India to hold G20 Chair in 2018, Delhi may play host
The G20 member nations took a decision on the Chair for 2018 earlier in September.
India is set to be the G20 Chair in 2018, and New Delhi could host the prestigious annual G20 summit.
G20 Presidency:
The G20 operates as a forum and not as an organisation. Therefore, it does not have any permanent secretariat or management and administrative structure. One of the G20 countries is selected to hold the Chair in rotation, also known as 'G20 presidency'.
The presidency establishes a temporary secretariat for the duration it holds the Chair. The secretariat coordinates all work and organises G20 meetings.
The immediate past, present and next Chair constitute a 'troika' and ensure continuity in the G20 work. In the current year (2015), the presidency is held by Turkey. The Chair was handed over to it by Australia. Turkey will hand over the Chair for the next year (2016) to China. After China, Germany will hold it in 2017.
For selecting presidency, a system has been in place since 2010, when South Korea held the Chair. Under it, 19 countries have been categorised into five regional groupings of a maximum of four nations each.
Member Countries:
The chair rotates among the groups, and one country from a group is selected for a specific year. Group 1 comprises Australia, Canada, Saudi Arabia and the U.S. Group 2 consists of India, Russia, South Africa and Turkey.
Group 3 has Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. Group 4 has France, Germany, Italy and the U.K. Group 5 has China, Indonesia, Japan and South Korea. In 2010, South Korea in Group 5 was the chair. In 2011, France in Group 4 was the chair. In 2012, Mexico in Group 3 was the chair. In 2013, Russia in Group 2 held the chair.
Each member of G20 is represented by its head of state at the Leaders' Summit. Leaders are assisted by their Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, and Sherpas. India recently announced the appointment of NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya as G20 Sherpa.
Specific G20 ministerial meetings, like those of G20 Agriculture Ministers, Labour Ministers and Trade Ministers, are organised on specific themes of importance as identified by the G20 leaders or the G20 presidency.
The outcomes of these meetings feed into the Sherpas' track and subsequently to the leaders' declaration.
After Yoga, Modi govt wants babus to take up adventure sports
After Yoga, the Modi government now wants babus to take up adventure sports like rock-climbing, trekking, paragliding, rafting and snorkelling so as to "create and foster spirit of risk-taking" and tackle the "impact of sedentary life".
The government will also set up a gymnasium in each of its central department as it believes "healthy employees are happy employees".
INS Kochi, India's latest stealth warship, commissioned
The ship incorporates new design concepts for improved survivability, stealth, seakeeping and manoeuvrability.
Naval warship INS Kochi was commissioned by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar at the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai on 30th September.
INS Kochi is the second ship of the Kolkata-class (Project 15A) Guided Missile Destroyers.
The warship is designed by the Navy's in-house organisation, Directorate of Naval Design, and constructed by Mazagon Dock Ship builders Ltd. in Mumbai.
Although conceived as follow-on of the earlier Delhi class, the ship is vastly superior and has major advancements in weapons and sensors.
Sanskrit is voice of India’s soul: Smriti
The Union HRD Minister calls for popularising the language and improving the standard of teaching it.
Describing Sanskrit as the “voice of India's soul and wisdom,” Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani on 30th September.called for popularising the language and improving the standard of teaching it.
To make the language relevant in education and research, she called upon Sanskrit scholars to take the lead in identifying and popularising unpublished manuscripts and works. The Minister said there must be increased use of technology in the teaching of Sanskrit; courses had to be developed so that not just Sanskrit language but also the various shastras, kavyas and plays could be taught through MOOCs (Massive Open Online Course).
Angela Merkel coming on October 4
Highlighting her personal engagement with the world's largest democracy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is going to visit India between October 4 and 7 to attend the 3rd inter- governmental consultations, the German Embassy announced on 30th September.
The German leader's visit will be a follow up to her meeting in New York with the Indian Prime Minister where they formed G-4 to push for reform in the United Nations Security Council, and will be her third meeting with Mr. Modi in six months.
Despite last year's irritants over the replacement of German with Sanskrit, official sources maintain that Germany has shown that it will promote mutual interests whenever opportunity arises.
The visit will be the third by Ms. Merkel in five years. She visited India in October-November 2007 and May 2011. She co-chaired the 1st inter-governmental consultation between India and Germany in 2011. The second round of inter-governmental consultation took place in 2013. But bilateral ties did not sizzle for some time as reportedly both sides failed to find a common approach for a free trade agreement (FTA) between India and the European Union.
India, Japan, U.S. discuss maritime security in trilateral meet
Foreign Ministers of India, the United States and Japan met on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly and highlighted the growing convergence of their respective interests in the Indo-Pacific region.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Japan Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida also decided to meet again in the new format, raising the ongoing official level engagement to a political one.
BRICS meet calls for IMF, U.N. reforms
The regular meeting of BRICS Foreign Ministers on the sidelines of the UNGA called for expansion of the Security Council and reform of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Ministers felt these reforms were in the “interests and needs of the developing countries.”
BRICS Ministers called for a “comprehensive, balanced and equitable agreement with legal force,” at the Paris climate conference in December this year.
India climbs 16 places in WEF's Global Competitiveness Index
After five years of decline, India has moved up 16 positions to 55 place on a global index of world's most competitive economies for the year 2015-16, with Switzerland topping the table for the seventh consecutive year.
In the last year's report, India stood at the 71st position.
However, despite leapfrogging 16 places this year, India still ranks seven notches lower than it did in 2007.
The Geneva-based think-tank stated that while the quality of India's institutions is judged more favourably (60, up 10 places), business leaders still consider corruption to be the biggest obstacle to doing business in the country, followed by policy instability, inflation, access to finance, government instability and inadequate supple of infrastructure, among others.
Additionally, it said even though infrastructure in the country has improved (81st, up six places), it remains a major growth bottleneck, electricity in particular.
India's performance in the macroeconomic stability pillar has improved, although the situation remains worrisome (91st, up 10 places). The inflation also eased to 6 per cent in 2014, due to lower commodity prices, down from near double-digit levels the previous year.
The government budget deficit has gradually dropped since its 2008 peak, although it still amounted to 7 per cent of GDP in 2014, one of the highest in the world (131st).
Kidwai to step down as Chairperson of HSBC India
HSBC India Chairperson Naina Lal Kidwai will retire in December, after a 13-year stint with the bank.
Ms. Kidwai joined HSBC in 2002 as Vice Chairman and Managing Director at HSBC Securities and Capital Markets, India and was appointed Group General Manager of the Bank in 2006.
She took over as CEO of HSBC India in 2007 and as Chairman of HSBC India in 2009.
President Abbas raises Palestinian flag for first time at UN
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called Wednesday a day of \"pride\" and \"hope\" for Palestinians around the world.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas raised the Palestinian flag at the United Nations for the first time on Wednesday with a promise that it will be raised soon in Jerusalem, “the capital of our Palestinian state.”
More than 300 ministers, diplomats and well-wishers who crowded into the rose garden at U.N. headquarters where a temporary flagpole had been erected for the ceremony applauded his words.
Australia launches communications satellite
Isolated Australian communities are a step closer to high-speed internet after the successful launch of one of two new satellites specifically designed for the country's National Broadband Network.
The half-a-billion dollar satellite, named Sky Muster by six-year-old Northern Territory student Bailey Brooks, was launched from French Guiana on Thursday, Xinhua reported.
National Broadband Network (NBN) spokeswoman Frances Kearey told the media that the world's eyes would be watching how Sky Muster delivered on its promises.
West Indies fails to qualify for 2017 Champions Trophy
The declining fortunes of West Indies cricket hit a new low on Wednesday when the Caribbean team failed to qualify for the 2017 Champions Trophy in England.
Restricted to the world's top eight-ranked sides, the West Indies missed out on the lucrative event after slumping to ninth place on Wednesday's cut-off date.
Their failure to qualify marks the first time the West Indies will be missing from any of cricket's three big limited-overs events — the 50-overs World Cup, the Champions Trophy and the Twenty20 World Cup.
West Indies are one of just three teams to have captured all three titles, winning the 50-over World Cup in 1975 and 1979, the Champions Trophy in 2004 and the Twenty20 World Cup in 2012, but have fallen on hard times.
Once the most dominant force in world cricket, West Indies have struggled in recent years, plagued by chaotic mismanagement and rows over player contracts.
Last year, West Indies abandoned their planned tour of India and just two days ago, they suspended coach Phil Simmons after he criticised the selection policy for next month's tour to Sri Lanka.
Their spot in the 2017 Champions Trophy was effectively taken by Bangladesh, whose last appearance at the tournament was in 2006, although they finished seventh in the rankings, just ahead of Pakistan.
Australia, India, South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Pakistan also qualified, along with the host-nation England, who was automatically, granted a place.
The 2017 Champions Trophy will take place from June 1-18, with the eight qualified teams separated into two pools of four, and the top two from each group advancing to the knock-out phase.
Indian-American Professor wins 'genius grant'
$625,000 for his work on converting wastewater into a resource.
Kartik Chandran, an Indian-American Associate Professor of Earth and Environmental Engineering at Columbia Engineering, has been named a 2015 MacArthur Fellow with a “genius grant” of $625,000 (Rs. 4.09 crore).
Mr. Chandran, an IIT-Roorkee graduate, has won the fellowship for his work in “transforming wastewater from a pollutant requiring disposal to a resource for useful products, such as commodity chemicals, energy sources, and fertilizers.”
He joins a distinguished group of 24 talented people who have all demonstrated exceptional originality and dedication to their creative pursuitsas well as a marked capacity for self-direction. The fellows may use the $625,000 stipend as they see fit.
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