The Daily Brief – 27th February 2019

Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers D V Sadananda Gowda inaugurated the centre of the Central Institute of Plastic Engineering and Technology (CIPET) in Tripura that would produce 1500 skilled workers per annum. The Central Institute of Plastics Engineering & Technology (CIPET) was established in 1968 to develop manpower in different disciplines of Plastics Engineering & Technology as no such institute existed in the country.

Union Minister for Earth Sciences, Dr Harsh Vardhan inaugurated Atal Bhavan, the new campus of Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology (CMLRE), at Puthuvype, Cochin, in Kerala. CMLRE aims to develop management strategies for marine living resources through Ecosystem monitoring and modelling efforts. CMLRE was established at Kochi in 1998 for implementing the Marine Living Resources Programme.

Union Minister for Textiles Smriti Irani inaugurated the ‘Titanwala Museum’ in Bagru, Rajasthan that showcases the Chhipa community’s Bagru hand-block printing that has a history of over 1000 years. Bagru printing is one of the traditional techniques of printing with natural colour followed by the chippas of Rajasthan.

The Union Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal has launched Rail Drishti dashboard to keep people informed about the work going on in the Railways across the country. It brings information from various sources on a single platform and gives access to key statistics and parameters to every citizen of the country.

In retaliation to the deadly Pulwama terror attack, the Indian Air Force fighter jets crossed the line of control in the early hours of February 26, 2019 and attacked Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camps in Pakistan occupied Kashmir. The Indian Air Force used Mirage-2000 jets to drop 1000 kg of laser-guided bombs causing an estimated casualty of 200-300. The attacke was at Balakot, the biggest terrorist camp that was headed by Maulana Yousuf Azhar (also known as Ustad Ghouri), the brother-in-law of Masood Azhar, chief of Jaish-e-Mohammed. This is the first time that the Indian Air Force has crossed into Pakistan since 1971.

President Ram Nath Kovind in the presence of PM Narendra Modi conferred the Gandhi Peace Prize for the years 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 to Vivekananda Kendra (Kanyakumari), Akshaya Patra Foundation and Sulabh International, Ekal Abhiyan Trust and Yohei Sasakawa respectively on February 26, 2019 at a function in Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi. The Gandhi Peace Prize was instituted in the year 1995 on the occasion of the 125th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

Second summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will take place in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. They will review the progress made after their first historic summit in Singapore in 2018. The two leaders are expected to have a one-on-one meeting aimed at normalising ties and complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

The FCI Aravali Gypsum and Minerals India Limited (FAGMIL) and Himachal Pradesh Government signed MoU to establish 4th white cement plant in the country near village Nohra Dhar in Sirmour district, Himachal Pradesh at a project cost of approximately Rs. 605 crores. The installed capacity of the plant would be 0.3 million tonnes per annum and it will generate the direct employment of approximately 150 persons.

Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu inaugurated National Institutes of Design (NID) at Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh and Jorhat in Assam through video conference from New Delhi. The National Design Policy 2007 had recommended setting up design institutes on the lines of NID, Ahmedabad in other parts of India to promote design programs. Established in 1961, NID, Ahmedabad is the first NID in India.