India and Saudi Arabia conducted the sixth edition of the Joint Committee on Defence Cooperation (JCDC) meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on September 4, 2024. The two countries discussed new avenues to further strengthen the long-standing and multi-faceted defence cooperation.
Detailed deliberations were held to expand the scope of engagement and cooperation in areas such as military, training, defence industry, R&D etc.
India and Saudi Arabia enjoy cordial and friendly relations founded on the centuries old economic and socio-cultural ties. The MoU on Defence Cooperation provides a framework for defence collaboration between the two countries.
The Joint Defence Cooperation Committee is an institutional mechanism under the MoU to promote the objectives of defence cooperation.
The Indian delegation, led by Joint Secretary Shri Amitabh Prasad, included officials from the Ministry of Defence. The meeting was co-chaired by Major General Salman Bin Awadh Al-Harbi from the Saudi Arabia delegation.
Three years after becoming the first Indian to win an archery medal at Tokyo 2020, Harvinder Singh secured India’s first-ever Paralympic gold medal in the sport at Paris 2024.
Competing in the men’s individual recurve open event at Invalides, Harvinder defeated Poland’s Lukasz Ciszek 6-0 in a one-sided final to claim the top spot.
The 33-year-old Indian para-archer made a strong start, winning the first set 28-24 to bag two points. Lukasz Ciszek was sharp in the second set, hitting a nine each from his three arrows. However, Harvinder Singh struck a perfect 10 on his third shot to lead 4-0.
With the gold medal on the line, Harvinder Singh began the third set with two 10s.
India’s Ajeet Singh and Sundar Singh Gurjar won the silver and bronze medals, respectively, in the men’s javelin throw F46 class at the Paris 2024 Paralympics on Tuesday.
Ajeet Singh, 30, won the silver medal with his penultimate throw of the night which measured 65.62m at the Stade de France.
Sundar Singh Gurjar was in second position after his fourth throw landed at 64.96m but was pushed down to third after Ajeet Singh’s late comeback.
Cuba’s Guillermo Varona Gonzalez hit the 66.14m mark on his second throw and went on to win the gold medal.
Siddhartha Agarwal became the oldest Indian swimmer to swim across the English Channel (between England and France), Swim Life.
The Bengaluru man took 15 hours and six minutes to complete the distance of 42 km.
this was the same year when Srikaanth Viswanathan, also from Bengaluru, entered the Limca Book of Records for becoming the oldest to swim the English Channel solo,
at the age of 46.Six years hence, Sid, as he is popularly known among the swimming fraternity, surpassed his compatriot to complete the distance of 42kms. He took 15 hours and six minutes to complete the swim, with the last 10kms posing the greatest test of resilience as he had to battle rigid conditions, high tides due to windspeed of approximately 25 miles per hour.
Chilean tennis legend Luis Ayala, who reached two French Open finals, has died at the age of 91, the Chilean Tennis Federation announced. Ayala, a Santiago native, was a prominent figure in the sport and won 46 singles titles throughout his career, including significant achievements on clay courts.
Ayala, born in Santiago, was an iconic figure in his home country's sport scene. Over his illustrious career, he secured 46 singles titles and was celebrated for his prowess on clay courts, notably being a finalist at Roland Garros in 1958 and 1960.
India and Singapore unveiled agreements for a semiconductor ecosystem partnership and greater interoperability between their digital economies even as they elevated their relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership.
Modi arrived in Singapore on the second leg of a two-nation Southeast Asian tour, after making the first bilateral visit to Brunei by an Indian premier.
He described Singapore as an “important anchor” for India’s Act East policy launched a decade ago.
India and Singapore announced four agreements on semiconductors, digital cooperation, healthcare and medical research, and education and skill development.
The memorandum of understanding (MoU) on a semiconductor ecosystem partnership envisages cooperation to support India’s growing semiconductor industry while facilitating Singapore’s companies and supply chains to enter the Indian market. The MoU will create a platform to better connect and strengthen the complementary semiconductor ecosystems of the two sides.
The MoU on cooperation in digital technology will encourage greater interoperability between the digital economies of the two countries and build on earlier work such as linking the digital payment systems of India and Singapore. The main areas of cooperation under this MoU are data flows and data protection, digital utilities and digital public infrastructure.
Under the MoU on education and skill development, the two sides will cooperate on technical and vocational education and training, while the MoU on healthcare and medical research envisages cooperation in disease surveillance, pandemic preparedness, and prevention of communicable diseases.
Ace paddler Sharath Kamal was announced as the first Indian ambassador of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) foundation at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium during day 11 of the Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) season five.
Sharath, who was elected to the ITTF’s Athlete’s Commission back in November 2022, was bestowed with the honour in the presence of Her Highness Zeina Shaban, princess of Jordan and a two-time Olympian, and Vita Dani, Chairperson of the UTT. Shaban and Dani are both board members of the ITTF Foundation.
Bharatsure, a renowned insurtech business, unveiled four novel insurance products at the Global Fintech Festival in Mumbai. These solutions are tailored exclusively to gig workers, students, digital users, and businesses looking for sophisticated employee perks. This initiative is consistent with Bharatsure’s goal of “Insurance for All in Bharat,”
which seeks to bridge the protection gap in underserved parts of Indian society.
Bharatsure has launched Gig Worker Insurance, providing health and personal injury coverage for as low as ₹69 per month. The gig economy is a key contributor to India’s GDP.
This plan, which already insures 20,000 gig workers in the logistics, mobility, and staffing industries, provides critical financial stability by covering hospitalisation and accidental injury or death.
Bharatsure offers Student Health Insurance for a little ₹1 per day to help students with their health.
Star Health and Allied Insurance has launched India’s first health insurance policy in Braille, aiming to empower visually impaired individuals by giving them easy access to health insurance information. The new “Special Care Gold” policy is designed to cater to the specific health needs of people with disabilities, marking a significant step toward inclusivity,
in the insurance sector.
The “Special Care Gold” policy offers tailored health coverage for individuals with 40% or more disabilities, including physical, sensory, and cognitive impairments. This pioneering initiative seeks to fill a gap in the market by providing comprehensive health coverage often unavailable to the disabled community.
In addition to this policy, Star Health has initiated a financial inclusivity drive, allowing visually impaired individuals to become licensed health insurance agents. Through training and upskilling, the initiative allows visually impaired people to work from home, empowering them to generate income independently.
State-owned Canara Bank successfully raised $300 million through its IFSC Banking Unit, the bank announced. According to a regulatory filing, the funds, sourced via the Gandhinagar-based unit, will be utilized for general corporate purposes.
The bonds, which have a maturity of five years, offer a coupon rate of 4.896%, with semi-annual payments.
Investors from Asia, the Middle East, and Europe well-received the issuance, demonstrating confidence in the bank’s creditworthiness.
The bank’s shares have a one-year beta of 1.5, indicating high volatility. Its relative strength index (RSI) stands at 43, signalling that the stock is neither overbought nor oversold.
Suryoday Small Finance Bank has partnered with Tarrakki, a new fintech platform, to develop and offer digital fixed deposits. Through this relationship, Tarrakki will assist in developing tech products that surpass older systems, allowing SSFB to swiftly onboard new customers and offer digital fixed deposit products.
This collaboration will take the shape of software development kits (SDKs) and white-label services. Suryoday Small Finance Bank is a premier new-age digital bank in India, committed to digital products that improve client centricity. This next-generation platform, driven by Tarrakki, will reduce the cost and time necessary for product launches by the bank and its partners.
Union Minister of Textiles, Shri Giriraj Singh today launched the ‘VisioNxt Fashion Forecasting Initiative’ of the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), a bilingual web portal, and the India-specific Fashion Trend Book ‘Paridhi 24x25’.
In this era of fast fashion, VisioNxt initiative will foster healthy global competition and elevate Indian culture and design to new heights on the global stage, Shri Singh said. He noted that the fashion industry will benefit from Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Emotional Intelligence (EI) based trend insights offered by VisioNxt.
NIFT VisioNxt is India’s first-ever initiative that combines AI and EI to generate fashion trend insights and forecasts. Its mission is to identify, map, and analyse geo-specific trends, reflecting the positive plurality, cultural diversity, and socio-economic nuances of India while collating comprehensive trends and insights.
VisioNxt positions India globally among countries that predict fashion trends, increasing the visibility of Indian fashion vocabulary and identity while reducing dependence on international trend agencies.
VisioNxt—a Trend Insights and Forecasting Initiative—was conceived and established at NIFT Delhi (Creative Lab) and NIFT Chennai (Insights Lab),
with the support of the Ministry of Textiles, Government of India, in 2018. The initiative, now centralized in Chennai, focuses on delivering trend insights and forecasting for the Indian fashion and retail market. It also offers various trend related consultancy services, academic courses, workshops etc.
