By: D.K Chaudhary
1. Navy Chief Sunil Lanba to be on a 5-Day Visit to USA
i. Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba is on a five-day visit to the USA. The visit aims to consolidate relations between the Armed Forces of both the nations and to explore new avenues of defence co-operation.
ii. During the visit, Admiral Lanba will hold bilateral discussions with US Defence Secretary James Mattis, Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer among others.
- Sunil Lanba the 23rd Chief of the Naval Staff of the Indian Navy.
2. President Inaugurates Festival of Innovation and Entrepreneurship
i. President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurates a 5-day long Festival of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and present Gandhian Young Technological Innovation awards at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi.
ii. It is being organised by Rashtrapati Bhavan in association with the Department of Science and Technology and the National Innovation Foundation-India.
ii. It is being organised by Rashtrapati Bhavan in association with the Department of Science and Technology and the National Innovation Foundation-India.
3. Informal WTO Ministerial Meeting Held in New Delhi
i. Representatives from 50 countries gathered in New Delhi for a two-day informal World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministerial meeting.
ii. According to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the informal meeting of ministers will provide an opportunity to engage in free and frank discussions with the hope that it will lead to political guidance on some major issues.
- Suresh Prabhu is the Minister of Commerce and Industry.
4. 1st India-Japan Workshop on Disaster Risk Reduction Inaugurated
i. The Vice-Chairman, NITI Aayog, Dr Rajiv Kumar inaugurated the First India-Japan Workshop on Disaster Risk Reduction in New Delhi. The two-day workshop is being jointly organised by the Ministry of Home Affairs, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and Government of Japan.
ii. The workshop marks the beginning of the formal implementation of the initiatives agreed under the Memorandum of Cooperation signed between the two countries on Disaster Risk Reduction in September 2017.
5. Lok Sabha Passes Amendment to Stonewall Scrutiny of Foreign Poll Funding
i. The Lok Sabha has passed (without a debate) a bill that will exempt political parties from the scrutiny of funds they have received from abroad since 1976.
ii. One of them was an amendment to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 that bans overseas corporations from funding political parties. This is only the third time since 2000 that Parliament has approved the budget without debate.
