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October – 01

TNPSC BITS
❖ Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister released a digital commemoration titled ‘Tamilvel
P.T. Rajan Ninaivugalil 50’ to mark the 50th death anniversary of the Justice
Party leader and former CM of the erstwhile Madras Presidency P.T. Rajan.
❖ Keeladi has been selected as the Best Tourism Village 2024 under the heritage
category by the Union Ministry of Tourism.
❖ Tamil Nadu’s Minister for Youth Welfare and Sports Development Udhayanidhi
Stalin, has been elevated as Tamil Nadu’s Deputy Chief Minister.
❖ The Mankidia community becomes 6th PVTG to get habitat rights over forests in
Odisha.
❖ The Maharashtra government has approved renaming Pune Airport to 'Jagadguru
Sant Tukaram Maharaj Pune International Airport' to honour the 17th-century
saint.
❖ The 10th Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) India Region
Conference was held in New Delhi.
❖ The Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare organized the National Conference
on Implementing Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) in New Delhi.
❖ Bollywood producer Vinod Bachchan received the prestigious Global Prestige
Award at the House of Lords, UK for his significant contributions to the Indian
film industry.
❖ The 2024 SASTRA Ramanujan Prize will be awarded to Alexander Dunn of the
Georgia Institute of Technology, U.S.
❖ India launched the Computer Security Incident Response Team- POWER (CSIRT-
POWER) in New Delhi.
o The facility will aim to address the specific cyber security issues faced by the
Power sector in India.

TAMIL NADU
Chief Justice of Madras High Court 2024
❖ Tamil Nadu Governor administered the oath of office to Justice Shriram on his
assumption of office as the 53rd Chief Justice of the Madras High Court.
❖ The Madras High Court has got a Tamil-speaking Chief Justice after a long gap
of 43 years.
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❖ The last Tamil-speaking Chief Justice of the High Court was M.M. Ismail who
resigned on July 9, 1981.

NATIONAL
India State of Forest Report (ISFR)

❖ The India State of Forest Report (ISFR), due for release in 2023, has been delayed
by over a year.
❖ The report, which is released every two years, is produced by the Forest Survey
of India (FSI).
❖ It has been published since 1991 and provides a comprehensive overview of the
state of India’s forests.
❖ This delay marks the second occasion when the government has missed the
report’s publication deadline — the last instance occurred in 2007.
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❖ The last report, published in 2021, recorded the country’s total forest cover at
713,789 square kilometres or 21.71 per cent.
❖ It was a marginal increase of 1,540 square kilometres compared to the 2019 ISFR
publication.
❖ From 2013 to 2023, 95 per cent of deforestation occurred in natural forests.3
❖ As per MoEFCC, India had lost 173,396 hectares (1,733 square kilometres) of
forest for development works.
❖ It also claimed that compensatory afforestation had recovered 21,761 square
kilometres of forest area between 2013 and 2023.
❖ In Odisha, the unclassified forests increased from 17 square kilometres to 16,282
square kilometres between 1999 and 2015.
❖ But it was dropped to 22 square kilometres in the 2017 report

Wildlife Habitats Development Scheme 2024

❖ The Union Cabinet has approved the Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats
scheme for the 15th Finance Commission cycle for an overall outlay of ₹2,602.98
crore.
❖ The centrally sponsored scheme includes critical components such as Project
Tiger, Project Elephant and Development of Wildlife Habitat.
❖ The scheme envisages to boost technological interventions in different thematic
areas over the current and next financial year in our tiger and wildlife bearing
forests.

INTERNATIONAL
Same-sex marriage – Thailand
❖ Thailand’s king has signed a landmark marriage equality bill into law.
❖ This is making the kingdom the first country in Southeast Asia to recognise same-
sex marriages.
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❖ LGBTQ+ couples will be able to register their marriage in January next year.

Pact for the future

❖ The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has adopted an ambitious pact-
“Pact for the Future”.
❖ It aims to make the organisation more relevant and effective on the global stage
in the 21st century.
❖ It will promote global peace, sustainability, and inclusivity for future generations.
❖ Countries like Russia, Iran, the North Korea, and Syria proposed changes to the
Pact.

ECONOMY
Minimum wage rates for workers 2024
❖ The Union government announced a hike in minimum wage rates for workers up
to ₹1,035 a day by revising variable dearness allowance.
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❖ After revision, minimum wage rates in the area 'A' for workers in construction,
sweeping, cleaning, loading & unloading for unskilled work will be ₹783 a day
(₹20,358 per month).
❖ For semi-skilled workers, the minimum wage rate will be ₹868 a day (₹22,568 per
month).
❖ For skilled, clerical and watch & wards without arms at ₹954 a day (₹24,804 per
month).
❖ The minimum wage rate for highly skilled and watch & ward with arms will be
₹1,035 a day (₹26,910 per month).
❖ The new wage rates will take effect from October 1, 2024.
❖ Last revision was done in April 2024.

7th annual Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS)

❖ The National Statistics Office (NSO), released the results of the Periodic Labour
Force Survey (PLFS) 2023-24.
❖ The unemployment rate for 2023-24 remained unchanged at 3.2%, the same as
in 2022-23.
❖ Since 2017-18, the unemployment rate has not shown a year-on-year decline.
❖ The Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) increased to 60.1% in 2023-24 from
57.9% in 2022-23 at national level.
❖ The rural LFPR rose to 63.7%, while the urban LFPR increased to 52%.
❖ Increasing Trend in Worker Population Ratio (WPR) was 58.2% in the year 2023-
2024.
❖ The same for male and female was 76.3% and 40.3% respectively.
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❖ The unemployment rate in rural areas showed a little increase, rising to 2.5% in
2023-24 from 2.4% in 2022-23.
❖ But the urban unemployment rate improved to 5.1% from 5.4%.
❖ The unemployment rate for women rose to 3.2% from 2.9% in 2022-23.
❖ For men, the unemployment rate is decreased to 3.2% from 3.3%.
❖ The share of people engaged in self-employment, including small businesses
increased to 58.4% from 57.3% in 2022-23.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

IISc Neuromorphic Computing

❖ Scientists at the IISc, Bengaluru developed a technology that could change the
data processing methods.
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❖ They have developed a type of semiconductor device called Memristor by using a

metal-organic film rather than conventional silicon-based technology.
❖ This material enables the Memristor to mimic the way the biological brain
processes information using networks of neurons and synapses.
❖ The Memristor, when integrated with a conventional digital computer, enhances
its energy and speed performance by hundreds of times.
❖ Neuromorphic computing is a field in which computers are designed and
modelled to mimic the structure and function of the human brain.

Shahed-136B drone
❖ Iran for the first time has showcased the Shahed 136B drone and Jihad ballistic
missile.
❖ The Shahed-136B is the new one-way attack drone which is also known as a
'kamikaze' drone.
❖ With a new feature, it has an operational range of more than 4,000 kilometres
(2,500 miles).
❖ "Jihad" is the single-stage liquid-fuel ballistic missile with a high-explosive
detachable warhead has a range of 1,000 km.

REPORTS AND INDICES

World Talent Ranking 2024
❖ India’s ranking at the IMD’s World Talent Ranking 2024 has come down to 58
from 56 last year.
❖ In 2022, India was at the 52nd rank.
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❖ Switzerland came first, Singapore second, and Luxembourg third out of 67

economies in the eleventh edition.
❖ Singapore’s steady rise to the top – for the first time since the inception of the
ranking in 2014.

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