India moved to ‘one nation, one fertilizer’ on  Oct 17 as PM Modi launched a scheme to ensure affordable quality fertilizer of ‘Bharat’ brand to the farmers. The initiative is a part of ‘Pradhan Sevent felicitating farmers in Delhi.

In a virtual meeting with farmers belonging to various parts of the country, the PM said his government was able to revive the country’s six biggest urea factories that were closed for years under one brand name ‘Bharat.’ “Moving forward towards self-sufficiency in urea production, India will soon produce Nano Urea,” said the PM.

Nano Urea is cost-effective and is required in low quantities. The most critical benefit of using Nano Urea for agriculture is its minimal impact on the environment. This will result in reducing the release of greenhouse gasses and improving quality of air and water.

The government has started a campaign to develop more than 3.25 lakh fertilizer shops across the country. The PM also released the 12th instalment of Rs 16,000 crore Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi through direct benefit transfer to farmers.

In a bid to strengthen the logistics capabilities in high-altitude areas, the Indian Army has floated a Request For Proposal (RFP) to procure drones through the emergency procurement route through fast track procedure. As per the plan, the Indian Army is looking for 163 drones to be operable at the high altitude while the remaining 200 at medium altitudes with accessories.

The Ministry of Defence intends to procure quantity 163 Logistic Drones (High Altitude) and 200 Logistic Drones (Medium Altitude) along with Accessories under Buy (Indian) category and seeks participation in the procurement process from prospective Bidders subject to requirements in succeeding paragraphs. As per the defence ministry, the mandate is to have 60% indigenous content.

The ministry also said that the end user of the equipment will be the Indian Armed Forces and the logistics drones for high-altitude areas will be used at mountain deployments both in the east for China and northwest for Pakistan.

Ahead of Diwali, the Gujarat government on  Oct 17 announced a reduction in VAT (Value Added Tax) on CNG and PNG by 10 per cent and said two cooking gas cylinders will be given free every year to 38 lakh beneficiaries who have got gas connections under the Centre's Ujjwala scheme.

The reduction in VAT on CNG (compressed natural gas), PNG (piped natural gas) and two free liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders to Ujjwala scheme beneficiaries every year, which will cost the state exchequer altogether Rs 1,650 crore, come at a time when Assembly polls are just a few month away in Gujarat.

Sri Lankan author Shehan Karunatilaka on Oct 17  won Britain's Booker Prize for fiction for his work "The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida", about a journalist murdered amid the country's sectarian strife.

Karunatilaka, 47, is the second Sri Lankan to win the award, following Michael Ondaatje's victory in 1992 for "The English Patient".

Karunatilaka's debut, Chinaman (2011), won the Commonwealth Prize and was selected for the BBC and The Reading Agency's Big Jubilee Read last year.

The Booker is Britain's foremost literary award for novels written in English. Its previous recipients include Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood and Hilary Mantel.

The Indonesian football stadium where 133 people were killed in a stampede earlier this month will be torn down and rebuilt, the country's president said on Oct 18 .

"For Kanjuruhan stadium in Malang, we will demolish and rebuild it according to FIFA standards," Joko Widodo told reporters after meeting FIFA president Gianni Infantino.

More than 40 children were among those who died after the stampede in the city of Malang, East Java on October 1, in what FIFA president Gianni Infantino  described as "one of the darkest days for football".

After supporters invaded the pitch at the end of a league match between Arema FC and rivals Persebaya Surabaya, police fired tear gas into packed stands, sparking a stampede.

A Singapore film on religious and LGBTQ issues that premiered in New York this year has been banned in the city-state because it could create "social division", authorities said.

The movie #LookAtMe by Singaporean film-maker Ken Kwek "exceeded the film classification guidelines" and cannot be screened locally, according to a statement issued Oct 17  by regulator Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA).

The Palestinians on Oct 18 hailed Australia's decision to reverse its recognition of west Jerusalem as Israel's capital despite fierce criticism by Israel.

The Palestinian Authority's civil affairs minister, Hussein al-Sheikh  hailed Australia's "affirmation that the future of sovereignty over Jerusalem depends on the permanent solution based on international legitimacy".

Announcing the change of policy by Australia's centre-left government, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Jerusalem's status should be decided through peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians, and not through unilateral decisions.

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid described the policy reversal by Australia's centre-left government as a "hasty response".

In 2018 a conservative government led by Scott Morrison followed then US president Donald Trump's lead in naming west Jerusalem as the Israeli capital.

The government on Oct 18 hiked the minimum support price for wheat by Rs 110 to Rs 2,125 per quintal and mustard by Rs 400 to Rs 5,450 per quintal for the current crop year with an aim to boost production and income of the farmers.

The decision to increase the MSPs (minimum support prices) was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

MSP is the rate at which the government buys grain from farmers.

Currently, the government fixes MSPs for 23 crops grown in both Kharif and rabi seasons.

Sowing of rabi (winter) crops begins in October, immediately after the harvest of kharif (summer) crops.

Wheat and mustard are major rabi crops.

According to an official release, the CCEA has approved an increase in MSPs for six rabi crops for the 2022-23 crop year (July-June) and the 2023-24 marketing season.

Wheat MSP has been increased by Rs 110 to Rs 2,125 per quintal for this crop year from Rs 2,015 per quintal in the 2021-22 crop year.

The cost of production of wheat is estimated at Rs 1,065 per quintal.