9 JUNE 2014: PM talks of new Tricolor Revolution in agriculture sector..

Ø  Mr. Modi fleshed out his campaign theme of what he calls a “tricolour revolution,” referring to a second green revolution focusing on growing protein-rich pulses, of a white revolution focusing on the care of cattle and livestock, a saffron ‘energy’ revolution looking at solar energy, and a blue revolution on clean water, and the welfare of fishermen. Blue is the colour of the Ashok Chakra.

Ø  A world natural heritage site tourism circuit connecting the 39 serial sites of Western Ghats, the World Heritage Sites (WHS), is in the offing. The World Heritage Committee of Unesco had inscribed these sites, which are spread across Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra, as WHS in natural sites category in 2012.

Ø  Trade and investment drove the first India-China talks under the new government as the meeting between visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj stretched past three hours. India and China have set a target of $100 billion in bilateral trade a year by 2015, a goal which the two Ministers spoke about in their meetings. India’s concerns over the vast trade deficit of $ 31 billion out of bilateral trade of $ 65 billion last year came up, as Ms. Swaraj is also learnt to have spoken of more investment from China into Indian infrastructure, particularly in the Railway sector.

Ø  At last, Mumbai has got its first Metro rail service. The service was declared open by Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan who took the first ride from Versova to Ghatkopar. Earlier, it was decided to peg the fares at Rs. 9 to Rs. 13 as per the concession agreement. However, RInfra upped the bracket to Rs. 10 to Rs. 40 under the Metro Act. This had upset Mr. Chavan. The 11.4-km Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar corridor is likely to cut travel time by an hour. It takes 21 minutes to go from one end of the western suburb to the other.

Ø  Just after Prime Minister Narendra Modi embarks on his first foreign visit to Bhutan this month, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is likely to go to Bangladesh.

gulam nabi azad: LOO @ RS

Ø  The Congress on Sunday appointed the former Union Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad, as its leader in the Rajya Sabha, paving way for his appointment as the next Leader of the Opposition in the Upper House.

Ø  Filipino and Vietnamese troops played volleyball and football in a contested South China Sea archipelago, a landmark act of sports diplomacy that both sides said could ease territorial tensions. The games were hosted by Vietnam on one of the islands it controls in the Spratlys archipelago, a powder keg area of competing regional claims. The Spratlys are a disputed archipelago of reefs, islands and atolls in the South China Sea that is coveted by the Philippines, Vietnam, China, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. The region is believed to sit atop oil and other mineral deposits and all of the claimants, save for Brunei, have troops in the islands.