The Daily Brief – 7th June 2019

Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Thaawarchand Gehlot is participating in the 2nd Global Disability Summit being held at Buenos Aires, Argentina from 6 June to 8 June 2019. The first-ever Global Disability Summit was held at London, United Kingdom (UK) on 24 July 2018. The aim of the summit is to deliberate on issues related to empowerment and inclusion of Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) across the world.

The Indian Navy recently deployed its P8I surveillance planes for carrying out anti-piracy patrol sorties from Salalah (in Oman) to patrol the Gulf of Aden and other piracy prone areas. The deployment is an expansion of Navy’s Mission Based Deployments (MBD) in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), to keep the region safe. Since 2008, India has been conducting anti-piracy patrols in the commercially and strategically crucial Gulf of Aden.

Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, Nigeria’s Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) was elected as President of 74th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA). He will succeed Maria Fernanda Espinosa as President of next General Assembly session that will commence in September 2019.

In first-ever SDG Gender Index, developed by Equal Measures 2030, a partnership effort of regional and global organisations, which measures progress made in achieving gender commitments against internationally set targets, India was ranked 95th out of a total 129 countries. It includes 51 indicators across 14 of 17 official Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). India’s overall score was 56.2 which mean that it is among 43 countries that fall in the ‘very poor’ category. Denmark topped the index with a score of 89.3.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the reconstitution of government of India’s policy think tank NITI Aayog (or National Institution for Transforming India). Rajiv Kumar will continue his designation as Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog. Amitabh Kant, who served as CEO at NITI Aayog (in NDA-I) is not mentioned in reconstitution. NITI Aayog was established on 1 January 2015 by replacing 65 years legacy of Planning Commission (PC).

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has arrived in Bhutan on a two-day visit. He was received by his Bhutanese counterpart Tandi Dorji on his arrival. This is his first overseas trip after assuming charge of the ministry. During the visit, he will hold talks with his Bhutanese counterpart and call on Prime Minister Lotay Tshering. The Minister is also expected to receive an audience with King of Bhutan Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi undertakes a two-day official visit to the Maldives and Srilanka on June 8, 2019. In the first leg of the two-nation tour, the Prime Minister reaches Male where he inaugurates two key projects jointly with the Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the Maldives Parliament called the People’s Majlis. He will also be conferred with the highest award of the island nation, given to any foreign national, Nishan Izzuddin.