The Daily Brief – 7th November 2018

The World Tsunami Awareness Day is observed every year across the world on 5 November to spread awareness among people about Tsunami. This year it was third edition of World Tsunami Awareness Day after it was instituted in December 2015. It focused on Target “c” of Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction which aims at reducing direct disaster economic loss in relation to GDP.

The newly-built Ekana International Stadium of Lucknow was on November 5, 2018 renamed after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The stadium was renamed just ahead of the first-ever international cricket match – the T20 International between India and West Indies.

The United States on November 5, 2018 temporarily exempted eight countries, including India from the US sanctions for buying Iranian oil. The other countries include China, Japan, Italy, Greece, South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey. Iran is India’s third-largest supplier after Iraq and Saudi Arabia and meets about 10 per cent of total needs. India had previously resisted US’s call to reduce crude oil imports from Iran to zero, citing the increasing energy needs of its 1.3 billion of population.

Union Home Ministry has released more than Rs. 113 crore to six-border states under Border Area Development Programme (BADP) as part of its plan to ameliorate the problems of people living in isolated locations. These six states are Assam, Nagaland, Sikkim, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand. The umbrella BADP scheme is being implemented by Union Home Ministry in 367 border blocks of 104 border districts in 17 states. A total of Rs 13,400 crore so far has been released since BADP programme was initiated in 1986-87.

India and Malawi on November 5, 2018 signed three MoUs on Extradition Treaty, cooperation in the field of atomic energy for peaceful purposes and visa waiver for diplomatic and official passports during the Vice President Venkaiah Naidu’s visit in Malawi on November 5. India will also extend a new Line of credit of 215 million US dollars to Malawi for 18 water projects.

Tourism Minister K J Alphons on November 5, 2018 inaugurated the Tourist Facilitation and Information Counter at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi. The centre is aimed at helping the tourists who will visit the country. The counter will be connected to the 24×7 Helpline – 1363 of the Tourism Ministry. The Tourism Ministry is also starting facilitation counters in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Gaya and Varanasi.

The world’s largest airport “Istanbul Airport” was unveiled by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan outside Istanbul. The new $11.7 billion will be one of the world’s busiest airports. The new airport, located on the shores of the Black Sea, will be able to handle 90 million passengers a year and can be expanded to accommodate as many as 200 million. The airport’s tulip-shaped air traffic control tower won the 2016 International Architecture Award.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on November 5, 2018 launched the ‘BhubaneswarMe Wi-Fi’ by Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited to make the city accessible across its major happening places. On the first day 100 hotspots located in major locations with 275 access points (APs) went live. One wi-fi hotspot would be able to handle 150 users at a given point of time and the Internet speed will be available at 2 mega bytes per second (MBPS).

Senior diplomat Gaddam Dharmendra has been appointed India’s Ambassador to Iran. Dharmendra, a 1990-batch Indian Foreign Service officer and at present, additional secretary in the MEA here, will replace Saurabh Kumar, who was appointed India’s ambassador to Myanmar in October.