Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2024:IISc Placed First in India; 91 Indian Institutions Featured in The Ranking According to the ‘Times Higher Education World University Ranking 2024′, the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru (IISc Bengaluru) in Karnataka has become the top Indian institution among Indian universities.

• With 91 Indian institutes included in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2024, India is the fourth most-represented country on the list. In 2023,75 institutes from India were featured in the list.
• University of Oxford of United Kingdom(UK) ranked 1st in THE World University Rankings 2024 for the eighth consecutive year, while Stanford University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT) of  United States of America(USA) in second and third places respectively.

About Times Higher Education (THE):
Formerly The Times Higher Education Supplement (The Thes), it is a British magazine reporting on news and issues related to higher education.
CEO– Paul Howarth
Headquarters– London, United Kingdom (UK)

Highlights of 45th Session of World Heritage CommitteeThe 45th session of the World Heritage Committee (WHC) took place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, concluding on September 25. This session witnessed the addition of 42 new sites to United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)’s World Heritage List, alongside other significant decisions.

• The committee was chaired by H.H. Princess Haifa Al Mogrin, Saudi Arabia’s Permanent Delegate to UNESCO.The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia(KSA) served as the host country for 45th session of WHC.
• Of the 42 newly inscribed sites, 33 are cultural and 9 are natural.  This brings the total number of UNESCO World Heritage sites to 1199 (993 cultural, 227 natural, 39 mixed) across 168 countries. .The Committee also approved the extension of below 5 existing World Heritage sites
• India’s Santiniketan in West Bengal and the Sacred Ensembles of the Hoysalas in Karnataka have been added to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage list…Click here for complete information…

About World Heritage Committee

• Chairperson: Dr Abdulelah Al-Tokhais (Saudi Arabia)
• Rapporteur: Ms. Shikha Jain (India)

UNCTAD’s Review of Maritime Transport 2023: Decarbonizing Shipping to Cost Over USD 100bn/yearUnited Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)’s Review of Maritime Transport 2023 urged to take action and system-wide collaboration to decarbonize maritime transport. The report warns that the decarbonising shipping would cost over USD 100 billion per year as the emission continue to increase.

• UNCTAD urges the need for cleaner fuels, digital solutions and an equitable transition to address ongoing carbon emissions and regulatory uncertainties in the shipping industry.

i.Full decarbonization could raise annual fuel expenses by 70% to 100%, affecting Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) heavily reliant on maritime transport.
ii.The Review emphasizes the need for a transition to cleaner fuels in the shipping sector as nearly 99% of the global fleet still relies on conventional fuels.
About United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD):
It is an intergovernmental organization which promotes the interests of developing countries in world trade.
Secretary-General– Rebeca Grynspan
Headquarters– Geneva, Switzerland

IATA Allots three-letter Code ‘DXN’ for Upcoming Jewar International Airport in Noida
International Air Transport Association (IATA), the trade association for the world’s airlines, has allotted the three-letter code ‘DXN’ for the upcoming greenfield airport at Jewar in New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (Noida), Uttar Pradesh (UP). The code ‘DXN’ symbolises the airport’s proximity to Noida, Delhi, and western UP.

• This three-letter code assigned by the IATA will be the designator, that airlines and travel agencies will use, internationally, to identify Noida International Airport.
• This ensures that travelers can easily identify the airport across various platforms. It will help travelers and aviation professionals to identify and communicate destinations swiftly and accurately, avoiding any confusion and mistakes.
• By the end of 2024, this initiative will be fully implemented. The code will become active once airport operations start.
• Once completed, the Noida airport is composed to become the largest airport in India, spanning an expansive 5,000-hectare area and developed in 4 phases.
• The first phase is scheduled to be completed with one runway and a 12 million passenger capacity terminal building by September 2024.
• The airport for the UP government is being built by Yamuna International Airport Private Limited (YIAPL), a fully-owned subsidiary of Zurich Airport International AG, Switzerland.

Note: IATA represents some 300 airlines or 83% of total air traffic.

Vande Bharat Trains Project: Indian Railways Signed Supply Contract with Indo-Russian JV Kinet Railway Solutions
The Indian Railways has signed a supply contract with the Indo-Russian Joint Venture (JV) Kinet Railway Solutions for manufacturing Vande Bharat trains. As per the contract, Kinet Railway Solutions will manufacture 120 Vande Bharat trains, along with maintenance services for 35 years.

• Kinet Railway Solutions is a JV between Metrowagonmash (MWM) and Locomotive Electronic Systems (LES), Russia, and Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL), India for the production of Vande Bharat trains. MWM is a subsidiary of rail equipment manufacturer, Transmashholding JSC Group (Transmash).
• The collaboration between MWM, LES, and RVNL for the Vande Bharat train project faced persistent challenges from the start, primarily over the issue of majority ownership between Indian and Russian partners.
• The dispute delayed the contract signing with the Indian Railways till September 2023. The Indian Railways had invited bids for Vande Bharat train sets in December 2022 and they were opened in March 2023.
• On September 14, 2023, the United States of America’s (US) Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on Russian entities including elites, industries, financial institutions, and technology suppliers.

RBI issues New Prudential Regulations for AIFIs; Cancels Licence of Nashik Zilla Girna Sahakari Bank Limited, Nashik i.The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued the RBI (Prudential Regulations on Basel III Capital Framework, Exposure Norms, Significant Investments, Classification, Valuation and Operation of Investment Portfolio Norms and Resource Raising Norms for All India Financial Institutions) Directions, 2023 which will be applicable w.e.f. April 1, 2024.
ii.These were issued by RBI in exercise of powers conferred by Section 45L of the RBI Act, 1934.
iii.RBI cancelled the licence of the Nashik Zilla Girna Sahakari Bank Limited, in Nashik, Maharashtra, since the bank did have an adequate capital and earning prospects. Following this, the bank ceases to carry on banking business, with effect from 26th September 2023.
About Reserve Bank of India (RBI):
Governor – Shaktikanta Das
Deputy Governors – Swaminathan Janakiraman, Michael Debabrata Patra, M. Rajeshwar Rao, T. Rabi Sankar
Establishment – 1st April 1935
Headquarters – Mumbai, Maharashtra

KBL-Swarna Bandhu: Karnataka Bank launches Door Step Gold Loan Facility in collaboration with SahiBandhu Karnataka Bank Limited (KBL) introduced an innovative Door-Step Gold Loan service called “KBL-Swarna Bandhu” for its customers in collaboration with SahiBandhu.

• It enables complete digitalization of gold loan processes, allowing the bank to offer gold loan services directly to customers at their doorstep.  It also expands its Gold Loan Portfolio.
• SahiBandhu, a leading aggregator platform for gold loans supported by The Manipal Group.

Key Points:
i.As a part of this collaboration, SahiBandhu will serve as a Corporate Business Correspondent and Lending Service Provider, adhering to the established digital lending guidelines.
ii.This collaboration will strengthen the bank’s gold loan portfolio and highlight the digital expertise of both Karnataka Bank and SahiBandhu.
iii.Initially, the service will be available in select bank branches and will gradually be extended to all branches.
About Karnataka Bank Limited(KBL):
Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer– Srikrishnan Hari Hara Sarma
Headquarters– Mangaluru, Karnataka
Tagline– Your Family Bank Across India
Establishment– 1924
About SahiBandhu:
Co-Founder and CEO– Rajesh Shet
Headquarters– Gurugram, Haryana

Kantar BrandZ Top 75 Most Valuable Indian Brands Report: TCS Retains Its Number One PositionIn the 10th anniversary edition of the Kantar BrandZ Top 75 Most Valuable Indian Brands Report conducted by Wire and Plastic Products (WPP) and Kantar, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) retained its top position as India’s most valuable brand for the second consecutive year with a brand value of USD 43 billion.

• Housing Development Finance Corporation(HDFC) bank and Infosys occupies  2nd and 3rd position with a brand value of  USD 33,612 and USD 24,170 respectively.

Data & Analytics:
India’s top 75 brands have a combined brand value of USD 379 billion, a decline of 4% from 2022.
About Kantar:
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) – Chris Jansen
Headquarters – London, United Kingdom(UK)

Gokul Subramaniam Appointed as Intel India President
Intel Corporation, a leading digital chipmaker based in the United States of America(USA), has appointed Gokul Subramaniam as the President of Intel India.

• As Intel India President, he will be responsible for Intel’s overall engineering and design operations in India, including driving innovation, cross-group efficiencies, and execution of Intel products from the site.
• He is currently a Vice President (VP) of the Client Computing Group (CCG) and serves as general manager of Client Platforms and Systems. He will be assuming the Intel India president role in addition to the existing leading client platforms and systems in CCG.
• Before joining Intel in 2012, Subramaniam worked with Texas Instruments. He is the inventor of 6 patents with an additional 5 filed in the areas of computing, wireless, power management, industrial design, systems, and software.

In June 2023, Nivruti Rai, Intel India country head and vice president of foundry services, resigned from her post. Later in July 2023, she was appointed as Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Invest India, the investment promotion and facilitation agency of the Indian Governemnt.

• Intel India is the company’s largest design and engineering center outside the United States of America (USA), with state-of-the-art design facilities in Bengaluru (Karnataka) and Hyderabad (Telangana).

KN Madhusoodanan Appointed as Part-Time Chairman of Dhanlaxmi Bank
Reserve Bank of India(RBI) has approved the appointment of KN Madhusoodanan as the Part-Time Chairman of Thrissur (Kerala)-based Dhanlaxmi Bank for a period of 3 years with effect from September 26, 2023. He has been an Independent Director on the Board of the Bank with effect from 9 November 2022.

• KN Madhusoodanan succeeded G Subramonia Iyer, Part-time Chairman and Independent Director of the bank, who resigned in December 2021. Following his resignation, the bank had been without a Chairman for 21 months.
• KN Madhusoodanan is the Managing Director of various private limited companies including Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) companies. He ventured into civil construction in 1983.
• He founded the Mavanal group of companies and established 2 crushed units Mavanal Granites Private Limited and Vajra Rock Mining Industries in Pathanamthitta, Kerala. He is the promoter and MD of M/s. Mavanal Granites Private Limited.

Previously, RBI rejected the proposal to appoint G Rajagopalan Nair as its part-time chairman. He has been serving as an independent director with the bank since August 2020.

Iran’s IRGC Launched Military Imaging Satellite Nour 3 Into Orbit Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has successfully launched a third military imaging satellite Nour 3  from the Shahroud spaceport of Iran into the orbit.

• The satellite was launched by the three-stage Qased carrier which was developed by the IRGC.
• In Persian, Noor means “light” and Qased means “Messenger”.

Points to note:
i.The Noor-3 was placed in Lower Earth Orbit(LEO) at the height of 450km (280 miles) from the surface of the Earth.
ii.Nour-3 satellite will be used to collect data and images for IRGC’s intelligence purposes.
Previous versions of Nour:
i.Nour 1 is the first military reconnaissance satellite launched by Iran after several failed attempts.

• It was launched in April 2020 at a height of 425km (265 miles) above the Earth.

ii.Nour 2 was launched in March 2022 in a low orbit of 500km (310 miles).
Other Satellite of  Iran:
In August 2022, Iran’s high-resolution, remote-sensing Khayyam satellite was launched by Russia’s  Soyuz-2.1b rocket, from the Russia-controlled Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
About Iran:
President – Ebrahim Raisi
Capital – Tehran
Currency – Iranian Rial

Padma Awardee MS Swaminathan, Father of India’s Green Revolution, Passed AwayIndian agricultural scientist and Padma Awardee Mankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan (MS Swaminathan), who is popularly known as the Father of India’s Green Revolution, passed away at the age of 98 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu(TN). He was born on 7th August 1925 in Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu. He is a native of Mankombu, Alappuzha District, Kerala.
About MS Swaminathan:
i.In 1954, Dr. Swaminathan joined the faculty of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, Delhi. He served as the Director of IARI from 1961 to 1972.
ii.He served as the Director General (DG) of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Secretary to the Government of India (GoI), Department of Agricultural Research and Education from 1972-79.
iii.In 1988, he became the president of the International Union of the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.
iv.He has also served as the Member of the Parliament (MP) of India (Rajya Sabha – Nominated) from 2007 to 2013.
v.He founded M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), a research centre in Chennai in 1988 and served as its Chairman, Emeritus Chairman, and Chief Mentor.
Awards/Honours:
i.GoI honoured him with the Padma Shri (1967), Padma Bhushan (1972) and Padma Vibhushan (1989) for Science and Engineering.
ii.He was named the first World Food Prize Laureate for developing and spearheading the introduction of high-yielding wheat and rice varieties into India during the 1960s. He received the award in 1987.
iii.He won numerous international awards such as:

• The 1994 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Sasakawa Environment Prize;
• The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Gandhi Gold Medal in 1999;
• The 1999 Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament, and Development; and
• The Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Award in 2000.
• The Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership in 1971.

iv.TIME Magazine honoured him as one of the 20 most influential Asians of the 20th century.

• He was the 3rd Indian to receive this honour after Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore.

v.The government of Kerala conferred him the ‘Kerala Shastra Puraskaram 2021, for his achievement in agricultural research

• Kerala Shastra Puraskaram, instituted jointly by the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE) and the Department of Science and Technology.

Ashwin Dani, former Executive Chairman of Asian Paints Passed AwayAshwin Suryakant Dani, former Executive Chairman of Asian Paints Limited, India’s leading paint and decor company, has passed away at the age of 79. He was born on September 26, 1944, in Mumbai, Maharashtra.

• He is the son of Suryakant Dani, one of the co-founders of Asian Paints.

Note: Asian Paints is now among Asia’s biggest paint companies with operations in 19 countries.
About Ashwin Suryakant Dani:
i.In 1967, Ashwin Dani initiated his career as a development chemist at Inmont Corp, now BASF in Detroit, the United States of America (USA).
ii.Ashwin Dani joined Asian Paints in 1968 as a senior executive.
iii.He joined the Asian Paints’ Board in 1970 and held the position of Vice Chairman and Managing Director (MD) of Asian Paints from 1998 to 2009.
iv.He served as the founder director on the board of PPG Asian Paints, a Joint Venture (JV), formed in 1997 between Asian Paints Limited and PPG Industries Inc., USA.
v.Since 2009, he continued on the board as the non-executive director & vice chairman of the board and the company.
vi.He served as the Non-Executive Chairman on the board of Asian paints from 2018 to 2021. He stepped down from his post in 2021.

International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste 2023- September 29 The United Nations (UN) International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste (IDAFLW) is annually observed across the globe on 29 September to raise awareness of the importance of the food loss and waste issue and promote global efforts towards resolving it.

• The day is co-convened by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the day’s global events are led jointly by the two organisations.

29 September 2023 marks the observance of the 4th IDAFLW.

• The 2023 theme of IDAFLW is, “Reducing food Loss and waste:  Taking Action to Transform Food Systems”.

With this theme, IDAFLW serves as a powerful call to action for both public and private entities to take action to reduce food loss and waste (FLW) toward transforming agrifood systems to contribute to the achievement of the 2030 agenda.
Background:
i.On 19 December 2019, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in its 74th session adopted the resolution A/RES/74/209 and designated the 29 September of every year as the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste.

• The resolution recognizes the fundamental role that sustainable food production plays in promoting food security and nutrition.

ii.The first IDAFLW was observed on 29 September 2020.
About Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN:
Director-General– QU Dongyu
Headquarters– Rome, Italy
Established in– 1945

World Heart Day 2023 – 29th September 2023World Heart Day(WHD) 2023 is observed across the globe on 29th September 2023 to raise awareness about heart health and accelerate actions to prevent, detect and manage cardiovascular diseases(CVD).
Theme:
The theme for the World Heart Day 2023 is “Use Heart, Know Heart.”

• The theme emphasises the crucial process of getting to know one’s own heart first; It intends to think and act towards the reduction of CVD.

i.WHD was established in 2000 by the World Heart Federation(WHF) in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO).
ii.Numerous South East Asian nations, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Timor-Leste, have committed to improving hypertension and diabetes management in primary healthcare by 2025 through the SEAHEARTS initiative.
About World Heart Federation(WHF):
World Heart Federation is a global Non-Governmental Organization(NGO) dedicated to the prevention and control of cardiovascular diseases.
President – Daniel Piñeiro
Headquarters – Geneva, Switzerland

Arunachal Signed MoU with NGI to Harness Geothermal PotentialsOn the occasion of World Tourism Day (WTD) 2023 (27th September 2023), Arunachal Pradesh government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI) to explore and develop its geothermal potential through hot springs available in the state.

• The aim of the MoU coincides with the theme of WTD 2023 “Tourism and Green Investment.”

The Royal Norwegian Embassy, New Delhi, Delhi will technically support the project through NGI.
Delegates:
i.On behalf of Arunachal Pradesh the MoU was signed by Repo Ronya (Secretary of  Science & Technology in the state) and  Rajinder Bhasin (a technical expert from NGI) signed for NGI.
ii.The MoU was signed  in the presence of Arunachal Pradesh’s Chief Minister(CM) Pema Khandu and Vivek Kumar who is the Senior advisor of the Norwegian embassy in New Delhi, Delhi.
Aim of the MoU:

• Aims to provide facilitating mechanism for both to work on mutually agreed, progressive and supportive activities.
• Aim to further the development in the field of Geotechnics and Rock Engineering through dealing complex sub-surface geological and geotechnical issued of Arunachal Pradesh.