National
INS Ajay Decommissioned
⇒ INS Ajay was decommissioned on 19 September 2022 after rendering 32 years of glorious service to the nation. The ceremony was conducted at Naval Dockyard, Mumbai in the traditional manner.
History:
- INS Ajay was commissioned on 24 January 1990 at Poti, Georgia in the erstwhile USSR and was part of the 23rd Patrol Vessel Squadron under the operational control of Flag Officer Commanding, Maharashtra Naval Area.
- The ship was in active naval service for more than 32 years and during her illustrious journey, she participated in several naval operations including Op Talwar during Kargil War and Op Parakram in 2001.
Secretary, Ex-Servicemen Welfare, Ministry of Defence
⇒ Shri Vijoy Kumar Singh assumed charge as Secretary, Ex-Servicemen Welfare, Ministry of Defence on September 19, 2022.
Shri Singh is a 1990-batch IAS officer of Punjab cadre, who has an experience of more than 32 years in administration. Shri Vijoy Kumar Singh recently served as Special Secretary in Ministry of Textiles.
Strategic Plan 2021-27 of IIT Madras
⇒ Union Minister for Education and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Shri Dharmendra Pradhan released the Strategic Plan 2021-27 of IIT Madras on 19 September 2022.
- Which proposed an ambitious growth phase for the Institute and dedicated Mphasis Centre for Quantum Sciences & Kotak-IIT (M) Save Energy Mission.
» The Minister highlighted Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has appealed to all of us to adopt ‘Panch Pran’ for making India a developed nation by 2047.
- Institutes like IIT Madras have a major role in making India a $5 trillion economy and fulfilling the vision of Viksit Bharat.
Other points:
» Union Minister also launched ‘Kotak IITM Save Energy’ Mission, being set up with CSR funding support from Kotak to help MSMEs reduce energy consumption and felicitated the Mphasis team for supporting the growth of the Centre for Quantum Information, Communication and Computing (CQuICC).
» The Minister also inaugurated the indigenous GDI engine developed by IIT Madras and supported by TVS Motor Company and a low-cost vegetable cart incubated at IIT (M).
International
Ministerial meeting of the India-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council
⇒ Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, Shri Piyush Goyal visited Saudi Arabia from 18th to 19th September 2022 to attend the Ministerial meeting of the India-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council.
Co-chair:
Along with Shri Goyal, Saudi Minister for Energy, His Royal Highness Prince Abdul aziz bin Salman Al-Saud co-chaired the inaugural Ministerial meeting of the Committee on Economy and Investments of the India-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council.
» This Ministerial Committee is one of the two Ministerial verticals established under the framework of the India-Saudi Arabia Strategic Partnership Council, which is headed at the highest level by the Prime Minister of India and the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
» India is the second largest trade partner of Saudi Arabia and Saudi Arabia is India’s fourth largest trade partner.
Outcomes of the Ministerial Meeting are:
» Streamlining efforts to realize the announcement made by His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, during his visit to India in February 2019, of investments worth USD 100 Billion in India.
» Endorsement of the 41 areas of cooperation identified by the technical teams under the 4 broad domains of Agriculture & Food Security; Energy; Technology & IT; and Industry & Infrastructure.
» Agreement to undertake implementation of the priority projects in a time bound manner.
Priority areas of cooperation include:
- Collaboration in digital fintech sector through operationalization of UPI and Rupay Card in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
- Re-affirmation of continued cooperation in joint projects including the West coast refinery, LNG infrastructure investment and development of strategic petroleum storage facilities in India
During the visit, Union Minister met Dr. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Kassabi, Minister of Commerce of Saudi Arabia, and held wide ranging discussions on the entire gamut of bilateral trade, commerce and investments linkages.
Diversification and expansion of trade and commerce, removal of trade barriers, including the outstanding issues related to sanitary and phytosanitary measures and trade remedies, automatic registration and marketing authorization of Indian pharma products in Saudi Arabia, feasibility of institutionalizing Rupee-Riyal trade, introduction of UPI and Rupay cards in Saudi Arabia; were amongst the key points of discussion.
Union Minister also met Mr. Khalid Al-Salem, President of Royal Commission of Jubail and Yanbu, Eng. Saad Al-Khalb, CEO of Saudi EXIM Bank, and other senior officials of the Ministry of Industry, Saudi Arabia.
Discussions were held on a wide range of topics such as institutional tie-up of the EXIM banks of the two countries, joint projects in third countries, mutual recognition of standards, establishment of startup and innovation bridge, strengthening collaboration in infrastructure development, particularly in the domains of construction, railways, industrial and manufacturing collaboration in Pharmaceuticals, Automobiles, Petrochemicals, Specialty chemicals, Technical textiles, mining and increasing project exports from India.
» Shri Goyal also inaugurated “The India Week” in Riyadh as part of the ongoing efforts of Embassy of India in Riyadh to celebrate Indian products especially Food products like Millets, Textiles etc.
Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying holds bilateral meeting with New Zealand Minister of Trade and Export and Agriculture
⇒ Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Shri Parshottam Rupala held a bilateral meeting with New Zealand Minister of Trade and Export and Agriculture, Mr Damien O’connor on 19 September 2022.
Discussion:
» The two sides discussed the potential bilateral cooperation to strengthen Foot and Mouth Disease capability to advance India’s and New Zealand’s primary sectors.
» During the meeting, both sides felt that there is much to learn from each other in the related fields.
- The cooperation discussed helped enhance bilateral cooperation between the two countries. Exchanging information and expertise helped build the knowledge and capability of each other’s animal husbandry sector.
» Both the dignitaries discussed various ideas to further strengthen the close and unique India-New Zealand friendship.