The Daily Brief – 29th August 2019

Kanchan Chaudhary Bhattacharya, the first woman Director General of Police (DGP), passed away following an illness in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The 1973 batch IPS officer was first appointed as the DGP of Uttarakhand in 2004. She was the country’s second woman IPS officer after Kiran Bedi. In 1997, she was awarded the President’s police medal for her distinguished service.

The Biometric Seafarer Identity Document (BSID) has been launched by the Union Ministry of Shipping to become the world’s first country to launch facial biometric data-based identity document (ID) for seafarers. It is being implemented in pursuance of what has been notified by the government in the Merchant Shipping (Seafarers Bio-metric Identification Document) Rules in 2016.

The establishment of the International Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) along with its supporting Secretariat Office in New Delhi has been approved by the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The CDRI will be launched at the United Nations (UN) Climate Action Summit scheduled to be held in New York, US on 23^rd September 2019.

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) organised the 12^th India Security Summit in New Delhi on 28^th August, 2019 with the official support of the Union Ministry of Communications & Information Technology. The theme of the summit was “Towards New National Cyber Security Strategy”. During the summit, many issues were discussed such as the protection of critical national infrastructure, emerging cyber threats: incidents, challenges and response.

Indian Air Force’s (IAF) Wing Commander Shalija Dhami became the country’s first female officer to be appointed as a flight commander of a flying unit. She took over as flight commander of a Chetak helicopter unit at the Hindon airbase in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. A Flight Commander post is second-in-command of the flight commander unit, which means that Dhami is second-in-command in the unit after the commanding officer.

The 18^th Conference of the Parties (CoP18) of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) was held in Geneva, Switzerland. The smooth-coated otter (Lutrogale perspicillata) and Indian star tortoise were given the highest level of international protection from commercial trade.

The Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Shashi Shanker was honoured with the Distinguished Fellowship of Institute of Directors (IOD), 2019 during the 29th Institute of Directors (IOD) Annual Day Ceremony held in New Delhi. The theme of 2019 IOD Annual Day Ceremony was ‘Future Boards: Leading Strategy to Embrace Sustainability’.