ENGLISH NEWS - 17.06.2016

1. Make in India: Indigenous trainer aircraft HTT-40 makes inaugural flight 

India’s indigenous basic trainer aircraft, Hindustan Turbo Trainer-40 (HTT-40), on Friday made its inaugural flight here in the presence of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. 

The two-seater aircraft designed and developed by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited was flown by Group Captain C Subramaniam and Group Captain Venugopal for about 10 to 15 minutes at the HAL Airport here. Aimed at being used for the first stage training for all flying cadets of the three services, HTT-40 made its maiden flight on May 31. 

Indian Air Force is expected to procure 70 HTT-40 aircraft. Detailed design phase of HTT-40 was launched in August 2013 with HAL’s internal funding and was completed in May 2015. From then, it has taken 12 months to fly the first prototype. 

While the HTT-40 programme was almost junked during the UPA rule, Parrikar pushed both IAF and HAL to ensure development of the trainer. 

According to HAL, the team behind HTT-40 programme is “young” with an average age of 29 when it started. The programme aims to achieve its operational clearance by 2018, and towards this the company will be manufacturing three prototypes and two static-test specimens. 

2. Obama nominates Indian-origin diplomat as ambassador to Malaysia 

US President Barack Obama has nominated an Indian-origin diplomat as the next American ambassador to Malaysia. 

If confirmed by the Senate, Kamala Shirin Lakhdhir would replace Joseph Y Yun as the next US ambassador to Malaysia. 

Nomination of Lakhdhir, a career member of the Foreign Service Class of Counselor who was Executive Assistant to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs from 2011 to 2015, was announced by the White House along with several other key administration appointments. 

Lakhdhir served as the US Consul General in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom from 2009 to 2011. 

She previously worked in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs as the Director of the Office of Maritime Southeast Asia from 2007 to 2009 and as the Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs from 2005 to 2006. 

From 2001 to 2005, she was a Political Officer at the US embassy in Beijing. From 2000 to 2001, she served as a Pearson Fellow in the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Asia and the Pacific Subcommittee and the House Financial Services Committee, Monetary Policy and Trade Subcommittee. 

Since joining the Foreign Service in 1991, Lakhdhir has also served as a Political Officer in Indonesia and as a Consular Officer in Saudi Arabia. 

3. Veteran Odia actress Manimala Devi dies 

Noted theatre personality and popular yesteryear Odia film actress Manimala Devi passed away. 

She was 90. 

Manimala, who was among the first generation artistes in the state, had worked in over 40 films of which 14 bagged the national award. Her film career began in 1960 with the classic Odia film- 'Sri Loknath'. 

Her national award winning films included- Laxmi in 1962, Surjya Mukhi and Jeevan Sathi in 1963, Abhinetri and Malajanha in 1965. Two of her films directed by eminent director Nirod Mohapatra, also bagged the Rashtrapati Award for second best national level film (1983). 

Besides, she has also worked in over 100 playes during a career spanning over half-a-century. Manimala was conferred with the prestigious 'Jayadev Purashkar'- the state's highest cine award - in the year 2000. 

4. India enter Champions Trophy final for first time in 36 years 

Indian men's hockey team created history as they clinched a maiden appearance in the final of the prestigious 36th Hero Champions Trophy Hockey tournament against formidable Australia after hosts Great Britain held Belgium to 3-3 draw in a final round robin match. 

This will be India's first appearance in the summit clash in 36 years since the inception of the blue-riband six-nation tournament. 

India's only podium finish until now was a bronze medal won way back in 1982 at Amsterdam. 

5. Max Life, Max Financial Services agree to merger with HDFC Life, boards approve

Max Financial Services and Max Life will merge with HDFC Life insurance, the companies said in statements to exchanges on Friday. Max Financial Services and HDFC said that their respective boards have approved entering into a confidentiality, exclusivity and standstill agreement to evaluate a potential combination through a merger. 

The agreement provides for a mutually agreed exclusivity period for due diligence and discussions between the parties in relation to a proposed transaction. 

Insurance sector experts said that consolidation in the insurance sector in India which currently has 24 life insurers and 29 general insurers would eventually see large players merging with one another to balance out each other strengths, as well some smaller players getting merged with larger entities. With Max and HDFC Life boards agreeing to evaluate the merger, many more such deals are expected, experts said. 

A senior insurance consultant pointed out that there could be more such entities in the insurance sector which could be heading for a merger. "Smaller insurers where promoters are cash strapped or thsoe who do not have any bank partner will be likely candidates," he said. This would be the second such merger being announced this month after the recent announcement of L&T General merging with HDFC ERGO General Insurance. 

HDFC Life which is the third largest private life insurance company with respect to new premiums for FY16 collected premiums of Rs 6487.66 crore for the year ended March 31, 2016. It saw a growth of 18 per cent, according to data from Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India. Max Life on the other hand collected premiums of Rs 2881.93 crore for FY16 and is among the top five private life insurance players. 

6. Smriti Irani launches 'Vidyanjali' to involve volunteers into co-scholastic activities of schools 

Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Smriti Zubin Irani dedicated 'Vidyanjali'- a school volunteer programme to the nation. 

In her inaugural address, Irani said that Vidyanjali is a step forward in creating an ecosystem, wherein education will be attached with imbibing knowledge and improving learning output. 

The Union Minister added there is an ingrained sense of participation and willingness within the people of this country to contribute towards nation building. 

The programme is designed to involve volunteers from different walks of life to strengthen the co-scholastic activities in government schools. 

Vidyanjali, which is being implemented under the overall aegis of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, will enhance the community involvement in government run elementary schools and effectively engage children in reading, creative writing, public speaking, play acting, preparing story books etc. 

Giving a nod to their ideas, the Minister assured to widen the scope of Vidyanjali to include performing arts and life skills. She also urged the MyGov team to create a module under Vidyanjali wherein NRI community or others, who want to contribute by providing additional teaching-learning aids like books etc. and other resources, can do so in conjunction with state and district administration. 

The programme is unique in that it gives the freedom to the volunteers to design their activities in consultation with the school. 

The programme will be open for participation by all Indian citizens including retired Professionals, retired government officials, working professionals and homemakers; and also persons from the Indian Diaspora. 

The programme will be piloted across 21 states which committed to do so in the conference of state ministers of Education held on February 8. 

These states are Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Goa, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Telangana, Tripura, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. 

7. India, Thailand ink two agreements in culture and education 

India and Thailand have inked two agreements in the field of culture and education. 

The agreements were signed after delegation level talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting Thailand Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. 

Both the countries have also agreed to forge a closer partnership in the fields of defence and maritime cooperation. 

8. Cdr Ashutosh Pednekar of Indian Navy creates history in Racketlon 

Cdr Ashutosh Pednekar of Indian Navy made sports history when he became the first Indian to participate and win International tournaments in sport of Racketlon. 

At the recently concluded competitions in Denmark and Belgium he made the country proud by clinching Gold medal in both the Men's Amateur and the Veterans (plus 45) categories at the Nordic Racket Games held at Vejen, Denmark from 28-29 May 2016. Then at prestigious Super World Tour- King of Rackets tournament held at Oudenaarde Belgium 3-5 June 2016 he once again proved himself by bagging Gold in plus 45 and Silver in Men's amateur category. 

Though becoming increasingly popular internationally ‘Racketlon’ is still a relatively young sport in India & hence it’s not surprising that it’s quite unknown in India. The sport is modeled on lines of Decathlon /Triathlon and is combination sport comprising of four racket games namely Table tennis, Badminton, Squash and Lawn tennis. The typical match comprises 4 sets of 21 points each in each of the above individual sports played in succession one after another. Winner is the player winning maximum points. 

Cdr Ashutosh Pednekar’s stellar performance and its unique significance to the games has gone unnoticed, view lack of awareness about the game in India and absence of an active formal sports body to promote it. 

Never one to court spotlight, the non- assuming naval officer for whom racket sports is second nature, has now set his eyes on winning Gold medals at World Racketlon Championships scheduled later this year in November at Germany.