National:
- A two day Passage Exercise (PASSEX) between the Indian Navy (IN) & Royal Australian Navy (RAN) in the East Indian Ocean Region from 23 to 24 September 2020 concluded. “HMAS Hobart” from the Australian side and Indian Navy ships “Sahyadri” and “Karmuk” were involved in the exercise.
The exercise was aimed to enhancing interoperability, improving understanding and imbibing best practices from each other. Successful flight test of ABHYAS – High-speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT) was conducted by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) from the Interim Test Range, Balasore in Odisha on 22nd September, 2020. It is designed & developed by Aeronautical Development Establishment, DRDO.
Important Bills:
- Indian Institutes of Information Technology Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020 passed by Rajya Sabha on 22nd September, 2020. The Indian Institutes of Information Technology Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020 is already passed in Lok Sabha on 20th March 2020.
IIIT Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020 will amend the principal acts of 2014 and 2017. The Bill will declare 5 IIITs in Public-Private Partnership mode at Surat, Bhopal, Bhagalpur, Agartala & Raichur as Institutions of National Importance by granting them statutory status along with the already existing 15 IIITs under the IIIT (PPP) Act, 2017.
Award:
- The National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST), a CSIR institute at Pappanamcode, has won the coveted CSIR-Technology Award for best innovation in 2020 for the development of a cost-effective, hand-held Raman spectrometer. It is being used for diagnostics and anti-counterfeiting applications. It has been developed by a team headed by Yoosaf Karuvath.
- India’s highest science award Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize 2020 was announced during the foundation day of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research on 26th September, 2020.
The prize has been given to Indian scientists below the age of 45 for outstanding research in seven fields – Biology, Chemistry, Environment Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Medicine and Physics. List of winners of Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize 2020
Sports:
- The BCCI announced on 26th September, 2020, Neetu David has been appointed chairman of the women’s selection committee. She will replace Hemalata Kala. Left-arm spinner Neetu David is one of India’s finest woman cricketers in the late 90s and early 2000s. The other four members are former players from India named Mithu Mukherjee, Renu Margrate, Arati Vaidya and V Kalpana.
Death:
- Former defence minister Jaswant Singh passed away on 27th September, 2020. He was 82. He was in coma for the last six years at Army (Research and Referral) Hospital in Delhi.
- Yakshagana ‘bhagavatha’ Tenkabailu Thirumaleshwara Shastri died in Deralakatte on 27th September, 2020. He was 76.
- Senior Kerala Congress leader and Changanassery MLA C F Thomas died in Thiruvalla on 27th September, 2020. He was 81.