Category: All Current Affairs

London: Harish Salve appointed as Queen’s Counsel

India’s former solicitor general Harish Salve — who charged Re 1 for representing India in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case — has been appointed as Queen’s Counsel (QC) for the courts of  England and Wales. This was announced by the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Justice Department.

Salve, the 63-year-old, who was born in Nagpur and studied law at  Nagpur University was featured in the list of silk appointments released by the UK Ministry of Justice on January 13. He will formally take silk on March 16 at a ceremony in Westminster Hall after which he will take an oath in the UK High Court.

The title of Queen’s Counsel is usually awarded to lawyers possessing demonstrated skill and expertise in the conduct of advocacy. The appointment is done by the Queen, on the advice of the Lord Chancellor. He is advised by an independent Selection Panel which makes recommendations.

34,000 Bru refugees to get a permanent home in Tripura

Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed the agreement to permanently settle Bru-Reang refugees in Tripura, saying it will “greatly help” them. Union Home Minister Amit Shah presided over the signing of a quadripartite pact of MHA with the State governments of Tripura, Mizoram and leaders of Bru community to facilitate permanent settlement of Bru refugees in Tripura with a Rs 600 crore rehabilitation package.

The agreement will benefit around 34,000 Bru refugees living in six camps in Tripura. They were forced to flee Mizoram following ethnic tension in 1997. Reangs or Brus are the second largest ethnic group in Mizoram.

Arunachal Pradesh becomes first state to initiate red-listing of orchids

Arunachal Pradesh has become the first state in the country to initiate the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) ‘red listing’ at the state level. It has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the IUCN.

The MoU was signed by Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Manmohan Singh Negi and the IUCN’s country representative Dr. Vivek Saxena. The environment & forests department is the nodal department for executing the project.

The IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species is a critical indicator of the health of the world’s biodiversity. The project will be spread across 12 months, during which workshops on red list assessment will be conducted by experts from the IUCN.

Postal Ballot facility for Senior Citizens and PwD

Postal Ballot facility has been made available for Absentee voters in the category of Super Senior Citizens (over 80 years of age) and Person with Disability in the Delhi Assembly Election. Earlier it was only available to armed forces and those assigned in poll duties.

1st-ever Food Processing Summit in Ladakh

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, the UT Administration of Ladakh has organised the 1st-ever Food Processing Summit in the Union Territory Ladakh.

The event is aimed at encouraging the entrepreneurs to begin a StartUp to tap the potential in the Food Processing Industries in Ladakh. Invest India will explain the procedures of investment processes along with Government support.

Ladakh region has vast scope for investment in food Processing Industries in horticulture products like Apricot, Seabuck Thorn, Apple and agricultural produce like buckwheat and barley.

World Economic Forum releases ‘The Global Risks Report 2020’

The 15th edition of the World Economic Forum’s “Global Risks Report” is published. The report has been prepared by WEF in partnership with Marsh & McLennan and Zurich Insurance Group. The report defines the major risks, the world is going to face in the coming years. The data used to make the report was collected by Global Risks Perception Survey (GRPS) through survey conducted from 5 September to 22 October 2019.

A ‘global risk‘ is defined as an uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, can cause significant negative impact for several countries or industries within the next 10 years. ‘Failure to mitigate and adapt to climate change‘ has been declared as the number one risk by impact and number two by likelihood over the next 10 years in the report.

Bipul Behari Saha elected as bureau member of IUPAC

Bipul Behari Saha, a noted chemist has been elected as a bureau member of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) for the period 2020-23. Saha is only the second Indian after CNR Rao, former Director of the Indian Institute of Science and Bharat Ratna, to be elected (in 1979) for this prestigious position in over a century. At present, Saha is Director – R&D, L.R. Research Laboratories Pvt Ltd (wholly owned subsidiary of NACL Industries Limited), Hyderabad.

Founded 100 years ago, IUPAC is the largest global organization of Chemistry professionals. IUPAC has the responsibility of naming all new elements and compounds, declare atomic weights and physical constants, update Periodic table and carry out research projects. It is comprised of 12 Committees and 8 Divisions. At the apex of IUPAC organization is “IUPAC Bureau”.