Four Indian scientists from the Aligarh based Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College (JNMC) under Aligarh Muslim University have jointly awarded the prestigious William Harvey Award 2015. They were selected for this award in the field of Hematology for their work in the rare Hemoglobin C (Hb C) disease.
Recipients of Award are Saeedul Hasan, Arif Kafeel Akhtar, Shagufta Qadri, Suhailur Rahman.
This disease is widely prevalent in West African and Mediterranean countries and not common in the Indian sub-continent. Those afflicted from this disease suffer nutritional anaemia and do not respond to the treatment.
The award is named for scientist William Harvey (1578- 1657). It is given by the American Society of Hypertension. Mr. Harvey has pioneered in development of first accurate account of how the heart and circulatory system operated.
Union Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on skill development. The MoU seeks to establish a framework for joint action to address the need for skilled human resources in the health sector. It also seeks to achieve the national goals of skilling youth and to upgrade the quality and reach of human and infrastructural resources. The MoU will help to significantly increase the present capacities in areas of health sector to a minimum of one lakh trainees.
Thus it will leverage the existing infrastructure of public and private sector healthcare institutions by providing training against various short term job roles. It will also play important role innovative technology with the help of skilled workforce to focus on National Healthcare Policy 2015 for quality, affordability healthcare services in the country.
India and United States (US) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation to establish the PACESetter Fund in New Delhi. The MoU was signed by Richard Verma, US Ambassador to India and Upendra Tripathy, Secretary, Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). The PACESetter Fund seeks to support the Promoting Energy Access through Clean Energy (PEACE) track of the US-India Partnership to Advance Clean Energy (PACE). In turn, it will accelerate the commercialization of off-grid clean energy with the help of early-stage funding grants to develop and test innovative systems, products and business models.
US-India PACE is a flagship initiative on clean energy that combines the resources of several US agencies and different Ministries of India. It was established with a corpus fund of about 50 crore rupees with both the countries contributing equally. A steering Committee comprising the Secretary of the MNRE and US Ambassador to India and 3 representatives from each side has been constituted to oversee the fund management.
The 2015 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament held from 29 June to 12 July 2015. The tournament had taken place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. It was the 129th edition of the championships and the 48th edition in the Open Era.
Men’s Singles Title: Defending Champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia won the 2015 Men’s Singles Wimbledon Title. In the final match, he defeated Roger Federer of Switzerland by 7-6(7-1), 6-7(10-12), 6–4, 6-3 score. It is Djokovic’s 3rd Wimbledon Title (2011, 2014 and 2015) overall 12th men’s single Grand Slam title.
Women’s Singles Title: Serena Williams of United States has won Women’s Singles Wimbledon title at 2015. In the final match played she defeated Garbine Muguruza of Spain by 6-4, 6-4 score. It is Williams’ sixth Women’s Singles Wimbledon title (2002, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2015) and overall 21th Grand Slam title.
Women’s Doubles Title: Sania Mirza (India) and Martina Hingis (Switzerland) pair won the 2015 women’s Doubles Wimbledon Title. In the final match, they defeated Russian pair of Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina by 5–7, 7–6 (7–4), 7–5 score.
Men’s Doubles Title: Jean-Julien Rojer (Netherlands) and Horia Tecău (Romania) pair won the 2015 men’s Doubles Wimbledon Title. In the final match they defeated Jamie Murray (UK) and John Peers (Australia) pair by 7–5, 6–4, 6–4 score.
Mixed Doubles Title: Leander Paes (India) and Martina Hingis (Switzerland) pair won the 2015 Mixed Doubles Wimbledon Title. In the final match, they defeated Alexander Peya (Austria) and Tímea Babos (Hungary) pair by 6-1, 6-1 score.
Boys’ Doubles Title: Sumit Nagal (India) and Lý Hoàng Nam (Vietnam) pair won the 2015 Boy’s Doubles Wimbledon Title. In the final match they defeated Reilly Opelka (US) and Akira Santillan (Japan) pair by 7–6(7–4), 6-4 score.
‘Buddha In A Traffic Jam’ film has won the best original screenplay in a Foreign Language award at the Madrid International Film Festival. The film is a political satire directed by filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri. It stars Arunoday Singh and Mahi Gill in a lead role along with Anupam Kher, Pallavi Joshi and introduces Anchal Dwivedi.
Besides this award category, the film was also nominated in other two categories viz. the Best Foreign Language Film and Best Lead Actress in a Foreign Language Film to actress Mahi Gill in the Madrid International Film Festival. Earlier the movie was premiered in the 2014 edition of Mumbai International Film Festival in the India Gold category. The film was also bestowed awards and was the opening film in the 7th Global Film Festival 2015.
India and Kyrgyzstan have signed 4 pacts/ agreements to enhance bilateral cooperation between the two nations. These agreements were inked during the two-day visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Kyrgystan as part of his official visit to 5 Central Asian countries and Russia.
Besides signing these agreements, both nations also released Indo- Kyrgyz Joint Statements to increase regional cooperation and connectivity in the various fields including Political cooperation, regional and global level cooperation, Defence cooperation, Economic cooperation, Scientific and Technical Cooperation, Cultural and humanitarian cooperation.
State-run National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has set a target of providing 30,000 crore rupees as credit to farmers for irrigational purpose. It was announced by Bank’s Chairman and Managing Director Dr. Harsh Kumar Bhanwala in Mumbai on the occasion of 34th Foundation Day of NABARD. This credit will be provided over the next three years i.e. till 2018 and for this NABARD already has sanctioned 1,000 crore rupees. This funding will be in addition to the government’s 50,000 crore rupees of loans to farmers over the next five years (till 2020) under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY).
Besides, it was also announced that NABARD has been accredited as the national implementation agency for climate change at the rural level by the Green Climate Fund (GCF). It should be noted that, NABARD is only the banking entity from South Asia to be shortlisted for the purpose by GEF. The World Bank and Asian Development Bank among others are the 20 such entities which have already been shortlisted.
India and Turkmenistan have signed 7 pacts/ agreements to enhance bilateral cooperation between the two nations. These agreements were inked during the two-day visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Turkmenistan as part of his official visit to 5 Central Asian countries and Russia.
Besides signing these agreements, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his counterpart President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov held extensive discussions on bilateral relations and issues of mutual interest at regional and international level. Both leaders also released an Indo-Turkmen Joint Statements to increase regional cooperation and connectivity.
The QS Intelligence Unit on 8 July 2015 released the QS University Rankings: BRICS 2015. This 2015 edition reflects the increasingly strong global presence of leading Chinese universities with the top three spots going to Tsinghua University, Peking University and Fudan University. All BRICS countries that is Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa are represented within the top 20, however China’s dominance is clear throughout the ranking.
Rank | Overall Score | University | Location |
1 | 100.0 | Tsinghua University | China |
2 | 97.0 | Peking University | China |
3 | 93.4 | Fudan University | China |
4 | 92.9 | Lomonosov Moscow State University | Russia |
5 | 92.5 | Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore | India |
6 | 91.4 | Shanghai Jiao Tong University | China |
6 | 91.4 | University of Science and Technology of China | China |
8 | 87.6 | Nanjing University | China |
9 | 86.3 | Universidade de São Paulo | Brazil |
10 | 85.4 | Beijing Normal University | China |
S.No. | University | State |
1 | Indian Institute of Science | Bangalore |
2 | Indian Institute of Technology
|
Delhi |
3 | Indian Institute of Technology | Mumbai |
4 | Indian Institute of Technology | Kanpur |
5 | Indian Institute of Technology | Madras |
6 | Indian Institute of Technology | Kharagpur |
7 | Indian Institute of Technology | Roorkee |
8 | University of Delhi | Delhi |
9 | Indian Institute of Technology | Guwahati |
10 | University of Calcutta | Kolkata |
Vyapam: Vyavsayik Pariksha Mandal/Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB)
Vyapam scam was in news in July 2015 as Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on 12 July 2015 constituted a special team of 40 officers, under a Joint Director level officer, to probe the multi-crore Vyapam scam of Madhya Pradesh. Vyapam scam is an admission and recruitment scam involving politicians, senior officials and businessmen in Madhya Pradesh. The scam involved a collusion of undeserving candidates, who bribed politicians and MPPEB officials through middlemen, to get high ranks in these entrance tests.
The CBI constituted the team following the direction of Supreme Court (SC) of India. SC bench headed by Chief Justice of India HL Dattu on 9 July 2015 transferred the probe of all cases related to Vyapam scam to the CBI. It also asked the agency to file its report before it on 24 July 2015. Earlier, the case was being handled by a Special Task Force and was monitored by the High Court.
The Union Government on 12 July 2015 appointed international lawyer Rodrigo Oreamuno to arbitrate with the UK telecom major Vodafone in the 20000 crore rupees tax case on its behalf. Oreamuno replaces former Chief Justice of India RC Lahoti, who recused himself in May 2015. Vodafone already named Yves Fortier of Canada as its nominee on the panel. Now, Oreamuno and Fortier would name a third arbitrator, who will act as a chairman of the tribunal for the case.
The Union Government and Vodafone had earlier decided to appoint Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf of the International Court of Justice as the third arbitrator. However, he declined to be part of the three-member panel in June 2015.
According to the Indian government, the tax liability on Vodafone is 20000 crore rupees. The said tax liability of Vodafone in India arose from the purchase of Hutch Essar in 2007 for 11 billion US dollar, as it involved cross-border transfer of Indian assets. Although, the basic tax demand were 7990 crore rupees. In June 2013, the Cabinet approved the conciliation with Vodafone to resolve the capital gains tax dispute related to its 2007 purchase of Hutch Essar for 11 billion dollars.
Earlier in May 2014, India withdrew a conciliation offer to Vodafone on the issue saying the telecom major had initiated arbitration without waiting for the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal decision on another transfer pricing dispute. The UPA-II Government led by former PM Manmohan Singh wanted the transfer pricing dispute to be settled first so that conciliation talks with Vodafone on the Hutchison Essar deal could go ahead.
The United States of America (USA) on 10 July 2015 formally designated Tunisia as the 16th Major Non-NATO Ally (MNNA). Earlier, the decision to confer the MNNA status on Tunisia was announced by the President Barack Obama on 21 May 2015 during Tunisian President Caid Essebsi’s visit to Washington.
The MNNA status offers tangible privileges including eligibility for training, loans of equipment for cooperative research and development, and Foreign Military Financing for commercial leasing of certain defense articles by the USA to Tunisia.
Patnitop Tunnel: Located on Jammu-Sri Nagar National Highwary (NH1A) in Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir. The Patnitop Tunnel was in news on 13 July 2015 as the Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari attended a ceremony when the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) engineers drilled a hole through the final section of the tunnel between Chenani and Nashri.
The Patnitop Tunnel or Chenani-Nashri Tunnel is touted as India’s longest road tunnel.
Tata Steel’s West Bokaro Division was on 11 July 2015 conferred with the Golden Peacock Environment Management Award (GPEMA) 2015 in New Delhi. It was presented by the Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Prakash Javadekar to Sanjay Rajoria, General Manager of West Bokaro, Tata Steel of Jharkand.
Tata Steel won the coveted award for its responsible environmental practices and resource management while upgrading the skills of employees through training as new technologies evolve.
The book Green Signals: Ecology, Growth, and Democracy in India was in news in the second week of July 2015. It was written by former Union Environment and Forest Minister (Independent Charge) Jairam Ramesh.
It unveils the story of environmental policy making in India from the perspective of a pivotal decision maker. It chronicles India’s environmental decision-making since the 1991 movement, telling the story of how, for the first time, the doors of the environment ministry were opened to voices, hitherto unheard, into the policy-making process. It also takes us through India’s coming of age in the global environmental and climate change community to take on a leadership role that is progressive, proactive, and steeped in national interest. Further, the book also addresses the challenges involved in trying to ensure economic growth with ecological security.
At present, Jairam Ramesh is Chair of the Future Earth Engagement Committee, a research platform on global sustainability. He is also a member of the Rajya Sabha from Andhra Pradesh. He also authored Mobilising Technology for World Development (Co-editor, 1979) and Making Sense of Chindia: Reflections on China and India (2005).
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