The Daily Brief – 1st December 2019

Malayalam poet Akkitham Achuthan Namboodiri has been chosen for the Jnanpith Award for literature for the year 2019. He is the 6th Malayalam Poet to receive the Jnanpith Award. Born in Kumaranellur, Kerala, he is a recipient of the Padma Shri in 2017. Some of his famous books are “Khand Kavya”, “Katha Kavya” and “Charitra Kavya”. First awarded in 1965, the Jnanpith Award is presented to literary works in any of the 22 languages included in the 8^th Schedule of the Indian Constitution. The first recipient was Malayalam writer G. Shankar Kurup.

As per the India Corruption Survey 2019 conducted by the Transparency International India and Local Circles, a social media firm, Rajasthan and Bihar are the most corrupted states in India with 78% and 75% of respondents admitting to paying bribes, while Telangana topped the list in south India with 67%. The survey was carried out between October 2018 and November 2019. As compared to 2018, India’s overall ranking in the Corruption Perception Index has risen 3 places to 78 out of 180 countries. On an average, the number of respondents admitted to paying bribes has come down from 56% in 2018 to 51% in 2019.

The Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) organised the 47^th All India Police Science Congress (AIPSC) on 28^th November & 29^th November, 2019 at the Police Headquarters in Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow last hosted the AIPSC in 1997. The Congress focused on challenges in policing and five other related topics, which are the need of the hour. More than 120 teams participated from all states and Union Territories (UTs).

Aditya Birla Finance Ltd (ABFL), the non-banking finance company (NBFC) of Aditya Birla Capital, on 28^th November, 2019, became the first company to list its commercial papers on the stock exchanges. The move comes after the exchanges – the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) – came out with a framework for listing of commercial papers (CPs), in a bid to broaden investors’ participation in such securities.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India on 28^th November, 2019 signed a $451 million loan to strengthen power connectivity between the southern and northern parts of the Chennai–Kanyakumari Industrial Corridor (CKIC), which is a part of the East Coast Economic Corridor (ECEC), in Tamil Nadu. The ADB is the lead partner of the Government of India for developing the ECEC.

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs G. Kishan Reddy inaugurated the first International Conference on Landslides Risk Reduction and Resilience organised by the National Institute of Disaster management (NIDM) on 28^th November, 2019 in New Delhi. Established in 1995, the NIDM is a premier institute for training and capacity development programs for managing natural disasters in India.

Sydney (Australia)-based Lowy Institute released the 2019 Global Diplomacy Index, which gives the statistics, marking how the world’s diplomatic networks are expanding and shrinking. India was ranked 12^th among the 63 countries with 123 embassies and high commissions and 54 consulates globally. China overtook United States (US) with 276 embassies and consulates worldwide, which is three more than the US.

Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) Nitin Jairam Gadkari inaugurated the NuGen Mobility Summit 2019, organised by the International Centre for Automotive Technology (ICAT) from 27^th November to 29^th November, 2019 in Manesar, Gurugram. The objective of the Summit is to share new ideas, learnings, global experiences, innovations and future technologies trends for the faster adoption, assimilation and development of advanced Automotive Technologies for a smarter and greener future.