- UNESCO appoints its second woman Director-General
UNESCO member states confirmed the nomination of France’s former culture minister Audrey Azoulay to head the cultural agency.45-year-old Azoulay becomes UNESCO’s second woman director general.
According to the reports, Azoulay succeeds Irina Bokova of Bulgaria, whose eight-year term was marred by financial woes.
- RedBus co-founder named Telangana’s Chief Innovation Officer
The Telangana Government has appointed Phanindra Sama, who Co-Founded bus ticketing company RedBus and serial entrepreneur, as Chief Innovation Officer of the State.
A South African investment firm had acquired RedBus for about Rs 780 crore. After the successful exit, Phanindra Sama has been working with start-ups and overseeing the activities of Kakatiya Sandbox in Nizamabad.
- Karnataka inks pacts with Chinese firms
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah inaugurated the sixth China-India Forum meet being jointly hosted by the Government of China, Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), China-India Friendship Association (CIFA), and Podar Enterprise.
Karnataka Minister for Large and Medium Industries RV Deshpande said Karnataka expected trade and investments between India and China to increase as India sees big opportunities to attract Chinese companies to Make in India, besides attracting investments.
- Kiren Rijiju inaugurates the ‘India Disaster Response Summit’
The Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju has said that India need to prepare itself for moving towards Disaster Risk Management (DRM) and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) from an approach of traditional Disaster Management.
Rijiju was inaugurating the ‘India Disaster Response Summit’, organised jointly by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and Facebook, on how best to leverage social media platforms to ‘prepare, respond and recover’ for, during and after a disaster.
- Cabinet approves ₹25,700 cr for convention centre in Delhi
The Cabinet has approved Rs 25,703 crore for development of an Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre at Dwarka to put the national capital in the league of Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore in the area of exhibition market, an official statement said.
The Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre (ECC) and allied infrastructure will be developed in public private partnership (PPP) and non-PPP mode (including exhibition and convention spaces, arena, trunk-infrastructure, Metro/NHAI connectivity, hotels, office and retail spaces) by 2025.
- Cabinet approves creation of body to conduct entrance exams
The Union cabinet has approved the establishment of an independent body to conduct high-profile entrance exams, including the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET) for students aspiring to join medical colleges and the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE-Main) for admission to the elite Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), twice a year.
The National Testing Agency (NTA) will be an autonomous organization that will oversee the conduct of entrance exams for admission to higher educational institutions. Some four million students appear every year in tests that determine their eligibility for admission to prestigious institutions.
- Cabinet approves continuation and Restructuring of National Rural Drinking Water Programme
The Union Cabinet has accorded its approval for continuation and restructuring of National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) to make it outcome-based, competitive and better monitored with increased focus on sustainability (functionality) of schemes to ensure good quality service delivery to the rural population.
A sum of Rs. 23,050 crore has been approved for the programme for the Fourteenth Finance Commission (FFC) period 2017-18 to 2019-20.
- Cabinet approves Creation of National Testing Agency (NTA)
The Union Cabinet chaired has approved creation of National Testing Agency (NTA) as a Society registered under the Indian Societies Registration Act, 1860, and as an autonomous and self-sustained premier testing organization to conduct entrance examinations for higher educational institutions.
- Cabinet approves utilisation of pulses from the buffer stock
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved to utilize part of stock of pulses in the buffer maintained by the Department of Consumer Affairs, for meeting the protein component under various schemes of Central Government providing nutrition to various target groups/beneficiaries.
To give effect to the decision, the CCEA has empowered the concerned Departments/Ministries to carry out suitable amendments in their schemes/guidelines to enable them to take/provide pulses from the buffer in kind under their respective Schemes.
- November 11, 2017: National Education day
National Education Day is celebrated in India on November 11 commemorating the birth anniversary of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. The Indian scholar served as the first education minister of independent India from 1947 to 1958.
National Education Day is observed to raise the quality of education given to students in the country. The day also remembers the contributions of Azad in laying the foundations of the education system in an independent India.
- Cabinet approves MoU between India and Philippines on agriculture and related fields
The Union Cabinet has given its approval for signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Philippines in the field of agriculture and related fields.
The MoU will improve bilateral cooperation in the field of agriculture and will be mutually beneficial to both countries. It will promote understanding of best agricultural practices in the two countries and will help in better productivity as well as improved global market access.
- Kazakhstan, India hold bilateral defence talks
India and Kazakhstan reviewed bilateral defence cooperation engagement between the two countries recently.
During the bilateral meetings, both sides discussed several issues of common interest, examined the current state of bilateral relations in the military sphere and prospects for development and deepening of military-technical cooperation.
- US Congress approves $700-million military aid to Pakistan
The United States’ Congress has authorised to reimburse up to USD 700 million in Coalition Support Fund (CSF) for activities carried out in support of the U.S. operations in Afghanistan.
The authorisation was in the reconciled text of the House and Senate versions of the 2018 National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA-2018.
Pakistan will get USD 350 million of USD 700 million after the U.S. Defence Secretary James Mattis certify that Pakistan took demonstrable steps against the Haqqani network.
- Qatar appoints women to Shura Council for first time
Qatar has appointed women to one of its most important consultative bodies, the Shura Council, for the first time in the country’s history, according to a royal decree announced.
Four woman will sit on the 45-strong council, which is responsible for discussing draft laws approved by the cabinet, general government policy and the state’s draft budget.
- Veteran journalist Virendra Sanghi no more
Senior journalist Virendra Sanghi died at the age of 66. Sanghi had worked for the Samachar Bharti and PTI-Bhasha for long period of time.
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