1) Haryana, First State in India to Treat Hepatitis-C Patients with Oral Medicine
•Haryana has emerged as the first state in the country to treat Hepatitis-C patients through oral medicine, according to the health minister Anil Vij of the state.
•This medicine would be provided free of cost to permanent residents of all categories at district level.
•The medicine and treatment costs about Rs 28,000 to Rs 30,000 in the market, but the state government would provide this facility free of cost.
2) Environment Ministry Forms 7-Member Panel for Air Pollution in Delhi-NCR
•The Union environment ministry formed a seven-member committee headed by environment secretary, to formulate short and long-term measures to solve the problem of air pollution in the Delhi-NCR region.
•Delhi’s air quality plunged this week with the air quality index (AQI), which measures the concentration of pollutants in the air, 465, indicating severe levels of pollution.
3) Kiren Rijiju Inaugurated 'India Disaster Response Summit'
•The Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Shri Kiren Rijiju has inaugurated the ‘India Disaster Response Summit’ in New Delhi. The summit was organised jointly by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and Facebook.
•The summit focuses on how best to leverage social media platforms to 'prepare, respond and recover' for, during and after a disaster. This partnership is a benchmark and first of its kind as the Government has partnered with Facebook on disaster response.
4) Home Ministry Sets Up Two New Divisions for Radicalization & Cyber Crime
•The Union Home Ministry has formed two new divisions to exclusively deal with emerging security challenges such as radicalization and cyber crime. The two divisions called Counter-Terrorism and Counter-Radicalisation (CTCR)and the Cyber and Information Security (CIS) also encompass merger of some of the Ministry’s existing divisions.
•The CTCR wing is basically modified version of the Home Ministry’s internal security-II division. It will focus on tracking and assessing the online reach of global terrorist outfits and devising strategies to counter their propaganda.
•The CIS division will monitor online crimes and threats, including cyber fraud and hacking, and suggest ways to minimise and fight them.
5) UNHCR to Get Mother Teresa Award 2017 for Social Justice
•The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has been named as the recipient of the Mother Teresa Memorial Award for Social Justice, 2017.
•The UNHCR provides humanitarian aid to innumerable people internally displaced by conflicts and helping stateless people all over the world. Harmony Foundation has instituted the only official award in memory of Mother Teresa. Harmony Foundation's theme for 2017 is Compassion Beyond Borders.
6) UNESCO Confirms France's Audrey Azoulay as New Head
•UNESCO member states confirmed the nomination of France's former culture minister Audrey Azoulay to head the cultural agency. 45-year-old Azoulay becomes UNESCO's second woman director general.
•Azoulay succeeds Irina Bokova of Bulgaria, whose eight-year term. Ms Azoulay was France’s Minister of Culture and Communication from February 2016 to May 2017. Ms Azoulay is the 11th Director-General of UNESCO. She will take office on 15 November 2017.
