Defence News
⚫The defence ministry is organising Def-Connect in New Delhi to showcase the accomplishments of the Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) initiative.
⚫The India-U.S. tri-services amphibious exercise “Tiger Triumph” has begun in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.
⚫Lt. Cdr. Karabi Gogoi has become the first woman officer from the Indian Navy to be posted as the Assistant Naval Attache at the Indian embassy in Moscow.
Schemes and Committees
⚫The Jammu and Kashmir government has set up a 10-member committee to declare Srinagar’s famous Dal Lake and its surrounding areas as an eco-sensitive zone (ESZ), following concerns over its shrinking size. The capacity of the lake has shrunk to 40%.
⚫National Initiative for School Heads’ and Teachers’ Holistic Advancement (NISHTHA) has been launched in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Books and Authors
⚫Chief Justice of India Justice Ranjan Gogoi released the Assamese version of the book ‘Courts of India: Past to Present’ in Guwahati, Assam.
Awards and Recognitions
⚫The Tata Literature Live! Lifetime Achievement Award for 2019 was conferred on writer, translator and film critic Shanta Gokhale. Poet K Satchidanandan was named the Tata Literature Live! Poet Laureate for 2019.
⚫Wildlife biologist K. Ullas Karanth, Director, Centre for Wildlife Studies, Bengaluru, was awarded the George Schaller Lifetime Award in Wildlife Conservation Science for his contribution to the field of conservation.
⚫Ravi Prakash, an Indian PhD scholar has won the BRICS-Young Innovator Prize for inventing an affordable indigenous milk chilling unit for smaller and marginal rural dairy farmers. The theme for 4th BRICS-YSF was “Cybersecurity and Bio-economy”
⚫Hollywood veteran and double Oscar winner Robert De Niro will receive the SAG-AFTRA’s highest tribute: the SAG Life Achievement Award for career achievement and humanitarian accomplishment, at the 26th edition of the ceremony 2019.
⚫The Tobacco Board of India, Guntur, has been awarded the Golden Leaf Award at Tab Expo 2019 event in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It has been awarded for its efforts to initiate various sustainability (green) initiatives in Flue-Cured Virginia (FCV) tobacco cultivation in India.
⚫The Critically acclaimed movie “Bhonsle” directed by Devashish Makhija has won awards in the ‘Best Screenplay’ and ‘Best Director’ categories at the Asian Film Festival Barcelona.
Ranks and Reports
⚫Bangladesh has topped the business bribery risk in South Asia according to the Trace Bribery Matrix.
Summit and Conference
⚫Sanskrit Bharati Vishwa Sammelan, a mega event for discussing ideas, theories and research findings in the ancient Sanskrit language, begins in New Delhi.
⚫Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India, chaired the inaugural conclave on “National Capital Region-2041” organized by the National Capital Region Planning Board in Delhi. The theme of the conclave was “Planning for Tomorrow’s Greatest Capital Region”.
⚫Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria will inaugurate the 58th Indian Society of Aerospace Medicine Annual Conference. The theme for this year’s conference is ‘Changing Paradigms in Aerospace Healthcare’.
⚫India will host the 19th council of heads of government of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation 2020. The latest Summit of heads of government was held in Tashkent in November 2019.
⚫The Union Minister of State (I/C) Development of North Eastern Region, has addressed the India- ASEAN Business Summit 2019 in New Delhi on the theme: “Today, Tomorrow, Together”.
⚫National Statistical Commission inaugurated the 27th Conference of Central and State Statistical Organizations (COCSSO) organized by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) at Kolkata, West Bengal. The theme was “Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”.
⚫Ministry of AYUSH will organize the International Conference on Yoga at Mysuru, Karnataka with the theme ‘Yoga for Heart Care’.
⚫Regional Conference on the theme “Replication of Good Governance Practices in Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh” begins in Jammu.