Jawed Ashraf has been designated as the next Ambassador of India to France. He is currently High Commissioner of India to the Republic of Singapore. He will succeed Vinay Mohan Kwatra.
Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh defeated Harutyun Bargseghyan of France to win the 34th Cannes Open in France. Siva Mahadevan of India steps on the 10th place with six points.
France will train Indian flight surgeons to enable them to monitor the health of astronauts selected for the ambitious human space mission. The two-week training is a critical aspect of the Gaganyaan project that is aimed at sending three Indians to space by 2022. The flight surgeons, who will be Indian Air Force doctors specialising in aviation medicines and responsible for the health of astronauts before, during and after flight, will be shortlisted soon. Those shortlisted will then undergo two weeks training in France.
Brigitte Godard, a flight surgeon with the European Space Agency, was in India in July and August last year to start the training of physicians and engineers. France has a well-established mechanism for space medicine. It also has the MEDES space clinic, a subsidiary of CNES, where space surgeons undergo training. The four shortlisted astronauts — all test pilots from the Indian Air Force — are currently in Russia for an 11-month training programme. India and France share robust ties in the area of space.