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- India and Myanmar on 22 Oct inked a crucial MoU for the appointment of a private operator of the Sittwe Port that will boost connectivity and help in creating local job opportunities as the two sides discussed bilateral issues as well as topics of common interest, including developments in the strife-torn Rakhine state.
- The MoU was signed by Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale after his meetings with Myanmar’s State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and Union Minister of Transport and Communications U Thant Sin Maung in Nay Pyi Taw.
- Gokhale called on Suu Kyi and discussed issues related to bilateral cooperation as well as topics of common interest, including developments in the strife-torn Rakhine state.
- “All matters relating to bilateral cooperation as well as matters pertaining to international and regional matters of common interest, including developments in Rakhine state were discussed during this meeting,” said a statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi.
- He then met Union Minister of Transport and Communications U Thant Sin Maung and discussed issues related to connectivity and transport infrastructure being developed by India in Myanmar, it said.
- The Sittwe port in Myanmar will connect India’s landlocked north-east region to the Bay of Bengal through Mizoram. It will also provide an alternate route to Kolkata.
- India has an overall commitment of $ 1.75 billion for developmental programmes in Myanmar.
- Gokhale also called on Commander in Chief of the Myanmar Defence Services Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and discussed issued related to border security, bilateral cooperation, Myanmar’s peace process as well as the situation in Rakhine state.
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- Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tributes and salutes the courage and sacrifice of police personnel who laid down their lives for the service of the nation.
- On Police Commemoration Day on 21Oct Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated to the nation the National Police Memorial.
- The Prime Minister also interacted with heroes of the Hot Springs incident.
- He announced a bravery award in the memory of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose for martyrs involved in disaster management.
- Observed on October 21 every year, the Police Commemoration Day remembers the sacrifices of ten policemen who died in Chinese firing along the border in 1959.
- They were later cremated with full police honours at Hot Springs in North Eastern Ladakh.
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- A UN-backed fund has approved $ 43.4 million for enhancing climate resilience for millions of people living in India’s coastal communities in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Odisha as part of its efforts to combat extreme impacts of climate change.
- The grant is a part of more than $ 1 billion approved by the Green Climate Fund for 19 new projects to help developing countries tackle climate change.
- The new project will be supported through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and is an essential step for India in reaching its goals outlined in the Paris Agreement and 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
- The 21st meeting of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Board ended 21 Oct. in Bahrain’s capital Manama, approving over one billion dollars of new projects and programmes to support climate action in developing countries, and formally launching its first replenishment, a statement from the fund said.
- “India’s coastal areas are quite vulnerable to climate change and this project focuses on selected vulnerable areas of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Odisha states,” said Ravi S Prasad, Joint Secretary, Climate Change, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, said.
- The new project, with the GCF assistance, will not only help enhance resilience and adaptability, but also lead to emissions reduction while providing support to local communities for their livelihoods,” Prasad said.
- The 19 new projects amount to a total investment from GCF of $ 1,038 million, and including co-financing the projects will channel over $ 4,244 million of climate finance for low-emission, climate-resilient development.
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- Wrestler Bajrang Punia on 22Oct. had to settle for a silver medal after he went down against Japan’s Takuto Otoguro in the 65kg final of the wrestling World Championships in Budapest, Hungary
- Only the fourth Indian ever to make it to the World Championship gold medal match, 24-year-old Bajrang was rattled by the 19-year old Otoguro, who consistently attacked the left leg of Indian and emerged a comfortable 16-9 winner. In the process, Otoguru became Japan's youngest World Champion at the age of 19.
- A four-point throw gave Otoguro an early 5-0 lead, leaving Bajrang to play a catch-up game. With back-to-back take downs, the Indian reduced the deficit to 4-5.
- The Japanese got more points with a step out and led 7-6 at the break. An early take down at the start of second period handed Otoguro a 9-6 lead.
- The Japanese kept attacking Bajrang's left leg, a strategy which the Indian struggled to counter. The Commonwealth Games and Asian Games gold medallist Bajrang eventually had to settle for a silver, which is his second medal at the Worlds.
- He had won a bronze in 2013 edition. Sushil Kumar, country's greatest ever wrestler, is the lone Indian to win a gold medal at the Worlds, achieving the feat in 2010 in Moscow in the 66kg category.
- Apart from Sushil, Amit Dahiya (2013) and Bishambar Singh (1967) are the other Indians to make it to the World Championship final in men's free style.
- Udey Chand (bronze, 1961), Ramesh Kumar (bronze, 2009), Narsingh Yadav (2015) are the other men's free style wrestlers to win a medal at the World Championship.
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- The leader of a daring World War II raid to thwart Nazi Germany’s nuclear ambitions has died aged 99, Norwegian government officials said on 21Oct
- Joachim Roenneberg, serving behind enemy lines in his native Norway during the German occupation, in 1943 blew up a plant producing heavy water, or D2O, a hydrogen-rich substance that was key to the later development of atomic bombs.
- Picked by Britain’s war-time special operations executive to lead the raid when he was only 23 years old, Roenneberg was the youngest member of Operation Gunnerside, which penetrated and destroyed key parts of the heavily guarded Norsk Hydro plant.
- The subject of books and documentaries as well as movies and a TV drama series, the attack took place without a single shot fired.
- To Roenneberg’s team, however, the stakes could not have been higher. An earlier raid failed to even reach the site, with dozens of attackers captured and killed, and Gunnerside members later described their own assault as a near-suicide mission.
- Parachuting onto a snow-covered mountain plateau, the small group teamed up with a handful of other commando soldiers before skiing to their destination, penetrating the plant on foot and blowing up the heavy water production line.
- Describing a pivotal moment, Roenneberg later said he made a last-minute decision to cut the length of his fuse from several minutes to seconds, ensuring the explosion would take place but making it more difficult to escape.
- While a manhunt ensued, the group fled hundreds of kilometres across the mountains, with Roenneberg skiing to neighbouring Sweden, a neutral country in the war, two weeks later.
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