World Sufi Forum 2016 Held
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the World Sufi Forum or the Bain-ul-Aqwami Sufi Conference on March 17, 2016 with a message of peace and brotherhood and a new ray of hope in : New Delhi.
- The 4-day conference was organised by the All India Ulama and Mashaikh Board and will witness a whole world of leading Sufi scholars, intellectuals and academicians around 20Q converge to discuss ways to spread the message of peace advocated by Islam.
- The forum hoped that all Indians will practice the ancient Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb that is the fusion of Hindu and Muslim values. The event concluded at the historic Ramlila Maidan. lt’was organised at such pressing times to ease tensions’ in the nation and promote religious harmony.
India Signed Loan Agreement with World Bank
- India signed a loan agreement of $ 35 million with the world bank on March 17, 2016 for Madhya: Pradesh citizen access to responsive services project. The objective, of the project ‘s to improve access and quality of public services in the State.
- According to Ministry of Finance, the project is expected to deliver key results in terms of improving access to services and citizen outreach, simplification of government services, performance management and strengthening the capacity of implementing agencies.
- The project size is $ 50 million, of which $ 35 million will be financed by the Bank, and the remaining amount will be funded out of State Budget. The duration of the project is five years. Objective of the project will achieve through implementation of the Public Service Delivery Guarantee Act, 2010.
IMF and India to Set-up a SARTTAC in Delhi
- Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley and Ms. Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund (IMF) signed a MoU on March 12, 2016 to developmem centre i.e„ South Asia Regional Training and Technical Assistance Center (SARTTAC) in the national capital.
- The SARTTAC is expected to become the focal point for planning, coordinating, and implementing the IMF’s capacity development activities in the region on a wide range of areas, including macroeconomic and fiscal management, monetary operations, financial sector regulation and supervision, and macroeconomic statistics.
- The funding will come from contributions by Regional Member countries and Development Partners.
India Inc. Formally Adopted UN’s Sustainable Development Goals
- Under the aegis of the UN, top 50 domestic corporate leaders assembled in Mumbai on March 12, 2016 to formally adopt the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of UN and discussed the way forward for implementation. This is the first such meeting held globally.
- India Inc. became first in the world who formally adopted the United Nations’ (UN) agenda for the world’s sustainable development ahhe 11th National Convention on Sustainable Development Goal (NCSDG) organised by the Global Compact Network in Mumbai.
- Top 50 domestic corporate leaders such as the Tata Group, the Aditya Birla Group, Reliance, Vedanta, the Adani Group and public sector behemoth Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and several MNCs officially adopted the SDGs 2020.
- The SDGs are the continuum of the 8 MDGs which were under implementation from January, 2000 to December 2015. These 17 SDGs are being implemented from January, 2016 to December, 2020.
India and the USA Launched Fulbright-Kalam Climate Fellowship
- In a new initiative to advance bilateral cooperation on climate change, India and the USA have launched the Fulbright-Kalam Climate Fellowship. It will enable Indian research scholars to work with American institutions in the field.
- The first call for applicants was announced on March 11, 2016 for the fellowship jointly funded by both the governments and will enable up to 6 Indian PhD students md post-doctoral researchers to work with USA host institutions for a period of 6 to 12 months.
