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• Women and Child Development (WCD) Ministry observed POSHAN Maah in September 2019.
• Under POSHAN abhiyan, the government aims to ensure attainment of malnutrition free India by 2022.

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• The World Habitat Day 2019 was observed on 7 October 2019.
• 2019 theme: Frontier Technologies as an innovative tool to transform waste to wealth
• The United Nations designated the first Monday of October of every year as World Habitat Day to reflect on the state of our towns and cities, and on the basic right of all to adequate shelter.
• The Day is also intended to remind the world that we all have the power and the responsibility to shape the future of our cities and towns.

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• International Day of the Girl Child is an international observance day declared by the United Nations; it is also called the Day of Girls and the International Day of the Girl.
• October 11, 2012, was the first Day of the Girl Child.
• The day aims to highlight and address the needs and challenges girls face, while promoting girls' empowerment and the fulfilment of their human rights
• 2019 Theme — GirlForce: Unscripted and Unstoppable

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• World Mental Health Day is observed on 10 October every year, with the overall objective of raising awareness of mental health issues around the world and mobilizing efforts in support of mental health.
• The Day provides an opportunity for all stakeholders working on mental health issues to talk about their work, and what more needs to be done to make mental health care a reality for people worldwide.
• Theme for 2019- Suicide prevention.

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• Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Harsh Vardhan launched a set of new crackers that promises to help reduce particulate emissions by 30 per cent while producing the same level of light and sound effects of traditional fireworks.
• The new firework, which covers popularly used sound-emitting crackers, flowerpots, pencils, chakkar and sparklers, are based on formulations developed by a consortium of eight laboratories under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) led by Nagpur-based National Environmental Engineering Research Institute. About 230 firework manufacturers had signed the memorandum of understanding for using the formulations developed by CSIR scientists.
• Of them, 165 have gone further and have also entered into a non-disclosure agreement. CSIR had taken up the project to develop eco-friendly crackers in the wake of directions of the Supreme Court restricting the use of fireworks to address the growing problem of pollution in different parts of the country.

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• Senior Indian Forest Service officer Ramesh Pandey has been selected for the prestigious Asia Environmental Enforcement Award by the United Nations Environment Programme.
• The 1996-batch IFS officer, posted as Chief Conservator Forests in Lucknow and Secretary, UP State Bio-diversity Board, is known for his investigation and intelligence gathering on poachers.
• The purpose of the Asia Environmental Enforcement Awards is to publicly recognise outstanding achievements by public organisations and individuals in Asia to combat transboundary environmental crime.

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• The 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Polish author Olga Tokarczuk.
• She was awarded for her narrative imagination that represents the crossing of boundaries as a form of life.
• This time, the winners were named for both 2019 and 2018, as the prize was not awarded in 2018. The Swedish academy had suspended the prize in 2018 following a sexual assault scandal.

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• The Nobel Prize in Literature 2019 was awarded to Austrian author Peter Handke.
• It has been awarded to Peter Handke for his influential work that explores the specificity of human experience.

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• The Nobel Peace Prize 2019 was awarded to Abiy Ahmed Ali "for his efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation, and in particular for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighbouring Eritrea."
• The prize is also meant to recognise all the stakeholders working for peace and reconciliation in Ethiopia and in the East and Northeast African regions.

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• The Nobel Prize in Physics 2019 was awarded "for contributions to our understanding of the evolution of the universe and Earth's place in the cosmos" with one half to James Peebles "for theoretical discoveries in physical cosmology", the other half jointly to Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz "for the discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star."

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• John B. Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development of lithium-ion batteries. Lithium-ion batteries have revolutionised the world of technology.
• The batteries power everyday products such as smartphones, laptops and even electric vehicles.

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• Britain’s Peter Ratcliffe and William Kaelin and Gregg Semenza of US shared the 2019 Nobel Medicine Prize for their work on how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability.
• The team revealed the understanding of how oxygen levels affect cellular metabolism. Kaelin works at Howard Hughes Medical Institute, US.

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• In the first-ever NBA match in India, Indiana Pacers registered win over Sacramento Kings by a point after the matches ended in a draw in the regulation time. Indiana Pacers defeated Sacramento Kings 132-131 in the first NBA match in India

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• Bahrain's Salwa Eid Naser became the third-fastest female 400m runner in history after completing the sprint in 48.14 seconds in the ongoing World Athletics Championships.
• Naser, who is 21-year-old, clinched a gold medal while Shaunae Mille-Uibo of The Bahamas had to settle for a silver medal, clocking 48.37 seconds.
• Shericka Jackson of Jamaica bagged bronze by after completing in 49.47 seconds.

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• India captain Mithali Raj became the first female player to last more than 20 years in international cricket.
• She achieved the feat while leading India to an emphatic eight-wicket win over South Africa women in the first ODI of the three-match series. Mithali, who made her ODI debut against Ireland on June 26, 1999, completed 20 years and 105 days in the 50-over format.
• She, thus, became the only female cricketer to have played ODI cricket for over two decades.
• The right-handed batswoman has played 204 ODIs till now, the most by a female, followed by England's Charlotte Edwards (191), Jhulan Goswami (178), Alex Blackwell (144) of Australia. Mithali, 36, has also played 10 Tests and 89 T20Is for India. She retired from T20 cricket last month.