Current Affairs in Short: 1 October 2020

PM Modi to inaugurate world’s longest highway tunnel ‘Atal Tunnel’ on October 3

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the world’s longest highway tunnel- Atal Tunnel on Rohtang on October 3, 2020. 
• The 9.02km long tunnel will connect Manali with Lahaul-Spiti valley throughout the year. Earlier, the valley was cut off for almost six months each year due to heavy snowfall.
• The tunnel has been built using ultra-modern specifications in the Pir Panjal range of Himalayas at an altitude of 3000m from the Mean Sea Level. It reduces the road distance by 46 km between Manali and Leh and time by about 4-5 hours. 

India targets to restore 26 million hectares of degraded & deforested land by 2030

• The Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar announced recently that India aims to restore 26 million hectares of degraded and deforested land and achieve land-degradation neutrality by 2030.
• The Environment Minister shared the same while addressing the UN summit on Biodiversity. He said that India has a culture of not just protecting and conserving nature but also living in harmony with nature.
• The Minister further stated that the emergence of COVID-19 has emphasized the fact that unregulated exploitation of natural resources coupled with unsustainable food habits and consumption pattern lead to the destruction of a system that supports human life.

Puducherry government allows re-opening of bars from October 1

• The Puducherry government gave permission to re-open bars in the Union Territory from October 1, 2020. The announcement follows the re-opening guidelines issued by the Union Government on September 30, 2020. 
• The Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy also said in an informal briefing that it was decided to open the schools for class 10th and 12th from October 5.
• However, the students will require the permission of their parents to physically attend schools. The classes will only be until 1 pm.
• The decision for opening classes for class 9 and 11 will be taken later. Besides this, cinema theatres will begin functioning in the Union Territory from October 18 with 50 percent seating capacity. 

UP becomes first state to undertake 1 crore COVID tests 

• Uttar Pradesh has become the first state in the country to undertake over one crore COVID-19 test. UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath termed it as a great achievement and said that the government has conducted 1.5 lakh tests per day for the past 45 days.
• The total number of tests conducted in the state stood at 1,00,98,896 as of September 30, 2020. Among these, nearly 42 percent of tests were done through the RT-PCR method.
• The state’s share in the total tests conducted across the country now stands at 13.6 percent. The state’s daily average of testing over the past few days has been 1.5 lakh tests.
• The state has managed to maintain a positivity rate of around four percent.

First VVIP aircraft 'Air India One' for PM, President, Vice President arrives 

• The first of the two VVIP aircraft Air India One for President, Vice President, and Prime Minister arrived in India on October 1, 2020. 
• The Special Extra Section Flight (SESF) aircraft for the country's VVIP arrived at Delhi's International Airport from the United States. A joint team of senior officers from Air India, VVIP security personnel and senior government officials had gone to the US to accept the delivery of the VVIP's flight Air India One.
• The Air India One is equipped with an advanced and secured communication system, which will enable availing audio and video communication functions mid-air without any worries of hacking or being taped.
• The VVIP aircraft B-777 will replace wide-body aircraft Boeing B-747 jumbo aircraft whose call sign is Air India One.