EU-India to fund __________ Projects to deal with Water challenges.

The European Union (EU) dragged India into the World Trade Organization's (WTO) dispute settlement mechanism over the imposition of import duties on certain Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) products, including mobiles, alleging breach of global trade norms. The EU is challenging the introduction of import duties on a wide range of ICT products, for instance, mobile phones and components, base stations and integrated circuits.

The Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) has recently approved the establishment of a Centre for Classical Language at the Thunchath Ezhuthachan Malayalam University in Tirur, Kerala. The Ministry has communicated the decision to the Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysuru. In view of this, the State government would be required to prepare a detailed project report and sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry. The aim of the proposed centre is to study and research and other aspects of Malayalam language & will prove beneficial in implementing various projects for Malayalam language development. The centre would also assist the Malayalam University in its various initiatives.

As per the report released by CISCO on 2019 Data Privacy Benchmark Study ranked India in 6th position in General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) readiness index. As per the report 65% of India organization are better prepared for GDPR making India the 6th best prepared nation to deal with the nee data privacy regulation which all organizations operating within the European Union and European Economic Area are mandated to comply with.

India has accused the UN Security Council of "progressively" undermining the authority of the General Assembly on matters of what constitutes a threat to international peace and security and said the blame for this lies partly with the 193-member UN body for focusing on procedures rather than addressing substantive issues.

In accordance with the 2018 global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), India's poverty rate has shown a drastic decrease in 10 years, from 55% to 28%. The index has shown that, in the years between 2005-06 and 2015-16, 271 million people are moved out of poverty in India. Apart from the huge progress, India is still a home to the highest number of MPI poor comprising 364 million poor in 2015-16. Although the number is reduced from 635 million in 2005-06. More than half of the India's multidimensional poor (196 million) are from the four states viz. Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh while Delhi, Kerala and Goa have lowest multidimensional poverty.

The Prime Minister's Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC) has identified 9 Science and Technology missions with focus on 'Science for People and People for Science'. These missions include Natural Language Translation (NLT), Quantum Frontier, Artificial Intelligence (AT), National Biodiversity Mission (NBM), Electric Vehicles, Bioscience for Human Health, Waste to Wealth, Deep Ocean Exploration and AGNIi (Accelerating Growth for New India's Innovations). The missions are aimed at understanding and conserving biodiversity, developing sustainable agricultural processes, leveraging precision health for personal well-being, recovering wealth from waste, developing and using AI, quantum computing, connected mobility solutions and other technologies to address frontier scientific questions and the challenges that the country in particular and the planet in general face.

An agreement has been signed between India and the African Union to establish an India-Africa health sciences collaborative platform. The MoU will pave the way for cooperation in research and development, capacity building, health services, pharmaceutical trade and manufacturing capabilities for drugs and diagnostics. To carry forward the vision of a structured and concrete partnership in the health sector, the MEA partnered with Indian Council of Medical Research and had jointly organised the first India-Africa Health Sciences Meet in 2016 in New Delhi.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has been invited to deliver an address at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Abu Dhabi. This is the first time that a leader of the non-Muslim country has been invited to the OIC conference. Ms Swaraj will be the Guest of Honour and address the inaugural plenary of the 46th Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of OIC on the 1st and 2nd of March.

UN's International Labour Organization announced that Qatar is set to abolish its exit visa system for all foreign workers by the end of 2019.The country was committed to labour reform following an Amnesty international report that the 2022 World Cup host was failing to stop widespread labour abuse. Qatar has launched labour reforms since its selection as the 2022 World Cup host, with the event set in motion a huge construction plan employing foreign workers.In 2018, Qatar approved legislation to dismiss the sponsorship system or "kafala", which claimed that foreign workers obtain permission from their employers to leave the country.

Sri Lanka's first satellite Raavana l was launched into space from NASA's Flight Facility on Virginia's east shore. The satellite was designed and developed by two Sri Lankan engineers at the Kyushu Institute of Technology in Japan. It will be shuttled to the International Space Station. The "Raavana 1" was launched into space with the assistance of the US rocket "Antares". Raavana 1 weights around 1.05 kg and is 1000 cubic centimetres in size. The minimum lifespan of the satellite is around one and a half years and it is expected to be active for five years. Raavana 1 satellite's camera mission is to capture images of Sri Lanka and its neighbouring countries. The Raavana-l is expected to orbit 400 kilometres away from the earth. The satellite will achieve an active attitude stabilization which ensures that the satellite's attitude is stable under the influence of external talks. The launch of Raavana-l marks Sri Lanka's entry into the global space age.