New Delhi: Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday flagged off nine trains connecting small towns to major cities and said one of those, the Vadnagar-Mehsana train, was the railways' gift to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who sold tea at the Vadnagar station during his younger days.

Goyal said the nine "Sewa Service" trains were launched without any additional investment by the railways and it was an example of how to use existing resources to the maximum.

"Without spending anything, without investing, we have started these nine trains from the available resources.... Among these trains, there is one that goes from Vadnagar to Mehsana. A tea seller at the Vadnagar station has become the prime minister of the country and by connecting Vadnagar with Mehsana, the railways has given a gift to the prime minister today," he said.

Of the nine "Sewa Service" trains, those between Delhi and Shamli, Bhubaneswar and Nayagarh town, Murkongselek and Dibrugarh and Coimbatore and Palani will run daily.

The other trains — from Vadnagar to Mehsana, Asarya to Himmatnagar, Karur to Salem, Yesvantpur to Tumkur and Coimbatore to Pollachi — will run six days a week.

The flagging off of the Kota-Jhalawar City "Sewa Service" train has been postponed.

"There has been a demand from people that trains should reach smaller cities and for this, we have the Sewa Service trains concept," Goyal said.

Barcelona captain Leo Messi received his sixth Golden Shoe as the top scorer in the European leagues on Wednesday.

Messi won the trophy for a third straight year after scoring 36 goals, three more than his closest challenger, Kylian Mbappe of Paris Saint-Germain.

Messi’s sons Thiago and Mateo, presented their father with the trophy supervised by his wife, Antonella Rocuzzo and watched by team-mates, including Luis Suarez and Jordi Alba.

Messi dedicated the award “to my family, to my colleagues who are here. There are Luis and Jordi, who are two of the men to blame for this award.”

“Without my team, I could not even have won the award once.” Messi now has two more Golden Shoes than his great rival Cristiano Ronaldo. Luis Suarez is one of nine players on two. The award was created in 1967 when it was won by Eusebio.

New Delhi: Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday said India's longest Chenani-Nashri tunnel that links Kashmir with Jammu will be rechristened after Bhartiya Jansangh founder Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2017 had dedicated to the nation this 9.2 km long tunnel that reduces the distance between Jammu and Srinagar by 31 km.

Terming the decision historic, the road transport and highways minister Gadkari said this will be a humble homage to the Jansangh founder given his battle for Kashmir's integration to the nation.

"Historic! Chenani- Nashri Tunnel on NH 44, in Jammu and Kashmir to be named after Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee. This is our humble homage to Shyama Prasad Ji whose battle for Kashmir, One Nation One Flag has immensely contributed in national integration," Gadkari said in a tweet.

The decision comes over two months after abrogation of the provisions of Article 370. President Ram Nath Kovind on August 7 had declared abrogation of the provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution after both houses of Parliament had passed a resolution in this regard.

Mumbai opening batsman Yashasvi Jaiswal smashed his way into record books on Wednesday. At 17 years and 292 days, Yashasvi Jaiswal became the youngest in the world to score a double hundred in 50-overs cricket including List A and ODIs. He broke the record by almost 3 years in the Vijay Hazare Trophy match against Jharkhand. The youngest before Yashasvi was Alan Barrow, who scored a double ton at age of 20 years, 273 days in South Africa’s domestic cricket way back in 1975.

Yashavi scored 203 off 154 balls which included 12 sixes and 17 fours. The left-hander’s blistering innings propelled Mumbai to 358 for 3 batting first against Jharkhand at Alur, Bengaluru in a Vijay Hazare trophy Elite Group A match.

On October 17, 1987, thousands of people congregated at the Trocadero in Paris, where in 1948 the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed to honour the victims of extreme poverty, violence and hunger. Those gathered, proclaimed that poverty is a violation of human rights and confirmed that people need to come together to ensure these rights are honoured. These rights were inscribed in a commemorative stone unveiled that day by Father Joseph Wresinski, founder of the International Movement ATD Fourth World. Since then, people have gathered on October 17 every year to renew their commitment to the poor, a day which has come to be known as International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.

The General Assembly declared October 17 as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, through resolution 47/196 adopted on December 22, 1992.

Islamabad: In a major development, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Tuesday decided "in principle" that Pakistan will remain on its grey list till February 2020 and directed the country to take "extra measures" for the "complete elimination" of terror financing and money laundering.

The meeting of the international watchdog reviewed the measures taken by Pakistan to control money laundering and terror financing, and observed that Islamabad will have to take further steps on the two parameters in these four months, reported Dawn.

The formal announcement of these decisions will be made on 18 October.

India is ranked 102 of 117 countries in the Global Hunger Index 2019, behind its neighbours Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Seventeen countries, including 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. The report, prepared jointly by Irish aid agency Concern Worldwide and German organisation Welt Hunger Hilfe termed the level of hunger in India “serious”.

In 2018, it was ranked 103 out of 119 countries. In 2000, the country was ranked 83 out of 113 countries. Now, with 117 countries in the fray, it has dropped to 102.

On the occasion of World Food Day, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dr Harsh Vardhan launched Food Safety Mitra Scheme, Eat Right Jacket and Eat Right Jhola. Addressing a gathering in New Delhi today, he said, Eat Right India and Fit India Campaign can prove to be a big success with the right strategy and implementation. The Minister urged people to reduce ghee, salt and ghee in food.
 
Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has introduced scheme of Food Safety Mitra (FSM) through which it plans to engage motivated individuals with the food safety ecosystem at ground level. A FSM is an individual professional certified by FSSAI who assists in compliances related to FSS Act, Rules & Regulations with three avatars- Digital Mitra, Trainer Mitra and Hygiene Mitra depending upon their respective roles and responsibilities. During the event, the Minister also launched Eat Right Jhola which is a reusable, washable and bio-degradable bag.

India slipped to the 102 spot in the Global Hunger Index which features 117 countries, according to Concern Worldwide, an aid agency which compiles the report.

India was the lowest ranked South Asian country in Global Hunger Index even behind Pakistan which was ranked 94th. Indeed, India is also ranked below countries such as North Korea at 92.

The report warned that the progress towards a 2030 zero hunger target that was agreed upon by leaders across the words was “under threat”.

The report, topped by Central African Republic, said that it was becoming difficult to feed the world due to climate change.It said that while there has been progress in reducing hunger, but the gains are now being threatened and severe hunger persists in many regions across the world.

Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh on Tuesday inaugurated the 41st DRDO Directors Conference in New Delhi.

He said that DRDO has played significant role in ensuring technological advancement of our forces and safeguarding our country.

Chiefs of the three forces & DRDO Chairman G Satheesh Reddy were also present on the occasion.

Addressing the conference, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval said that armies that were better equipped always called the shots and decided the destiny of mankind.

They were always the one which had higher technologies. However,India's own historical experience on this has not been good.

He said that besides use of better technologies, integration of technology is the need of the hour.

He added that DRDO can play a significant role in becoming a catalyst in absorption of technology.