1-2 november 2015 eng
Air Marshal Virender Mohan Khanna took over as Maintenance Head of IAF
Air Marshal Virender Mohan Khanna on 1 November 2015 took over as the Air Officer-in-charge Maintenance (AOM) at Air Headquarters, New Delhi.
Khanna was commissioned in the mechanical stream of Aeronautical Engineering branch in the Indian Air Force (IAF) on 25 July 1977.
The Air Marshall obtained his bachelor’s degree from Regional Engineering College, Kurukshetra and completed his masters in Industrial Engineering and Management from IIT, Kharagpur. He is an also an alumnus of the prestigious Defence Services Staff College, Wellington. In addition, he also received post graduate diploma in Journalism and Human Rights.
In his 38 years long career, Khanna worked as Director General (Aircraft) and Assistance Chief of Air Staff Engg (Transport and Helicopters) at Air HQ, Senior Maintenance Staff Officer and Chief Engineering Officer at HQ Eastern Air Command. He also carried out services at various Base Repair Depots as Chief of Aircraft, Chief of Production and Planning and Commanding Officer. Besides, he was also involved in successful induction of large number of MI-17 V5 helicopters, Hawk AJT and Pilatus aircraft.
In addition, Khanna was also the member of two Indian Expeditions to Antarctica where IAF played an important role in setting up Indian permanent bases, namely Dakshin Gangotri and Maitri.
He is also the recipient of Vishisht Seva Medal and Ati Vishisht Seva Medal.
Sania Mirza-Martina Hingis won women's doubles title of Singapore Open
Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis on 1 November 2015 won Singapore BNP Paribas WTA Finals women's doubles title. The top-seeded Indo-Swiss pair defeated eighth seed Spanish team of Garbine Muguruza and Carla Suarez Navarro 6-0, 6-3.
Extending their incredible unbeaten record, Mirza and Hingis lifted their ninth trophy of the season. The other eight titles are Indian Wells, Miami, Charleston, Wimbledon, US Open, Guangzhou, Wuhan and China Open.
Earlier in 2014, Sania won this tournament with Zimbabwean Cara Black.
Besides, Agnieszka Radwanska claimed her maiden WTA Finals title with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Czech Petra Kvitova at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
Eminent archaeologist V.N. Misra passed away
Renowned archaeologist and pre-historian Professor Virendra Nath Misra on 31 October 2015 passed away due to old-age related problems. He was 80.
Born on 9 January 1935, Misra hailed from Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh. He completed his initial studies from the University of Lucknow, and then joined Deccan College and graduated from University of Pune.
After completing his studies in Sanskrit and Anthropology, Misra received guidance in archaeology from Professor HD Sankalia, who is considered to have pioneered archaeological excavation techniques in the country.
Misra is known worldwide for his research in Prehistory, Protohistory and Ethnoarchaeology. In addition, he is also noted for his studies in northern Rajasthan, western Madhya Pradesh and Maharastra. His most striking achievement is the excavations at the world heritage site of Bhimbetkain Madhya Pradesh and the 6000-year-old site ofBalathalin Rajasthan.
Misra retired as a Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology in 1995. He had also served as the Director of Deccan College in 2000.
In 1977, Misra founded a dedicated society for pre-historic studies and started an international research journal, Man and Environment, which he edited from its inception till his death.
The noted archaeologist was conferred with the prestigious VS Wakankar Awardby the Madhya Pradesh Government with for his contribution to pre-history.
Flight 7K9268 of Russian Airbus A321 crashed in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula
Hassana area of the restive Sinai Peninsula: Russian plane Airbus A321 crashed
Flight 7K9268 of Airbus A321 operated by Russian airline Kogalymavia (Metrojet) crashed with 224 people, including 17 children on board in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on 31 October 2015.
The plane crashed while travelling from Sharm el-Sheikh bound to St Petersburg. It was travelling at an altitude of about 35000 feet when it started a rapid descent.
A day of mourning was observed in Russia on 1 November 2015 after its worst air disaster.
The cause of the crash remains unknown as the Russian authorities’ claims that it crashed due to technical fault, while Militants allied to Islamic State for Iraq and Syria (ISIS) on social media claimed that it is responsible for the crash.
Egypt and Russia, however, have dismissed ISIS claims. Egyptian Prime Minister said experts have confirmed that a plane could not be downed at an altitude of 31,000 feet, by weapons the militants are known to possess. Russian Transport Minister also said that there is no evidence which indicates the plane was targeted.
American actor Al Molinaro passed away
American actor Al Molinaro, best known for playing diner owner Al Delvecchioon the TV seriesHappy Days, died on 30 October 2015 in Glendale, California due to complications from gall stones. He was 96.
Molinaro was also known for his character named Murray Greshler, which he played in TV series The Odd Couple. Besides, he also starred in TV commercials forOn-Cor frozen dinnersfor 16 years.
The actor, born on 24 June 1919 in Kenosha, Wisconsin, studied acting and was offered guest roles on TV sitcoms, including Bewitched, Get Smart, Green Acres, and That Girl, in the 1960s and the 1970s.
In 1970, Molinaro was offered the role of police officer Murray Greshler on the TV sitcom The Odd Couple, which took him to new heights of success.
He also acted in two films, 1976's Freaky Friday and 1980's The Great American Traffic Jam.
AK Jha took over as CMD of Mahanadi Coalfields Limited
Anil Kumar Jha on 1 November 2015 took over the charge of Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD) of Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL), a leading subsidiary of Coal India.
Before taking over the charge in MCL, Jha served as the Director (Production & Planning) in MOIL Limited.
In his 32 years long career, Jha holds a rich experience mine planning, production, management supervision, direction and control of underground as well as open cast coal mines.
Jha obtained an M-Tech degree in Mine Planning and Design from the Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad. Later, he started his career from the Ranchi-headquartered Coal India subsidiary Central Coalfields Limited (CCL) in 1983.
Jha, as the Director (P&P) of MOIL Limited, was a Nominated Owner and Head of Production, Planning, Projects, Quality Control and Mine Safety Divisions and other allied departments including Personnel and Industrial Relations Department.
MHRD constituted TSR Subramanian committee to draft New Education Policy
Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) on 31 October 2015 constituted a drafting committee to frame the New Education Policy (NEP). It will be headed by former Cabinet Secretary TSR Subramanian and will have four members-
• Shailaja Chandra, former Chief Secretary, NCT of Delhi
• Sewaram Sharma, former Home Secretary, NCT of Delhi
• Sudhir Mankad, former Chief Secretary of Gujarat
• JS Rajput, former Director, NCERT
The mandate of the committee is to go through the outcomes of wide-ranging consultation process, among others, initiated by the ministry on 26 January 2015 and draft a revision to the NEP 1986 and also submit Framework for Action.
The committee is expected to submit the report by 31 October 2015.
New Zealand won Rugby World Cup for record third time
New Zealand on 31 October 2015 won the Rugby World Cup for the third time. In the final played at Twickenham Stadium in London, the New Zealanders defeated Australia 34-17.
With this win, New Zealand became the first team to retain the Webb Ellis Cup. For the All Black Caps, this was their first World Cup win outside New Zealand.
Since 2011, New Zealand has won 49 of the 54 games under Coach Steve Hansen.
World Rugby Awards Winners
• Man of the Match:Dan Carter (New Zealand)
• Team of the Year:New Zealand
• Coach of the Year:Michael Cheika (Australia)
• Player of the Year: Dan Carter (New Zealand)
• Breakthrough Player of the Year:Nehe Milner-Skudder (New Zealand)
• Try of the Year:Julian Savea (New Zealand) vs France
• Referee of the Year: Nigel Owens
Webb Ellis Cup
• The Webb Ellis Cup is the trophy awarded to the winner of the Rugby World Cup, the premier competition in men's international rugby union.
• The Cup is named after William Webb Ellis, who is often credited as the inventor of rugby football.
• The trophy is silver gilt and has been presented to the winner of the Rugby World Cup since the first competition in 1987.
• It has been held thrice by New Zealand (1987, 2011 & 2015), twice by Australia (1991 & 1999) and South Africa (1995 & 2007), and once by England in 2003.
Ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) won majority in Parliamentary elections of Turkey
Ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) on 2 November 2015 won the Parliamentary elections of Turkey. The party founded by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan secured 316 seats in the 550-member parliament and garnered 49.4 percent of the vote.
The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) secured 134 seats with 25.4% votes, while, the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) won 59 seats and crossed the 10% threshold needed to claim seats. The nationalist Movement Party (MHP) won 41 seats will take seats in Ankara.
AKP won more than 276 seats needed to get a majority and form a government of its own. But, it fell 14 seats short of the amount needed to call a referendum on changing the Constitution and increasing the powers of the President.
However, with 60 more seats, that is, 376 seats would have helped the government to bring those changes without a referendum.
AKP came into power after losing its majority in June 2015 for the first time in 13 years, when it secured only 40 percent of the vote.
China made sexual assault on men a crime
In China, sexual assault of men was declared a crime with effective from 31 October 2015. In this regard, an amendment to sexual assault laws was approved by the National People’s Congress, country’s central legislature, in August 2015.
As per the amendment, indecent assault on men or women now carries a minimum sentence of five years in prison.
Earlier, sexual offenders on men were punished under the charges of intentional injury and were given punishment up to 12 months in prison.
The amendment to criminal laws became necessary to curtail growing incidents of sexual assault among partners of gay relationship.
As per a recent survey of state-run Global Times of People’s Daily, gay and lesbian culture is fast spreading in China.
Punjab Government signed MoU to set up bio-ethanol refinery
The Punjab Government on 29 October 2015 inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a consortium of Beta Renewables, Novozymes and CVC India Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. to set up a bio-ethanol refinery worth 950 crore rupees in the state.
The agreement was signed on the last day of the two-day secondProgressive Punjab Investors’ Summit, 2015.
The refinery will be constructed in two years, which will make Punjab the state leader in the bio-refinery sector.
Key features of the bio-refinery
•The bio-refinery will help in solving the chronic problem of wheat and paddy straw burning in the state.
•It will help in containing the loss of fertility and damage to environment.
•It will help in generating co-products of biogas, pellets and compost through processing bio-refinery effluents and pellets.
In addition, the government signed 12 other MoUs worth 21305 crore rupees, which include 300 MW solar plant and 150 MW solar plant with Neuron Power Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Biomass Power Plant by Sukhbir Agro Energy Ltd., 100 MW waste-to-energy projects by AG Dauters Consulting Pvt. Ltd., 100 MW power generation unit by Navrattan Group, Co-Generation power plant by Indian Sucrose Ltd. and 50 MW solar power plant by Imperial Solution Pvt. Ltd.
BrahMos Supersonic Cruise Missile successfully test-fired from INS Kochi
India on 1 November 2015 successfully test-fired BrahMos Supersonic Cruise Missile from INS Kochi off the west coast. BrahMos, in its 49th test-firing, successfully destroyed target ship Alleppey which was stationed 290 km away, the missile’s full range.
The purpose of the test was to validate capabilities of BrahMos and INS Kochi, the country’s newest stealth-destroyer, which was inducted into the navy on 30 September 2015.
INS Kochi has the advanced capability of carrying a total of 16 BrahMos missiles in two 8-cell vertical launch systems, besides other sophisticated weapons and sensors.
Features of BrahMos Missile
• It is the first supersonic cruise missile known to be in service and is capable of carrying a conventional and nuclear warhead of 300 kilogram.
• It is a two-stage missile having Solid propellant in the first stage and Ramjet liquid propellant in the second stage.
• It can be launched from land, Sea, Sub-seas and air.
• It operates on Fire and Forget Principle by adopting varieties of flights on its way to the target.
• It approaches the enemy target with a top speed of Mach 2.8; which is about three times faster than the US subsonic Tomahawk cruise missile.
• The missile has been developed by the BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited. It is a joint venture between Russian Federation's NPO Mashinostroeyenia and India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the missile derives its name from the names of two rivers, namely the Brahmaputra of India and the Moskva of Russia.
• While the navy and army versions of the missile were inducted in 2005 and 2007 respectively, the air version is still in the testing stage.
NPPA capped prices of 18 drug formulations
National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) on 29 October 2015 capped prices of 18 drug formulations like anti-diabetic Metformin HCl tablets, antibacterial Ceftriaxone Sodium injection packs and others.
The revision in respect to 18 formulation packs was done under the Drugs Prices Control Order (DPCO) 2013.
The move is likely to bring down the prices of few medicines for treatment of diabetes, hypertension and severe infections like pneumonia.
The drug pricing regulator, NPPA in a statement said that prices have also been revised and fixed for hormone releasing Intra-Uterine Devices (IUD) used for family planning, and anti-vomiting orally disintegrating strips. This price fixation by the NPPA includes drugs from leading pharmaceutical companies.
Wide-ranging price cuts since 2014 have hit several drug makers in India and have been opposed by many in the industry, who say drug prices in the country are already among the lowest in the world.
Hero Group founder Brijmohan Lall Munjal died
Hero Group founder Brijmohan Lall Munjal died on 1 November 2015 in New Delhi. He was 92 and survived by three sons and one daughter.
He was considered as the doyen of Indian two-wheeler industry and at the time of his death, he was the Chairman Emeritus of Hero MotoCorp.
Achievements of Brijmohan Lall Munjal
• He started the Hero Group, which officially came into existence in 1956, along with this four brothers in the early 1940s as a bicycle-maker in Ludhiana.
• He led the Hero MotoCorp to the world’s largest two-wheeler company now for the 14th year in a row.
• He also led Hero Cycles, part of Hero Group, to become the largest manufacturer of bicycles since 1986.
• He oversaw company’s joint venture (Hero Hond) with Japan’s Honda in 1984 that went on to become the world’s single-largest motorcycle maker. The partnership ended in 2011.
• An institution-builder, Brijmohan Lall led the Hero Group to successfully venture into other areas such as auto ancillary, financial services, renewable energy, education and electronics.
For his contributions to the industry he was conferred with many awards including the Padma Bhushan in 2005 and Lifetime Achievement for the Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship in 2011.
Munjal was born in 1923 at Kamalia in present-day Pakistan and migrated to India post the partition.
Facebook and BSNL partnered to set up 100 WiFi hotspots in rural India
US-based social networking giant Facebook on 31 October 2015 partnered with state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) to create 100 WiFi hotspots in rural areas of western and southern India.
During the partnership, Facebook will invest 5 crore rupees per annum for buying bandwidth from BSNL. The hotspots will be set up by BSNL selected vendor Quad Zen and Trimax.
Under the joint initiative, Facebook has chosen 100 villages to provide Wi-Fi hotspots on a revenue-sharing model. The social media major will spend 5 lakh per site a year for buying bandwidth from BSNL for a period of three years.
Around 25 villages are selected for the pilot project in southern and western India. As per the terms of partnership, the project can be extended by another two years from the present three-year partnership.
As per the project, the first half an hour will be free for the consumers. In addition, the WiFi network will have a capacity to allow an average of 2000 individuals to latch on at the same time.
Qaud Zen will be responsible for equipment sourcing and sales and marketing initiatives for the south-west region while Trimax will work out for the northern region in an open process.
BSNL expects to complete the WiFi rollout by 31 December 2015.
Roger Federer won 2015 Swiss Indoors men’s singles title by defeating Rafael Nadal
Roger Federer of Switzerland on 1 November 2015 won the Swiss Indoors men’s singles tennis title. He defeated Rafael Nadal of Spain 6-3 5-7 6-3 at the final match held at the St. Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland.
For the 17-time Grand Slam winner, it was seventh Swiss Indoors title and 88th of his career. In 2015, it was his sixth title.
However, Nadal still has the upper hand as he has an impressive 23-11 head-to-head record against Federer.
About Swiss Indoors
• It is a professional men's tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts.
• It is originally an event of the Grand Prix tennis circuit between 1970 and 1989.
• It is currently part of the World Tour 500 Series of the ATP Tour and held annually at the St. Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland since 1995.
MTS India merged with Reliance Communications
Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications (RCom) on 2 November 2015 declared that it will take over Russian conglomerate Sistema Shyam Teleservices’ (SSTL) venture that operates under the brand name of MTS for a cashless deal valued at around 4500-5000 crore rupees.
The merger will bring 9 million customers and around 1500 crore rupees in revenues to RCom. It will also help RCom extend the validity of spectrum in 800/850 MHz band spectrum, ideally suited for 4G LTE services, in eight circles, including Delhi and Kolkata, by 12 years from 2021 till 2033.
As per the terms of merger, SSTL will acquire 10 percent equity in RCom. The Reliance Communications will assume the liability to pay instalments for SSTL’s spectrum, amounting to 392 crore rupees per annum, to the Department of Telecom (DoT) for the next 10 years.
Nico Rosberg of Germany won 2015 Mexican Grand Prix Formula 1 championship
Mercedes racing driver Nico Rosberg of Germany on 1 November 2015 won the 2015 Mexican Grand Prix Formula 1 championship.
In the final race held at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City, he defeated his team mate Lewis Hamilton of Britain with a seven point lead.
While Felipe Massa of Brazil representing Williams was at the sixth position, Force India drivers-Nico Hulkenberg (Germany) and Sergio Perez (Mexico) were at the seventh and eight positions respectively.
For Rosberg, it was the fourth title in the 2015 season. Prior to the present championship, he won the titles in Spain, Monaco and Australia. Overall, it was the 12th title in his career.
Vikalp Scheme launched for confirmed accommodation to waitlisted passengers in alternate trains
Indian Railways on 1 November 2015 launched Alternate Train Accommodation Scheme (ATAS) called as Vikalp to provide confirmed accommodation to waitlisted passengers in alternate trains.
The scheme was launched on pilot basis for the tickets booked through internet on Delhi-Lucknow and Delhi-Jammu sectors of Northern Railway. It will be operational for six months.
The purpose of the scheme is to provide confirmed accommodation to waitlisted passengers and also to ensure optimal utilisation of available accommodation.
Under this scheme, wait listed passengers of a train can opt for confirmed accommodation in alternate trains.
However, ATAS opted passengers who remain fully waitlisted after charting will only be considered for allotment in the alternate train.
India-Africa relations: The way forward
The India-Africa Forum Summit was held on 29 October 2015 in New Delhi with the theme Partners in Progress: Towards a Dynamic and Transformative Development Agenda. It was third summit in the series since the beginning of the forum in 2008.
The summit adopted the Delhi Declarationcalling for transformative relationship in the coming decades. Besides, the summit also approved the 2015 India-Africa Framework for Strategic Cooperation and Plan of Action to transform shared aspirations into reality.
India’s role in Africa
Development Assistance:India is one of the key partners of development in Africa. India’s development assistance is next only to the United Nations, Japan and China and since 2008, around 17.4 US billion dollarswere pledged by India for augmenting Africa’s development.
In addition, India announced to provide a grant assistance of 600 million US dollars in the 2015 summit that will include an India-Africa Development Fund of 100 million and an India-Africa Health Fund of 10 million US dollars.
Education:In the 2015 summit, India committed 50000 scholarships to African students to avail higher education in our country. India, in a joint initiative with the African Union, has launchedthe Pan-African e-network project in 2007 to support tele-education, telemedicine, e-commerce, e-governance, infotainment, resource-mapping and meteorological services to 54 African nations.
Civil wars & Conflicts: India is one of the largest contributors to UN Peacekeeping operations in Africa. Indian personnel are involved in four missions-Ivory Coast (since 2004), Congo (2005), Sudan & South Sudan (2005) and Liberia (2007).
Why Africa is relevant for India?
Source of minerals: Africa has rich mineral resource base. Apart from gold and silver, crude oil imports forms the basis of trade relationship between Indian and Africa.
In May 2015, Nigeria became largest oil exporterto India replacing Saudi Arabia. At present, around 26 percent of India’s crude oil importscome from Africa primarily led by Nigeria and Angola.
ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL), international arm of ONGC, has presence in five African countries-Libya, Nigeria, Sudan, South Sudan and Mozambique-which shows deepening relationship in oil exploration and production.
Further, Africa’s capabilities as the next global provider of rare earth minerals will also help India to check China’s dominance in this strategic sector that is at the core of modern electronics industry.
Market for Indian made goods: In recent times, Africa emerged as one the prime destinations for Indian made goods due to improving living standards and quality of life in the continent.
According to World Bank data, Africa is richer than India on the basis of GNI, and a dozen African countries have a higher GNI per capita than China.
Hence, Africa will be the best bet for India in future also, as India’s production is set to increase over and above the consumption level under the ambitious Make in India initiative.
India’s recent decision to extend preferential treatment to least developing countries (LDCs), of which African countries form majority, in trade in services in the WTO is expected to extend the mineral resource-led trade momentum to even the services sector in near future.
Though the trade with Africa increased by 20 times in last 15 years it is way behind the stipulated 100 billion US dollars target set for 2015.
In the comparative sense, even the 100 billion trade target is far less than China’s 250 billion US dollars trade partnership with Africa.
Presence in Global institutions: African Union of 54 countries constitutes more than a quarter of UN members and their large presence will certainly boost India’s prospects for the UN Security Council permanent membership.
Getting elected to the UN Security Council for seven terms since 1945 and recent victories for India in elections to the important organizations like UNICEF, World Food Program, UN Habitat, etc could not have been possible without the help of African nations.
Areas of common interest
Demography: Though India and Africa vary in size, both have many commonalities on the demographic front, such as
• They have equal population of around 130 crore and together form one third of global population.
• With almost 200 million people aged between 15 and 24, Africa has the youngest population in the world. Similarly, India too has around 18 percent of population in this segment.
• India is equivalent to Africa in terms of ethnic and linguistic diversity.
Against the backdrop of large youth population and high rate of unemployment rates, India and Africa can learn from each other to develop skills and reap demographic dividends.
Security:Taking into account the expanded ambit of security, both India and Africa face similar threats from internal and external sources in the form of-poverty, hunger, unemployment, insurgency, terrorism, drug trafficking, human trafficking, money laundering, piracy, diseases, etc.
New International Order: In order to press for more democratic global order, structural and procedural reforms in the global political and financial institutions like the United Nations, World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) are mandatory. To achieve this, both the partners should strive for deeper engagement.
Conclusion
While the Non Alignment Movement (NAM) and resistance to cold-war politics and racism were the binding factors till 1990s’, new age Indo-Africa relationship is marked by bilateral and multilateral cooperation focusing on trade, investments, people-to-people exchanges and broad-based development aspirations.
It is high time, leadership in India and Africa realise people as their true resource, as recognised in the Delhi Declaration, and strive hard for betterment of lives as enunciated in the UN Sustainable Development Goals.