The Daily Brief – 23rd January 2020

Government of India set up a National Startup Advisory Council to advise the Central Government on measures needed to build a strong ecosystem for nurturing innovation and start-ups in the country. The council will be chaired by the commerce minister and will consist of non-official members to be nominated by the Government of India. The tenure of the non-official members will be for a period of two years. The Council aims to boost the culture of innovation among the students. The current Union Minister of Commerce and Industry is Piyush Goyal.

Visakhapatnam to be Andhra Pradesh’s executive capital

Andhra Pradesh government passed two Bills, including the Andhra Pradesh Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of all Region Bill 2020 and The Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority Repeal Bill 2020, in the Assembly on 20^th January, 2020. The bills pave way for three capitals in the state: Amaravati as the legislative capital, Vishakhapatnam as the executive capital and Kurnool as the judicial capital. B N Sri Krishna Committee, G N Rao Committee and K Sivaramakrishnan Committee recommended these cities.

India on 22^nd January, 2020 joined as a founding member of World Economic Forum’s Reskilling Revolution, an initiative to provide one billion people with better education, skills and jobs by 2030. The scheme aims to train workers from technological change and help economies by providing new skills for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. WEF also released a report titled “Jobs of Tomorrow: Mapping Opportunity in the New Economy”. The World Economic Forum (WEF) was founded in 1971.

Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the proposal allowing the Election Commission to enter into Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with the Independent High Authority for Elections of Tunisia (ISIE) and the Papua New Guinea Electoral Commission (PNGEC) for cooperation in the field of electoral management and administration. It would result in bolstering India’s international relations.

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the Shutting down of the operations of the Hindustan Fluorocarbons Limited (HFL) and closure of the company. HFL has only one plant located at Rudraram, Sangareddy in Telangana. Incorporated on 14th July, 1983, Hindustan Fluorocarbons Limited (HFL) is a subsidiary company of Hindustan Organic Chemicals Ltd. (HOCL), a Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE).

Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the Model Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for unilateral/bilateral recognition of Certificates, pursuant to Regulation 1/10 of International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) for Seafarers, 1978 as amended to be signed between the Directorate General of Shipping, Government of India and its counterparts in foreign countries, with the approval of Minister-in-charge of Shipping and the Minister of External Affairs.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina launched an e-passport facility for its citizens on 22^nd January, 2020 in Dhaka. The e-passports will have an embedded chip in them which will contain the bio-metric data of the passport holder, photograph and other information contained in the passport. It will also include digital security features in it. It is the first country in South Asia and 119^th country in the world to provide such facility. According to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), over 490 million e-Passports are in circulation in the world.