18 AUGUST 2016

Ø  Lobbing the ball for dialogue back into Pakistan’s court, India said that Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar was “willing” to travel to Islamabad to discuss “cross-border terror in Kashmir”, but not to discuss Kashmir itself, as Pakistan had proposed. In a letter handed over to Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhury by High Commissioner Gautam Bhambawale on Wednesday, the government said any talks would have to focus on terror.

Ø  In real estate, location is everything, but after decades of occupying, modifying and trying to make do with limited space in 11, Ashoka Road, a bungalow in the heart of Lutyens’ Delhi, the BJP has realised that there are merits to having more office space. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah will perform the “bhoomi pooja” a ritualistic start of construction work for a new, bigger, fancier headquarters for the party at Deendayal Upadhyaya (DDU) Marg.

Ø  Former Union Minister Najma Heptullah was appointed Governor of Manipur on Wednesday as President of India announced new gubernatorial appointments for three States and a Union Territory. Former Rajya Sabha MP V.P Singh Badnore was appointed Punjab Governor. Banwarilal Purohit, a three-time former member of Lok Sabha from Nagpur and Managing Editor of Central India’s daily The Hitavada, will be the Governor of Assam while the Delhi-based BJP leader and former MLA Prof. Jagdish Mukhi was made Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, according to a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique.

Ø  India and Bangladesh on Wednesday agreed to jointly produce a documentary on the 1971 war which led to independence for Bangladesh. The decision was taken after a meeting between Information and Broadcasting M. Venkaiah Naidu with his Bangladesh counterpart Hasanul Haq Inu here. Mr. Naidu said archival material available with the Films Division, Doordarshan and other media units would be utilised for the documentary. “This documentary will commemorate the 50th year of Bangladesh Independence in 2021.” The AIR would begin an exclusive service for Bangladesh and the Bengali diaspora titled “Akashvani Maitree” on August 23, he said. The President would be launching the radio channel, which was supposed to go on air on June 28. It got postponed following the cancellation of the President’s trip to Kolkata two days ahead of the launch.