21 FEBRUARY 2014

Ø  Odia, one of the oldest languages, has become the sixth language in the country to get classical language status after Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. Odia is a distinctly original language having no resemblance to Hindi, Sanskrit, Bengali and Telugu. Government sources said two major annual international awards for scholars of eminence in Odia would be instituted. Moreover, a ‘Centre of Excellence for Studies in Classical Languages’ would also be set up.

Ø  President Pranab Mukherjee unveiled the plaque of a foundation stone of a new military station at Nabagram in Behrampore area of Murshidabad district.

Ø  The Lok Sabha on Thursday passed the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Amendment) Bill, 2011, simplifying the regulations for procuring and possessing narcotic drugs when used for medicinal purposes.  it would bring relief to thousands of cancer patients in the country who use opioid for acute and chronic pain relief.  Use of morphine was under strict regulation under the NDPS Act, 1985, and lengthy bureaucratic procedures discouraged its manufacturing in the country and limited its availability at medical institutions that care for cancer patients.

Ø  China on Thursday said the economic corridor that it is planning to construct to link its western Xinjiang region to Pakistan, through parts of the disputed Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), was not directed at “a third party” and would not pose any “detriment” to India’s concerns on the Kashmir issue. Parts of the economic corridor, which envisages expanding road links along the Karakoram highway and building energy pipelines, runs through PoK, which borders the Xinjiang region and provides the only possible land link between China and Pakistan.

Ø  When Facebook made global headlines for acquiring popular messaging app WhatsApp, an election special announcement on the official India page of the social media giant went viral.  In its first edition slated to be held on March 3, the session will give the 93-million Facebook user base in India an opportunity to interact with the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi. Interestingly, Google also launched its interactive Hangouts with Mr. Modi in the debut session. India holds the second largest user base in the world for Facebook.

Ø  Robin Cook, a physician and best-selling author known for his books “Coma” and “Outbreak,” says his new novel, “Cell,” foretells a future where a good deal of medicine can come through an app which can draw from huge medical databases.