India win historic gold in Lawn Bowls (Women''s Fours)

• Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which the objective is to roll biased balls so that they stop close to a smaller ball called a "jack" or "kitty".
• It is played on a bowling green, which may be flat (for "flat-green bowls") or convex or uneven (for "crown green bowls").

Sri Pingali Venkayya

• Sri Pingali Venkayya will always be remembered for his immense contribution to design of National Flag, says Andhra Pradesh Governor.
• Pingali Venkayya (1876 – 1963) was an Indian freedom fighter.
• He was a staunch follower of Mahatma Gandhi and the designer of the flag on which the Indian national flag was based.
• He designed the National Flag and presented it to Mahatma Gandhi during the latter’s visit to Vijayawada city on 1 April 1921.

Khulna-Mongla Port rail link to begin operations in December

• The Mongla-Khulna railway line is funded by the government of India Line of Credit (LOC).
• The Khulna-Mongla railway project is part of the first Line of Credit extended by India to Bangladesh in 2010.
• The project is scheduled to be over by the end of this year.
• According to the IRCON International Ltd, a total 31 bridges and 108 culverts have been built for the train link. The Rupsha bridge was completed on 25 June this year.

Ayman al-Zawahiri: Al-Qaeda leader killed in US drone strike

• The killing of Zawahiri is considered the biggest blow to the militant group since its founder Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011.
• Zawahiri, an Egyptian who had a 25 million dollar bounty on his head, helped coordinate the 9/11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in the US in 2001. One of the US officials said the CIA carried out a drone strike in the Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday.
• US President Joe Biden addressed the nation from the White House on the operation. The drone attack is the first known US strike inside Afghanistan since US troops and diplomats left the country in August 2021.
• In a statement, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed that a strike took place and strongly condemned it, calling it a violation of international principles.

Reservation in Local Jobs

• The Supreme Court quashed the Jharkhand government’s 2016 decision to grant 100% reservation to local people of 13 Scheduled Areas in public jobs and upheld a High Court decision that had termed the government decision “discriminatory and impermissible”.
• The top court said “the citizens have equal rights, and the total exclusion of others by creating an opportunity for one class is unconstitutional and ultra vires Articles 14, 16(2), 16(3) and 35(ai) of the Constitution of India.”

Lok Sabha passes Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Bill

• The Bill amends the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972. The Act regulates the protection of wild animals, birds and plants.
• The Bill seeks to increase the species protected under the law, and implement the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
• Currently, the Act has six schedules for specially protected plants (one), specially protected animals (four), and vermin species (one). The Bill reduces the total number of schedules to four.
• The Bills empowers the central government to regulate or prohibit the import, trade, possession or proliferation of invasive alien species.

Medium of instructions shall be in child’s mother tongue

• Section 29(f) of Chapter V under Right to Education Act, 2009 clearly states that, “medium of instructions shall, as far as practicable, be in child’s mother tongue.”
• Education is in the concurrent list of the Constitution and majority of the schools are under the domain of the States/UTs.
• As envisaged in para 4.11 of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, wherever possible, the medium of instruction until at least Grade 5, but preferably till Grade 8 and beyond, is to be the mother tongue/regional language.
• The NIPUN Bharat Mission of the Government of India through its Mission Implementation Guidelines suggests that teaching learning process and development of teaching learning material should be done in mother tongue.
• Similarly, Vidya Pravesh- a three-month play-based school preparation programme for Grade-I and NISHTHA FLN (Foundational literacy and Numeracy) have also re-emphasised the same.

Maldives president Ibrahim Mohamed Solih meets PM Modi in New Delhi

• Pouring of first concrete of the Greater Male Connectivity Project- an USD 500 Mn India funded project- marking the commencement of permanent works
• Review of the progress on the construction of 4,000 social housing units in Hulhumale being funded under Exim Bank of India Buyer’s credit finance of USD 227 Mn
• Overview of India Maldives development cooperation including Addu roads and reclamation, water and sanitation in 34 islands and Friday Mosque restoration projects
• MoU on Capacity Building & Training of Members of Local Councils & Women Development Committee of Maldives between NIRDPR, India and Local Government Authority, Maldives
• MoU on Collaboration in potential fishing zone forecast capacity building and data sharing and marine scientific research between INCOIS, India and Ministry of Fisheries, Maldives
• MoU for Cooperation in the area of Cyber Security between CERT-India and NCIT, Maldives
• MoU for cooperation in the field of disaster management between NDMA, India and NDMA, Maldives
• Agreement between EXIM Bank, India and Ministry of Finance, Maldives for USD 41 Mn Buyer’s Credit Financing of Police Infrastructure in Maldives
• Extension of USD 100 Mn new Line of Credit to finance infrastructure projects in Maldives
• Approval for award of EPC contract for the USD 128 Mn Hanimadhoo Airport Development project under Line of Credit
• Approval of DPR and commencement of tendering process of the USD 324 Mn Gulhifahlu Port development project under Line of Credit
• Approval of Feasibility Report and financial closure for the USD 30 Mn Cancer Hospital project under Line of Credit
• USD 119 Mn Buyer’s Credit financing by Exim Bank of India for additional 2,000 social housing units in Hulhumale

IAF to participate in multilateral exercise ‘Pitch Black’ in Australia

• Continuing the series of military exercises with countries in the Indo-Pacific, the Indian Air Force (IAF) will join 16 other nations, including Quad partners, later this month for Exercise Pitch Black, the biennial exercise hosted by the Australian Air Force.
• About 100 aircraft and 2,500 military personnel from 17 nations will arrive in the Northern Territory in two weeks to commence Exercise Pitch Black 2022.
• The 2020 edition of the exercise was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.