MOS Anand Sharma visits UK
Hon'ble Mr. Anand Sharma, Minister of State for External Affairs, paid an official visit to the United Kingdom from November 12 to 14 as part of the ongoing high-level dialogue with the U.K.
During his visit, the Minister visited the House of Lords and interacted with parliamentarians. On November 13, Sharma met Rt. Hon'ble Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, Minister of State for Africa, Asia and U.N. to exchange views on bilateral and regional issues. On November 14,
he delivered a talk on "India and Africa - Partnership in the 21st Century" at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
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Chief of General Staff UK visits India
General Sir Richard Dannatt, KCB, CBE, MC, Chief of General Staff of U.K. visited India from October 29 to November 3 to discuss defence related issues and prospects for future cooperation between the two Armies.
Sir Dannatt, who was with a high-level delegation, met Defence Secretary Vijay Singh, Chief of Army Staff General Deepak Kapoor, PVSM, AVSM, SM, VSM, ADC, Vice-Chief of Naval Staff Vice-Admiral Nirmal Verma and Vice-Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal B.N. Gokhale, and exchanged views on the global situation including that of South East Asia.
The delegation also discussed potential areas of cooperation. Sir Dannatt visited Srinagar and a post on the Indo-Pak Border where he was briefed regarding anti-militancy operations. He also inspected the anti-infiltration fence erected
by the Indian forces.
Sir Dannatt visited a para brigade in Agra where he discussed the manner of deployment of the brigade and saw the paratroopers perform various drills.
He visited the South West Command in Jaipur where he was briefed regarding the role of the Command. He also visited 61 Cavalry.
The visit of the U.K. Chief of General Staff took place at a time when defence cooperation between the two Armies has scaled new highs.
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Gordon Brown leads Diwali celebrations in Britain
British P rime Minister Gordon Brown on November 9
led Diwali festivities in Britain, as thousands of Indians
celebrated the festival and prominent organisations
held their annual functions coinciding the festival of light.
In a message, Brown said: "I am delighted to send my
warmest greetings to everyone in our Hindu and Sikh communities
on the auspicious occasion of Diwali. Diwali is such
a wonderful inclusive festival, which reaches beyond your
communities to people of many backgrounds all over the
world."
"The symbolic lighting of lamps, representing life, hope
and new beginnings, sends a powerful message of unity and
peace to us all. I know that Diwali is a special time for families,
who come together to celebrate and reflect on the year
gone by."
"And it also gives me an opportunity to recognise and
reflect upon the huge contribution made by British Hindu
and Sikh communities to our country's prosperity and our
culture. Your involvement, in every sphere of our national
life, is something we can all be immensely proud of. Once
again, my very best wishes for a joyous occasion."
Diwali was celebrated in Leicester, Manchester and
Birmingham, apart from different areas of London like
Southall, Harrow and Wembley. More celebrations and a fireworks
display were held on November 9 on the Cossington
Street Recreation Ground.
Mukesh Ambani world's richest
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani on October
29 became the richest person in the world,
surpassing American software czar Bill
Gates, Mexican business tycoon Carlos
Slim Helu and famous investment guru
Warren Buffett, courtesy the bull run on the
Bombay Stock Exchange.
Following a strong share price rally in his
three group companies - India's most valued
firm Reliance Industries, Reliance
Petroleum and Reliance Industrial
Infrastructure Ltd., - the net worth of
Mukesh Ambani rose to $63.2 billion.
India tops in carbon credit deals
India has registered the largest number of
Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)
projects in the world. The country accounted
for 283 CDM projects out of the 819
registered by the CDM Executive Board,
Environment Secretary Meena Gupta said
at the India Carbon Market Conclave,
organised by Ficci, the Environment
Ministry, the World Bank and the
International Emissions Trading
Association. CDM or carbon credits are a
mechanism devised under the Kyoto
Protocol to award encashable points or
CERs (carbon emission reduction) to ecofriendly
projects on the basis of the carbon
emissions they control.
National mission for nano tech
The Indian government is starting a fiveyear
national mission to make the country a
global hub for nanoscience and nanotechnology,
leveraging the low-cost advantage
and its vast talent pool.
Spearheaded by the Department of
Science and Technology (DST), the ambitious
mission aims to create nano clusters
in the country to conduct research in the
sunrise sector and develop applications
using nano materials that will have a bearing
on diverse industrial sectors as well as
commoners. "With an upfront investment
of Rs.10 billion, the nano science and technology
mission (NSTM) will create an
ecosystem to make India a global hub for
research and development (R&D) in
nanoscience and nanotechnology," DST
Secretary Thirumalachari Ramasami said.
India ranks ninth in global IPOs
India's mobilisation through initial public
offers (IPO) has jumped 166 percent compared
with the mop-up during the same
time last year.
According to Thomson Financial, India's
IPO volumes totalled $7 billion from 74
issues so far this year, surpassing the previous
year's (the whole year) IPO volumes.
India now ranks the ninth largest IPO market
in the world, capturing 3 percent of the
global market share, up from a mere 1.3
percent share in the year-ago period.
Among Brazil, Russia, India and China
(Bric), only Brazil and India upped their
IPO proceeds two-fold, recording a rise of
292 percent and 166 percent respectively.
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