Best Short Film Award 2015

An Indian short film, An Old Dog’s Diary has won prestigious Best Short Film Award at the 2015 London Film Festival (LFF). The award was bestowed by the British Film Institute (BIF) at 59th edition of LFF. The 11-minute film has been directed by Shai Heredia and Shumona Goel. It story of film reveals the cultural conditions of Indian avant-garde painter Francis Newton Souza’s work and its institutionalisation by assembling the puzzle-piece evocations of his portrait. Earlier the film was showcased in the Wavelengths category at 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. About London Film Festival LFF was founded in 1957 and is an annual film festival held at London to show the best of the year’s world cinema to a British audience. The Festival showcases the best work of world cinema that champions originality, creativity, vision and imagination. It is organised by British Film Institute and is United Kingdom’s largest public film event. It screens more than 300 features, documentaries and shorts films from almost 50 countries.

2015 Paul H Appleby Award

Noted criminologist K Chockalingam has been conferred with the prestigious 2015 Paul H Appleby Award. The award was conferred on him by Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA) for his distinguished services to public administration and to the institute. About K Chockalingam He has served as professor and researcher in criminology in University of Madras. He was also Vice President of World Society of Victimology. He was Chair Professor of criminal law from 2012 to 2014 at the National Law University (NLU) in Delhi. He founder and president of Indian Society of Victimology (ISV). Since 2003, he is also an International Advisor of Tokiwa International Victimology Institute, Japan. He has authored 4 books and more than 75 research papers. Awards: He has won many awards including Senior Social Scientist Award of Indian Society of Criminology (1994), Distinguished International Scholar Award of American Society of Criminology (1996). About Paul H Appleby Award The award has been instituted by IIPA as a tribute to Paul Appleby, a noted author in recognition of his works in the field of public administration. Appleby also had helped in developing the IIPA’s vision in the early years of its founding.

India and Singapore have signed a joint declaration envisaging a Strategic Partnership

India and Singapore have signed a joint declaration envisaging a Strategic Partnership to elevate bilateral relations of both countries. It was signed along with 10 bilateral agreements during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official visit to Singapore as part of his second leg of two nation’s visit of South-East Asia viz. Malaysia and Singapore. The focus of the visit included ‘five S plank‘ i.e. scaling up trade and investment, smart cities, speeding up connectivity, skills development and state focus. Key facts The strategic partnership aims to catalyse the strategic relations between both countries ranging from political, defence and security cooperation to economic, cultural and people-to-people contacts. It would broaden and deepen engagement in existing areas of cooperation between both countries in various sectors. The various sectors are defence relations, economic and cultural cooperation, skill development and capacity building. Bilateral agreements signed are MoUs on curtailing drug trafficking and improving cybersecurity. Collaboration in urban planning and wastewater management. Extending of long-term loan of Indian artefacts to the Asian Civilisations Museum of Singapore. Cooperation in the fields of arts, museums, archives and monuments. MoU for cooperation in civil aviation services and airport management beginning with Jaipur and Ahmedabad airports. Operationalization of the Technical Agreement on sharing white-shipping information to enhance bilateral maritime security.

Anju Bobby George was appointed as the Chairperson of Target Olympic Podium Scheme

Former world long jump champion Anju Bobby George was appointed as the Chairperson of Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) by Union Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs. She will succeed Anurag Thakur, Member of Parliament and Secretary of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) who had resigned from this post. About Anju Bobby George Anju Bobby George was first Indian athlete who had won bronze medal in the World Athletics Championships (Paris) in 2003. She had won the silver medal at the World Athletics Championships (Monte Carlo) in 2005. But in 2014, she was declared winner of this Championship after disqualification of Russian Gold Medalist Tatyana Kotova on doping charges. Prior to this appointment, she was member of the TOPS’ identification committee which includes eminent sports personalities like Pullela Gopichand, Rahul Dravid, Abhinav Bindra and MC Mary Kom. Awards and Honours: Arjuna award (2003), Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award (2004) and Padma Shri (2004). About Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) Formulated under the National Sports Development Fund (NSDF) with an objective of identifying and supporting potential medal prospects sportspersons for 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games. The focused disciplines under this scheme are Boxing, Athletics, Badminton, Archery, Wrestling and Shooting.

Argentina’s 2015 Presidential election

Conservative opposition candidate Mauricio Macri of Republican Proposal Party has won Argentina’s 2015 Presidential election. Mr Macri had secured more than 53 per cent votes defeating his rival Daniel Scioli of ruling Peronist Party who secured 47 per cent votes and ended the 12 years of leftist rule. He will succeed Christina Kirchner who had ruled the South American country since 2007 and reached the end of her two-term limit. About Mauricio Macri Born on 8 February 1959 in Tandil, Argentina. He is son of Francisco Macri who is one of Argentina’s richest men. Prior to entering politics, Mr Macri had a long career in business and holds civil engineer degree. Prior to getting elected as President, he was representing City of Buenos Aires in the lower house of the Argentine congress since 2007. In 1995, he was elected as president of Boca Juniors Football Club, one of the most popular football clubs in Argentina. He used his success at the club as a springboard for his political career and later was re-elected as President of Club in 1999 and 2003. Earlier in October 2015, Mr. Macri who is the mayor of Buenos Aires had lost to Mr.Scioli who is the governor of Buenos Aires province in the first round of voting.

India’s Ambassador to China

Senior diplomat Vijay Keshav Gokhale has been appointed as India’s Ambassador to China. He will replace Ashok Kantha, who was appointed as envoy to China in January 2014 for a two-year term i.e. till January 2016. Currently, Mr.Gokhale is serving as the India’s Ambassador to Germany. He is a 1981 batch India Foreign Service (IFS) officer. Prior, to his appointment as India’s top envoy to Germany, he had served at different Indian missions including in Hong Kong, Hanoi, Beijing and New York. Mr.Gokhale also had held the posts of director (China and East Asia) and joint secretary (East Asia) in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) headquarters in New Delhi, . He is known to be one of the most knowledgeable Indian diplomat who is well versed with international affairs of China.

Research and Analysis Wing (RAW)

Former Director of country’s external intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), K. Shankaran Nair passed away in Bengaluru, Karnataka. He was 94. He was credited with the success of covert operations that aided the liberation of then east Pakistan into new country Bangladesh in 1971. About K. Shankaran Nair Nair hails from Ottapalam village in Kerala. Initially, he was inducted into then British colonial police service Indian (Imperial) Police (IP) which was later renamed Indian Police Service (IPS). Later he was part of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and in 1968 was inducted into RAW as the deputy chief to Rameshwarnath Kao, founder of RAW. Nair is credited with the success of the 1971 Bangladesh war and under his leadership, RAW helped find and train the guerrilla fighters troupe Mukti Bahini. He had succeeded R N Kao as the Director of RAW in 1977 becoming second person to head country’s external intelligence agency. But he had resigned just in 3 months after taking over as a protest against the then Prime Minister Morarji Desai for downgrading the post of chief of RAW to director from Secretary (R), earlier. In 1980, after Indira Gandhi returned to power Mr. Nair had played a crucial role restructuring RAW. In 1986, he was appointed as India’s High Commissioner to Singapore and served till 1988. Nair’s memoir Inside IB and RAW: The rolling stone that gathered moss was published in 2008.