Excellence by Saikat Sir: 08/14/20

One of the largest democracies in the world, India will celebrate its 74th Independence Day on 15th of August, 2020.

Happy Independence Day 2020

Organ Donation Day is observed every year on13th of August.
The aim of this day is to motivate normal human beings to pledge to donate organs after death, and to spread awareness about the importance of organ donation.

Youm-e-Azadi or Pakistan Independence Day is observed annually on 14 August.
On this day Pakistan achieved Independence and was declared a sovereign nation following the end of British rule in

The work has started on the first-of-its-kind Katra-Delhi express road corridor, which will be ready by 2023 and when it becomes functional, the travel time from Katra to Delhi will get reduced to around six and half hours, and from Jammu to Delhi to just about six hours.
It was announced by Union Minister Jitendra Singh.
The hallmark of this road corridor is that it will connect the holy cities of Katra and Amritsar, and at the same time offer connectivity for some other major important religious shrines between the two destinations.
The project is estimated to cost over Rs350bn ($4.6bn). This corridor will pass through Jammu and Kathua in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, as well as Jalandhar, Amritsar, Kapurthala and Ludhiana in Punjab.
The project will also involve simultaneous widening of the National Highway between Pathankot and Jammu. This highway will be upgraded from four lanes to six lanes.

Development of North Eastern Region and Minister of State for Prime Minister’s Office: Jitendra Singh
Constituency: J&K

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh launched the Naval Innovation and Indigenisation Organisation (NIIO) through an online webinar. The NIIO puts in place dedicated structures for the end users to interact with academia and industry towards fostering innovation and indigenisation for self-reliance in defence.
The Draft Defence Acquisition Policy 2020 (DAP 20) rolled out by the Defence Ministry last month envisaged establishment of Innovation and Indigenisation Organisation by the Service Headquarters. Indian Navy already has a functional Directorate of Indigenisation and the new structures created will build upon the ongoing indigenisation initiatives, as well as focus on innovation.
The Indian Navy signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Uttar Pradesh Expressway Industrial Development Authority, Raksha Shakti University of Gujarat, Maker Village in Kochi and Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers. A compendium of Indian Navy’s Indigenisation perspective plans titled ‘SWAVLAMBAN’ was also released.

India has extended an assistance of USD 1 million to Antigua and Barbuda to combat the COVID-19 outbreak.
This assistance is aimed at improving health infrastructure and capacities in Antigua and Barbuda.
The same level of assistance, i.e. USD 1 million, has been offered to each Caribbean Community (CARICOM) CARICOM is a group of twenty developing countries in the Caribbean.
This assistance of USD 1 million from India will be used for improving health infrastructure in Antigua and Barbuda, for procurement of life-saving medical supplies and equipment like ventilators, etc, the Indian High Commission to Guyana stated.
Under this assistance, ventilators, full cover goggles, disposable impervious gowns, face shields, examination gloves and disposable masks were facilitated and these medical supplies have arrived at St. John’s.
The Government of Antigua and Barbuda’s proposal for assistance and collaboration named ‘Strengthening national Health capacities and reducing socio-economic and human development negative impacts of COVID19 crisis in Antigua and Barbuda’ was processed under India-UNDP Fund managed by United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) and the guidelines of the Sustainable Development Goals, the High Commission stated

Special Olympics Bharat announced that Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has committed USD 25 million to expand Unified Champion Schools (UCS) to six countries — India, Argentina, Egypt, Pakistan, Romania and Rwanda.
The four-year project will play a critical role in making the Indian education system more inclusive by creating 120 Unified Champion Schools across 12 states.
The initiative that encourages activation and empowerment of the youth resonated with the theme of the International Youth Day 2020, “Youth Engagement for Global Action” by empowering young people with and without intellectual disabilities to create lasting social change through inclusion in education.
Recently, under the directives of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, the UAE pledged USD 25 million to help fund the global expansion of the inclusive education project; Unified Champion Schools (UCS), an initiative undertaken by the Special Olympics that will root the values of tolerance and inclusion in educational systems around the world, the Ambassador of UAE, stated.

India announced a USD 500 million-package to the Maldives for the largest connectivity project in the island nation to connect Male with three neighbouring islands.
The interaction which took place through video conference was part of regular high-level exchanges between India and Maldives, according to a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
Jaishankar made the five announcements including a start of a direct cargo ferry service between India and Maldives and India’s decision to support the Greater Male Connectivity Project (GMCP) in the Maldives through a financial package consisting of a grant of USD 100 million and a new Line of Credit of USD 400 million.
Jaishankar noted that this will be the largest civilian infrastructure project in the Maldives, connecting Male with three neighbouring islands – Villingili, Gulhifahu and Thilafushi (new industrial zone) – by the construction of a bridge-and-causeway link spanning 7 km.

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