Ø In a major relief to the NDA government, the Congress extended its
support to pass the long- pending Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2015 in the
Rajya Sabha on Thursday even as a number of Opposition parties staged a
walkout. The Bill, which replaced an ordinance promulgated in December 2013,
was passed by a voice vote after a walkout by the Trinamool Congress, the
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Janata Dal (United), the Samajwadi Party and the
Bahujan Samaj Party.
Ø With a 5,000-member strong police contingent on special security duty,
Sri Lanka’s capital city appears all set for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s
arrival on Friday. On
the eve of his historic visit to the island — the first stand alone bilateral
visit by an Indian leader in over 27 years — rows of Indian flags popped up
along many Colombo roads, and posters welcomed him in Sinhala. Both Colombo and
New Delhi have indicated the importance they place on the visit that Indian
Foreign Ministry sources said sought to “upgrade” Indo-Lanka relations, which
soured during former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s term. Mr. Modi, in
his meetings with Sri Lanka’s top leadership, is likely to take up the growing
influence of China in the island, matters pertaining to devolution of powers to
the country’s war-torn North and East and the fisheries conflict that has
proved a major strain on Indo-Lanka ties the past few years. Mr. Modi’s
is the fourth high-level visit between the countries, since the new
dispensation in Colombo took charge after the country’s January presidential
polls that saw President Maithripala Sirisena defeat his one-time comrade and
former leader Mr. Rajapaksa. Among the agreements to be signed during Mr.
Modi's visit are Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) pertaining to customs
cooperation, youth development, visa exemptions for diplomatic passport holders
and the construction of an auditorium named after Rabindranath Tagore in the
southern Sinhala-majority Matara district. He will address a special
sitting in Parliament on Frid.a In addition to meeting top political
leaders, Mr. Modi will also address the local business community in Colombo. He
will also on Saturday visit the ancient city of Anuradhapura — many
Buddhists in India and Sri Lanka believe that the sapling of the famous Bo Tree
there was brought from India by Emperor Ashoka’s daughter Sanghamitra.
In the Tamil-majority Northern Province, Prime Minister Modi will lay the
foundation stone for a Jaffna-based cultural centre being built with Indian
assistance, in addition to flagging off the final leg of the island’s restored
railway line in the north, built by IRCON.
Ø Google launched a virtual tour of the Everest region of Nepal on
Thursday, allowing armchair tourists a rare glimpse of life in one of the
toughest and most inaccessible places on earth, home to the world’s highest
mountain. Armed with two single-lens tripod cameras and a 15-lens
custom-built “Trekker” unit designed for backpacks, teams travelled on foot to
capture more than 45,000 panoramic images of the remote eastern Himalayan
villages inhabited by the ethnic Sherpa community. Google worked on the
project with Kathmandu-based start-up Story Cycle and Nepalese climber Apa
Sherpa, who scaled Mount Everest a record 21 times before he retired from
climbing and set up an educational charity.
Ø A spectacular collection of arms and armour once owned by Tipu Sultan,
the erstwhile King of Mysore, will go under the hammer here next month.
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