·       Delhi’s Safdarjung railway station on Nov 7  was decorated with flowers and red carpets were rolled out to accord a warm welcome to people travelling by the first AC deluxe tourist train to religious places associated with Lord Ram under the Ramayan Circuit. 

·       From the station entry to the coaches, cutouts of Lord Ram were put up to give a feel of religiosity to the tourists. The train carrying 132 tourists started the first Ramayan Circuit yatra under the centre’s ‘Swadesh Darshan Scheme’.

·       Covering a distance of more than 7,500 km, the train will take the pilgrims to all the important places associated with Lord Ram such as Ayodhya, Prayag, Nandigram, Janakpur, Chitrakoot, Sitamarhi, Nasik, Hampi and Rameshwaram.

·       The IRCTC has started this yatra service by the train that is equipped with ultra modern onboard facilities like first- class restaurants, library and shower cubicles. Darshana Jardosh, Minister of State for Railways, said the first Ramayan Circuit train was an innovative effort of the Indian Railways.

·       Railway has plans to run three more Ramayan Circuit trains this month and another on January 20. The IRCTC has charged a fare of Rs 1,02,095  per passenger for AC first class and Rs 82,950 for AC second class. The fares include the cost of food and other services.

·       The former cabinet minister and veteran BJP leader Jai Narayan Poonia died due to cardiac arrest . He was 88.

·       Poonia, who belonged to Churu district, complained of high blood pressure recently and was admitted to a hospital in Haryana's Hisar, where he died .

·       Jai Narayan Poonia was elected as Janata Dal MLA from Sadulpur constituency in Churu in 1977 for the first time and became PWD minister. He was elected as Tara Nagar MLA on a Janata Party ticket in 1985 and in 2013, he won the Tara Nagar assembly seat as a BJP candidate.

·       Over 33 lakh children in India are malnourished and more than half of them fall in the severely malnourished category with Maharashtra, Bihar and Gujarat topping the list, the WCD ministry has said in response to an RTI query.

·       The Women and Child Development ministry estimates that there are 17,76,902 (17.76 lakh/1.7 million) severely acute malnourished children (SAM) and 15,46,420 (15.46 lakh/1.5 million) moderately acute malnourished (MAM) children as of October 14, 2021.

·       The total 33,23,322 (33.23 lakh/3.3 million) is a compilation of data from 34 states and union territories, the ministry said in response to an RTI query by PTI.

·       The numbers were registered on the Poshan tracker app developed last year as a governance tool for real-time monitoring of nutritional outcomes.

·       A 91 per cent rise in the number of SAM children has been seen between November 2020 and October 14, 2021 -- up from 9,27,606 (9.27 lakh) to 17.76 lakh now.

·       However, the two sets of figures are based on differing methods of data collection.

·       The number of SAM children (from six months to six years) identified last year was counted by 36 states and union territories and conveyed to the Centre.

·       The latest figures are through Poshan tracker where the numbers were directly entered by anganwadis and accessed by the Centre and the age group of the children has not been specified.

·       The World Health Organisation defines SAM by very low weight-for-height or a mid-upper arm circumference less than 115 mm, or by the presence of nutritional oedema.

·       MAM is defined as moderate wasting and/or mid-upper-arm circumference (MUAC) greater or equal to 115 mm and less than 125 mm.

·       Both MAM and SAM have severe health repercussions on the health of a child.

·       Children suffering from SAM have very low weight for their height, and are nine times more likely to die in case of diseases due to their weakened immune system.

·       Those suffering from MAM are also at increased risk of morbidity and mortality during childhood.

·       According to the RTI reply quoting the Poshan tracker, Maharashtra registered the highest number of malnourished children at 6,16,772 (6.16 lakh) with 1,57,984 (1.57 lakh) MAM children and 4,58,788 (4.58 lakh) SAM children.

·       Number two on the list is Bihar with 4,75,824 (4.75 lakh) malnourished children (3,23,741 MAM children and 1,52,083 SAM children).

·       Gujarat registered the third highest number of such children at 3,20,465 (3.20 lakh) with 1,55,101(1.55 lakh) MAM children and 1,65,364 (1.65 lakh) SAM children.

·       Of the other states, Andhra Pradesh registered 2,67,228 (2.76 lakh) malnourished children (69,274 MAM children and 1,97,954 SAM children) and Karnataka registered 2,49,463 (2.49 lakh) such cases (1,82,178 MAM children and 67,285 SAM children).

·       Uttar Pradesh has 1,86,640 (1.86 lakh) malnourished children (1,14,094 MAM children and 72,546 SAM children) while Tamil Nadu recorded 1,78,060 (1.78 lakh children (1,20,076 MAM children and 57,984 SAM children).

·       Following close behind, Assam has 1,76,462 (1.76 lakh) cases of malnourishment (1,17,016 MAM children and 59,446 SAM children) and Telangana 1,52,524 (1.52 lakh, 95,033 MAM and 57,491 SAM children).

·       New Delhi is not too far behind.The combined number of SAM and MAM children in the national capital is 1,17,345 (1.17 lakh) with 20,122 MAM and 97,223 SAM children

·       The last available figure of malnourished children is from NFHS-4 (National Family Health Survey) in 2015-16 according to which 38.4 per cent children under five years are low height-for-age and 21 per cent wasted or low weight-for-height in India.

·       NFHS-5, released in December last year, which gave figures for 22 states and UTs also presented a grim scenario and showed that malnutrition increased among children in 2019-20 from 2015-16 in 22 states and UTs.

·       Also, India has slipped to 101st position in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2021 of 116 countries, from its 2020 position of 94th and is behind its neighbours Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.

·       To tackle high persistence of malnutrition in the country, the Centre launched the Poshan Abhiyan programme in 2018 to reduce low birth weight, stunting and undernutrition and anaemia among children, adolescent girls and women.

·       According to Census 2011, there are over 46 crore children in the country.

·       Astronaut Wang Yaping became the first Chinese woman to walk in space, authorities said , as her team completed a six-hour stint outside the Tiangong space station as part of its ongoing construction.

·       Tiangong -- meaning "heavenly palace" -- is the latest achievement in China's drive to become a major space power, after landing a rover on Mars and sending probes to the Moon.

·       Its core module entered orbit earlier this year, with the station expected to be operational by 2022.

·       Tiangong is expected to operate for at least 10 years, and the three astronauts are the second group to stay there. Wang is the first woman to visit.

·       Mission commander Zhai is a former fighter pilot who performed China's first spacewalk in 2008. 

·       The US has partnered with the UK and India-led Green Grids Initiative of a global energy grid launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow.

·       At a meeting of the Steering Committee of the Green Grids Initiative – ‘One Sun One World One Grid' (GGI-OSOWOG) earlier this week, US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said that the US is excited to be back in the climate conversation and to partner with the new initiative.

·       The International Solar Alliance (ISA) under India's presidency and the UK's COP26 Presidency had launched GGI-OSOWOG during the World Leaders' Summit of COP26 .

·       The Steering Committee of GGI-OSOWOG comprises five members besides India and the UK – the US, Australia and France – and has been set up to deliver the vision of One Sun One World One Grid under which 80 countries have resolved to combine their efforts to create more interconnected grids, endorsing the ‘One Sun Declaration'.

·       Following the leader-level events of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 26th Conference of Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, each country's delegates and officials have been participating in a series of meetings to finalise the way forward to tackle climate change by the end of the summit on November 12.

·       The Indian team includes Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupendra Yadav and chief negotiator Richa Sharma.

·       The One Sun Declaration for GGI-OSOWOG will be focused on building new transmission lines crossing frontiers and connecting different time zones, creating a global ecosystem of interconnected renewables that are shared for mutual benefit and global sustainability.

·       This will be combined with expanded and modernised national and regional grids and complemented with the rapid scale-up of mini-grids and off-grid solar solutions.

·       The World Bank has also expressed its support as it expects this initiative to help leverage the benefits of complementarity between renewable generators and non-centres across continents by getting them interconnected.

·       The ISA, launched at COP21 in Paris and recently expanded to include all UN member states, aims to help mobilise USD 1 trillion of funding by 2030 to assist developing countries in expanding their solar power grids.

·       The initiative is widely seen as a big and bold move in ISA's ongoing efforts to realise a global solar transition.

·       The global grid concept was first announced by Prime Minister Modi in October 2018 during the first assembly of the ISA.

·       In May 2021, the UK pledged technical, financial and research support for the OSOWOG project.

·       The failed assassination attempt against Iraq’s prime minister at his residence on   November 7, 2021, has ratcheted up tensions following last month’s parliamentary elections, in which the Iran-backed militias were the biggest losers.

·       Helicopters circled in the Baghdad skies throughout the day, while troops and patrols deployed around Baghdad and near the capital’s fortified Green Zone, where the overnight attack occurred.

·       Supporters of the Iran-backed militias held their ground in a protest camp outside the Green Zone to demand a vote recount

·       Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi suffered a light cut and appeared in a televised speech soon after the attack by armed drones on his residence. Seven of his security guards were wounded in the attack by at least two armed drones  

·       Also on Nov 7 , al-Khadimi met with Iraqi President Barham Salih and headed security and Cabinet meetings.

·       Al-Kadhimi, 54, was Iraq’s former intelligence chief before becoming prime minister in May last year. He is considered by the militias to be close to the U.S., and has tried to balance between Iraq’s alliances with both the U.S. and Iran.

·       Prior to the elections, he hosted several rounds of talks between regional foes Iran and Saudi Arabia in Baghdad in a bid to ease regional tensions.

·       The U.S., the U.N. Security Council and others have praised the election, which was mostly violence-free and without major technical glitches.

·       It is not very uncommon for agencies entrusted with the responsibility of issuing government documents like Aadhar, Voter Id cards, driving license, etc. to mess up with your official name. Invariably, they end up spelling your name incorrectly, omitting your middle name or committing other silly mistakes with your name.

·       So, what happens if there’s a minor mismatch of name between any two sets of documents presented by an investor to the Registrar and Transfer Agent (RTA) for any service request? The capital market regulator – Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) – recently came out with a set of standard procedures to deal with such situations.

·       As per the new norms, for minor mismatch in name between any two set of documents, the RTA should additionally obtain any one of the following documents, explaining the difference in names – Aadhaar, passport, driving license, PAN card with photograph, marriage certificate, divorce decree or identity card/document with applicant’s photo, issued by central/state government and its departments, statutory/regulatory authorities, public sector undertakings, banks, public financial institutions.

·       RTAs are entities or institutions which register and keep record of transactions of investors. The existing norms of the depositories – entities where share, mutual fund units and debt securities are kept in electronic form -- to process demat request where there is a minor mismatch of name, provided the signature in the Demat Request Form matches with the signature card with the RTA, will continue to be in force. Then there are situations which arise due to minor or major mismatch of signatures of the holders of securities.

·       As per the new Sebi rules, in case of major mismatch in the signature of the holder as available in the folio of the RTA and the present signature or if the same is not available with the RTA, then the holder/claimant should furnish original cancelled cheque and banker’s attestation of the signature in a particular format.

·       The day after ensuring he finishes No. 1 for a record seventh year, Novak Djokovic beat No. 2 Daniil Medvedev 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the Paris Masters final on  nov 7  for a record 37th Masters title.

·       Djokovic moved one clear of fellow 20-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal for Masters trophies, and nine ahead of Roger Federer, the other tennis great with 20 majors.

·       It also gave Djokovic a record-extending sixth Paris Masters title and put him 6-4 up overall against the No. 2-ranked Medvedev, who is pushing hard to dethrone him in world tennis. The veteran Serb had lost to Medvedev in straight sets in the U.S. Open final two months ago and had not played a tournament since.