current affairs 15 October 2022

IISc Bangalore retains its spot in the 2023 THE ranking.

• The IISc has topped the 2023 Times Higher Education (THE) rankings among Indian institute.
• IISc Bengaluru is the only Indian university in the top 300 list.
• India has become the 6th most represented country in the list, with featuring 75 institutes in THE's 2023 ranking.
• Other Indian Institute: IIT Ropar (501-600), IIT Indore (601-800), IIT Gandhinagar ((801-1000).
• The University of Oxford is topped the ranking in the world (seventh consecutive year).

President Droupadi Murmu inaugurates Supercomputer facility at IIT Guwahati.

• As per the Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index 2022, India has ranked 123 out of 161 countries, improved its ranking by six places.
• Findings: India has reduced inequality but continues to be among the lowest performers in health spending.
• Top three: Norway, Germany and Australia
• Prepared by: Oxfam International and Development Finance International.
• It measures the governments policies and actions in three areas (health, education, and social protection).

Himachal Pradesh govt launched "HIMCAD" scheme to help farmers.

• The Himachal Pradesh government has launched a new scheme named HIMCAD to provide irrigation facilities to farmers.
• As per the data, about 80% of the agricultural area of Himachal Pradesh is rain-fed.
• This scheme will provide end-to-end connectivity of farmers’ fields for better water conservation, crop diversification and integrated farming.
• It is planned to provide command area development activities to 23,344 hectares of cultivable command area by March 2024.

Indo-US Vaccine Action Programme Joint Statement extended till 2027.

• The present five-year Indo-US Vaccine Action Programme (VAP) Joint Statement has been extended till 2027.
• It is a unique bilateral programme.
• It is implementing by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), India, and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious.
• Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA since July 1987.
• Aim: To improvise the current knowledge of vaccine science to strengthen the scientific basis for future vaccine design.

State Bank of India home loan AUM crosses Rs 6 trillion.

• As per the data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), the retail inflation of India has been increased to 7.41% in September 2022.
• The number retains above the RBI upper tolerance band (2-6 per cent) for the ninth straight month.
• The food inflation has been surged to a 22-month high of 8.6% while core inflation rose to a 4-month high of 6.3%.
• Meanwhile, industrial growth has been contracted 0.8% in August as compared to 2.4% in July.