The Daily Brief – 28th February 2019

India and Sweden signed MoU to cooperate in the field of various issues, including Anti-microbial resistance (AMR), communicable diseases and public health on February 24, 2019. This comes after the Swedish Health Minister Lena Hallengrens meeting with Union Health Minister J P Nadda. Sweden hoped that India would join the Alliance of Champions, which is a creation between many countries globally to face and to fight AMR. The Alliance of Champions was launched in 2015.

Union Health Minister J P Nadda in the presence of Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad Union Minister of Law & Justice and Electronics & Information Technology inaugurated the 4th Global Digital Health Partnership Summit at New Delhi. The summit provides an opportunity to support governments and health system reformers in improving the health and well-being of their citizens through digital technologies. The GDHP was established in February 2018.

Eminent Indian playwright Mahesh Elkunchwar will be conferred META Lifetime Achievement Award 2019 on March 12 during the Mahindra Theater Festival. He is also a recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship. The Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META) is aimed at applauding the finest in theatre.

Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) for Facebook prepared the Inclusive Internet Index 2019. The Inclusive Internet score was based on the scores of availability, affordability, relevance and readiness categories. The 2019 Index evaluated 100 countries, representing 94 per cent of the worlds population and 96 per cent of global GDP. Sweden has topped the rankings followed by Singapore and the US. India has been ranked 47th. There are about 3.8 billion people around the world without fast and reliable Internet access.

Educationist and Author Govind Prasad Sharma has been appointed as the Chairman of National Book Trust (NBT). Established in 1957, National Book Trust (NBT) is an apex body established by the Government Of India under the Department Of Higher Education, Ministry Of Human Resource Development to produce and encourage the production of good literature in English, Hindi And Other Indian Languages.

The Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development, and Rejuvenation presented 82 National Water Awards in 14 categories for the year 2018. The National Water Awards were launched in the year 2007 by the Ministry of Water Resources with an objective encouraging the stakeholders to adopt a holistic approach towards water resources management in the country.

The eighth edition of India and Bangladesh joint military exercise, Exercise Sampriti 2019 will be conducted at Tangail, Bangladesh from March 2 to March 15, 2019. It is aimed at strengthening and broadening the aspects of interoperability and cooperation between the Indian and Bangladesh Armies. Conducted in Assam in 2011 for the first time, it is hosted alternately by both countries.