NOVEMBER CURRENT AFFAIRS

INTERNATIONALThe Vice President of India M. Hamid Ansari inaugurated the “International Conferenceon Digital Libraries (ICDL)” on the theme ‘Vision 2020 – Looking back and Forging NewFrontiers’ organised by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in New Delhi on 27November. The Vice President has said that there is consensus that knowledge wouldbe the key driving force in the 21st century. The ability to use and create knowledgecapital will determine a country’s capacity to empower and enable its citizens byincreasing human capabilities. Knowledge would also determine the pace and trajectoryof socio-economic development of countries, besides their global competitiveness. TheVice President also said that the realisation of these objectives would naturally involvethe widest possible dissemination and imparting of knowledge amongst all sections ofsociety. In this endeavour, digital libraries would be a critical instrument as they wouldenable people to access, share, and apply knowledge in a more efficient and effectivemanner.

The Italian Senate expelled three-time ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi from Parliamentover his tax fraud conviction on 27 November, ending, for now, his two-decadelegislative run but not his political career. Berlusconi has warned that the unprecedentedmove would embarrass Italy internationally. He maintained his defiance as the Senatevoted. Even though Berlusconi won't hold a seat in Parliament, he is expected to remaininfluential in Italian politics. He has relaunched his Forza Italia Party and he stillcommands millions of loyal supporters. While his lawyers chart possible legalchallenges and his allies move into Italy's opposition, Berlusconi's fans massed in frontof his Roman palazzo for a rally that analysts said was essentially the start of Italy's nextelectoral campaign. The Senate vote on whether to remove Berlusconi from thechamber stems from a 2012 law that bans anyone sentenced to more than two years inprison from holding or running for public office for six years. His lawyers claim the law isunconstitutional and have questioned why the rush to expel him while legal challengesare still pending. Italy’s high court on August 1 upheld Berlusconi's tax fraud convictionand four-year prison term stemming from his Mediaset empire's purchase of televisionrights to US films.

NATO on 26 November, launched its largest-ever cyber exercises to practise wardingoff massive, simultaneous attacks on member states and their partners. Based at thealliance's cyber defence centre in EU member Estonia, the exercises will last three days

and include participants in over 30 European states."Cyber attacks are a daily realityand they are growing in sophistication and complexity," Jamie Shea, a NATO officialspecializing in emerging security challenges, said in a statement. Around 400 legal andIT experts as well as government officials will take part in the operation code-named"Cyber Coalition 2013".

Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis is resigning in the wake of a deadlysupermarket roof collapse, on 27 November. Dombrovskis is "taking politicalresponsibility for the tragedy," spokesman Martin Punke told to the media. The roofcollapse last week, in the Zolitude neighborhood of the capital, Riga, left more than 50people dead -- the deadliest incident in Latvia since the country became independent in1991.His decision to step down came after a meeting with the president, according toLatvia's national news agency, LETA.A total of 54 people, including three firefighters,died in the collapse and several dozen were injured. The cause of the disaster is stillunder investigation. However, Riga Mayor Nils Usakovs told CNN last week thatauthorities think building materials stored on the roof caused it to collapse.

Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) on 27 November 2013 voted in favor ofDubai to be the host city for the World Trade Fair or EXPO 2020. This was decided afterthe third and the final round of voting in Paris on 27 November 2013. The theme ofDubai for the EXPO 2020 is “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future”. A World Expo inDubai in 2020 would be the first to be held in the MENASA (Middle East, North Africaand South Asia) region, which takes place every five years. The yearlong event isconsidered a major event since the award of the EXPO brings home more number ofvisitors and adds to the trade, economy, tourism and hospitality sectors in the host city.The focus is on attracting 25 million people and through word of mouth may be 100million over three to four years. This will give a boost to the local economy, trade, realty,tourism and retail sectors in the long run. World Expos is a meeting point for the globalcommunity to share innovations and make progress on issues of internationalimportance such as the global economy, sustainable development and improved qualityof life for the world’s population. The first world expo was held in London in 1851. ThisExpo will be held every five years in different cities across the world. The last worldexpo took place in 2010 at Shanghai, China.

Ignoring seniority and surprising many, Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on 27November, appointed Lt. Gen. Raheel Sharif, the third in the pecking order, asPakistan's army chief. The change of command comes at a time when Pakistan islocked in war with the homegrown Taliban — a battle that has claimed thousands oflives — going through a phase of icy relation with India and bracing for repercussions ofthe imminent withdrawal of US-led Nato troops from Afghanistan. Lt. Gen. Sharif, 57,was born to Major Muhammad Sharif in Quetta and led a cantonment life.

Iran and P5+1 Group of Nations reached a breakthrough deal on 24 November 2013 tocurb Iran's nuclear programme in exchange for limited sanctions relief. An agreement tothis effect was signed at UN Headquarters in Geneva on 24 November 2013 betweenthe Chief negotiator for the six nations, Catherine Marie Ashton and Iranian ForeignMinister Mohammad Jawad Zarief. The interim deal for six months is intended to givetime and space to the international community to work towards a comprehensiveagreement. After four days of negotiations, representatives of P5+1 group of nations -the US, the UK, Russia, China, France and Germany - reached an agreement with Iran.The deal is intended as the first step in a six-month process aimed at a permanentresolution to the decade-old global impasse over Iran’s nuclear programme, andheading off the threat of a new war in West Asia. The Geneva deal also makes the wayfor releasing over US $ 4 billion in Iranian oil sales revenue from frozen accounts, andsuspends restrictions on the country’s trade in gold, petrochemicals, and car and planeparts. In return, Iran undertakes to restrict its nuclear activities. Iran will give greateraccess to inspectors including daily access at the Natanz and Fordo nuclear sites. Inreturn, there will be no new nuclear-related sanctions for six months if Iran sticks by theaccord.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on 26 November, launched the construction ofthe country's biggest atomic power plant and vowed to pursue further projects to makenuclear the largest energy source. The 2,200-megawatt plant is to be built with Chinesetechnical assistance on the Arabian Sea coast at Paradise Beach, 40 kilometers (25miles) west of Karachi. Pakistan already has three operational nuclear plants generatinga total of around 740 MW of power and has begun work on a fourth, in addition to theone launched on Tuesday."This is one of the first steps of our goal of racing towards aload shedding-free Pakistan," Sharif told the audience at the site of the plant. The WorldNuclear Association has estimated the cost of the new project at nearly US $10 billion.Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission engineers will work on the project with help fromthe China Atomic Energy Authority. A few kilometers further west of the new nuclear

power project, an energy park is being built at Gaddani beach in Baluchistan province,with plans for 6,600 MW coal-fired power projects.

The 3rd BRICS International Competition Conference, 2013 was inaugurated byHon’ble Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on 21st November.Delivering the inaugural address, the Prime Minister focussed on the need to recognisethe complementarily between competition law enforcement and liberalisation of marketsfor procurement. He underscored the importance of adopting competition neutralpolicies. Elimination of unnecessary restrictions and better tender design andspecification can enhance possibilities for effective competition, thereby making bidrigging more difficult. As a result, competitive procurement markets can help savevaluable fiscal resources and release funds for development. Dr. Manmohan Singhexpressed confidence that the two-day conference will see robust discussions coveringall the challenges faced by the BRICS countries in the enforcement of their respectivecompetition regimes. The two-day conference has been organised by CompetitionCommission of India (CCI) on behalf of BRICS countries in pursuance of the BeijingConsensus, New Delhi Declaration and Action Plan adopted at Fourth BRICS LeadersSummit in New Delhi on March 29, 2012. The theme of this BRICS ICC is “CompetitionEnforcement in BRICS Countries: Issues and Challenges”. Earlier, in his welcomeaddress, Chairman, CCI, Mr. Ashok Chawla, expressed the hope that the 3rd BRICSICC would provide an opportunity for the five BRICS countries to share the challengesfaced in their respective countries and gain from the experiences of good practices ofmature competition authorities and the international community at large. This wouldenable the competition authorities to become more effective institutional ombudsman forfair play in the market. The Heads of the Competition Authorities of the FederativeRepublic of Brazil, the Russian Federation, the Republic of India, the People’s Republicof China and the Republic of South Africa signed a Joint Accord namely ‘DELHIACCORD’ on November 22, 2013 during the ongoing 3rd BRICS InternationalCompetition Conference (ICC) at New Delhi. BRICS Competition Authorities, reflectingthe principle of mutual trust and respect, considered the need of establishing goodcommunication between the BRICS Competition Authorities on competition law andpolicy to further improving and strengthening the relationship between the BRICSCompetition Authorities. BRICS Competition Authorities, while recognising the benefitsof technical cooperation among the competition agencies, in sound and effectiveenforcement of competition laws expressed their resolve and commitment to exchangeviews on different aspects of competition policy. The heads of the CompetitionAuthorities of BRICS recommended the publication of the material of the 3rd BRICSICC on their respective websites for the purpose of competition advocacy. TheCompetition Authorities of BRICS support the hosting of the Fourth BRICS ICC during2015.

Abdulla Yameen, the candidate of Progressive Party of Maldives on 16th Novemberdefeated the former premier, Mohammed Nasheed to win the Maldivian Presidentialelections. Yameen secured 51.39 percent of votes, whereas Mohamed Nasheedreceived 48.61. 45 foreign observers and 22 foreign monitors saw the transparency andcredibility of the election. The winning candidate Abdullah Yameen will be sworn in asthe President at a special seating of the Majlis, the Maldivian Parliament. The 54 yearsold Yameen is an economist and the half-brother of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, theformer autocratic ruler, who ruled Maldives for 30 years.Earlier, in September 2013, thefirst round of elections was conducted in which none of the candidates secured morethan 50 percent of the votes. Thus the Supreme Court of Maldives annulled the results.Whereas, the second attempt of polls was to be hold on 19 October 2013, which wasthwarted by the police after the ruling of the Supreme Court. The re-vote was held on 9November 2013, in which any one didn’t emerged as the winner by crossing the 50percent mark. After the failure of the two polls, international community asked toconduct the elections as per the Constitutional provisions.

The much-awaited USD 2.3 billion aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya was inducted intothe Indian Navy on 16 November. The mammoth 44,500-tonne warship wascommissioned into the Indian Navy at the Sevmash Shipyard in the northern Arctic portat a handing over ceremony attended by Defense Minister A K Antony and RussianDeputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin and senior government and naval officials of thetwo countries. The commissioning papers were signed by deputy director of Russia'sarms exporter Rosoboronexport, Igor Sevastyanov and the ship's captain Suraj Berry,Russia's RIA Novosti news agency reported. AK Antony arrived in Russia on 15November, for the commissioning of the aircraft carrier at Russia's nuclear submarinebuilding centre Sevmash Shipyard. Indian Naval Ship Vikramaditya is the country'ssecond aircraft carrier and the navy's biggest warship. INS Vikramaditya'scommissioning is being described as "a game changer" in naval circles, and is expectedto project India's maritime power far beyond its shores. The aircraft carrier is expectedto reach India by early next year. Vikramaditya is 284 meters in length, and with itsbeam of about 60 meters, it stretches to an area as large as three football fields. It has22 decks and will have over 1,600 personnel on board. The warship can carry over 30aircraft, comprising an assortment of MiG 29K/Sea Harrier, Kamov 31, Kamov 28, SeaKing, ALH-Dhruv and Chetak helicopters. Long range air surveillance radars andadvanced electronic warfare suite makes the ship capable of maintaining "a surveillancebubble" of over 500 km around the ship. The ship is equipped with state-of-the-artlaunch and recovery systems and computer-aided Action Information Organization(CAIO) system, which is the heart of the operational network that infuses life into thecombat systems onboard the ship. Negotiations over acquiring Admiral Gorshkov

(which was re-named INS Vikramaditya) started in 1994. A memorandum ofunderstanding was signed in December 1998, and the deal was made January 2004.The Navy has plans of bringing the warship to India and deploy it at the newly-developed Karwar naval base called Project Seabird.

Iran on 18 November 2013 unveiled a biggest missile-equipped drone with a range of2000 km, which would enable it to cover much of the Middle East, including Israel. Thedrone named Fotros has an operational range of 2000 kilometers and can fly at analtitude of 25000 feet, with a flight time of 16 to 30 hours. The drone could carry outreconnaissance missions or launch air-to-surface missile strikes. In September 2013,Iran announced the mass production of the Shahed 129 drone, which it said has arange of 1700 kilometers, is capable of carrying eight missiles and can fly for 24 hours.In the same month, Iran unveiled a reconnaissance drone named Yasseer, which wassaid to be capable of flying for eight hours with a range of 200 kilometers and at analtitude of 4500 meters.

China on 23 November, said it had set up an air defense zone covering the internationalairspace over parts of the disputed East China Sea, requiring all non-commercialaircraft to notify its authorities of their flight plans to avoid triggering a response from airdefense forces. Japan lodged “a serious protest” in response to the move, describing itas “an extremely dangerous” step that could result in “unpredictable events.” The AirDefense Identification Zone (ADIZ) over the East China Sea may be followed by theestablishment of similar zones covering China’s other frontiers, the Defense Ministrysaid, with zones to be set up to boost China’s territorial defenses “at an appropriate timeafter completing preparations.” The ADIZ is a predefined area over internationalairspace within which the Chinese military will monitor and track aircraft. Manycountries, from India to the U.S. and Japan, monitor similar zones beyond theirimmediate territorial airspaces to track aircraft for security purposes. While the Chinesegovernment said international flights will not be affected, any other non-commercialflights that have not notified authorities of their flight plans will likely face interception,and could also be brought down. The Chinese ADIZ overlaps with the ADIZ that Japanhas already established in the region, with both zones covering the disputed Diaoyu orSenkaku Islands in the East China Sea. The move is likely to fuel tensions with Japan,coming at a time when both countries have sparred over the disputed Senkaku orDiaoyu islands in the East China Sea. In recent months, both countries have dispatchedpatrol boats to enforce their claims, while Japan has also scrambled fighter jets afterChinese Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) entered the airspace above the islands andthreatened recently to shoot them down.

Malta, a Southern European country was on 17 November 2013 unanimously chosenas the host of the next Commonwealth summit in 2015.The decision was made at theretreat session of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) inColombo, Sri Lanka after Mauritius withdrew as host of the 2015 Commonwealthsummit as a result of its prime minister's boycott of the Colombo summit over SriLanka's human rights concerns. This is second time for Malta to host theCommonwealth summit. Before this, Malta hosted a Commonwealth Summit in 2005.

A spacecraft designed to dive deep into the upper atmosphere of Mars and find outwhat happened to the planet's water took off from Cape Canaveral on 18 November, inNasa's most ambitious attempt yet to understand the causes of dramatic climate changeon our planetary neighbour. The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission, orMaven, is bristling with instruments able to measure the effect of solar wind and analysethin traces of gases, in order to help scientists model the process that left the planet sodry and barren. Orbiting between 3,864 miles and 77 miles above the desert surface,Maven is expected to reveal how Mars' atmosphere was gradually peeled away overbillions of years, by the sun's radiation. Among the eight instruments and nine sensorson board the spacecraft is a magnetometer that will help scientists measure changes inthe magnetic field around Mars that would once have protected its atmosphere fromsolar wind. In September, decade-long preparations for the mission were brieflyinterrupted by the US government shutdown. Maven will take nearly a year to reach thered planet and scientists estimate it should be sending back its first results by early2015.Maven's prime mission is expected to last for one year, enough time for scientiststo collect data during solar storms and other space weather events. Maven will remainin orbit for up to 10 years, serving as a communications relay for Curiosity, a follow-onrover slated to launch in 2020 and a lander that is being designed to study the planet'sdeep interior. Following its successful launch on 18 November, the spacecraft is due toreach Mars on 22 September 2014 – two days before India's Mars Orbiter Mission,which launched on 5 November. India's probe has been raising its orbit around Earthand should be in position to begin the journey to Mars on 1 December.

Russia successfully launched a Proton-M rocket carrying a military satellite on 12November, from its Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The launch took place on 12november, carrying a satellite for the Russian defence ministry, the Russian spaceagency Roscosmos said.Russia restarted launches of Proton rockets in September

after a pause to investigate why one exploded on takeoff on July 2. The Proton-M rocketis Russia's most popular for commercial satellite launches. Roscomos chief VladimirPopovkin was dismissed in October after two and a half years, with Prime MinisterDmitry Medvedev complaining of a "whole number of problems" in the space agency'swork.

India's public broadcaster Prasar Bharati and Radio-Television of Slovenia (RTV-SLO)on 13 November 2013 signed a MoU to develop and strengthen mutual friendlyrelations through an increased cooperation in the field of broadcasting. The agreementwas signed by head of international department of RTV SLO, Suzana Vidas Karoli andMember Personnel of Prasar Bharati, V.A.M. Hussain. The MoU allows exploring furtheropportunities in potential projects of production of programmes. It also entails exchangeof programmes in the field of culture, education, entertainment, sports and news.

Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the UN Chemicalweapons watchdog on 15 November 2013 started its work on the final roadmap for thedestruction of chemical arsenals of Syria. In the plan, Syrian chemical weapons will betransported for destruction outside its territory to ensure their destruction in the safestand soonest manner, and no later than 30 June 2014. The deadline of OPCW to agreeon the destruction milestones of more than 1000 tonnes of dangerous chemicals inSyria expired on 15 November 2013. The plan was adopted during the meeting of its41-member Executive Council in The Hague.

Abdulla Yameen, the candidate of Progressive Party of Maldives on 16 November 2013defeated the former premier, Mohammed Nasheed to win the Maldivian Presidentialelections. Election Commission of Maldives announced the result of the election on 16November 2013, in which Yameen defeated Mohamed Nasheed of MaldivianDemocratic Party with a margin of six thousand votes. Yameen secured 51.39 percentof votes, whereas Mohamed Nasheed received 48.61. 45 foreign observers and 22foreign monitors saw the transparency and credibility of the election. The winningcandidate Abdullah Yameen will be sworn in as the President at a special seating of theMajlis, the Maldivian Parliament. The 54-year old Yameen is an economist and the half-brother of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, the former autocratic ruler, who ruled Maldives for30 years. After the failure of the two polls, international community asked to conduct theelections as per the Constitutional provisions.

The 22nd Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting; CHOGM began in Colombo,Sri Lanka on 15 November 2013. The Summit was inaugurated by Prince Charles of

England, who is representing Queen Elizabeth at the Commonwealth Summit. Thetheme for CHOGM 2013 is Growth with Equity; Inclusive Development. External AffairsMinister Salman Khurshid represented the India in the meet. This year, CHOGM in heldSri Lanka, the first time an Asian country is hosting the summit in 24 years. The lastCHOGM Summit (in 2011) was held at Perth, Australia. The Commonwealth Heads ofGovernment Meeting (CHOGM) is held every two years to enable leaders ofCommonwealth countries to come together to discuss global and Commonwealthissues, and to decide on collective policies and initiatives. Every CHOGM is jointlyorganized by the host country and the Commonwealth Secretariat. These biennialmeetings serve as the principal policy and decision-making forum to guide the strategicdirection of the association. The Commonwealth of Nations is a voluntary association of53 countries, many of them former territories of the British Empire. It was established in1949. The head of the Commonwealth is Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Fifty-threecountries are members of the Commonwealth. These Countries are from Africa, Asia,the Americas, Europe and the Pacific and are diverse – they are amongst the world’slargest, smallest, richest and poorest countries. The last two countries to join TheCommonwealth - Rwanda and Mozambique - have no historical ties to the BritishEmpire. Four countries - Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Fiji and Pakistan - have been suspendedfrom the Commonwealth in the past. The Gambian Government on 2 October 2013announced that it is pulling out of the Commonwealth with immediate effect. Gambia, aWest African country joined the Commonwealth of Nations in 1965.

The State Department of US, on 13 November, branded Boko Haram, the home-grownIslamist insurgent movement in Nigeria which has ties with al-Qaeda’s regional affiliatein North and West Africa, as a foreign terrorist organisation. The designation allows theUnited States to freeze assets, impose travel bans on known members and affiliates,and prohibit Americans from offering material support to the organisation, which theState Department says is responsible for thousands of deaths in northeast and centralNigeria over the last several years including targeted killings of civilians. Thedepartment also put the same label on Ansaru, a Boko Haram splinter faction that thisyear kidnapped and executed seven international construction workers. Administrationofficials said that the move would help Nigeria combat a growing menace that alsothreatened American citizens and investment in Nigeria. But many Africa scholars saythat branding Boko Haram a terrorist organisation will only enhance the group’sinternational stature with jihadis and help its recruiting efforts. The group has gainedparticular notoriety for its attacks inside Nigeria. Boko Haram has been conducting abrutal campaign against the Nigerian military and government as well as civilian targets.On September 17, it carried out attacks in Benisheik, a northeastern town, that killed atleast 143 civilians, including women and children.

The Union Health and Family Welfare Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad will attend the thirdBRICS Health Ministers Meeting from 6th to 7th November at Cape Town, South Africa.

The Health Ministers from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa will attend themeeting. The BRICS Meeting will deliberate the issues of Governance Reform includingRisk and Accountability, Finance and Human Resources; Programmatic and FinanceReform including support to Member States; and a Progress Report on the Delhi ActionPlans. The discussions will be on the key thematic areas focusing on strengtheninghealth surveillance systems ; reducing NCD risk factors through prevention and healthpromotion; Universal Health Coverage ;strategic health technologies, with a focus oncommunicable and non-communicable diseases ; medical technologies ; and drugdiscovery and development.

These thematic areas of work were identified in respect of each country on the sidelinesof World Health Assembly (WHA) held at Geneva in May 2012 and were to be carriedforward by the Technical Group. The first BRICS Health Ministers Meeting was held atBeijing, China in July, 2011 where the Beijing Declaration was adopted. It emphasizedthe importance and the need of technology transfer as a means to empower developingcountries; the important role of generic medicines in the realization of the right to healthand to establish priorities in research and development as well as cooperation amongBRICS countries including support to transfer of technologies and innovation in asustainable way to foster cooperation among BRICS countries to make available andimprove technology. The 2nd BRICS Health Ministers Meetings was held in New Delhiin January 2013, joint action plans were agreed upon for the thematic areas and a jointDelhi Communiqué was released.

Tajikistan’s President Imomali Rakhmon has won re-election by a landslide on 6November, extending his 20-year-long rule by another seven years. Rakhmon received83.1 per cent of the votes, the Central Election Commission announced. Severalopposition parties, including the popular Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan, boycottedthe election, accusing the government of campaign violations and intimidation.Rakhmon has ruled Tajikistan since 1992 and is credited with winning a five-year civilwar against Islamic militants relying on Russia’s support. Rakhmon’s new presidentialterm must be his last under the Constitution, which has been changed twice to enablehim to prolong his stay in power. Tajikistan is one of the poorest states in the formerSoviet Union, with more than one million Tajiks earning a living in Russia. India helpedTajikistan refurbish an air base at Ayni in the past decade in the hope of securing abridgehead in the strategically located region.

One of the strongest typhoons ever to make landfall devastated the central Philippineson 8 November, killing more than 1,000 people in Tacloban city alone and 200 inanother province, the Red Cross estimated on 9 November, as reports of highcasualties began to emerge. A day after Typhoon Haiyan churned through thePhilippine archipelago in a straight line from east to west, rescue teams struggled toreach far-flung regions, hampered by washed out roads, many choked with debris andfallen trees. The death toll is expected to rise sharply from the fast-moving storm, whosecircumference eclipsed the whole country. Among the hardest hit was coastal Taclobanin central Leyte province, where preliminary estimates suggest more than 1,000 peoplewere killed.

Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) held its 13th Council of Ministers meeting inPerth, Australia on 1 November 2013. On the occasion, India handed over the chair ofthe IORA to Australia. India chaired the IORA, since 2011. The Perth reviewed theprocess made by IORA since 2012 meeting in Gurgaon, India. The future directions andinitiatives to advance were considered then for the interests of the IORA and itsmembers. The thirteenth Council of Ministers' Meeting was attended by the memberstates Foreign Ministers namely Australia, Bangladesh, Comoros, India, Indonesia, Iran,Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Seychelles, Singapore,South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. Themeet reiterated that IORA is the apex pan-regional organisation for the Indian Oceanand recalled the six priority areas of cooperation agreed at the eleventh COMM (Councilof Ministers' Meeting) in Bengaluru, namely: Maritime Safety and Security; Trade andInvestment Facilitation; Fisheries Management; Disaster Risk Management; Academicand Science and Technology Cooperation; and Tourism and Cultural Exchanges. It iscommitted to promote cooperation and collaboration between IORA and other IndianOcean regional stakeholders including Dialogue Partner States and other regional andinternational forums. Recognising that the United Nations Convention on the Law of theSea provides the legal framework for the conservation and sustainable use of theoceans and their resources and plays a vital role in maintaining peaceful cooperationand stability across the Indian Ocean. The IOR-ARC was formally launched at the firstMinisterial Meeting in Mauritius on 6 – 7 March 1997. This meeting adopted the IOR-ARC Charter, and determined a number of administrative and procedural matters. IORAwas formerly known as IOR-ARC (Indian Ocean Rim Association for RegionalCooperation).

European Union (EU) member states could cut their plastic bag use by 80 per cent, theEuropean commission (EC) has said on 6 November, by charging for bags or evenbanning them. Plastic bags are a major cause of seaborne pollution, which is a serioushazard for marine life, and some regions have already moved to cut their use throughcharging. The UK Deputy-Prime Minister Nick Clegg has pledged to bring forwardcharges in England that will affect single-use bags given out by supermarkets. Bag use

was cut dramatically by the Republic of Ireland after charges were introduced, a similarcharge has recently come into force in Northern Ireland, and supermarkets in Walesreported a drop in use of up to 96 per cent after a charging scheme was brought in twoyears ago. Scotland is bringing in a 5p charge next year.

The EC is proposing a new directive that would require member states to choosebetween three methods of reducing the waste from bags: charges, national reductiontargets, or an outright ban. Janez Potocnik, environment commissioner for the EU, said:“We’re taking action to solve a very serious and highly visible environmental problems.Every year, more than eight billion plastic bags end up as litter in Europe, causingenormous environmental damage. Some member states have already achieved greatresults in reducing their use of plastic bags. Critics said the EC’s proposals did not gofar enough and allowed member states too much leeway by allowing them to set theirown targets rather than EU-wide goals or clear measures that would cut bag use. Whenplastic bags, or pieces of them, find their way into the seas, they are a major hazard tomarine life. A whale found dead on the southern Spanish coast was found to haveswallowed 17 kg of plastic waste, including plastic bags. Fish, seabirds and mammalscan all ingest plastic, which they cannot digest and which can clog up their guts orcause choking. The first moves to legislation at an EU level were made in 2011, and thenew announcement is likely to take at least two years to put into practice. According tothe most recent estimates, from 2008, the EU produces 3.4 million tones of plastic bagsin a year.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has pledged US $220 million for developmentprojects in Afghanistan, officials in the ministry of finance of Afghanistan said on 9November. Afghan finance minister, Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal said the amount will bespent for the construction Dara-e-Suf and Yakawlang highway.The agreement for theprovision of funds was signed between the ADB and Afghan Finance Ministry on 9November. Zakhilwal said Dara-e-Suf and Yakawlang highway is having a length of 178kilometers. He said the funds will also be used for the preliminary works of GardanDewar-Cheghcharan highway and the other rings of the country. Lack of highways andring roads to interlink the main cities and provinces of Afghanistan has been one of themain challenges for the Afghan traders. The construction of the new highways and ringroads are expected to reduce the issues of local traders and residents in the centralprovinces of Afghanistan.

NATIONAL AFFAIRS:With the vision of enhancing the use of improved cook stove technologies, envisagedunder the National Biomass Cookstove Programme (NBCP), Minister of New andRenewable Energy Farooq Abdullah inaugurated the India Clean Cook stove Forum2013 organized jointly by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and DeutscheGesellschaft für International Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH operating on behalf of theGerman Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) on 26November in New Delhi. Speaking on the occasion, Abdullah said “increased use ofclean and efficient cook stoves is crucial to reduce the burden of disease from indoor airpollution as well to avoid the overuse of biomass resources. Efficient cookingtechnologies have a direct tangible impact on the livelihoods of the poor, as they savetime and money that previously had to be spent on procuring cooking fuels.” During theForum, the Minister launched a new initiative on biomass cook stoves developed underthe Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the United Nations FrameworksConvention on Climate Change to reduce the cost of improved stove technologies torural customers through the sale of carbon credits. He added that this is just one ofseveral joint efforts to provide clean and reliable energy to rural areas and theseinitiatives have further endorsed the close relations and cooperation between India andGermany.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on 28 November, has approvedthe Ministry of Culture’s proposal of the scheme for up gradation of libraries providingservices to the public under the National Mission on Libraries (NML). The scheme wouldbenefit students, researchers, scientists, children, artists, differently-abled persons, thegeneral public, neo and non-literates and would entail an expenditure of Rs.400 croreduring the 12th Plan period. The scheme envisages creating a National Virtual Libraryof India for facilitating a comprehensive database on digital resources on informationabout India and on information generated in India. This would be facilitated in an openaccess environment. The scheme would develop six libraries under Ministry of Culture,35 state Central Libraries and 35 District Libraries, with particular emphasis oneconomically backward districts, as model libraries. In addition, 629 district librariesacross the States would be provided network connectivity. The scheme also proposesto enhance the professional competence of library personnel. While the survey oflibraries would be completed within one year, the other objectives of the scheme wouldbe achieved by the end of the 12th Plan period. In pursuance of National KnowledgeCommission recommendation for setting up a National Mission on Libraries to revampthe Library and Information Service Sector, the Ministry of Culture had set up a highlevel committee as the National Mission on Libraries.

Secretary, Department of Sports Ajit M. Saran, and Secretary, Department of AIDSControl Lov Verma on 29 November, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).Objectives of the MoU are to reach large number of youth engaged in sports activities atvillage, district and state level with information on STI/HIV/AIDS prevention and relatedservices; build the capacity of sports educators, administrators and coaches on“Minimizing the risk of HIV transmission on and outside the sports field; involve youthorganization, sports federations in HIV/AIDS prevention activities; promote awarenessgeneration through hoarding and banners at eminent places and sports infrastructureduring state/national events and tournaments; and involve eminent sports personalitiesfor addressing social stigma and discrimination associated with HIV/AIDS .TheDepartment of AIDS Control provide technical support in capacity building on HIV/AIDSfor sportspersons, trainees and staff of sports organizations and federations; providetechnical support by sharing of IEC materials for awareness generation activities;provide technical assistance to Department of Sports for inclusion of HIV in ongoingactivities etc.

The Supreme Court on 26 November 2013 constituted a ten-member GenderSensitization and Internal Complaints Committee (GSICC) to deal with complaints ofsexual harassment within its premises. The committee was constituted by the ChiefJustice of India P. Sathasivam. The committee is headed by Justice Ranjana PrakashDesai. The committee has six other female members. Two members are outsiders andnot connected with the Supreme Court. The panel is in consonance with the guidelineslaid down by the apex court in its judgment in the Vishaka case for dealing withcomplaints of sexual harassment at the workplace.

In an exercise unprecedented for its sheer scale, India’s creaking legal machineryswung into action on 24 November, to dispose of over 28 lakh cases in less than sevenhours through lok adalats organized across the country. This is only a fraction ofpending cases — over 3 crore at last count — but represents a significant step inclearing the massive backlog, especially as it could now become an annual event. Lokadalats are an alternative dispute resolution mechanism where parties are encouragedto amicably settle cases outside the formal court system. Generally, cases whereparties can reach an amicable settlement, including bounced cheque and bank recoverycases, civil suits, motor accident claims, service matters, family matters and trafficchallan cases are taken up by lok adalats. The adalats, organized by National LegalServices Authority (NALSA), state legal services authorities and district legal servicesauthorities, took up 39 lakh cases. NALSA organizes lok adalats on a regular basis butthis is for the first time that it has been organized on such a huge scale. In Delhi alone

300 benches, including at the high court, cleared 3,66,000 cases — which means eachbench cleared more than 3 cases every minute on average. This was possible becausemany cases were bunched together and much of the legal work was done in advance.

Election Commission decided to use Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) on alarge-scale for the first time in the country in the Mizoram Assembly polls on 25November 2013.The VVPAT is a machine attached to EVMS which allows voters toverify that their vote has been cast in the way they wished. The VVPATs are being usedin only ten assembly constituencies of Aizwal District of the total 40 assembly segmentsin Mizoram. The VVPAT system was first experimented in the Noksen Assembly by pollin Nagaland on 4 September 2013 and Mizoram would be the first state where it wouldbe introduced on a large scale. The VVPAT system is a new initiative of the ElectionCommission to ensure free and fair elections. The VVPT will enable electors to see aprintout of their ballot -displaying the name, election symbol and serial number of thechosen candidate. However the voter cannot take the printout home.

Five new Information Commissioners are appointed to the Central InformationCommission (CIC) on 22 November 2013. Chief Information Commissioner DeepakSandhu administered the oath of office to them in New Delhi. The new commissionersare Yashovardhan Azad, Sharat Sabharwal, Manjula Parasher , M A Khan Yusufi andMadabhushanam Sridhar. With this the total number of Information Commissionersincluding the Chief Information Commissioner has gone up to 10.Yashovardhan Azad isa former IPS Officer, before joining the Office of Information Commissioner in CentralInformation Commission, was holding the post of Secretary (Security) in CabinetSecretariat.Sharat Sabharwal is a career diplomat, retired as High Commissioner ofIndia in Pakistan before joining the Office of Information Commissioner. ManjulaParasher is a former Indian Postal Service Officer had retired as Secretary from theDepartment of Posts before joining the Office of Information Commissioner. MA KhanYusufi is a former Indian Legal Service Officer, before joining the Office of InformationCommissioner in CIC was holding the post of Chairperson in Airport Appellate Tribunal.Madbhushanam Sridhar was working as Professor at NALSAR, before joining the Officeof Information Commissioner in CIC.

India's first fully privately funded Rapid Metro Gurgaon announces the start of itscommercial operations from Gurgaon in Haryana on 14 November. Sanjiv Rai,Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, IL& FS Rail Ltd., inaugurated thecommercial operation of Rapid Metro Gurgaon in Gurgaon. Rapid Metro Gurgaon linewill be open to commuters from 6.05 am till 12:20 (midnight). Five fully automated trainswith a frequency of 4 minutes will be running between the six stations (currently fivestations) with each train carrying over 800 passengers on each trip. The country's firstfully privately-financed developed metro system has been launched in the public-privatepartnership mode. It was built at a cost of nearly Rs.1,100 crore and took 30 months toreach the present stage. The launch of Rapid Metro will boost connectivity within CyberCity, the corporate and retail hub of Gurgaon. Nearly one lakh people work or visit thehub each day.

With a view to foster and reinforce the spirit of Communal Harmony, National Integrationand pride in vibrant, composite culture and nationhood, the “Quami Ekta Week”(National Integration week) will be observed all over the country, from the 19th to 25thNovember, 2013. The National Foundation for Communal Harmony (NFCH), anautonomous organization with the Ministry of Home Affairs also organizes communalharmony campaign coinciding with the Qaumi Ekta Week. The foundation also providesfinancial assistance for relief and rehabilitation of children rendered orphan or destitutein communal, caste, ethnic or terrorist violence. The week long programmes to beobserved during Quami Ekta Week (Nov.19-25th,2013) include National Integration Day(Nov.19), Welfare of Minorities Day (Nov.20), Linguistic Harmony Day (Nov.21), WeakerSections Day (Nov.22), Cultural Unity Day (Nov.23), Women’s Day(Nov. 24) andConservation Day (Nov.25) .

The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee released a commemorative postal stamp atan event organised on the occasion of the 175th anniversary of the Times of India on,November 13, at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Speaking on the occasion, the President referredto the statement by the Managing Director of the Times Group that it has no politicalmaster and no hidden agenda and said let that be the motto of this great institution. ThePresident recalled how Times of India has documented every twist and turn of India’shistory. It reported on the coronation of Queen Victoria as the empress of India. Itwelcomed the formation of the Indian National Congress in 1885 with the followingwords: “Surely, never had so important and comprehensive an assemblage occurred inrecent times on the soil of India.” Minister for Communications and InformationTechnology Kapil Sibal also attended the function.

The Union Government on 13 November 2013 gave its nod to the Union Health Ministryto go ahead with the scheme aimed at creation of the mid-level rural health cadre ofprofessionals. To give the nod of creation of the mid-level rural health cadre ofprofessionals, the government overruled the Parliamentary Committee recommendationto scrap the course in community health. The Union Cabinet in its meeting gave its nodto the health ministry to start a new three-year B.Sc. Community Health program. Theprogram would help in creation of the new cadre of health professionals to improve therural medicare infrastructure in India. The proposal was pending for few years but afterthe Ministry came up with the idea to create a new cadre of health professionals in ruralareas as the doctors were unwilling to serve there.

The Vice President of India, M. Hamid Ansari on 7 November released the book “India’sNuclear Energy Programme: Future Plans, Prospects and Concerns” edited by Prof. R.Rajaraman at a function organized by Indian National Science Academy (INSA) in NewDelhi. Addressing on the occasion he said that given the population and economy of ourcountry, we are and will remain short in energy. Today, nuclear energy is contributing toa very small segment and by 2032, it will be around 10%. The real question is to focuson can we do without this 10%. Our energy requirement is a serious one. He opinedthat the book is very useful and will surely help in creating a public opinion on nuclearenergy. The book contains state-of-the art discussions by top experts of a whole rangeof diverse issues that constitute this complex subject. It brings together expertcontributions both from apex leaders of the Indian nuclear programme and from thosewho have serious reservations about the programme.

The Union Cabinet on 7 November 2013 approved the visa waiver agreements withPoland, Slovenia and Lithuania. This move will help the Indians with diplomaticpassports to visit the three countries. The agreements would be signed very soon. TheCCEA (Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs) cleared a proposal to disinvest 17percent of paid up capital for Follow on Public Offering (FPO) of the state owned powergrid corporation of India. As per the Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, 13 percent offresh equity by the Public Sector Company and 4 percent stake sale by the governmentincludes under the FPO. A similar agreement was cleared with Cuba in first week ofNovember 2013.By now India has similar agreements with about 50 countries thatinclude Japan, Russia and Israel.

The Gauhati High Court has quashed the Union Home Ministry resolution by which theCentral Bureau of Investigation was constituted way back in 1963. The court held thatthe CBI was neither an organ nor part of the Delhi Special Police Establishment andthus could not be treated as a “police force” constituted under the DSPE Act. In their 89-page judgment, Justices I.A. Ansari and Indira Shah said on 6 November. “While wedecline to hold and declare that the DSPE Act, 1946 is not a valid piece of legislation,we do hold that the CBI is neither an organ nor part of the DSPE and the CBI cannot betreated as a police force constituted under the DSPE Act, 1946.” Though the DivisionBench had directed the respondents to produce the original records on creation of theCBI, they just submitted a certified copy of the records from the National Archive.“However, even a perusal of the entire records makes it clear that the Resolution, datedApril 1, 1963, was neither produced before the President, nor did it ever receive theassent of the President. Hence, strictly speaking, the Resolution cannot even be termedthe decision of the Government of India. That apart, it is apparent from the records thatthe CBI is a newly constituted body and not the same as DSPE.”

Bowing to political pressure, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will not be attending theCommonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) beginning on 8 November, inColombo, highly placed government sources have said on 9 November. This came atthe end of a day in which the government dropped ample hints that it was not necessaryfor the Prime Minister to attend every commonwealth conclave. External Affairs MinisterSalman Khurshid, who is anyway going to Colombo mid-week, will therefore representIndia at CHOGM; there will be no stopover at Jaffna, capital of Sri Lanka’s NorthernProvince, where most of the alleged human rights abuses occurred in the final stages ofthe conflict in 2009.Meanwhile, a senior Congress functionary stressed that it was notimportant for the Prime Minister to attend CHOGM, especially if it went against thesentiments of a section of the Indian population — the people of Tamil Nadu, in thiscase. For the Congress, with a difficult election ahead in 2014, the goodwill of potentialalliance partners is of paramount concern. Diplomats pointed out that over the last twodecades, an Indian Prime Minister had participated in five of 10 CHOGMs. On fouroccasions, a Central Minister led the Indian delegation and at the previous CHOGM atPerth, Vice-President Hamid Ansari had represented the country.

BILATERAL AFFAIRS:India and Belgium have agreed to work on signing an MOU to enhance cooperation inrenewable energy. This was discussed at a bilateral meeting between Dr. FarooqAbdullah, Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Government of India and Her RoyalHighness Princess Astrid of Belgium. Princess Astrid is currently visiting India as headof the Belgian Economic Mission to India. Dr. Abdullah briefed the visiting delegation onthe energy situation in India and the rapid growth of the renewable energy sector inIndia. He spoke of India’s plans to add over 30 GW of renewable energy to its energymix in the next 5 years. He dwelt on the success of the wind programme as well as thesignificant cost reductions in solar energy through the Jawahar Lal Nehru National SolarMission (JNNSM). He also highlighted India’s conducive and investor friendly policyframework for promoting renewable energy in a big way. Dr. Abdullah suggested thatIndia and Belgium had great potential for enhancing cooperation in promotingrenewable energy and offered to provide all possible assistance for the purpose. TheBelgian delegation recognized India’s considerable achievements and strengths inrenewable energy and noted that India had made large strides in this field. Thebusiness delegation accompanying the official delegation also made brief presentationson their activities and reciprocated India’s desire for enhanced energy cooperationbetween the two countries. After detailed discussions, the two sides agreed to startwork on an MoU in the field of Renewable Energy between the Ministry of New andRenewable Energy of the Government of India and the Government of Belgium in orderto strengthen, promote and develop renewable energy cooperation between the twocountries on the basis of equality and mutual benefit. Both countries also agreed toexplore possibilities of coordination in renewable energy through joint Research andDevelopment programmes of mutual interest.

India and Malaysia on 25 November, signed an MoU in Kaulalampur to strengthen co-operation in public administration and governance as part of the efforts to enhance theirstrategic partnership. The MoU covers eight areas of co-operation including humanresource management, e-governance, public delivery system, accountability andtransparency, skills and capacity building and quality results. The MoU was signed byMalaysia's Public Service Department Director-General Mohamad Zabidi Zainal and theSecretary of India's Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances ofMinistry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Sanjay Kothari. Zabidi said theMoU was a strategic cooperation and collaboration to strengthen ties between the twocountries. He added that apart from that it could also assist in socio-economicdevelopment through an efficient, accessible, transparent and accountable civil service.The MoU envisages cooperation via tours, workshops and conferences, sharing ofpublic administration and governance information and expertise, common projectimplementation mechanisms and exchange of publications.

Competition Commission of India (CCI) and the Directorate General for Competition ofthe European Commission (DG, Competition) have signed a Memorandum ofUnderstanding on Cooperation in the Field of Competition Laws. The MoU was signedduring the ongoing 3rd BRICS International Competition Conference at New Delhi on 21November, by Mr Joaquin Almunia, Vice President for Competition, EU and Mr. AshokChawla, Chairman, CCI. The MoU provides for enhancement of the effective,transparent and non-discriminatory enforcement of the competition laws in theEuropean Union and India. The two Sides have agreed to exchange non-confidentialinformation, experiences and views with regard to (a) Competition policy andenforcement, (b) Operational issues, (c) Multilateral competition initiatives, (d)Competition advocacy and (e) Technical cooperation initiatives in the area ofcompetition law and its enforcement. MoU provides for assistance to be providedbetween two Sides wherein on the request of one Side that may believe adverse impactof competition of its territory on account of action by the other Side, the other Side shallinitiate appropriate enforcement activities as per their applicable competition law. CCIand DG,Competition, European Commission shall also take steps to minimize anypotentially adverse effects of one Side’s enforcement activities on the other Side’sinterests in the application of their respective competition laws.

Dr. M.M. Pallam Raju, Hon’ble Minister of Human Resource Development visitedMauritius on 19th-20th November, 2013. During the visit, Dr. Pallam Raju meat theHon’ble Prime Minister of Mauritius, Dr. Navinchandra Ramgoolam and held bilateralmeetings with the Minister for Tertiary Education, Science and Research, Dr. R. Jeetahas also with Minister of Education and Human Resources of the Republic of MauritiusDr. Vasant Kumar Bunwaree. Two MoUs were signed during this visit. The first MoU isbetween IIT, Delhi and Mauritius Research Council for setting up of an InternationalInstitute of Technology Research Academy (IITRA) in Mauritius. The aim of the IITRA isto provide world class research based educational platform for full time and part timepost graduate research leading to MS(Research) and Ph.D. degrees to be awarded byIIT Delhi in identified areas (clusters). IITRA aims to attract foreign researchers andstudents to Mauritius, mainly from Africa and Asia and build core research infrastructureincluding faculty and facilities. The other MoU between Association of IndianUniversities (AIU) and Tertiary Education Council (TEC) of Mauritius for mutualrecognition of educational qualifications was also finalized and signed. The MoU willensure that both parties facilitate the mutual recognition of higher educationqualifications awarded to students in Mauritius and India. Both AIU and TEC wouldadvise higher education institutions in their countries on the provision of highereducation and the comparability of qualification with the aim of facilitating academicmobility and cooperation. They will make available information on currently recognizedhigher education institutions in their respective countries.

India and Vietnam on 20 November, inked eight agreements, including one for oil andgas exploration in the seas off Vietnam that includes the South China Sea as visitingVietnamese leader Nguyen Phu Trong and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held talksin New Delhi. Nguyen Phu Trong is the general secretary of the Vietnamese CommunistParty. The eight agreements as well as a $100-million line of credit to Vietnam fordefence purchases is a major step forward in India's "Look East Policy". ManmohanSingh "reaffirmed that Vietnam was a pillar of India's 'Look East Policy', which wassupported by the general secretary. They envisaged a more active role for India in theregional and international arena," a joint statement said. Eight agreements--Followingtheir talks, the two leaders witnessed the signing of eight cooperation documents,including the Air Service Agreement, an MoU on the establishment of the Indira GandhiHi-tech Crime Lab in Hanoi, an agreement on Protection of Classified Information, anMoU between two Ministries of Finance, a cooperation agreement between HanoiNational University and Indian Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, an MoU oncooperation between India Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore and Ho Chi MinhNational Academy of Public Administration, an MoU between Vietnam Oil and GasGroup and ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL), and an MOU between the VietnameseMinistry of Industry and Trade and Tata Power Ltd on the development of the 1,320 MWLong Phu 2 Thermal Power Project in Soc Trang province, Vietnam.Both sides laterissued Joint Statement, emphasizing that India - Vietnam agree to further strengthenand deepen the Strategic Partnership between the two countries. In the instrument, theleaders of both countries reiterated their desire and determination to work together tomaintain peace, stability, growth and prosperity in Asia. They agreed that freedom ofnavigation in the East Sea should not be impeded and called the parties concerned toexercise restraint, avoid threat or use of force and resolve disputes through peacefulmeans in accordance with universally recognized principles of international law,including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

The Financing and Project Agreements for World Bank assistance (IDA assistance) ofUS $ 236 million for Tamil Nadu-Puducherry Coastal Disaster Risk Reduction Project(CDRRP) were signed between the Government of India, Government of Tamil Naduand the Government of Puducherry and the World Bank in New Delhi on 11 November.The Financing Agreement was signed by Nilaya Mitash, Joint Secretary, Department ofEconomic Affairs on behalf of Government of India and Mr. Onno Ruhl, CountryDirector, World Bank on behalf of the World Bank. The Project Agreement was signedby Gagandeep Singh Bedi, Secretary, Revenue Department, Government of TamilNadu on behalf of Government of Tamil Nadu and Mr.Deepak Kumar, Project Director,Project Implementing Agency, Government of Puducherry on behalf of Government ofPuducherry. The objective of the Project is to increase the resilience of coastal

communities in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, to a range of hydro-meteorological andgeophysical hazards along with improving project implementation entities’ capacity torespond promptly and effectively to an eligible crisis or emergency. The Project willhave the following five components, viz. (i) Vulnerability Reduction; (ii) SustainableFisheries; (iii) Capacity building in Disaster Risk Management; (iv) ImplementationSupport; and (v) Contingency Emergency Response.

India and Trinidad and Tobago will formulate a new agreement to enhance cultural tiesbetween the two countries. India will also help the Caribbean nation set up a sugarmuseum at its capital, Port of Spain, Union Culture Minister Chandresh Kumar Katochsaid in a statement in New Delhi on 4 November. She said both countries had alsodiscussed a roadmap for enhanced cooperation. "A new cultural agreement betweenthe two countries will be formulated to replace the 1987 agreement so that it can bestcapture the modern developments in the culture sector," the Minister said recentlyduring a tour of the island nation. Also, based on the proposed cultural agreement, thetwo countries would plan a cultural exchange programme for 2014-16.

She invited Trinidad and Tobago Culture Minister Lincoln Douglas to visit India at amutually convenient date along with a delegation of performing artistes to discuss thecontours of the collaboration and sign the agreement. Under the roadmap, India hasalso offered to collaborate with Trinidad and Tobago authorities on archivemaintenance. "I will be taking up the request of the authorities of Trinidad and Tobagofor collaboration in film development with the Union Ministry of Information andBroadcasting and the construction of a cultural centre in Divali Nagar with the UnionMinistry of External Affairs," she added.

Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), New Delhi, and Queensland Universityof Technology (QUT), Brisbane, Australia have signed an International CooperationAgreement to collaborate in academic programmes and in frontier areas of research inMedia and Communication. The agreement was signed by Bimal Julka, IIMC Chairmanand Secretary I&B Ministry and Prof. Peter Coaldrake, Vice Chancellor, QueenslandUniversity of Technology in New Delhi on 4 November. The agreement envisagesbringing ICT in academic programmes in a significant way. Both the institutes haveagreed for the development of joint venture projects and also for opening avenues fordeveloping a collaborative doctoral programme to benefit students and faculty. Thebilateral cooperation agreement also envisages organization of joint academic andscientific activities, such as courses, conferences, seminars, symposia or lectures,exchange of staff and students and exchange of materials and publications of commoninterest. One of the core areas of the agreement is to facilitate Training of senior and

mid-level Indian Information Service officers at the Queensland University ofTechnology (QUT), especially in use of modern technology and social media forproviding information about government policies to stakeholders. The objective is toensure skill development of IIS officers in critical areas of the changing medialandscape. This is the first agreement signed by IIMC seeking international collaborationand partnership with a foreign university. The agreement aims to facilitate a two-wayvalue added training and capacity building programme in the field of Mass Media andCommunication.

India and Japan proposes to strengthen their cooperation in the shipping sector. In thisconnection a delegation under the leadership of Union Minister of Shipping G.K. Vasan,is visiting Japan from 7 November, till the 12th this month on an invitation from Mr.Akihiro Ohta, the Hon’ble Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism ofGovernment of Japan. The visiting delegation will have discussions with the JapaneseGovernment for better coordination between two countries and to further enable variousJapanese companies to utilize facilities at Indian Ports, more particular of Ennore andChennai Ports. Vasan will also lead discussions for obtaining funding from the JapanInternational Cooperation Agency (JICA) for the Outer Harbour project of VOC Port,Thuthikoodi. The Government of Japan had earlier shown interest in developingChennai Bengaluru Industrial Corridor as part of Penninsular Region IndustrialDevelopment corridor (PRIDe) of India. Ennore Port has been identified as one of themain logistic hub in this industrial corridor development. JICA has already commenceda study for the purpose. Japanese automobile manufacturing companies like Toyota,Mitsubushi, Isuzu, Nissan and Toshiba have been using Chennai Port for importingautomobile components through containers for their factories located in Chennai. TheJapanese Company M/s Metal One (Mitshubishi group) is importing steel coils used forautomobile through Chennai Port in the break bulk form. Around 240 Japanesecompanies have developed businesses in and around Chennai in the last decade.

ECNOMIC AFFAIRS:The 9th International Heavy Minerals Conference (HMC 2013) was held inVisakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh from 27 to 29 November 2013. The biennialInternational conference is ninth in a series of conferences that focus on the heavyminerals industry. The International conference was held for the first time in India by theMining Engineers Association of India (MEAI) in collaboration with and support from theGovernment of India, other professional organizations and industry. The Conferencetheme is: Overcoming New Challenges. The aim of HMC 2013 was to discuss thetechnical, managerial, business opportunities and challenges facing the sectorworldwide. Delegates attended the conference including from Australia, Canada, Africa,US, China, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Europe.

Dr. M. Veerappa Moily dedicated the country’s first state-of-the-art Styrene ButadieneRubber (SBR) Plant to nation at Panipat, Harayana on 29 November. He described thisis as a milestone achievement by Indian Oil Corporation, India’s largest company tovisualize and implement such a project which will provide us the product E-SBR forwhich we were looking at other countries. This will result in substantial amount ofsavings of foreign exchange. SBR is suitable to produce various products like tyres,conveyor belts, hose, shoe soles, industrial goods, etc with superior processingproperties like flexing resistance, tear and cracking resistance, improved abrasiveresistance, etc. The project is considered as a path breaking venture of nationalimportance as there is no operating capacity in the country and the entire domesticdemand is met through imports. Indian Oil Corporation Limited, TSRC Corporation,Taiwan, and Marubeni Corporation, Japan, are Joint Venture Partners in this prestigiousproject implemented under the banner of Indian Synthetic Rubber Ltd. (ISRL). It isbased on Butadiene available from Indian Oil’s Panipat Naphtha Cracker Complex.

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson, Sonia Gandhi Jointlyinaugurated India’s first all-women bank, Bharatiya Mahila Bank in Mumbai on 19November 2013,marking the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.The main objectives of the bank will be to focus on the banking needs of women and topromote their economic empowerment. The bank will commence operations with aninitial capital of one thousand crore rupees. The Union Government on 12 November2013 appointed Usha Ananthasubramanian as the first chairperson and managingdirector of public sector Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB).The Union government approved1000 crore Rupees seed capital for the women-focused public sector bank, announcedby Union finance minister P. Chidambaram in his 2013-14 budget speech.

The Reserve Bank of India on 18 November opened a 5000 crore rupees refinancewindow for MSME sector, for a period of one year to ease the liquidity. The view ofeasing the liquidity stress to the Micro and Small Enterprises sector was taken by theRBI to provide refinance to the small Industrial Development Bank of India. Basically theMicro and Small Enterprises sector is employment intensive and contributessignificantly to exports. At present, the slowdown in the economy has resulted in theliquidity tightness in the MSEs in the manufacturing and services sector raising the needof liquidity support. The availability of the refinance facility will be till 13 November 2014.

To boost research and innovation, twelve states and four UTs have been consideredeligible to receive Rs. 120 crore each under the Research, Innovation and QualityImprovement Component of RUSA – Rashtriya Uchchatara Shiksha Abhiyan. They are– Andaman & Nicobar, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chandigarh, Dadra & NagarHaveli, Daman & Diu, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Manipur,Nagaland, Odisha, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. All innovative schemes will be funded asper the decision of the PAB (Project Approval Board). The funds are meant to supportdifferent types of research programmes like base research, key technology (R&D), Highend (R&D), etc during the current Five Year Plan. Setting up of science parks andcutting edge technology and instrumentation facility will be supported by this fund. Thefunds will also take care of promoting inter-disciplinary and trans-disciplinary researchcentres as well as promoting research and entrepreneurial activities. Some other areasto be funded under the Research and Innovation Component are: initiative to attractquality researchers and students; institutions that offer merit-based scholarships, fullyfunded doctoral fellowships, post-doctoral fellowships; faculty and students exchangeprogrammes with world-class institutions; and initiatives to scale up industry-academiapartnership. States may decide about unit of implementation. It can either be the Stateas a whole or a few select institutions.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 19 November directed Public Sector Banks (PSBs)to provide loans to women self-help groups (SHGs) at 7 per cent per annum to avail thebenefit of interest rate subvention scheme under the Swarnajayanti Gram SwarozgarYojana-Aajeevika (SGSY) scheme. All women SHGs will be eligible for interestsubvention to avail the credit up to 3 lakh Rupees at 7 per cent per annum.Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana-Aajeevika (SGSY) is an initiative by thegovernment to provide sustainable income to poor people living in rural areas of thecountry.

MTNL (Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited) and Los Alamos Technical Associates,Inc. (LATA) of the USA have signed an MOU on 12 November, for launching the stateof the art training programs on Cyber Security, Risk And Crisis Management, PublicSafety and Disaster Management, Homeland Security/ Critical Infrastructure Protection,Security Operations Management, Industrial Security, Fire & Safety Management etc.This will bring to India the best US practices followed in security, which has beendeveloped over a period of time. India’s security needs are evolving rapidly and thispartnership can help develop professional programs in cyber and physical security to

meet the country’s growing demands. MTNL is going to start these trainings through itsstate of the art training centres at New Delhi and Mumbai. A dedicated resource will beallocated for this project and impart training, so that it is more relevant for IndianConditions. First batch of training is likely to start from March 2014. MTNL will bedeveloping a one or two day series of awareness programs for the top management ofcompanies and the government departments.

The country's largest software services firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)inaugurated its 10,000-seat campus at Gandhinagar on 15 November. The softwaredevelopment facility, inaugurated by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, has beendeveloped over 25.5 acres, with a built-up area of 1.6 million sq ft, TCS said in astatement."TCS has played a pioneering role to make Gujarat an attractive ITdestination for global companies and also helped drive technology-led growth byinvesting in talented youth of the state and building long-term partnerships with stateinstitutions," TCS CEO and MD N Chandrasekaran said. This centre will help TCS scaleup its presence and drive the expansion of the IT industry in Gujarat, he added. Thenew centre has been developed as a 'green' campus and has applied for a LEED(Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold rating. Built with locally sourcedred stone, the campus will use solar panels, LED lighting, occupancy and light-sensitivesensors to optimise power consumption. The campus, which also features a learningcentre and iClass rooms (connected with other TCS learning hubs globally), is locatedin an approved Special Economic Zone and will serve global customers across industrysegments.

With surplus domestic sugar production, the government on 15 November, has relaxeda condition for exports of the sweetener by doubling the limit on overseas shipmentsthat sellers can register. “One of the conditions was the upper limit of 25,000 tonnes perapplication for registration. This limit is now enhanced to 50,000 tonnes. Accordingly, anexporter can seek registration of up to 50,000 tonnes of sugar,” the Directorate Generalof Foreign Trade said in a circular. Welcoming the decision, the Indian Sugar MillsAssociation said this would help in exports of raw sugar, which is generally shipped inbulk.

The Centre has proposed four Ultra Mega Solar Power Projects (UMPPs) withgeneration capacity ranging between 2,000 MW and 5,000 MW. These projects areplanned in Rajasthan (4000 MW), Gujarat (4,000 MW), Kargil (2,000 MW) and Ladakh(5,000 MW). These projects to be developed in phases entail an investment of Rs90,000 crore. Tarun Kapoor, Joint Secretary, Ministry Of New And Renewable Energytold reporters on 10 November, at the sidelines of Inter Solar conference that the permegawatt capital cost for proposed UMPPs has been estimated at Rs 6 crore against

the existing cost of Rs 7-7.5 crore while the per unit tariff at Rs 5.50. ''The UMPP inRajasthan will be developed on engineering procurement and construction (EPC) basis.Six public undertakings including BHEL (26%), Solar Energy Corporation of IndiaLimited (22%), Power Grid Corporation, Hindustan Salt and Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam(16% each) and Rajasthan Electronics & Instruments Ltd (3%) will form a joint venturecompany (JVC) to develop UMPP in Rajathan. As far as Gujarat UMPP is concerned, itwill be developed with five to six companies. However, Kapoor said the Centre has yetto finalise details in this regard. Further, a lot of private developers have desired todevelop 1,000 MW to 3,000 MW on their own. However, it won't be possible as theproject will be tendered, he added. According to Kapoor, transmission is a major issuefor the development of Kargil and Ladakh UMPPs.

Giving a big boost to the disinvestment programme to raise Rs.40,000 crore this fiscal,the Cabinet, on 7 November, gave its approval for the follow-on public offer of PowerGrid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) to raise about Rs.7,500 crore.“The 17 percent follow-on public offer of PGCIL has been cleared by the Cabinet Committee onEconomic Affairs (CCEA). This includes 13 per cent fresh equity and 4 per cent stakesale by the government,’’ Minister of State for Power (Independent charge) JyotiradityaScindia said after the meeting. The government will sell 18.51 crore shares in the publicsector company. The company will issue fresh 60.18 crore shares through the offer. Outof these fresh shares, about 2.4 per cent would be reserved for employees. At currentmarket valuations, the FPO is likely to fetch close to Rs.7,500 crore. Post-FPO, thegovernment stake in the company will come down to 57.89 per cent from 69.42 percent. The company may garner close to Rs.5,700 crore while the government will get anestimated Rs.1,700 crore. This would be the second follow-on offering from Power Grid,which sold a 10 per cent stake along with a similar stake divested by the government inNovember 2010 at an issue price of Rs.90 a share.

The Government of India on 4 November 2013 decided to extend the sale of the non-subsidized 5 kg cooking gas (LPG) cylinders at petrol pumps across the country. Theproposal to extend the scope of the scheme was approved by M. Veerappa Moily, theUnion Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas. Earlier, the scheme was in operation inMumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Bengaluru. The scheme was launched on 5 October2013 by Moily in Bangalore for sale in selected company owned and company operatedpetrol pumps in the four cities. The cylinders will be sold at market rates. The schemehas allowed to sale the 5 kg LPG cylinders with just proof of Identity through PetrolStations to students, IT professional, BPO employees and people with odd duty timings.As per the decision, the sale of the cylinders would be done with or without regulator forthe first.

The Reserve Bank of India has signed cooperation agreement with central banks ofAustralia and New Zealand for exchange of information. The MoUs provide a formal, yetlegally non-binding, channel for information exchange between the supervisors, the RBIsaid in a statement on 7 November. With this, the Reserve Bank has signed such MoUswith 18 supervisors, it said.

The Reserve Bank of India on 6 November 2013 permitted the Wholly Owned -Subsidiaries (WOS) of the foreign banks to acquire the domestic private sector banks.RBI also permitted the banks to set up branches anywhere in the country. As per thepermission given by RBI, the foreign banks will have to seek permission of RBI to openbranches in certain sensitive locations. The foreign bank subsidiaries have also beenallowed to list on the local stock exchanges. Although, they will not be allowed to holdmore than 74 percent in the private banks they may acquire. The order of the RBI alsostated that the foreign banks that commenced banking business in India before August2010 will be given an opportunity to convert into a wholly owned subsidiary.

SCIENCE & TECH:India has declared itself free from Notifiable Avian Influenza (H5N1), commonly calledbird flu, and notified the same to World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). Indianotified outbreak of Avian Influenza (H5N1) at Poultry Production Unit, College ofVeterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, Anjora, Durg and Government PoultryFarm, Jagdalpur, Chhattisgarh on 05th August, 2013. The control measures adopted inthe outbreak were stamping out of entire poultry population including destruction ofeggs, feed, litters and other infected materials in the radius of 1 km around the outbreaklocation, restriction on movement of poultry, disinfection and cleaning up of infectedpremises and subsequently issuing of the Post Operation Surveillance Plan (POSP).The POSP was issued on 12th August, 2013. Even though India is free from bird flu,regular surveillance to be continued throughout the country especially in the vulnerableareas bordering infected countries and in areas visited by migratory birds.

Marking a new high in India-Russia strategic cooperation, the Defence Minister, AKAntony commissioned the completely refurbished 44,500 tonne carrier AdmiralGorshkov into the Indian Navy as INS Vikramaditya at an impressive ceremony at sub-zero temperature in the wind-swept Sevmash Shipyard in the beautiful city ofSeverodvinsk in Russia, on 16 November. Speaking at the event, Antony said INS

Vikramaditya would significantly enhance the reach and capability of the Indian Navy.He said, the country has a rich maritime history and the Indian Ocean has guided ourfate over the centuries. INS Vikramaditya, the floating airfield has an overall length ofabout 284 meters and a maximum beam of about 60 meters, stretching as much asthree football fields put together. Standing about 20 storeys tall from keel to the highestpoint, the sheer sight of this 44,500 tonne mega structure of steel is awe inspiring. Theship has a total of 22 decks. The ship has the ability to carry over 30 aircraft comprisingan assortment of MiG 29K/Sea Harrier, Kamov 31, Kamov 28, Sea King, ALH-Dhruvand Chetak helicopters. The MiG 29K swing role fighter is the main offensive platformand provides a quantum jump for the Indian Navy’s maritime strike capability. Thesefourth generation air superiority fighters provide a significant fillip for the Indian Navywith a range of over 700 nm and an array of weapons including anti-ship missiles,Beyond Visual Range air-to-air missiles, guided bombs and rockets. The ship isequipped with state of the art launch and recovery systems along with aids to enablesmooth and efficient operation of ship borne aircraft. Major systems include the LUNALanding system for MiGs, DAPS Landing system for Sea Harriers and Flight decklighting systems.

The Minister of Railways Mallikarjun Kharge flagged off the first ever Dual Cab 4500 HPFreight Diesel locomotive called Vijay from Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW), Varanasi,a production unit of Indian Railways, on 6 November 2013. At the same time, theMinister announced to stop the Swatantrata Senani Express at Bhulanpur RailwayStation, Sub-way at DLW administration. It is important to note that the DLW has notonly increased its production in large but also developed latest state-of-the-arttechnologies. Building of this WDG4D High Horse Power freight locomotive is abreakthrough for DLW as well as for the Indian Railways. Vijay, the dual cab freightWDG4D is a trailblazer. It is the first dual cab diesel electric freight locomotive to be builtby Indian Railways.

India has developed a new tactical surface-to-surface missile 'Pragati' with a rangebetween 60-170 km and will offer it to friendly countries. The new missile, now ondisplay at a defence exhibition in South Korea, is based on the Prahaar missiledeveloped by the DRDO for the Army and can be termed as its export variant with minordifferences, said a DRDO official on 28 October .The government has approved that itmay be offered to friendly countries if anyone shows interest in it, he said. The missile isthe main exhibit of the DRDO which is showcasing an array of indigenous weapons atthe Seoul International Aerospace and Defense Exhibition (ADEX 2013).This is the firsttime ever that an array of latest defence equipment developed by the DRDO, will beunveiled internationally at such a scale. DRDO chief Avinash Chander is leading theIndian delegation at the show. ADEX 2013 is expected to host more than 300companies from 33 countries. DRDO's participation also commemorates the 40thanniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and South Korea.

India's space agency, ISRO, on 5 November 2013 successfully launched its historicmission to Mars from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, about 100kmfrom Chennai. It was India’s first mission to the red planet. The mission follows India’ssuccessful 2008-2009 Chandrayaan-1 moon probe, which discovered water moleculesin the lunar soil. The total cost of the Mars mission is US $ 73 million. The mainobjective of the mission is to develop the technologies required for design, planning,management and operations of an interplanetary mission. The main objective of themission is to explore Mars surface features, morphology, mineralogy and search formethane in the Martian atmosphere using indigenous scientific instruments. Thesatellite carries instruments such as Lyman Alpha Photometer, a methane sensor, acomposition analyser, a camera and an imaging spectrometer for studying theatmosphere, particle environment and surface imaging. The satellite is scheduled toreach the Mars orbit in September 2014 and is designed to circle the Red Planet in anelliptical orbit of 366 km X 80000 km.</ul></td>

AWARDS:

East Timor film ‘Beatriz’s War’ bagged Golden Peacock award for best Film at theclosing ceremony of 44th International Film Festival of India on 30 November. The film,directed by Bety Reis and Luigi Acquisto. The award carries a Golden Peacock, acertificate and a Cash Prize of Rs. 40 lakh. Indian Director Kaushik Ganguli bags theaward for Best Director for his Bengali film ‘Apur Panchali’. The award carries a SilverPeacock, a certificate and a cash prize of Rs. 15 lakh. Best Actor (Male) award went toAlon Moni Aboutboul for his performance in Israeli movie ‘A Place in Heaven’. Theaward carries a Silver Peacock, a certificate and a cash prize of Rs. 10 lakh. Best Actor(Female) award was presented to Boczarska Magdalena for her excellent performancein Polish film ‘In Hiding’. On the occasion Union Minister for Information andBroadcasting, Manish Tewari said that 44th IFFI was a celebration of freedom of thehuman spirit, liberated from the mores of conventionalism, imbued with the ability todare and above all the power of a ‘New Idea’. With this, the 11-day extravaganza offilms, discussions and press conferences on films came to an end. Goa GovernorBharat Veer Wanchoo, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Manish Tewari,Chief Minister of Goa, Manohar Parrikar were also present at the closing ceremony.Famous Malaysian actress and filmmaker Michelle Yeoh was the Chief Guest for theclosing ceremony.

Malala Yousafzai, Kainat Riaz and Shazia Ramzan on 27 November 2013 were chosenfor the GG2 Hammer Award, for their bravery at the GG2 (Garavi Gujarat 2) LeadershipAwards 2013 in London. The activist Malala Yousafzai won the number one spot in theGG2 Power List 101 for her work in raising awareness for female empowerment. Malala

Yousafzai, the teenager from Pakistan, who was shot in the head by the Taliban forcampaigning for girls’ education. She has been named as the Britain’s most influentialAsian by a weekly publication. Kainat Riaz and Shazia Ramzan were shot and woundedin Swat Valley last year. The GG2 Hammer Award winner of 2013 transcends everyboundary and appeals to the very core of our humanity. The GG2 Power 101 has beencompiled by The Asian Media and Marketing Group (AMG) and features the top 101most influential Asians in the UK, ranging from all walks of life. Now in its third year, thelist honours some notable British Asians who hold power and influence not just inBritain, but also globally.

The 18th International Children's Film Festival concluded on 20 November inHyderabad. A Dutch Film named Kauwboy, directed by Boudewijn Koole won theGolden Elephant Award for best film in the 'International Live Action' category. The filmis about a 10 year old boy and a bird. The Golden Plaque for second-best film in thesame section was won by a German film Das Pferd Auf Dem Balkon or A horse on theBalcony. The Jury Prize for the best artwork was won by a Hindi film Goopi GawaiyaBagha Bajaiya directed by Shilpa Ranade. Ernest Et Celestine won the award for theBest Animation Feature. During the film festival, Batul Mukthiar received the bestdirector award for his film Kaphal in the International Live Action. The best screenplayaward went to Nono-The Zigzag Kid. The Golden Elephant trophy for Best Little Directorcategory was given to an Indian film Breaking Silence and Tamator Chor. The filmfestival was organised by the Children's Film Festival India (CFSI), which is anautonomous body under the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and AndhraPradesh Government.

Pakistani teenage activist Malala Yousafzai, who survived a Taliban assassinationattempt last year, on 20 November, received the EU's Sakharov human rights prize at aceremony in Strasbourg. The European Parliament President, Martin Schulz, presentedthe award to the 16-year-old who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize earlier thisyear. Malala dedicated the award to "the unsung heroes of Pakistan" and to humanrights campaigners worldwide. Malala was shot in the head a year ago for campaigningfor better rights for girls in Swat Valley of northwest Pakistan, an erstwhile Talibanstronghold. The Sakharov Prize for free speech is awarded by the European Parliamentannually in memory of Soviet physicist and dissident Andrei Sakharov. The 50,000-euro(USD 65,000) prize is considered Europe's top human rights award. Malala joins adistinguished list of winners of the prize that includes South Africa's Nelson Mandelaand Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar.

Dr. Angela Merkel, German Chancellor on 19 November selected for Indira GandhiPrize for Peace, Disarmament and Development for the year 2013. The InternationalJury for the Prize was chaired by the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, which madethis announcement on 19 November 2013 on the birth anniversary of Indira Gandhi. Dr.Angela Merkel is nominated for her exemplary leadership in Europe and the worldduring the financial crises, her commitment to universal peace and disarmament andher leadership role in strengthening productive and mutually beneficial relations withIndia and other developing countries. The award is conferred upon the person or anorganisation irrespective of race, religion, nationality or other aspects. It consists ofaward worth 2.5 million Rupees as well as trophy along with citation. The IndiaraGandhi Award is constituted by Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, theLiberian President was conferred with the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmamentand Development for the year 2012.

The 44th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) began at Panaji in Goa on 20November 2013. Academy award winning actress Suasan Sarandon inaugurated the11- day cinematic extravaganza in the distinguished presence of Union Minister ofInformation and Broadcasting Manish Tewari, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parriker anda galaxy of cine stars. The 44th International Film Festival of India (from 20 to 30November 2013) is organized by the IFFI Secretariat under the aegis of the Ministry ofInformation and Broadcasting, Government of India, in collaboration with theGovernment of Goa.44th edition of IFFI is unique on several accounts. The festivalwould highlight for the first time Cinema from the North Eastern states of India. Apackage of 19 films from the North-East will explore the immense ethnic, traditional andcultural diversity in the 8 states of North- East. The Lifetime Achievement Award isbeing conferred on the legendary Czech film director Jiri Menzel whose films have beenacknowledged as the Czech New Wave Cinema. Renowned actress Waheeda Rehamnwill be conferred with the first Centenary Award for Indian Film Personality of the Year.The International Film Festival of India (IFFI) is one of the most significant film festivalsin Asia, held every year. The first edition of IFFI was organized by the Films Division,Government of India at Mumbai 1952.

The General Council of Sangeet Natak Akademi, the National Academy of Music,Dance and Drama, New Delhi has declared fellowships (Akademi Ratna) and Akademi

awards (Akademi Auraskar) for the year 2013 . A decision to this effect was taken in ameeting held on 21 November 2013 where three (3) eminent personalities in the field ofperforming arts, namely Smt. Kanak Rele, Shri R Sathyanarayana and Shri MaheshElkunchwar as Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellows (Akademi Ratna) were elected. TheFellowship of the Akademi is the most prestigious and rare honor, which is restricted toa very limited number at a given time. Presently there are only 40 Fellows of theSangeet Natak Akademi. The General Council of the Akademi also selected thirty eight(38) artists (2 Joint Awards) from the fields of Music, Dance, Theatre and Puppetry forthe Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards (Akademi Puraskar) for the year 2013.In the fieldof Music, nine eminent artists, namely Shri Ritwik Sanyal, Smt. Veena Sahasrabuddhein Hindustani Vocal; Shri Hashmat Ali Khan, Hindustani Instrumental Music (Tabla); ShriDhruba Ghosh, Hindustani Instrumental Music (Sarangi); Smt. Aruna Sairam, S/Shri D.Seshachari & D Raghavachari Hyderabad Brothers(Joint Award) in Carnatic Vocal; ShriTrichy Sankaran, Carnatic Instrumental Music (Mridangam); Shri ThiruvizhaJayashankar, Carnatic Instrumental Music (Nadaswaram) and Shri Bankim Sethi, MajorTraditions of Music (Odissi Music) have been selected for the Akademi Awards 2013.Inthe field of Dance, Smt. Jamuna Krishnan and Shri B Herambhanathan,(Bharatanatyam); Smt. Rajashree Shirke (Kathak); Shri Kalamandalam M P SNamboodiri, (Kathakali); Shri Chinta Seetha Ramanjaneyulu (Kuchipudi); Smt SangeetaDash (Odissi); Shri Jogen Dutta Bayan (Sattriya); Shri Srinivasa Rangachariar (MajorTraditions of Dance & Dance Theatre (Arayer Sevai) and Shri Dhaneswar Swain, Musicfor Dance have been selected for the Akademi Awards 2013. In the field of Theatre,eight eminent persons have been selected for Akademi Awards 2013. They include ShriRameshwar Prem, Shri Pundalik Narayan Naik in Playwriting; Shri KamalakarMuralidhar Sontakke, Shri Kewal Dhaliwal, Smt. Prasanna Ramaswamy in the field ofDirection; Shri Vasant Josalkar, Smt Kusum Haidar in Acting and Shri Krishna Borkar inthe field of Allied Theatre Arts (Make-up).For their contribution to Traditional/Folk/ TribalMusic/ Dance/ Theatre and Puppetry, eight artists have been selected for the AkademiAwards. They are Smt. Raj Begum, Traditional, Folk Music/Dance & Theatre (Jammu &Kashmir); S/Shri T.A.R. Nadi Rao & N Jeeva Rao (Joint Award), Folk Music(Tamilnadu); Shri Gurdial Singh, Instrument Making (Punjab); Shri Mohan SinghKhangura, Rabindra Sangeet (West Bengal); Shri Umakanta Gogoi (Bairagi), TokariGeet and Dehbichar Geet, (Assam), Smt Lilavati M Kavi (Bajaj), Puppetry; SmtMeenakshi, Instrument Making - Ghatam (Tamilnadu) and Shri Sheikh Riyajuddin aliasRajubaba, Folk Theatre ( Maharashtra).Shri Mysore V Subramanya (Performing Arts)and Shri N Ramanathan (Music) will receive the Akademi Awards 2013 for OverallContribution/Scholarship to Performing Arts.The honour of Akademi Fellow has beenconferred since 1954 and Akademi Award since 1952. The honour of Akademi Fellowcarries a purse money of Rs 3,00,000/- (Rupees three lacs) and Akademi Awards carryRs 1,00,000/- (Rupees one lac), besides Tamrapatra and Angavastram.

India's top scientist CNR Rao, who was recently named for the Bharat Ratna - thecountry's highest civilian award - has been elected honorary foreign member of theChinese Academy of Sciences, the first Indian to be so honoured."Dr Rao is the firstIndian scientist to be elected recently (November 4) to the prestigious academy, whichconsists of several Nobel laureates and eminent scientists of the world," the JawaharlalNehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) where Dr Rao is thefounder-president, said in a statement in Bangalore on 22 November. The ChineseAcademy of Science had bestowed upon the 80-year-old Dr Rao the Award forInternational Scientific Cooperation in January 2012.The Bangalore-born Dr Rao ischairman of the Scientific Advisory Council to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh since2005 in addition to being the national research professor.

An icon for the film lovers and iconoclast for the professionals, Waheeda Rehman willbe honoured with the first Centenary Award for the Indian Film personality at the 44thInternational Film Festival of India (IFFI). The award has been introduced this year andthe veteran actor will receive the trophy on the opening day of the festival. It consists ofa cash component of Rs. 10 lakh and a citation. The ‘Quintessential Beauty ofBollywood’ is known as much for her performance as for her choice of roles. Born inChengalpattu near Chennai in 1936, Waheeda Rehman began her career with Tamiland Telugu movies and went on to work with Gemini Ganesan in ‘Kaalam Maari Pochu’in 1955. Guru Dutt happened to see the Telugu version of this film and offered her arole in ‘C.I.D.’. The pairing of Waheeda Rehman with Guru Dutt treated the cinegoerswith such marvels as ‘Pyasa’. ‘ Kaghaz Ke Phool’, ‘Saheb Bibi aur Ghulam’ and ‘Chudhvin ka Chaand’. A persona oozing grace and grandeur, Waheeda Rehmaan wonthe National Award for the Best Actor in 1971 for ‘Reshma Aur Shera’ and FilmfareAwards in 1966 for ‘Guide’ and in 1968 for ‘Neel Kamal’. She was honoured with PadmaShri in 1972 and with Padma Bhushan in 2011. In 2004, a Waheeda Rehman FilmRetrospective was held at the Seattle Arts Museum and the University of Washington.The first Centenary Award to Waheeda Rehman acknowledges the creative contributionof an artist who opted for roles which were much more than just the appealing shadowof the male actors of the times. SPORTS

Jamaican sprinters Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce were crowned male andfemale World Athletes of the Year for 2013 by the sport's governing IAAF, in Monaco on16 November. Bolt won gold in the 100 metres, 200 and 4x100 relay at the Moscowworlds in August to take his all-time tally to eight golds and two silvers at thechampionships, making him the most successful athlete in their history. The 27-year-old, who also has six Olympic gold medals and holds the 100 and 200 metres world

records, won the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) award for thethird season in a row and the fifth time in six years. Compatriot Fraser-Pryce claimedgold medals in the same three events in Moscow, having previously won two golds andtwo silvers, and is also the Olympic sprint champion. The 26-year-old Fraser-Prycecollected her first female World Athlete of the Year award. Bolt and Fraser-Pryce alsoreceive a prize of $100,000.

The four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel became the first driver to win eightstraight races in a single season, with his victory at the US Grand Prix on 18 November.Sebastien Grosjean came second. Webber coming 3rd with Hamilton finishing fourth.

Magnus Carlsen of Norway won the FIDE World Chess Championship 2013 at Chennaion 22 November 2013.Magnus Carlsen defeated the previous world championViswanathan Anand of India by 6.5-3.5. The victory was worth 8.4 crore Rupees forMagnus Carlsen. Anand settled for 5.6 crore Rupees. The match was organized byFIDE and AICF.The Magnus Calsen’s victory was also the end of Anand’s six-year reignas the World champion. It was Anand’s first loss in a world title match since 2007.

Lionel Messi, the Barcelonan forward footballer on 20 November 2013 won the GoldenShoe award. Messi won the award in recognition of his 46 goals in 32 leaguesappearances in the Europe’s domestic football league in the 2012-13 seasons. This isthe third Golden Shoe award of Messi and with this win he became the first footballerwin the shoe three times. Earlier Messi won the award in 2009-10 for 34 goals and aSpanish record 50 in 2011-12. Lionel Andres Messi (26) is an Argentine Footballer anda captain to the national team of Argentina. At present he plays for FC Barcelona inSpain.

Indian Cricketer Virat Kohli became the fastest batsman to score 5000 runs in one-dayinternationals when he scored 86 against the West Indies in the first ODI in Kochi on 21November 2013. Virat Kohli achieved the feat in just 120 matches and 114 innings. He

has so far scored 5005 runs, which included 17 centuries, and 27 fifties in his shortcareer.In terms of innings, Virat Kohli has equalled the record of Sir Viv Richards ofWest Indies, who also achieved the feat in 114 innings way back in 1987 but it was Viv's126th match. Before Kohli, former captain Sourav Ganguly was the fastest to achievethe feat among Indian batsmen in 131 matches and 126 innings.

The Infosys Prize 2013 in Life Sciences is awarded to Dr. Rajesh S. Gokhale, Director,CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, for his work in the field of lipidmetabolism in tubercle bacilli. Each year two million people are infected and die oftuberculosis (TB) and there will be 10 million new patients every year. Dr. Gokhalediscovered biochemical networks and new paradigms necessary for the synthesis ofMycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) cell envelope coat that makes these bacteria escapehost immune systems. This discovery opens up new avenues to develop new therapyagainst TB. The Infosys Prize, comprising a 22-karat gold medallion, a citationcertificate and prize money of Rs. 55 lakh, ranks among the highest monetary awards inIndia that recognizes scientific research. The prize endeavors to elevate the prestige ofscientific research in India and inspires young Indians to choose a vocation in thescientific research. Prof Samir K. Brahmachari, Director General of CSIR, said thatconferring this prestigious award to four CSIR scientists in three consecutive years afterits inception in 2009 exhibits that internationally competitive scientific research is beingcarried out in CSIR and CSIR has an outstanding young scientific leadership in position..

The Union Finance Minister P.Chidambaram released a Commemorative Coin of Rs. 20and a circulation coin of Rs.5 to mark the culmination of the 125th Birth Anniversary ofMaulana Abul Kalam Azad at a function held in New Delhi on 11 November. K.Rehman, Union Minister for Minority Affairs, Wazahatt Habibullah, Chairman, NationalCommission for Minorities were present on the occasion among others. This year marksculmination of 125th Birth Anniversary of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. Maulana Azadwas one of India’s most prominent freedom fighters, who espoused the cause of anundivided India. He opposed the ‘two nation theory’ of Muslim League and was aleading proponent of Hindu-Muslim unity. He was India’s first Minister of Education. Hewas posthumously awarded country’s highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna in 1992.

The Government on 16 November has decided to confer Bharat Ratna, the highestcivilian award, on eminent scientist Prof C.N.R. Rao and cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar.Prof. C.N.R. Rao is an eminent scientist and a well recognized international authority onsolid state and materials chemistry. He has published over 1,400 research papers and45 books. Prof. Rao’s contributions have been recognized by most major scientificacademies around the world through conferment of memberships and fellowships. He

has been honoured with several national and international awards. Sachin Tendulkar isundoubtedly an outstanding cricketer - a living legend who has inspired millions acrossthe globe. During the last 24 years, since the young age of 16 years, Tendulkar hasplayed cricket across the world and won laurels for our country. He has been a trueambassador of India in the world of sports. His achievements in cricket are unparalleled,the records set by him unmatched, and the spirit of sportsmanship displayed by himexemplary. That he has been honoured with several awards is testimony to hisextraordinary brilliance as a sportsman.

Renowned actress Waheeda Rehman will be conferred with the Centenary Award forIndian Film Personality of the Year at the International Film Festival of India 2013 inPanji, Goa. The 2013 edition of the Festival is being held between 20 and 30November. The award has been instituted to commemorate 100 years of IndianCinema, and being given annually to an outstanding film personality for his or hercontribution to Indian cinema. After extensive deliberations, a five member jury identifiedWaheeda Rehman as the ideal member of the Indian film fraternity to be the firstrecipient of the award. The Centenary Award recognizes her prolific body of workthrough the film industry’s formative years. The award carries a citation, a certificate, amedal (Silver Peacock),a shawl and Rs.10 lakh cash prize.

Shiraz Naval Minwalla, Professor of Physics in TIFR, Mumbai selected for the 2014New Horizons in Physics Prize on 5 November 2013. He was awarded "for hispioneering contributions to the study of string theory and quantum field theory; and inparticular his work on the connection between the equations of fluid dynamics andAlbert Einstein’s equations of general relativity". The New Horizons for Physics Prizeawarded to promising junior researchers by Fundamental Physics Prize Foundation.The award carries prize money of US $ 1,00,000. The Fundamental Physics PrizeFoundation is a not-for-profit corporation established by the Milner Foundation, Russiain 2012 and dedicated to advancing our knowledge of the Universe at the deepest levelby awarding annual prizes for scientific breakthroughs, as well as communicating theexcitement of fundamental physics to the public. The Fundamental Physics Prizerecognizes transformative advances in the field, while the New Horizons in PhysicsPrizes are targeted at promising junior researchers.

Lord Swraj Paul, a leading NRI industrialist and educationist was presented with theInternational Indian of the Decade award on 15 November 2013. Swraj Paul waspresented the award for his outstanding achievements in the fields of industry,education and philanthropy. Virender Paul, the acting High Commissioner of India to theUK presented the award to Lord Swraj Paul at the 20th anniversary of the publication ofIndia Link International (a monthly magazine). Lord Swraj Paul is the founder of the UK-

based steel and engineering multinational company Caparo, which at present employsabout 10,000 people worldwide from UK, USA and India.

Information and Broadcasting Ministry has instituted a new centenary award to honourpersonalities for contribution to Indian Cinema. The minister for Information andBroadcasting, Manish Tewari has announced the institution of a special award in theseries of initiatives undertaken to commemorate the 100 years of Indian Cinema. Thecentenary award would be given every year to an outstanding Indian film personality "AFilm Icon" for his/her contribution to Indian Cinema at IFFI. Speaking on the occasion inBangalore on 7 November, Tewari said that the award reiterated the rich legacy ofIndian Cinema where eminent personalities had contributed to its growth throughdifferent stages of its evolution. The award is the second in the series instituted by theGovernment to commemorate the centenary celebrations. He said that the ministry hadtaken initiatives to promote the growth of the film industry. It had tried to review thestatutory architecture under the films paradigm by instituting the Mudgal Committee toreview the provisions of the Cinematography Act. The recommendations of thecommittee were under consideration and the opinions have been invited as the reporthad been placed on the website of the ministry, he added.

Martha Dodray, a health worker from Bihar on 6 November 2013 won the global UNAward for her commitment and dedication to eradicate Polio in India. United Nation hasconferred the UN Frontline Workers Global Leadership Award to Martha Dodray. Theaward was given in recognition of the roles to individuals, organizations, andcorporations played in supporting the work of the United Nations’ to advance globalpeace, justice, and prosperity. The United Nations Foundation and the United NationsAssociation of the USA (UNA-USA) honored recipients of the 2013 Global LeadershipAwards at the annual Global Leadership Dinner in New York City. Martha Dodray is anAuxiliary Nurse and Midwife (ANM) from Darbhanga district of Bihar. She representedthe worldwide polio frontline workers. Her contribution cause was recognized by UnitedNations Foundation in 2013 and awarded

An Indian-origin doctor has been selected for prestigious "Outstanding American byChoice" award for his valuable contribution to US health sector. Eminent transplantsurgeon and philanthropist, Rahul Jindal, will be honoured by the US Citizenship andImmigration Services (USCIS) on November 13.The initiative recognizes naturalizedcitizens who have made significant contributions to both their community and theiradopted country. Jindal, who recently received the Leadership Award by the

International Leadership Foundation, was recently appointed as Commissioner onService and Volunteerism. He obtained his MD from BJ Medical College, Ahmedabad,and then studied in Britain where he and earned an FRCS from the Royal College ofEdinburgh. Known for his philanthropy and community services, Jindal is the director ofthe National Blood and Bone marrow Drive Campaign which was sponsored by about600 Hindu temples throughout North America.

SPORTS:Formula one racing driver Sebastian Vettel won the F1 Brazilian Grand Prix 2013 on 24November 2013. With this victory Vettel matched Michael Schumacher’s record of 13victories in a year and equaled the nine consecutive wins of Alberto Ascari. Vettel’s RedBull teammate Mark Webber was second in his final F1 race. Fernando Alonso ofFerrari was third. Recently, Sebastian Vettel also won the Formula One Indian GrandPrix 2013 at Buddha International Circuit on 27 October 2013.Sebastian Vettel is aGerman formulae one racing driver and at present he is driving for the Red Bull aAustrian racing team. He became the youngest driver, who won the World Drivers’Championship in 2010 and the same year he helped Red Bull to win the first team’sWorld Constructors Championship.

Sarah Teelow, the world champion water skier of Australia died on 25 November 2013after a fall during a high-speed endurance race on Australia’s Hawkesbury River. The21 year old, Teelow fell from her skis after the start of the 75 mile Bridge to BridgeWater Ski Classic near Sydney. She was airlifted to the hospital in critical condition, withspinal and head injuries and later she died in the hospital. She is the seventh water-skier to die in an accident in Australia in last five years. Teelow had won the Formula 2category at the World Waterski Racing Championships in Spain in last September.

Indian weightlifter, Deepak Lathore won Gold and two Silver medals in the Boys' 50 Kgcategory of the Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships on 25 November 2013 atPenang, Malaysia. On the opening day of the event, Lathore took the Gold in Snatchwith a lift of 83 kg. In Clean and Jerk, he lifted 102 kg to claim the Silver. With a total liftof 185 kg, he won another Silver in the event. The 2013 Commonwealth Senior, Juniorand Youth weightlifting Championships are being held at Penang city of Malaysia from

24 to 30 November 2013. In this event, India is represented by 41 Weightlifters in threecategories.

Jason Day, Australian Golfer won the Golf world cup at The Royal Melbourne Golf Clubin Melbourne on 24 November 2013. Australia team (Jason Day and Adam Scott) alsowon the team Championships by beating the American team of Matt Kuchar and KevinStreelman.With this victory Jason Day collected 1.2 million Dollars for sealing individualTitle and will share another 6,00,000 Dollars with Adam Scott for winning the teamtrophy. Indian Golfer Anirban Lahiri finished with 25th place in the tournament. Indiafinished 26th and last in the team Championships.

Mohammed Siddikur of Bangladesh won the 50th edition of Indian Open golftournament on 10 November, 2013 held at Delhi Golf Club, New Delhi. It was hissecond Asian Tour title win after Brunei Open victory in 2010. The tournament carries acash prize of US $ 1.25 million. This win catapulted him from ninth to third spot on theOrder of Merit. Siddikur scored a total of 274 to edge past his Indian friends AnirbanLahiri and S.S.P. Chowrasia to win the tournament. Mohammad Siddikur Rahman wasborn on 20 November 1984. He is a Bangladeshi professional golfer who plays on theAsian Tour.

Novak Djokovic on 11 November 2013 retained the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals titleafter defeating the number one Rafael Nadal. The world number two Djokovic, won 6-3,6-4 at the O2 Arena in London. The ATP world tour took place between 4 and 11November 2013. He earned US $ 19,23,000 prize money and 1,500 Emirates ATPRanking points, while Nadal earned US $ 10,13,000 and 1,000 points as he dropped toa 10-4 record in finals in 2013. Earlier, Djokovic won the same title in the year 2008 and2012.

The Indian Women Hockey Team on 9 November 2013 won the Silver Medal, losing 0-1to the hosts Japan in the final of the 3rd Women Asian Champions Trophy played atKakamigahara in Japan. Indian goalkeeper Rajni Etimarpu was adjudged BestGoalkeeper of the Tournament and Indian Women Team won Fair Play Award in thetournament. Japan won the gold, while India and Malaysia bagged the silver and bronzemedals respectively in the four-team event. Malaysia defeated China 3-1 in the bronze-medal play-off match.

India was selected by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) on 7 November 2013 tohost the Men’s World Cup of Hockey in 2018. The finals will be played from 1 to 16December 2018. Also, England will host the Women’s World Cup of hockey from 7-21July, 2018. This was announced by Leandro Negre, the President of FIH at Lausanneduring the special ceremony. Hockey's World Cup is held every four years and issecond only to the Olympics in significance. India hosted the world cup in 2010 at NewDelhi. The 2014 edition of Hockey World Cup would be played in The Hague,Netherlands.

Yuki Bhambri on 4 November 2013 won the ATP men’s singles title of Traralgon eventin Australia. He defeated Bradely Klahn of America in the summit clash that was hit byrain. This is the second win of his career. Yuki, the 21 years old Indian defeated higherranking Bradely by 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 in the finals in a match played on two days due to rain.This is the third straight win of Yuki over a higher ranked opponent in this tournament.The 277 ranked Yuki earlier defeated, Tatsuma of Japan ranked 191 and the JamesDuckworth of Australia ranked 147 in the tournament to reach the finals.

Rohit Sharma, the Indian batsman on 2 November 2013 became the third cricketer inthe world to score a double hundred in a one-day international (ODI) match. He scored209 runs off 158 balls against Australia in seventh and final ODI match at Bangalore'sM. Chinnaswamy Stadium. His runs included 12 fours and 16 sixes, which also meansthat he re-wrote the record of highest number of sixes in an ODI match. He out-beatShane Watson’s record of 15 sixes in the ODI which he hit in the match againstBangladesh. It is worth noticing that all the three batsmen who scored double hundredin one day match are Indians. The milestone was at first achieved by Sachin Tendulkarwho scored 200 runs against South Africa in the year 2010. The second one to do sowas Virendra Sehwag who scored 219 against West Indies in the year 2011 and thethird one is Rohit Sharma to score 209 runs against Australia in 2013. The recordsbroken by Rohit Sharma are - the highest scorer against Australia, highest number ofsixes in the ODI innings, second highest ODI score (209) after Virendra Sehwag (219).

PERSONS:Sachin Tendulkar---- Recently-retired batting legend Sachin Tendulkar on 28 Novemberbecame UNICEF's first brand ambassador for South Asia and is all set to work inpromoting hygiene and sanitation in the region. "Thanks for allowing me to start thiswonderful second innings of my life. I'm looking forward to being an ambassador forUNICEF and serve to the best of my ability. This is an innings that is really, reallyimportant to me, so I will try my best," said Tendulkar. The batting icon, who has beeninvolved with the global organization for the last 8-10 years, was now, named its

ambassador for South Asia region for two years. Tendulkar said it was hard to digestthat many people around the world did not have access to clean toilets.

Neeraj Sahai (56)---- Indian-American has appointed as president of Standard & Poor'sRatings Services, the world's largest ratings firm. He was appointed by McGraw HillFinancial Company. Neeraj Sahai will assume his new role at Standard & Poor's from 6January 2014. Sahai, who did his masters in economics from University of Delhi, iscurrently head of Citi's Securities and Fund Services business and also acts as chieffiduciary officer of Citigroup. He succeeds Douglas Peterson, who became presidentand chief executive officer of McGraw Hill Financial on 1 November, 2013.Standard &Poor's Ratings Services, part of McGraw Hill Financial, is the world's leading provider ofindependent credit risk research. It publishes more than a million credit ratings on debtissued by sovereign, municipal, corporate and financial sector entities.

Omprakash Valmiki (63)----- Noted Dalit writer Omprakash Valmiki passed away on 17November 2013 at Dehradun, Uttarakhand. Omprakash Valmiki is one of the mostfamous Dalit litterateurs in Hindi and he portrayed the life of Dalits with an authenticallyDalit voice. He was born in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh in 1950. He worked withGovernment Ordnance Factory Dehradun. Valmiki's autobiography Joothan (1997) isone of his famous works. In this work, he spoke in detail about the caste discrimination,persecution and humiliation than he faced, when he is growing up. Joothan is regardedas a milestone in Hindi literature.

Justice A.P.Shah ----Union Government on 22 November appointed Justice Ajit PrakashShah as the new Chairman of the 20th Law Commission of India. Justice Ajit PrakashShah succeeded Justice D. K. Jain who resigned in October 2013 to take over as thePresident of National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission. He was Chief Justiceof the High Court of Delhi from May 2008 till his retirement in February 2010. He isknown for his bold judgments, especially concerning social issues, including the world-headliner July 2009 ruling that found India`s 150-year-old statute prohibitinghomosexual acts (Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code) as discriminatory and,therefore, a "violation of fundamental rights”. The 20th Law Commission of India wasconstituted with the Order of the Government of India with effect from 1 September2012. It has a three-year term ending on 31st August; 2015.The commission would be

responsible for identification of obsolete laws and suggest measures suitable for quickgrievance handling and redressal of the citizens. It would also be examining the lawsthat effects poor and suggest measures which would help in harnessing the law and thelegal process for the economically weaker and poor section of the society.

Nisha Desai Biswal--- Nisha Desai Biswal assumed the post of the US AssistantSecretary of State for South and Central Asia. On 21 November 2013, Nisha DesaiBiswal was sworn in as Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia. NishaDesai Biswal replaced at this post Robert Blake and will be responsible for policy of theUS State Department for South and Central Asia. Prior to appointment, Nisha DesaiBiswal worked as the Assistant Administrator for Asia at the US Agency for InternationalDevelopment (USAID).

Frederick Sanger (95) ---- A British biochemist who is the only person to win Nobel Prizetwo times for Chemistry died on 19 November 2013 in Cambridge, eastern England. Forthe first time, he won the Nobel Prize in 1958 for development of the methods, whichhelped to unravel the chemical structure of Protein, mainly insulin. Second Nobel Prizewas given to him in 1980, jointly with Walter Gilbert and Paul Berg for the developmentof the techniques to read the sequences of DNA, which carries the basic code for life.By winning two Nobel, Sanger became one of the four people who had won the NobelPrizes two times. The other winners of Nobel Prize two times are Marie Curie, JohnBardeen and Linus Pauling.

Doris Lessing (94) ----British Nobel Prize-winning author Doris Lessing was died on 17November 2013 at London. Her best-known works are The Golden Notebook, Memoirsof a Survivor and The Summer before the Dark. In 2007, the 88-year-old Doris Lessingbecame the oldest recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature. and only the 11th woman towin the award.

Usha Ananthasubramanian ---- The Union Government on 12 November 2013appointed Usha Ananthasubramanian as the chairperson and managing director ofpublic sector Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB), the first women’s bank. Before joining BMB,she was an Executive Director with Punjab National Bank (PNB).UshaAnanthasubramanian started her career in the actuarial department with LIC andbanking career in February 1982 with Bank of Baroda. She holds a master’s degree instatistics from the University of Madras and a master’s degree in ancient Indian culture

from University of Mumbai. During her tenure at Punjab National Bank, she was part ofthe panel formed for examination of the blueprint and other issues for setting up of thewomen’s bank. The panel’s report paved the way for India’s first public sector women’sbank. The bank aims to service women and women-run businesses, support women’sself-help groups and their livelihoods and promote further financial inclusion. The UnionCabinet cleared the proposal for setting up of all-women bank on August 2013. TheReserve Bank of India gave its in-principal approval for the Bharatiya Mahila Bank inJune 2013 and the banking company was set up.The Union government approved Rs.1,000 crore seed capital for the women-focused public sector bank, announced byUnion finance minister P. Chidambaram in his 2013-14 budget speech.

Justice R. Banumathi----The Judge of the Madras High Court was appointed as theChief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court on 12 November 2013. She was appointedby the President Pranab Mukherjee. The Supreme Court’s Collegium has cleared herelevation as Chief Justice in August 2013 and the Union government has taken threemonths to process and notify the appointment. Justice R. Banumathi entered the TamilNadu Higher Judicial Service in 1988 as a direct recruit district judge. She worked asDistrict and Sessions Judge in Coimbatore and Vellore, and Principal District andSessions Judge in Pudukottai, Madras, Tirunelveli and Salem. She also worked asChief Metropolitan Magistrate, Chennai. She was made a judge of the Madras HighCourt on 3 April 2003.

Gamani Corea (87)----Veteran Sri Lankan economist Gamani Corea — one of the chiefarchitects of Sri Lanka’s first national plan in the late 1950s passed away in Colombo on3 November. A highly regarded economist, Dr. Corea was also a seasoned diplomat,who held key positions such as Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference onTrade and Development and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1974to 1984.The Institute of Policy Studies appointed Dr. Corea its first chairman, he said. Inhis vibrant career serving different capacities, Dr. Corea worked closely with leadingeconomists of the world, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Reshma ---- Legendary Pakistani folk singer Reshma passed away in Lahore on 3November 2013 after a long battle with throat cancer. She was 66. She is known for herpopular songs such as Lambi Ju dai and Dama Dam Mast Kalandar. Reshma was bornin 1947 in Bikaner, Rajasthan, in a Banjara family. She has no formal education inmusic, but at the age of just 12 years, she was seen singing at the Shahbaz Qalander'sshrine. Thereafter, her iconic song Laal Meri was recorded on the state-run PakistanRadio. With this, she became the most popular folk singer of Pakistan. She won various

national awards such as Sitara-i-Imtiaz as well as Legends of Pakistan, by the Presidentof Pakistan.

Gabriela Isler----- Gabriela Isler from Venezuela won Miss Universe 2013 title on 9November 2013 held in Moscow, Russia. Patricia Yurena Rodriguez from Spain andConstanza Baez from Ecuador finished as the first and second runner-ups. ManasiMoghe from India had been shortlisted for the top 10 finalists of Miss Universe 2013 butfailed to win the crown. Gabriela Isler is the third Miss Universe from Venezuela in 6years.