharatmala Pariyojana is an umbrella program for the highways sector that focuses on optimizing efficiency of freight and passenger movement across the country by bridging critical infrastructure gaps through effective interventions like development of Economic Corridors, Inter Corridors and Feeder Routes, National Corridor Efficiency Improvement, Border and International connectivity roads, Coastal and Port connectivity roads and Green-field expressways.