Sanjeev Mantri has been appointed the new Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ICICI Lombard.

Mantri, who is currently an Executive Director at ICICI Lombard General Insurance, will take over his new role from December 1, 2023, or the date of IRDAI approval, whichever is later, for a period of five consecutive years.

Mantri joined ICICI Lombard in 2015 in the role of Executive Director. Prior to that he was with ICICI Bank.

The Centre on Saturday will organise India’s first lighthouse festival in Goa as part of an effort to promote the country’s lighthouses as tourist attractions, government officials familiar with the matter said.

The Union minister of ports, shipping and waterways Sarbananda Sonowal along with Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant will inaugurate the festival from Goa’s Fort Aguada Lighthouse in Panjim, and participate in a two-hour long session– ‘Vanguards of Our Shores: Lighthouses as Testaments of India’s Past and Present’, said officials.

Indian Navy's indigenously built warship INS Sahyadri, deployed in the Indo-Pacific, participated in the maiden trilateral Maritime Partnership Exercise with the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and Indonesian Navy from September 20 and 21, Ministry of Defence informed in an official release.

The trilateral exercise provided an opportunity for the three maritime nations to strengthen their partnership and improve their collective capability to support a stable, peaceful and secure Indo-Pacific region. The exercise also provided the opportunity for the participating navies to benefit from each other's experience and expertise. Complex tactical and manoeuvring exercises, cross-deck visits and cross-deck landings of integral helicopters were conducted for training of crew and enhancement of interoperability, the release added.

Odia scientist Dr Swati Nayak has been named the 2023 recipient of the Norman E. Borlaug Award for field research and application for her work in the field of food and nutrition.

The award, instituted by the World Food Prize Foundation, is named in honour of Nobel Laureate and Green Revolution’s chief architect Dr. Norman E Borlaug. A scientist and South Asia Lead for Seed System and Product Management at International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Dr Nayak was selected for the award for her innovative approach to engaging farmers in demand-driven rice seed systems.

In a tribute to ‘Missile Man’ Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, researchers from the Marine Biology department of Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat) named a new species of marine tardigrade that they discovered after the former President.

Named ‘Batillipes kalami’, the new species of tardigrades was found by researchers in the intertidal beach sediments of Mandapam coast, close to Kalam’s birthplace in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu.

The researchers’ move aims to honour Dr Kalam’s legacy, his unwavering commitment to science and technology, and his inspirational role in fostering scientific curiosity among young Indians.

Singapore has dethroned Hong Kong to become the world’s freest economy, according to a report released by Canadian think tank Fraser Institute.

For the first time since the Economic Freedom of the World Index started in 1970, Hong Kong slipped to second place from the number one spot — and its score is about to drop even further.

Some of the tenets used to gauge economic freedom index are measured based on ease of international trade, freedom to enter and compete in markets, as well as business regulations, amongst other yardsticks.

The findings in the 2023 report are based on data from 2021, the most recent year with available comparable statistics across the 165 jurisdictions. It measures the economic freedom of individuals — or their ability to make economic decisions on their own.

The 20th National Book Fair opened for city bibliophiles at the Balrampur Gardens on Friday.

The fair has 65 publishers from across the country, showcasing their titles in 120 stalls. Dozens of new books are available for children, youth and elderly to read such as ‘Do epic shit’, ‘India that is Bharat’, and books even on Sita, Ram, and Ravan.

On the first day, even before the inauguration, book lovers started gathering at the stalls. Poetry anthologies like that of former Prime Minister and Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s collection ‘Kya Khoya Kya Paya, along with those of Surdas, Tulsidas, along with Ahmed Faraz’s ghazals, Sahir Ludhianvi’s creations, were sold on the first day. Along with this, English bestseller Jeffrey Archer’s novel Cane and Able’s Hindi translation was a big draw at the fair.

The 2023 UNCITRAL South Asia Conference, jointly organized by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), UNCITRAL, and the UNCITRAL National Coordination Committee for India (UNCCI), marked a significant moment in India’s engagement with international trade law.

Inaugurated by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dr Justice DY Chandrachud, the event witnessed the presence of prominent figures like Minister of State for External Affairs Dr Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, Attorney General for India R Venkataramani, Secretary of UNCITRAL Ms. Anna Joubin-Bret, and renowned jurist Fali S Nariman.

International Day of Sign Languages is an annual event that promotes the linguistic and cultural diversity of deaf communities around the world. It is an opportunity to raise awareness of the importance of sign languages in the lives of deaf communities and the need to protect them as an essential part of human diversity. Millions of people around the world use sign language as their primary means of communication. They are complex visual-gestural communication systems with their own grammar and syntax. This day promotes the linguistic rights of deaf people and aims to increase awareness, inclusion and acceptance of deaf people in society. 

Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) will organise the 4th Edition of the Indo-Latin America Cultural Festival on the 28th and the 29th of September in New Delhi. The festival is being organised in association with the Embassies of Colombia, Ecuador, and Chile.

Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, ICCR President Dr. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe said the vibrant celebration of culture and art aims to showcase the rich cultural heritage of Latin America. He said the festival will bring together key stakeholders from India and Latin America to deliberate on the prospects of cultural and educational collaborations.