1. India, Bangladesh make history with land swap
i. India and
Bangladesh on Saturday sealed a historic agreement that will settle a
41-year-old land boundary dispute through exchange of territories, removing a
major irritant in bilateral ties.
ii. The two sides
exchanged documents regarding the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) that was passed
unanimously by the Parliament last month in the presence of Mr. Modi and his
Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina.
iii. The exchange
of documents paves way for the operationalisation of the 1974 India-Bangladesh
LBA that provides for exchange of 161 enclaves between the two countries. A
total 111 border enclaves will be transferred to Bangladesh in exchange for 51
that will become part of India.
iv. Under the
agreement, India will have an advantage of 500 acres and 10,000 acres will go
to Bangladesh.
2. Naidu performs bhoomi pooja for AP capital
i. Chief Minister
N. Chandrababu Naidu and his wife Bhuvaneswari performed bhoomi pooja at around
8.49 a.m. for the new capital — Amaravati — at Mandadam village in Guntur
district.
ii. Chief
Minister's son and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) workers welfare committee convener
Nara Lokesh; Union Ministers Nirmala Sitaraman and Sujana Chowdary were among
those present for the ceremony.
iii. The ancient
city of Amaravathi is being developed separately from the new capital zone as a
heritage town with funds from the Centre.
3. RPower to invest $3 bn in Bangladesh power plant
i. Anil Ambani-led
Reliance Power on Saturday signed an agreement to invest $ 3 billion in setting
up a mega power plant and a floating LNG import terminal in Bangladesh which
faces acute power shortages.
ii. Reliance Power
will set up a 2 million tonnes a year floating LNG import terminal as well as
3,000 megawatt power plant, according to a memorandum of understanding (MoU)
signed by Sameer Gupta, Executive vice-president of Reliance Power.
iii. The company
will invest in an integrated facility comprising of 3,000 MW of LNG based
combined cycle power plant and LNG Terminal with a Floating Storage and
Re-gasification Unit (FSRU).
4. Govt picks new DRDO chief, scientific advisor to
defence minister
i. The government
Thursday appointed S Christopher, 59, as Secretary, Department of Defence
Research and Development-cum-Director Ge-neral, Defence Research and
Development Organisation (DRDO).
ii. G S Reddy, 51,
has been appointed as scientific advisor to the Defence Minister.
iii. DRDO has been
functioning without a full-time head since January 31, when Avinash Chander
resigned.
5. South Korea Tests New Ballistic Missile
i. South Korea
successfully test fired a ballistic missile capable of hitting targets anywhere
in North Korea.
ii. The test
demonstrated improved ballistic missile capability that can strike all parts of
North Korea swiftly, and with precision, in the event of armed aggression or
provocation.
iii. The Hyunmoo-2B
is an upgraded version of the Hyunmoo-2A, both of which were developed by the
state-run Agency for Defense Development (ADD).
6. Dravid for India Under-19 coach
i. BCCI has
announced Rahul Dravid as the coach of India A team and Indian U 19 cricket
team.
ii. Working with
the under-19 and 'A' teams might be the perfect solution as Dravid can make a
tangible contribution without placing too much demand on his time.
iii. Dravid had a
short stint as mentor of the Indian team before the series in England last year
and several players spoke highly of their interactions with the former India
captain.