Dr MS Swaminathan, an eminent plant geneticist and Father of the Green Revolution in India, died at the age of 98 on  Sep 28 . He was also the founder of the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) established in 1988.

Born in Kumbakonam, he earned his bachelor's degree in agricultural sciences at the Madras Agricultural College and went on to pursue a Ph.D. in genetics and plant breeding from the University of Cambridge, England.

He was greatly influenced by the Bengal famine in 1943 in which lakhs of people died and took up agricultural research.

He was a key figure in the Green Revolution, which was launched by the central government in 1965. This initiative played a big part in India becoming a food-deficient nation to one of the world's leading agricultural nations.

Swaminathan has been acclaimed by TIME magazine as one of the twenty most influential Asians of the 20th century and one of the only three from India, the other two being Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore.

He has also held several positions in the government including the Director of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (1961-72), Director General of Indian Council of Agricultural Research and Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Agricultural Research and Education (1972-79), Principal Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture (1979-80), Acting Deputy Chairman and later Member (Science and Agriculture), Planning Commission (1980-82) and Director General, International Rice Research Institute, the Philippines (1982-88).

Swaminathan was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership in 1971, the Albert Einstein World Science Award in 1986, the First World Food Prize in 1987, Volvo, Tyler and UNEP Sasakawa Prize for Environment, the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development in 2000 and the Franklin D Roosevelt Four Freedoms Medal, the Mahatma Gandhi Prize of UNESCO in 2000 and the Lal Bahadur Sastri National Award (2007). He is also the recipient of Padma Shri (1967), Padma Bhushan (1972) and Padma Vibushan (1989).

In the pursuit towards strengthening military-diplomatic ties, the Indian Army is conducting a unique Women Military Officers Course for women military officers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries and the Indian Army.

The Event aligns with India's broader commitment to the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting (ADMM) and the ADMM-Plus in fostering a stronger, more resilient and collaborative security fabric within the region under UN Charter.

The course is being organised under the aegis of the Ministry of Defence. It was in 2022 that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh announced initiatives by India for empowerment of women in the Armed Forces.

India became the dialogue partner of ASEAN in 1992 and the inaugural ADMM-Plus was convened in Hanoi, Vietnam on October 12, 2010. Since 2017, ADMM-Plus Ministers have been meeting annually to further the dialogue and cooperation amongst ASEAN and the Plus countries.

India and ASEAN have elevated their relationship to ‘Comprehensive Strategic Partnership’ in November 2022.

The Centre has rushed senior IPS officer Rakesh Balwal from Jammu and Kashmir to Manipur amid fresh violence in the northeastern state.

Balwal, a 2012 batch IPS officer serving as Srinagar senior superintendent of police (SSP), has been transferred to his parent cadre Manipur where the situation has been tense for the past few months.

He took charge as Srinagar SSP in late 2021.

Before taking charge as Srinagar SSP, Balwal was on deputation with the NIA for three-and-half years as superintendent of police and was a member of the team that investigated the 2019 Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel lost their lives.

Punjab: Congress MLA Sukhpal Khaira arrested in 2015 drugs case

Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira was arrested by the Punjab Police in connection with a 2015 drugs case on  Sep 28.

He was told by the police official that he was being arrested in the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act case.

He was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in 2021 on the charge of money laundering linked to the 2015 drug case.

He was granted bail in 2022.

With 42 per cent workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme still not eligible for Aadhaar-based payment system (ABPS), the Union government on Aug 30  extended the deadline for enabling payment of wages through the system to December 31. Earlier, the deadline was September 1 and this is the fifth extension by the Centre.

CPM leader and its former state committee member, Sarojini Balanandan, passed away in Kochi. She was 86.

Sarojini was the wife of former CPM politburo member late E Balanandan, who passed away in 2009.

Sarojini was a member of the CPM state committee from 1985 to 2012. She contested the Kerala Assembly from Aluva in 1996. She also served as the state president of the Janadipathya Mahila Association. 

Congress received a shot in the arm when senior BJP leader Vinod Sharma joined the grand old party in the presence of state president Akhilesh Prasad Singh and other senior leaders at Sadaqat Ashram .

Sharma, chief spokesperson of BJP and member of the executive committee, had resigned from the saffron party last month alleging the central government’s utter failure to contain violence in Manipur. 

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has  launched a comic book on good health and wellness, which will be accessible in 11 languages, including Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odiya, Tamil, and Telugu.

Launching the comic book, developed by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and UNESCO, the minister hoped the book would motivate students to prioritize holistic well-being while entertaining them through storytelling, with a key focus on good health and wellness.

He also mentioned the importance of the partnership with UNESCO at the time of India’s G20 Presidency and the subject of Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) which can be spread with the help of comic books.

Pradhan urged UNESCO to spread Indian stories so that it benefits not only the youth of India but the entire world.

It will be distributed across various educational and health institutions nationwide and will also be disseminated to the 29,000 schools affiliated with the CBSE.

The SHWP, initiated under the Ayushman Bharat campaign in April 2018 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is an initiative undertaken by the Union Education Ministry and Union Health Ministry.

Its primary objective is to impart health education, prevent diseases, and enhance access to health services through wellness centres within educational institutions.The comic book ‘Let’s Move Forward’ is designed to cater to the diverse requirements of adolescents and encapsulates crucial information pertaining to the 11 thematic components of the School Health and Wellness Programme

Seeking to fulfil another key pre-poll promise, the Congress government in Karnataka on Aug 30  launched the 'Gruha Lakshmi' scheme, offering monthly assistance of Rs 2,000 to about 1.1 crore women who are heads of their households.

"Gruha Lakshmi" scheme, rolled out amid fanfare, is one of the five pre-poll 'guarantees' of the Congress, which ousted the BJP from power in the May Assembly elections.

Earlier, the CM had said that his government has already implemented three of the five 'guarantees' (pre-poll promises) -- 'Shakti', 'Gruha Jyothi' and 'Annabhagya' -- and noted that 'Gruha Lakshmi' is the fourth one.

The government has earmarked Rs 17,500 crore for the 'Gruha Lakshmi' programme in the current financial year.

The fifth guarantee 'Yuva Nidhi' (Youth Fund) promises to give Rs 3000 and Rs 1,500 a month to unemployed graduates and diploma holders, respectively, who failed to get a job even after six months of clearing the exam in 2022-23 academic year.

The scheme will be launched in December.