Sardar Patel National Unity Award for promoting national integration, unity

1.Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana on 21st October

Assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana will be held on October 21 and the counting of votes will take place on October 24.Maharashtra has 288 seats and Haryana has 90 seats.The five-year term of the legislative assemblies of Haryana will expire on 2nd November. The term of Maharashtra assembly will be over on 9th November.The Election Commission has also announced by-polls to 64 assembly seats across 18 States and Samastipur Lok Sabha constituency in Bihar.

2.Delhi CM launched “Champions Campaign”

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal launched “champions campaign” in the fight against dengue and urged people to encourage their friends to inspect their homes on Sunday to clean stagnant water.Three weeks ago, Kejriwal had launched a mega drive against dengue.Lakhs of Delhiites are joining the #10Hafte10Baje10Minute campaign against Dengue.According to an official statement, the campaign envisages that citizens should promptly reach out to 10 of their friends or peers and ask them to check their premises for signs of dengue.

3.NTPC to build 5GW solar park in Gujarat

NTPC Ltd. plans to set up a 5-gigawatt solar park in Gujarat, which would be the biggest in the country.A site has been identified for the project, which is expected to cost as much as ₹25,000 crores ($3.5 billion) and begin operations by 2024.The company may also invite bids from developers to set up projects in the park.The plan is part of the NTPC’s aim to build 32 gigawatts of renewable capacity by 2032 and reduce the share of fossil fuels in its energy mix to 70 per cent from about 96 per cent now.

4.Google honours mountaineer Junko Tabei with a doodle on her 80th birthday

Google honoured Junko Tabei, the first Japanese woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest, on her 80th birthday with a animated doodle.She is also the first woman to ascend all Seven Summits by climbing the highest peak on every continent.The doodle depicts a graph along with seven ice-capped mountains which symbolise all the “seven summits” – the highest peaks such as Everest, Aconcagua, Denali, Kilimanjaro, Vinson, Elbrus, Puncak Jaya, on each continent that was climbed by Tabei.Apart from the mountains, the doodle also shows a moving animated cartoon representing Tabei.

5.Gully Boy is India’s entry for Oscars

Bollywood film, Gully Boy was selected as India’s official entry in the International Feature Film category at the Oscars.The film is  directed by Zoya Akhtar and stars Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt in lead roles.Gully Boy is a coming-of-age drama centred around the life of aspiring rapper Murad, portrayed by Ranveer.The film was inspired by the real-life stories of Mumbai rappers Divine and Naezy.

6.Sardar Patel National Unity Award for promoting national integration, unity

The Sardar Patel National Unity Award, a new honour on the pattern of Padma awards for promoting national unity, will be bestowed on individuals or institutions for notable contributions towards the cause of the country’s unity and integrity.Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the institution of the award.According to a notification issued by the Home Ministry, the decoration will recognise inspiring contributions to promote national unity and integrity and to reinforce the value of a strong and united India.Any person without distinction of race, occupation, position or sex is eligible for the award and it may be given posthumously in very rare and only in highly deserving cases.The award will be in the shape of a lotus leaf, six centimetres in length, six and two centimetres at its greatest breadth and four millimetres in thickness.

7.Kerala Tourism receives three PATA Gold Awards

Kerala Tourism has won three prestigious Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Gold awards.These awards include one for an ethnic food restaurant run by women at Kumarakom under its Responsible Tourism Mission.The awards, presented at a glittering function at Nur-Sultan (Astana) in Kazakhstan were received by state Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran and Tourism Director P Bala Kiran.The two other gold awards were for an advertisement campaign of Kerala Tourism ‘Come Out and Play’ and for its website (www.keralatourism.org) respectively.

8.Amit Panghal loses in final of World Boxing Championships

Ace Indian boxer Amit Panghal settled for a silver at the AIBA Men’s World Boxing Championships at Ekaterinburg in Russia.He lost to Shakhobidin Zoirov of Uzbekistan Zoirov in flyweight (48-52 kg) category, by a unanimous decision from the judges.Amit Panghal created history as he became the first Indian male boxer to qualify for the final of the Championships.

9.A new book “Being Gandhi” to mark Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary

A new book by award-winning author Paro Anand will mark the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi by publishers Harper Collins Children’s Books have been announced.Titled “Being Gandhi”, the book explores not Gandhi the man or his life as a leader, but really the Gandhian way that must remain relevant to us.The story revolves around a boy, Chandrashekhar, who is bored of doing projects on Gandhi.