1 SEPTEMBER 2014: Nalanda Uni. (Knowledge Icon of India) restarts!

Ø  The top brass of the Pakistani Army, chaired by its chief, General Raheel Sharif, held an urgent meeting on Sunday night to discuss the political crisis that has engulfed the country after night-long clashes here between security forces and anti-government demonstrators left three persons dead and nearly 500 injured. The Army Corps Commanders met in Rawalpindi to take stock of the situation created by the 18-day siege of the heart of the Pakistani establishment, housing the Presidency, the National Assembly, the Supreme Court and the Prime Minister’s Office, took a turn for the worst on Saturday. Embattled Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, whose ouster is the main demand of the protesters, decided to summon a joint sitting of Parliament on Tuesday to discuss the political crisis.

Ø  Milkha Singh has an affinity with Bangalore and the Sree Kanteerava Stadium. For, it was here in 1952 that the Flying Sikh, arguably India’s most popular athlete, attended his very first national camp. It was path-breaking in many ways and even paved his way through to the Olympics.

Ø  Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India and Japan faced a common challenge in preserving and building smart heritage cities. After meeting Kyoto’s Mayor Daisaku Kadokawa, the Prime Minister said that he had learnt how the city was dealing with civic issues. In a brief message written in Hindi, Mr. Modi, MP from Varanasi, said Japan and India needed to work together in developing their heritage cities. Mr. Modi, who visited the heritage Toji temple, met Nobel laureate in medicine Prof. Shimna Yamanaka, and discussed a possible remedy for sickle cell anaemia prevalent in India. Mr. Kadokawa, who called on Mr. Modi at his Kyoto hotel, told the Prime Minister that the city had the lowest per capita garbage generation in Japan. The Punjab-based Netaji Subhash Kranti Manch urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to visit the Renkoji temple in Tokyo where some believe that the ashes of the late freedom-fighter Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose are buried. The Mukherjee Commission of enquiry appointed by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee–led NDA government, which had concluded that the “ashes in the Japanese temple are not Netaji’s”, was supported by the BJP even as the UPA government had rejected its findings. Urging Mr. Modi to accept the panel’s report and use his good offices to unravel Netaji’s fate, the Manch said the nation had a right to know what happened to the legendary hero.

Nalanda University

Ø  The Nalanda University (NU) will rise again oas academic classes will begin on its new campus in Bihar’s Rajgir. The resurrection of the ancient university will bring to fruition of an idea proposed by the former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in 2006. We will have a low-key launch with classes for the School of Ecology and Environmental Studies and the School of Historical Studies. Right now there are 15 students and 11 faculty members.

Ø   Legendary actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao will be the first Indian actor to be honoured with a postage stamp by the U.S. Post Service (USPS).

Ø  Responding to the government’s recent ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ (Clean India Campaign), engineering major Larsen & Toubro Ltd. (L&T) on Sunday announced plans to build 5,000 toilets as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility initiative. L&T group executive chairman A.M. Naik said that initially 2,000 toilets would be built.