India and Russia agreed to extend bilateral cooperation on defence joint-venture (JV) manufacturing projects on Thursday (December 13) at the 18th meeting of the India-Russia Governmental Commission on Military Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-MTC).

The meeting was co-chaired by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her Russian counterpart General Sergei Shoigu.

Intensive discussions were held on joint manufacturing projects, including the Kamov-226T helicopters, naval frigates and projects related to land systems.

The two countries also agreed to take forward inter-governmental arrangements for facilitating joint manufacturing of spares for Russian origin equipment in India, under the Make in India’ initiative.

The suspense over the next Rajasthan Chief Minister came to an end when Ashok Gehlot was formally announced as the Rajasthan CM-designate.

After being named the chief minister, Gehlot said, "Sachin Pilot and I will give good governance in Rajasthan."

Following the meeting earlier in the day, Rahul took to Twitter to share a photo with Gehlot and Pilot stating "united colours of Rajasthan", hinting at a possible resolution.

The government has constituted a Group of Ministers headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to vet the recommendations of a high-level panel on stressed power projects, as per an official order.

The panel, headed by Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha, had submitted its report last month.

“It has been decided with approval of the Prime Minister, to constitute a Group of Ministers (GOM) to examine the specific recommendations of High Level Empowered Committee constituted to address the issue of stressed power projects and forward their comments for consideration by the Cabinet,” the order said.

The International Monetary Fund said that global debt has reached an all-time high of 184 trillion US dollars with the United States, China and Japan accounting for more than half of it.

According to the IMF report, the amount in nominal terms, is the equivalent of 225 per cent of the world GDP in 2017. 

On average, the world's debt now exceeds 86,000 dollars per person, which is more than two and half times the average income per-capita. IMF said it is striking that the most indebted economies in the world are also the richer ones.   

Since the beginning of the millennium, China's share in global debt has gone up from less than three per cent to over 15 per cent.

India and Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Thursday signed a $60 million loan agreement to reduce floods and the riverbank erosion in Assam, the Finance Ministry said.

"The Tranche 2 loan is part of the $120 million multi-tranche financing facility for the Assam Integrated Flood and Riverbank Erosion Risk Management Investment Program approved by the ADB Board in October 2010," a Finance Ministry statement said.

The loan aims to continue financing riverbank protection works, renovation of flood embankments and community-based flood risk management activities in critically flood-prone areas along the Brahmaputra river in Assam.

While Finance Ministry Additional Secretary Sameer Kumar Khare signed the deal on behalf of the Central government, ADB's India Resident Mission Country Director Kenichi Yokoyama signed it on behalf of the multilateral lending agency.

Producer-director Brijendra Pal Singh was appointed as the new president of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and chairman of the institute's governing council by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Thursday.
Mr Singh, best known as the producer-director of popular TV series 'CID', is currently the vice-chairman of the FTII governing council. He succeeds veteran actor Anupam Kher, who had stepped down as the chairman in October citing "international commitments".

"The tenure of Singh, who succeeds Anupam Kher, will be for the remaining period of block of three years starting from March 3, 2017 as per the provisions of FTII rules," an FTII release said.

The FTII functions as an autonomous body under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

Mr Singh is an alumnus of the FTII (1970-73 batch), and specialised in film cinematography.

The Singh-helmed crime drama recently completed a record 21 years of unbroken run on Sony TV.

In 2004, Mr Singh made it to the Limca Book of Records for taking a single continuous shot of 111 minutes to mark the completion of six years of 'CID'.

FTII Director Bhupendra Kainthola said Mr Singh, as a former chairperson of the FTII academic council and current vice-chairman of the governing council, was fully-conversant with all issues of the institute.

"It is his vision that launched FTII's countrywide film education outreach initiative SKIFT (Skilling India in Film and Television) in May 2017, which saw nearly 120 short courses conducted in over 24 cities and towns across India, touching nearly 5,000 learners so far. FTII looks forward to his guidance and support in the times to come," Mr Kainthola said.

Women constitute almost half of the segment of our society and must be given due weightage and honoured and treated with dignity at places where they work to earn their livelihood, said the Delhi High Court on Wednesday. The court was hearing a plea by a woman for being included in a panel for guest teachers. The government was directed to include her and avail her services when required by any school here, subject to her medical fitness.

The High Court said employers must be considerate and sympathetic towards a pregnant employee. The high court said the employer must realise the physical difficulties that a woman would face in performing her duties at the workplace while carrying a baby in her womb or looking after the child after birth. 
“To become a mother is the most natural phenomena in the life of a woman,” Justice Suresh Kait said. 

“Whatever is needed to facilitate the birth of child to a woman who is in service, the employer has to be considerate and sympathetic towards her and must realise the physical difficulties which a working woman would face in performing her duties at the workplace while carrying a baby in the womb or while looking after the child after birth,” the court added. The court directed the office of Deputy Directorate of Education of the Delhi government to issue necessary order to this effect within two weeks. 

Manika Batra won the 'Breakthrough Table Tennis Star' award at the prestigious International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Star Awards in Incheon, South Korea on Wednesday. Manika pretty much ruled the table tennis space in India this year with her stupendous performances at the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games.

Manika said she was honoured to have received the award and deemed 2018 as the best year of her career so far.

The Delhi High Court has ordered a ban on the sale of medicines online by e-pharmacists across India and has directed the Delhi government and the Centre to put the order into effect immediately, The Times of India reported.

The order was passed by Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice VK Rao, acting on a PIL filed by Zaheer Ahmed, a New Delhi-based dermatologist. Ahmed complained about the lack of regulation over the lakhs of medicines sold on the internet daily, saying that it puts patients and doctors at risk.

Ahmed said that selling medicines online is not allowed under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and Pharmacy Act, 1948. He stressed that the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) in 2015 clearly instructed state authorities to curb sales of medicines online in order to protect public health, but the practice continued. In some cases, medicines were sold without prescriptions.

President Ram Nath Kovind on December 12 launched a mobile app for farmers in Myanmar and dedicated a centre to promote agriculture research and education to the people here.

Kovind is in Myanmar on a two-city visit to continue India's high level bilateral engagements under the rubric of the 'Act East Policy' and the 'Neighbourhood First Policy'.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said that the president launched the mobile app on agritech while dedicating the Advanced Centre for Agricultural Research and Education (ACARE) in Yezin Agricultural University to the people of Myanmar.