Jaipur, Jodhpur, Durgapura cleanest stations in India: Railways survey

1.Palestine issues a commemorative stamp to honour Mahatma Gandhi on 150th birth anniversary

Palestine has released a commemorative postage stamp on Mahatma Gandhi, honouring his legacy and values, to mark the 150 birth anniversary of the world leader.Palestinian Authority’s Minister of Telecommunication and Information Technology Ishaaq Seder released the stamp in Ramallah.Palestine’s issuance of the commemorative stamp comes in honour of Gandhi’s memory, legacy, and values that guided and shall continue to guide humanity.

2.IRCTC to compensate Lucknow-Delhi Tejas Express passengers for the delay

IRCTC will compensate passengers of the new Lucknow-Delhi Tejas Express in case of delay in the train schedule.An amount of 100 rupees will be paid in case the delay is for over an hour and 250 rupees for delay of over two hours.This is the first of its kind offer from any national carrier.It is in addition to the 25-lakh rupees free insurance that will be given to passengers of the train.

3.Home Minister Amit Shah flag off Delhi-Katra Vande Bharat Express

Home Minister Amit Shah flagged off the Vande Bharat Express at New Delhi Railway Station.The first commercial run of the Delhi-Katra Vande Bharat Express will be on 5 October and booking of tickets is now open on the IRCTC website.The train will bring down the travel time between Delhi and Katra, the last station on the way to Vaishno Devi temple, to eight hours from the current 12 hours.The first Vande Bharat Express was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi which runs between Delhi and Varanasi.

4.A 36-hour non-stop special session of UP Legislature begins

In Uttar Pradesh, 36-hour non-stop special session of state Legislature began on 2 October at 11 AM.This special session is being organised to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.Both the houses are under discussions on sustainable development goals -SDGs adopted by the United Nations.

5.India achieves one-crore LED street light mark

The number of LED street lights in the country has doubled from 49 lakh in March 2018 to 1 crore on October 1, 2019.These lights are being installed under the Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP) that was launched on January 5, 2015.The objective of this program is to replace all conventional street lights with smart and energy-efficient LED street lights by March 2019.This target was set to replace 1.34 crore conventional street lights with energy-efficient LED lights by March 2019.

6.Assam’s Bongaigaon District Admin launches ‘Plants for Plastic Campaign’

In Assam, the Bongaigaon District Administration has launched Plants for Plastic Campaign to remove the harmful plastics from the eco-system.The campaign aims to encourage people to collect and remove plastic from their houses, commercial establishments and educational institutions.Assam Forest Minister Parimal Suklabaidya has welcomed the initiative.Under the Plants for Plastic initiative, any person can deposit one-kilogram plastic in the municipality office at Bongaigaon and get a valuable sapling for free.

7.Rajasthan bans certain categories of pan masala

The Rajasthan government announced a ban on pan masala containing magnesium carbonate, nicotine, tobacco, mineral oil and flavoured ‘supari’ in the state.With this, Rajasthan has become the third state after Maharashtra and Bihar to announce such a move.All such products will now be banned in the state under the Food Safety Act.Production, storage, distribution and sale of these products will not be allowed in the state.

8.Bank of Baroda signs MoU with Indian Army for customised services

Bank of Baroda (BoB) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Army under which the bank would offer customised services along with a host of facilities to account holders.The MoU includes handsome free personal accident insurance cover, free air accident insurance cover of Rs 15 lakh to Rs 50 lakh and an overdraft facility up to three times of monthly net salary.The features are also applicable for pensioners of Indian Army up to the age of 70 years.The bank will provide customised banking experience for serving and retired personnel of the Indian Army.

9.Mallikarjuna Rao appointed as Punjab National Bank’s new MD

S S Mallikarjuna Rao has been appointed the new Managing Director of Punjab National Bank, the country’s second-largest public sector bank.Rao, who was the Managing Director & CEO of Allahabad Bank, will be at the helm of PNB till September 18, 2021.He had been the chief executive of Allahabad Bank since September 2018.Prior to that, Rao was the executive director at Syndicate Bank from September 2016.He also now has to deal with the proposed merger of Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank of India with PNB, which will post the three-way amalgamation from April 1 2020.

10.Sachin Tendulkar gets the most effective Swachhata Ambassador award

President Ram Nath Kovind presented the most effective Swachchta Ambassador award to cricketer Sachin Tendulkar on the occasion of 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.Sachin Tendulkar has been promoting cleanliness drives in India for almost 10 years.On September 18, 2011, during Support My School telethon’, Sachin Tendulkar helped raise crores more than the target set for creation of basic facilities in 140 government schools across India, particularly toilets for girl students.

11.Jaipur, Jodhpur, Durgapura cleanest stations in India: Railways survey

Three railway stations in Rajasthan bagged top honours in the railways’ cleanliness survey unveiled by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal.Jaipur, Jodhpur and Durgapura were the top three ranking railway stations among 720 stations.Andheri, Virar and Naigaon railway stations were the top three among 109 suburban stations.North Western Railway followed by South East Central Railway and East Central Railway are the top three railway zones.