Jitu Rai awarded 'Champion of Champions'

Ace shooter Jitu Rai awarded the 'Champion of Champions' title for pistol shooting in 2016 by the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF). Jitu Rai beat Serbia's Damir Mikec, 29.6 to 28.3 in the Champions Trophy 10m Air Pistol final held at the TSN Shooting Range in Bologna, Italy. Jitu was also awarded a cash reward of $5,587 (5000 euros) along with the title.

It was the mixed knock-out competition meant only for the medallists in the World Cup Final. In this event shooters are eliminated after the first four shots, one each after every successive shot. The last two compete on a three-shot format.

Himansh

National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR) established a high altitude research station in Himalaya called Himansh (meaning a slice of ice) began functioning above 13,500 ft (4000 m) in a remote region in Spiti, Himachal Pradesh. Himansh is considered to be the highest point from where an Indian glacier research facility is functioning. The research lab, established by the NCAOR, has automatic weather stations, ground penetrating radars, geodetic GPS systems and other sophisticated facilities to study glaciers and their discharge.

International Day of the Girl Child

United Nations declared October  11 as International Day of the Girl Child(IDGC).The International Day of the Girl Child promotes girls’ rights and highlights gender inequalities that remain between girls and boys.In December 2011, United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) had adopted Canada backed Resolution to declare 11th October as the IDGC. It was first observed in 2012 with theme ‘Ending child marriage’. The theme of IDGC in 2013 and 2014 was ‘Innovating for girl’s education’ and ‘Empowering Adolescent Girls: Ending the Cycle of Violence’.

2015 theme: ‘The Power of the Adolescent Girl: Vision for 2030’. This year’s theme focuses on adolescent girls and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) to be achieved by 2030. SDG has set 17 international targets including on gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.

2016 Nobel Prize for economics

Bengt Holmström and Oliver Hart,have won the 2016 Nobel Prize for economics. Two academics who developed modern ways to think about writing contracts in areas as diverse as car insurance, bonuses for chief executives and the provision of public services. Mr Hart, a Briton based at Harvard University, and Mr Holmström, a Finn who teaches at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, share the $925,000 award from the Swedish Riksbank in memory of Alfred Nobel, for their “contribution to contract theory” in the 1970s and 1980s. Their work provided economists microecomic tools to understand interactions between entities, such as design of performance incentives in firms, corporate governance, privatisation, constitutional law and entrepreneur-investor relationships.

International Energy Agency support for UJALA

International Energy Agency (IAE/ IEA) is going to collaborate with India to implement the government of India’s Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA) initiative universally for energy savings. International Energy Agency has been impressed with performance of India’s UJALA programme in terms of hugely improving access to LED lighting while reducing their cost drastically.

About Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA) scheme

UJALA was launched by Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi on 1st  May, 2015.UJALA scheme is LED-based Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme (DELP) that aims to promote efficient lighting, reducing energy consumption and energy savings.Under it, every grid-connected consumer having a metered connection from their respective Electricity Distribution Company will get the LED bulbs at subsidized rates.