The Daily Brief – 25th April 2019

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has said that in order to curb fake, sub-standard and expired drugs drug names and expiry date during tendering will be in Hindi/regional language along with English. In the beginning, the proposal will be implemented for Iron tablets and polio drops as they are the drugs most commonly administered to children at govt centres. The decision was taken as per the advisory of the Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) which was constituted as per the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has distributed over 3,100 special kits SAECKs for collecting blood and semen samples, besides other evidence, to carry out immediate investigations into sexual assault cases among states and Union Territories. The SAECKs are being procured with financial support under the Central government’s Nirbhaya Fund.

23 April is observed as English Language Day every year to commemorate both the birthday and date of death of William Shakespeare. Under the initiative of UN Language Days, UN celebrates six separate days, each dedicated to one of the Organization’s six official languages viz. Arabic: 18 December, Chinese: 20 April, English: 23 April, French: 20 March, Russian: 6 June and Spanish: 23 April.

World Book Day is observed by UNESCO and other related organisations every year on 23rd of April. The city of Sharjah has been selected as the World Book Capital for the year 2019. The day was established in the year 1995 in the UNESCO General Conference, held in Paris. Also known as the World Book and Copyright Day, it aims to promote the joy of books and the art of reading.

StartupBlink has ranked 100 countries for startup environment of countries globally. The rankings were based on the impact startups have been able to make in the country. The US, the UK, Canada, Israel, and Australia have been ranked in top5 in the rankings. India was ranked 17th in the rankings and has climbed 20 spots (rank 37) from the previous ranking. The challenge before India is to improve the overall quality of startups and increase the number of unicorns than currently exist. In the ranking of cities, Bengaluru stood at 11, New Delhi at 18 and Mumbai at 29.

The first ever official ‘International Day of Multilateralism and Diplomacy for Peace’ was observed by the United Nations (UN) on April 24, 2019. The day was officially proclaimed by the UN General Assembly on December 12, 2018. The Day is a reaffirmation of the UN Charter and its principles of resolving disputes among countries through peaceful means.

The Supreme Court directed the Gujarat Government on April 23, 2019 to give Rs 50 lakh compensation, a job and accommodation to Bilkis Bano. She was gang raped during the 2002 riots in the Gujarat. This compensation comes two years after the Bombay High court delivered justice, convicting eleven of the accused, including five Gujarat policemen and two doctors for tampering with evidence. In 2002 Gujarat riots 14 members of Bilkis’ family were killed, including her two-and-half-year old daughter.

Indonesia has released a special commemorative stamp on the theme of Ramayana on April 23, 2019 to mark the 70th anniversary of establishment of its diplomatic ties with India. The stamp, designed by renowned Indonesian sculptor Padmashri Bapak Nyoman Nuarta, featured a scene from Ramayana in which Jatayu valiantly fought to save Sita. India’s Ambassador Pradeep Kumar Rawat and Indonesia’s Vice Foreign Minister Abdurrahman Mohammad Fachir were part of the stamp release occasion.