By: D.K Chaudhary
1. Health Ministry and WHO Signed Agreement For Enhanced Cooperation For Healthcare
i. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of WHO met J.P. Nadda, Union Health and Family Welfare Minister in New Delhi. They discussed perspectives on national, regional and global public health program.
ii. To strengthen collaborative work between India and WHO in achieving improved health outcomes, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and World Health Organization (WHO) signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA).
- WHO Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
2. IATA Partners with Civil Aviation Ministry in India
i. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has signed an MoU with the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the National Aviation University to enhance human resource availability in India’s aviation industry.
ii. Under the agreement, the signatory institutions would also leverage “the existing infrastructure for training in India to expand the reach of vocational training in aviation disciplines”.
3. Pune Tops in Improved Quality Governance: Survey
i. Pune came on top in the fifth edition of the Annual Survey of India’s City-Systems (ASICS), edging out Thiruvananthapuram which had topped the previous two editions of the survey. Bengaluru was ranked at the bottom.
ii. Thiruvananthapuram dropped two ranks to be placed third out of 23 cities spread across 20 states in the survey done by urban governance watchdog Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy.
iii. The top 3 cities in the list are-
1. Pune,
2. Kolkata,
3. Thiruvananthapuram,
4. CCEA Approves Continuation of Ongoing Urea Subsidy Scheme
i. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the proposal of Department of Fertilizers to continue Urea Subsidy Scheme upto 2019-20 at a total estimated cost of Rs. 1,64,935 crore and for disbursement of fertilizer subsidy. This decision implies that there will be no increase in price of urea, till 2020.
ii. Urea Subsidy is a part of Central Sector Scheme of Department of Fertilizers with effect from 1st April, 2017 and is wholly financed by the Government of India through Budgetary Support.
- Ananthkumar is the Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers.
5. India, Madagascar Sign Umbrella Agreement in Defence Sector
i. India and Madagascar have signed an umbrella agreement in the field of defence. Under the agreement, both the countries will explore various ways of co-operation in the field of defence. An amended air service agreement was also signed to support efforts towards improving connectivity between the two countries.
ii. Both the countries will have a co-sharing agreement with Air Seychelles through Air India and Air Madagascar. This was announced by President Ram Nath Kovind after delegation-level talks with his Madagascar counterpart in Antananarivo.
- Madagascar Capital- Antananarivo, Currency- Malagasy ariary, President- Hery Rajaonarimampianina.
