The Daily Brief – 26th January 2019

Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Aparna Kumar who is on deputation to Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) became the first woman Indian Police Service (IPS) and ITBP officer to successfully conquer the South Pole. The South Pole is the southernmost point on the surface of the Earth and is at the centre of the Southern Hemisphere. It is situated on the continent of Antarctica and is the coldest and driest place on Earth. The temperature there ranges from minus 37 degrees to minus 48 degrees.

India celebrated 9th National Voters Day on 25th January 2019 to commemorate the constitution of the Election Commission of India in 1950. The main purpose of celebrating National Voters Day is to encourage, facilitate and maximize the enrolment, especially for the new voters. The National Voters Day was first celebrated on 25th January 2011. India would be witnessing the parliamentary elections in 2019, in order to ensure an inclusive election process the theme of the National Voters Day is “No Voter to be Left Behind”.

President Ram Nath Kovind conferred Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awards 2019 to 30 awardees conferred during the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas being held at Varanasi. The winners of this prestigious award includes Gita Gopinath chief economist of IMF, Nihal Singh Agar, founding president of VHP in Australia and Ramesh Chotai, former president of Hindu Mandir and Cultural Centre in Canada. Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awards is the highest honour conferred on overseas Indians.

The Bloomberg Innovation Index analyses each country in a range of areas including education, research and development, and manufacturing before coming up with a list of the 60 most innovative countries out of 95. The index is topped by South Korea for the sixth time in a row with a total score of 87.38. India stands at 54th spot in the Bloomberg Innovation Index with a score of 47.93 out of 100.

The coast guards of India and Japan undertook disaster control, search and rescue exercises off the coast of Yokohama in Japan. ICGS Shaunak is the main Indian ship taking part in the drills. This exercise aims to share their expertise in disaster management as both the nations have huge experience in disaster management as Japan regularly faces earthquakes and sea storms while the Indian Coast Guard round the year manages the over 7,000-kilometre coastline of the country.

Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Petroleum and Natural Gas (MSDE) on January 24, 2019 launched new reforms and guidelines for Jan Shikshan Sansthan (JSS) to further strengthen the skills ecosystem benefiting those in the underprivileged sections of society. The motive behind the new guidelines is to align the JSSs to the National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF). By aligning JSSs to the National Skill Framework, the Government aims to provide standardised training across sectors.

India and Maldives have agreed to continue their traditionally close cooperation on issues of maritime security, counter-terrorism and medical cooperation. This was decided during the meeting between Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her Maldivian counterpart Mariya Ahmed Didi in New Delhi on January 24, 2019.