The Daily Brief – 28th October 2019

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will pay a day-long visit to India on 1^st November, 2019 during which she will hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a focus on strengthening ties in key sectors such as trade, energy and defence. Merkel and Modi will also co-chair the 5th biennial Inter-Governmental Consultations (IGC). The first IGC was held in New Delhi in 2011. Germany is India’s largest trading partner in Europe. In 2018-19, the Indian exports were 8.9 billion USD and imports were 15.16 billion USD.

ISRO will launch 14 small foreign satellites in its three Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) flights namely PSLV-C47, PSLV-C48 and PSLV-C49 by November and December 2019. The Indian payload Cartosat-3, a remote sensing satellite, will be the primary payload of PSLV-C47. So far, ISRO has launched 300 small satellites, which weigh around 500 kg to lower earth orbits for foreign customers.

Chief Minister of Odisha Naveen Patnaik launched ‘Odisha-Mo Parivar’ (Odisha, my family), a social service initiative of his party Biju Janata Dal (BJD), to encourage environment protection, blood donation and the welfare of Odias in distress. Arup Patnaik, former Mumbai Police Commissioner and BJD leader has been appointed as the Convenor of programme for its implementation.

DEFCOM India 2019, the flagship event in the area of military communication, is being jointly organized by the Corps of Signals, the Indian Army and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on 26^th November and 27^th November, 2019 in New Delhi. The event brings together major national and international IT, Communication Industry and other key stakeholders from the Indian Armed Forces. The event will seek to deliberate on the theme, “Communications as a Decisive Catalyst for Jointness”.

Lucknow-based City Montessori School (CMS) has won the Guinness World Record for becoming the ‘world’s largest school’ with a strength of approximately 56,000 students all over the city in the academic year 2019-20. CMS was awarded the UNESCO Prize for Peace Education in 2002. The school has also been awarded the ‘Hope of Humanity’ Award from the spiritual leader Dalai Lama. It is affiliated to the Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) and the Cambridge Assessment International Education (CAIE).

Lt General VS Sreenivas flagged off the white-water rafting expedition called “Rudrashila” at the Jodhpur Military station on 25^th October, 2019 to prepare soldiers to overcome adversities with grit and determination. The expedition will start from Rudraprayag and will end in Rishikesh. It will be undertaken by the Kalidhar Battalion, which was formed in November 1943.

Vigilance Awareness Week will be observed from 28^thOctober, 2019 to 2^nd November, 2019 this year with the theme ‘Integrity – a way of life’ by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Started in 2000, the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) observes the Vigilance Awareness week every year around the first week of November to promote transparency, integrity and accountability. The week will be launched with an Integrity-pledge of the staff and officers of the ministry to fight against corruption.

United Nations’ member states endorsed a proposed roadmap for action on nitrogen challenges called the Colombo Declaration on Sustainable Nitrogen Management on 24^th October, 2019 with an ambition to halve nitrogen waste by 2030, at a two-day event organised by Sri Lanka with support from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). The Declaration was developed with technical support from the International Nitrogen Management System (INMS).