8th October observed as Indian Air Force Day

• Indian Air Force Day 2022 (8 Oct 2022) marks the 90th anniversary of the IAF.
• On this day (8^thOctober), the Air Force in India was officially raised in 1932 as the supporting force of the Royal Air Force of the United Kingdom.

• History of Indian Airforce ;
  • 1933: First operational squadron.
  • 1940s:After participation in World War 2 (1939-45), the Air Force in India came to be called the Royal Indian Air Force.
  • 1950:It became the Indian Air Force after the republic came into being.

Present Fact ;

• India Air Force is the fourth largest in the world after the USA, China and Russia.
• Headquarters: New Delhi
• Motto of the IAF is ‘Touch the Sky with Glory’ and it was taken from the eleventh chapter of the Bhagavad Gita.
• The President of India holds the rank of Supreme Commander of the air force.
• The Chief of Air Staff, an air chief marshal is responsible for the operational command of the air force.

Operations of Indian Airforce

• After independence, IAF took part in wars with Pakistan and the People’s Republic of China.
• Operation Meghdoot: It was on 13^th April in 1984 when the Indian Army along with the Indian Air Force and paramilitary Forces  launched the ‘Operation Meghdoot’ to secure the control of the heights predominating the Siachen glacier.
• IAF took part in relief operations during natural calamities such as Gujarat cyclone in 1998, the tsunami in 2004, etc.
• IAF works with the United Nations’ peacekeeping missions.

Nobel Peace Prize 2022

• The 2022 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded jointly to one individual and two organisations which advocate human rights and civil liberty.
• The recipients were the Belarusian activist Ales Bialiatski (born 1962), the Russian human rights organisation Memorial (founded in 1989) and the Ukrainian human rights organisation Centre for Civil Liberties (founded in 2007)
• The Peace Prize laureates represent civil society in their home countries.
• They have for many years promoted the right to criticise power and protect the fundamental rights of citizens.
• They have made an outstanding effort to document war crimes, human right abuses and the abuse of power. Together they demonstrate the significance of civil society for peace and democracy

History of Nobel price

• Alfred Nobel’s will of 1895 instructs that his fortune must be used as a fund to confer five annual prizes to those people who during the preceding year have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind.
• The prizes established through his will were for five fields– Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature and Peace.
• The sixth category, Economic Sciences, was not originally listed in Alfred Nobel’s will.
• It was established in 1968 by the Bank of Sweden in memory of Alfred Nobel and was first awarded in 1969.
• Post the death of Alfred Nobel, the Nobel Foundation was established to carry out the provisions of his will and to administer the funds.
• According to the will, three Swedish and one Norwegian institution must award the prizes.
• The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awards the prizes for Chemistry, Physics and Economic Sciences, the Karolinska Institute confers the prize for physiology or medicine, and the Swedish Academy confers the prize for literature.
• The Nobel Peace Prize is conferred by the Norwegian Nobel Committee based in Oslo.

Selection process of Nobel price

• The selection process for the Nobel Prizes begins in the preceding year during Autumn and the winners are announced in October and November.
• The aforementioned institutions invite thousands of individuals to nominate the names to be considered for the prestigious prize.
• Nominations from each category are filed and the proposals must be submitted on or before January 31 of the award year to the Nobel Committees.

U.P. to set up eight units of anticorruption organisation

• The Uttar Pradesh government will set up new units of anticorruption organisation in eight ranges in the State to curb malpractices in the government departments.
• The State government is going to open new units of anticorruption organisation in Azamgarh, Mirzapur, Chitrakoot, Prayagraj, Devipatan, Basti, Aligarh and Saharanpur.
• The units will soon be established in these districts under the leadership of the Assistant Superintendent of Police.
• Office buildings have also been identified at four of these places,”

T.N. bans online ‘games of chance’ and gambling

• Online gambling and online ‘games of chance’ have been banned in Tamil Nadu. At the same time, the other online games will be regulated.
• The ban covers rummy and poker

Current Scenario of the Indian Online Gaming Ecosystem

• Bills for Regulating Gaming Industry: Lately, the government of Rajasthan brought out a draft Bill in order to regulate online games, specifically fantasy games.
  • Earlier, states like Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and o Karnataka also passed laws banning online games.
  • However, they were quashed by state High Courts on grounds that an outright ban was unfair to games of skill.
• During the Budget session of Parliament, the Online Gaming (Regulation) Bill, 2022 was introduced in Lok Sabha as a Private Member’s Bill.
  • The Bill sought to maintain integrity in online gaming and introduce a regulatory regime for online gaming.
• Growth in Gaming Sector: According to a 2021 report published by Boston Consulting Group (BCG), India’s mobile gaming sector will grow from 1.5 billion dollars in revenue in 2020 to 5 billion dollars by 2025.
  • There are now more than 300 million gamers in India. Meanwhile, revenue across all gaming devices hit 1.8 billion dollars in 2020, up 500% from 2016.
• Increasing Gaming Companies: At present, there are more than 400 gaming companies in India that including Infosys Limited, Hyperlink InfoSystem, Fgfactory, and Zensar Technologies, among others.

Why are States Trying to Ban Online Gaming

• Issues Related to Online Gaming: Many social activists, government officials and those in law enforcement believe that online games like rummy and poker are addictive in nature, and when played with monetary stakes lead to depression, mounting debts and suicides.
  • Reportedly, there have been a few instances where youngsters, faced with mounting debts due to losses in online games, have committed other crimes like theft and murder.
  • Earlier, the World Health Organisation (WHO) had announced a plan to include “gaming disorder” as a mental health condition.
• Susceptible to Manipulation: Online games are susceptible to manipulation by the websites operating such games and there is a possibility that users are not playing such games against other players, but against automatic machines or ‘bots’, wherein there is no fair opportunity for an ordinary user to win the game.

Central Laws Related to Lottery, Gambling, and Betting

• The Lotteries Regulation Act, 1998:The lottery is considered legal in India. The lottery should be organised by the state government and the place of Draw should be in that particular state.
• Indian Penal Code, 1860:The code has provisions for punishing anyone who to the annoyance of others does any obscene act in a public place or sings, recites, or utters any obscene song, ballad, or words, in or near any public place.
  • These provisions of the IPC may be attracted if any obscene matter is used for the purpose of advertising betting and gambling activities.
• Prize Competitions Act, 1955:It defines Prize in Competitions.
• Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999:Remittance of the income generated from lottery winning, and racing/riding is prohibited under this Act.
• Information Technology Rules, 2011:Under these rules, any internet service provider, network service provider, or any search engine will not host any such content which directly or indirectly supports Gambling.
• Income Tax Act, 1961:Current taxation policy in India covers all types of Gambling industry directly and indirectly. Thus, it can be said that all regulated and legalised Gambling is supported by the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of India.

Bharat Jodo Yatra completes 30 days

• The Bharat Jodo Yatra, launched on September 7 at Kanniyakumari, completed 30 days
• Yatra having covered a distance of over 700 km across Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka.

About Bharat Jodo Yatra

• Bharat Jodo Yatra is a mass movement started by the Indian National Congress(INC)
• Aims of yatra to unite the country against the divisive politics of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government at New Delhi, India.
• It was launched in Kanyakumari by former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and Tamil Nadu chief-minister  K. Stalin on September 7, 2022.
• It was created to fight against price rise, unemployment, political centralization, and especially against the politics of “fear, bigotry, and hate

Tipu Express renamed as Wodeyar Express

• The Railways has renamed Tipu Express, which plies between Mysuru and Bengaluru, as Wodeyar Express
• The demand was made by Mysuru MP Pratap Simha, in a letter to Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw a few months ago.

Procedure for changing Names of City/Place/Train etc.

• The proposals of the states would be scrutinised by the Union Home Ministry according to the existing guidelines in consultations with agencies concerned.
• The Ministry approves the proposal after taking no-objections from the Ministry of Railways, Department of Posts and Survey of India, which confirms that there is no such city, town or village in their records with a name similar to the proposed one.
• Then an executive order is passed on the renaming of cities/place/Train

Kerala to host meeting of Norwegian investors in January next year

• Kerala will host an investment meeting for Indian representatives of Norwegian firms in January 2023.
• Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan interacted with the Norwegian business community in Oslo on Friday as part of his European tour.

More than 1 million displaced since Myanmar coup, says UN

• The UNICEF said 10,17,000 people have been internally displaced in Myanmar since last year’s coup.
• than half of those forced to flee are in the country’s northwest Sagaing region, which has seen some of the fiercest fighting.
• There were “significant challenges” to delivering humanitarian assistance in the region, UNICEF said.

Process for appointmnt of Justice DY Chandrachud as the next CJI begins

• CJI UU Lalit will retire on 8th November 2022
• The government has begun the process for appointing the next Chief Justice of India.
• Justice DY Chandrachud who is the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court will become the next CJI.
• The tenure of current CJI UU Lalit will end on 8th November.