1 PM Modi held bilateral meeting with Jamaican Prime Minister Holness
Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a bilateral meeting with his Jamaican counterpart Andrew Holness in New Delhi on Tuesday, 1 October . During this, talks were held to further strengthen relations between the two countries. During the meeting, ways to enhance cooperation in trade, investment, renewable energy, digital transformation, development partnership, education, capacity building and people-to-people contacts were discussed. During this, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was exchanged between India and Jamaica in the presence of the two leaders. He will be on a 4-day official visit to India till October 3. This will be the first bilateral visit of a Jamaican Prime Minister to India.
2 Surgeon Vice Admiral Aarti Sareen becomes the first woman Director General of AFMS
Surgeon Vice Admiral Aarti Sareen took over as Director General of Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS) on Tuesday, 1 October . She is the first woman officer to hold this post. She has become the 46th DG AFMS . The Ministry of Defense gave this information. Earlier, she has held the prestigious posts of DG Medical Services (Navy) , DG Medical Services (Air Force) and Director and Commandant of Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) , Pune . She is an alumnus of AFMC, Pune and joined the Armed Forces Medical Services in December 1985. She is an MD in Radiodiagnosis from AFMC, Pune. She was awarded the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal in the year 2024. Earlier, she has been awarded the Vishisht Seva Medal in the year 2021. She has also been awarded the Chief of Army Staff Commendation (2017), Chief of Naval Staff Commendation (2001) and General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Commendation (2013) for distinguished service.
3 Ravi Ahuja will become the new CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment
Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Tony Vinciquerra will step down from his post early next year. Ravi Ahuja will then replace him from January 2, 2025. Tony will take over the Hollywood arm of Tokyo-based Sony Group Corp. Ravi Ahuja joined Sony Pictures Entertainment in 2021 to oversee the production business. Ravi Ahuja joined SPE as president of all production businesses and global television studios of Sony Pictures Television (SPT). After joining SPE, Ravi Ahuja has also overseen SPE’s M&A activities. He created several award-winning series, including The Crown, The Boys, Better Call Saul, Shark Tank, The Last of Us, among others. At the same time, Tony Vinciquerra joined Sony Pictures Entertainment in the year 2017. He will remain in an advisory role to the company as non-executive chairman until the end of December 2025.
4 Ajit Kumar Saxena gets additional charge as CMD of RINL
The Government of India on September 30 has assigned Ajit Kumar Saxena the additional charge of Chairman and Managing Director of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) . RINL is the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant . Saxena is currently the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of MOIL Limited , a public sector undertaking under the Ministry of Steel. MOIL is a public sector manganese ore mining company. Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, is a Navaratna PSU under the Ministry of Steel. RINL CMD Atul Bhatt is on personal leave from September 9 to November 30. Besides, Bhatt is retiring on November 30, Ajit Kumar Saxena has been given the responsibility of additional charge of RINL.
5 Indian company bought the first English club
England ‘s famous Hampshire County has become the first cricket club to have foreign ownership . The deal between Hampshire and GMR Group, which was in the news for the last few months, has been finalized. Under this deal, GMR Group’s parent company GGPL has got 53% stake in the county’s parent company Hampshire Sports . At the same time, GMR Group will acquire 100% of the club in the coming 2 years. The special thing here is that for the first time an English cricket club has come under the control of an Indian. After Hampshire’s former chairman Rob Bransgrove sold 60% stake, this group has become the majority shareholder in the club. South Africa-born and England-played cricket player Kevin Pietersen has played an important role in the finalization of this deal. Once GMR Group takes over completely, the ownership of England’s Rosebowl Stadium will come to GMR Group.
6 Union Heavy Industries Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy launched PM E-Drive Scheme in New Delhi
Union Minister for Heavy Industries H.D. Kumaraswamy launched the PM e-Drive Scheme in New Delhi . Speaking on the occasion, he said the initiative will accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles across the country and promote domestic innovation. The scheme will have a financial outlay of Rs. 10,900 crore over a period of two years . Mr. Kumaraswamy informed that about Rs. 3,680 crore has been allocated for e-two-wheelers, e-three-wheelers, e-ambulances, e-trucks and emerging EVs . He said several other allocations have been made for electric vehicles including Rs. 500 crore for e-ambulances, Rs. 4,399 crore for the purchase of about 14,000 e-buses and an outlay of Rs. 2,000 crore for setting up fast chargers . Mr. Kumaraswamy said Aadhaar-authenticated e-vouchers will be introduced for EV buyers. The e-vouchers will provide a seamless experience for both consumers and manufacturers. The PM E-Drive scheme aims to accelerate EV adoption and set up the necessary charging infrastructure across the country, thereby promoting cleaner and more sustainable transportation.
7 Launch of ‘BharatGen’: First Government funded ‘Multimodal Large Language Model’ initiative
BharatGen, a pioneering initiative on generative AI designed to revolutionise the delivery of public services and promote citizen engagement by developing a set of fundamental models in language, expression and computational approaches, was inaugurated in New Delhi in the virtual presence of Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology, Dr Jitendra Singh . Led by IIT Bombay under the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS) of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), the initiative will build a generative AI system that can generate high-quality text and multimodal content in various Indian languages. The project will be implemented by TIH Foundation, a leading institute in IIT Bombay , in collaboration with academic partners from other leading academic institutions related to IoT and IoE. These academic partners include IIT Bombay, IIIT Hyderabad, IIT Mandi, IIT Kanpur, IIT Hyderabad, IIM Indore and IIT Madras.
8 In connection with the 92nd anniversary of the Indian Air Force, Defence Minister flagged off the 7,000 km long ‘Vayu Veer Vijayeta’ Car Rally from National War Memorial, New Delhi
In connection with the 92nd anniversary of the Indian Air Force , Defence Minister Shri Rajnath Singh flagged off the ‘ Vayu Veer Vijayeta ‘ car rally from National War Memorial, New Delhi on 01 October 2024. With this, more than 50 air warriors , including women, have left for Thoise in Ladakh . From Thoise in Ladakh, they will start the expedition to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh , covering a total distance of 7,000 km through nine states and Union Territories . Former Air Force Chiefs will also participate in various stages of the rally. The rally will be formally flagged off on 8 October at Thoise. It is one of the highest air force stations in the world at an altitude of 3,068 meters above sea level. The rally will conclude at Tawang on 29 October 2024. Before this, the air warriors will stop at Leh, Kargil, Srinagar, Jammu, Chandigarh , Dehradun, Agra, Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Darbhanga, Bagdogra, Hasimara, Guwahati, Tezpur and Dirang.
9 India beat Bangladesh in Kanpur to win the Test series 2-0
India defeated Bangladesh in the Kanpur Test match to win the Test series 2-0 and retain their lead in the World Test Championship table. The Indian men’s cricket team, led by Rohit Sharma, displayed brilliant cricket and defeated Bangladesh by seven wickets in the Kanpur Test match (27 September – 1 October 2024) despite two and a half days being lost due to rain and poor outfield. Many records were also created by aggressive Indian batsmen who played aggressive cricket to make up for the lost time in the Test match. On the fifth and last day of the match, India scored 95 runs in just 17.2 overs to win the match and ended the match before tea time on the last day. Earlier, India defeated Bangladesh by 280 runs in the Chennai Test (19-22 September 2024) to take a 1-0 lead in the Test series. With the win in Chennai, India became the fifth country in the world to win more Test matches than lose.
10 Indian men’s team won the SAFF Under-17 Championship
Undefeated in the competition The Indian football team won the 2024 Men’s SAFF Under 17 Championship by defeating Bangladesh 2-0 in the final . The final was played on 30 September 2024 at the Changlimithang Stadium in Thimpu, Bhutan. The Indian boys’ football team, also known as the Blue Colts, remained undefeated throughout the competition. India and Bangladesh have faced each other five times in the final of the SAFF men’s age group competition. India has won four times so far – Under 18 in 2019, Under 20 in 2022, Under 16 in 2023 and Under 17 in 2024. Bangladesh has won Under 16 only once in 2015. The 2024 Men’s SAFF Under 17 Championship was held in Thimpu, Bhutan from 22-30 September 2024.
11 Indian shooter Parth Rakesh won two gold medals in the Junior World Championship
In shooting, Indian shooter Parth Rakesh Mane has won double gold in the 10m air rifle event by winning the men’s team event of the three-day International Shooting Sport Association Junior World Championship being held in Lima, Peru . After winning the individual title of 10m air rifle, Parth along with A Jai Malik and Abhinav Shaw won gold in the 10m air rifle men’s team event. In the junior women ‘s 10m air rifle team event, Gautami Bhanot, Sambhavi Kshirsagar and Anushka Thakur gave India the third gold .