The Daily Brief – 22nd December 2018

BCCI has appointed W V Raman as Indian women’s cricket team coach on 20th December 2017. W V Raman Raman has played 11 Tests and 27 ODIs for India and is one of the most qualified coaches in the nation. Presently, Raman is serving as a batting consultant at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru.

The Union Government has announced to confer the Prime Minister’s Shram Awards 2017 to 40 workers across country. The Prime Minister Shram Awards, instituted in 1985 by the Government of India, seeks to recognise the distinguished performances and innovative abilities shown by the workers. This year, no one was awarded the prestigious Shram Ratna Award. Three nominations were chosen for the Shram Bhushan Award, Twelve for the Shram Vir/Shram Veerangana and Sixteen for the Shram Shree/Shram Devi Awards.

The Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamta Banerjee has been awarded the Skoch Chief Minister of the Year Award for the year 2017 for her contribution in the overall development of West Bengal. West Bengal has won 31 Skoch Awards this year for its performance in different fields and for executing unique projects. The Skoch Group is a think tank since 1997.

Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu was also awarded by the Skoch Group with ‘SKOCH Sprinter of the Year’ Award. Commerce and Industry and civil aviation minister Suresh Prabhu won the ‘Steady Reformer’ Award.

InSight, NASA’s new Mars lander, has set up its first instrument, quake monitor (seismometer) that will listen for quakes and wobbles, on planet Mars. It is the first time that a scientific instrument has ever been placed on another planet’s surface. InSight mission was launched by NASA on 5 May 2018 and landed on Mars on 26 November 2018 making a journey of about 483 million km.

India and Japan on December 21, 2018 signed Exchange of Notes and Loan Agreements on Japan’s Official Development Assistance Loan for three projects to India. These 3 projects are: Chennai Metro Project (Phase 2) (I), Program for Japan-India Cooperative Actions towards Sustainable Development Goals in India and Project for Dairy Development.

Jim Mattis, the Defence Secretary of the United States announced his resignation on December 20, 2018, citing policy differences with President Donald Trump as the main reason behind the move. The resignation comes a day after President Donald Trump announced that all US troops would be withdrawn from Syria. Mattis would be retiring at the end of February 2019. Mattis is the 26th United States Secretary of Defense and a former United States Marine Corps general.

The NITI Aayog on December 21, 2018 released the Baseline Report of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) India Index 2018, documenting the progress made by India’s States and Union Territories (UTs) towards implementation of the 2030 SDG targets. The SDG India Index was developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI), Global Green Growth Institute and United Nations in India. According to it the Top Perfomers were Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Chandigarh.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will release the commemorative coin and postage stamp in memory of Paika Rebellion on December 24, 2018 during his visit to Bhubaneswar. The Prime Minister will also be inaugurating the Lalitgiri Archaeological Museum, adding a new facet of tourism in the region and increase the immense potential of employment generation. In 1817, forty years before the revolt of 1857, Buxi Jagabandhu roused his brave Paika warriors against the oppressive British Raj in Khordha and led them into battle.