INDIAN EMBASSY, INTACH TO REBUILD 11 HERITAGE SITES DAMAGED IN NEPAL QUAKE
- The Indian embassy has inked an agreement with a New Delhi-based non-profit charitable organisation to rebuild 11 cultural heritage sites damaged in devastating earthquakes in and around the Kathmandu Valley.
- The agreement was signed by Ajay Kumar, deputy chief of mission embassy of India in Kathmandu on behalf of the government of India, and C T Mishra, Member Secretary Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH).
- Ambassador of India to Nepal Manjeev Singh Puri and senior officials from the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) of Nepal were present at the signing in ceremony.
VISWANATHAN ANAND LAUNCHES AUTOBIOGRAPHY ‘MIND MASTER’
- Indian chess Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand’s autobiography ‘Mind Master: Winning Lessons from a Champion’s Life’ was released in Chennai.
- The book was authored by Viswanathan Anand and Susan Ninan and published by Hachette India.
- Anand was born in Mayiladuthurai, Tamil Nadu and is a former World Chess Champion. He became the first grandmaster from India in 1988.
INDIA’S NAVIC SATELLITES APPROVED TO JOIN US ‘ALLIED’ SYSTEM
- The US Congress has consented to designate India’s NAVIC as its “allied” navigational satellite system along with the Galileo of the European Union and QZSS of Japan.
- Approved as part of the conference report of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 2020, it designates Russia’s GLONASS and Chinese Beidou as a “non-allied system”.
- It means that the US satellite navigation system will not co-operate or exchange data with these two satellite navigation systems.
SHRIKANT MADHAV VAIDYA TO BE NEXT INDIAN OIL CORPORATION CHIEF
- The Public Enterprise Selection Board has shortlisted Shrikant Madhav Vaidya to be the next Chairman of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.
- Vaidya is presently the Director (Finance) at IndianOil.
- He is slated to take over from Sanjiv Singh, who retires in June 2020.
TONI-ANN SINGH OF JAMAICA CROWNED MISS WORLD; SUMAN RAO SECOND RUNNER-UP
- Jamaica’s Toni-Ann Singh has bagged the Miss World 2019 at an annual beauty pageant, with India’s Suman Rao becoming second runners-up.
- The 23-year-old Jamaican was declared the winner at a televised event, hosted by British television personality Piers Morgan, held at ExceL London.
- Born to her Indo-Caribbean father Bradshaw Singh and African-Caribbean mother Jahrine Bailey.
ECONOMIC CENSUS LAUNCHED IN NATIONAL CAPITAL
- The Seventh Economic Census was launched in the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
- The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has tied up with Common Service Centre to carry out the economic census.
- Director General (Social Statistics) of Central Statistics Office Mr A K Sadhu said, for the first time the entire census is being conducted on a digital platform by the use of an application which will ensure high accuracy and data security.
INDIA EXPANDS INDO-PACIFIC POLICY; INCLUDES GULF AND AFRICA
- At the end of the joint Indian Ocean Dialogue held in New Delhi, External Affairs Minister officially announced that India is planning to expand its Indo-Pacific policy.
- So far, the Indo-Pacific covered Indian Ocean and the Arabian sea.
- With the expansion, the region will now include Gulf states and Africa.