Uttar Pradesh government has secured the first rank in central government's one of the most ambitious schemes - the PM Atmanirbhar Nidhi Scheme (SVANidhi Scheme) by approving the highest number of loans under the scheme in the country.  Prime Minister Narendra Modi will distribute loans to around 3 lakh beneficiaries and will interact with a few of them tomorrow via video conferencing. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will also be present on the occasion.

State has ranked first in all the categories - Applications, Sanctions and Disbursements of the loans under the scheme.  As many as 6,22,167 applications were received under the scheme in the state which is highest in the country, out of which sanctions were given to 3,46,150 applicants while the loans were disbursed to 2,26,728 beneficiaries.

Seven cities of the state also find place in the list of top 10 cities of the country. Varanasi, Lucknow and Aligarh are the top three cities in the list even as other cities of the state include Allahabad, Gorakhpur, Ghaziabad and Kanpur. The scheme was launched on June 1, 2020, by the Central Government to help the street vendors resume their livelihood activities that were impacted by COVID-19. 

Prime Minister Narenda Modi will virtually inaugurate three key projects in Gujarat today. He will also launch the Kisan Suryodaya Yojana for the farmers of Gujarat. He will inaugurate the Paediatric Heart Hospital attached with UN Mehta Institute of Cardiology and Research Centre and a Mobile Application for tele-cardiology at the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad. Mr Modi will also inaugurate the Ropeway at Girnar on the occasion.

Prime Minister Narenda Modi will inaugurate three key projects in Gujarat on 24th October, via video conferencing.

Prime Minister will launch the ‘Kisan Suryodaya Yojana’ for the farmers of Gujarat. He will inaugurate the Paediatric Heart Hospital attached with U.N Mehta Institute of Cardiology and Research Centre and a Mobile Application for tele-cardiology at the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad. He will also inaugurate the Ropeway at Girnar on the occasion.

Kisan Suryodaya Yojana

To provide day-time power supply for irrigation, the Gujarat Government under Chief Minister Shri Vijay Rupani had recently announced the ‘Kisan Suryodaya Yojana’. Under this scheme, farmers will be able to avail power supply from 5 AM to 9 PM. The state government has allocated a budget of Rs.3500 crore for installing transmission infrastructure under this scheme by 2023. 234 ‘66-Kilowatt’ transmission lines, with a total length of 3490 circuit kilometers (CKM) will be established under the project, in addition to 220 KV substations.

Police Commemoration Day is observed on October 21 every year to pay respects to the 10 policemen who were killed by Chinese troops in an ambush at Hot Springs area near Ladakh on October 21, 1959

Deputy Inspector General of Police (Villupuram Range) K. Ejilearassane led police personnel in Villupuram, Cuddalore and Kallakurichi districts in paying homage to their colleagues who died in the line of duty on the occasion of the Police Commemoration Day here on Wednesday.

After the commemoration parade in Villupuram, Collector A. Annadurai, DIG K. Ejilearassane and Superintendent of Police K. Radhakrishnan placed wreaths at the Martyrs’ column in the Armed Reserve (AR) police grounds.

In Cuddalore district, Superintendent of Police M. Sree Abhinav led the police in paying homage at the AR grounds. The solemn occasion drew to a close with a 21 gun salute by AR police Inspector Kumar.

The Police Commemoration Day is being observed today. The day is observed on 21st October every year to honor the loyalty and supreme sacrifice of police personnel for the nation. It was on this day in 1959 when CRPF ed a saga of valour and sacrifice in the inaccessible, inhospitable terrain of Hot Springs in Ladakh. A patrol party of twenty personnel of CRPF and Intelligence Bureau had gone to search for a missing reconnaissance party when it was ambushed by the Chinese Army.

In spite of the sudden attack and disadvantageous tactical position, they fought valiantly against the Chinese army personnel who were in large numbers and heavily armed. In this battle, ten CRPF men were martyred in defense of the country.

Home Minister Amit Shah paid tribute to martyred police personnel at the National Police Memorial in New Delhi this morning.

In the 21st Century, human beings are surrounded by numerous methods for data sourcing. With the advent of social media and online data portals, the inflow of information has broadened, giving the modern-day man a vast canvas to choose from. On the other side, a number of portals that disseminate incorrect information and distorted facts came into being.

While the increased number of sources aided people in gathering information, they also paved way for platforms that presented fake or botched data. To combat the issue of misinformation, the United Nations came up with World Statistics Day which is celebrated every 5 years on October 20 by people all across the globe.

Antonsen beats Gemke in men’s final

Japan’s former world champion Nozomi Okuhara won her first title since November 2018 on Sunday with victory in the Denmark Open final.

The 25-year-old defeated 2016 Olympic gold medallist and three-time world champion Carolina Marin 21-19, 21-17.

“Compared to other opponents, Marin is faster and has a harder attack. I was focused on defence and footwork, and my feet moved very well today. Overall the match went well,” said Okuhara, whose last title came at Hong Kong in 2018.

Marin admitted she had made too many errors.

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.