Shri R K Mathur, took over as the new Defence Secretary here today. He belongs to the 1977 Batch of the Indian Administrative Service of Manipur-Tripura Cadre. He did his B.Tech from IIT Kanpur, M. Tech from IIT Delhi and MBA from International Centre for Public Enterprises, Ljubljana.

Shri Mathur has a rich and varied experience in the field of public administration and has held many important positions in the Government of Tripura. He has served as Principal Secretary in the Agriculture, Rural Development and Finance Departments of the Government of Tripura. He has also held the position of Chief Secretary of Tripura.

During his different stints at the Centre, Shri Mathur has served as Development Commissioner (Handicrafts) & Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Textile and as Additional Secretary and Special Secretary in the Department of Defence, Ministry of Defence. He has held Secretary level postings in the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence.

The HRD Ministry has approved setting up of Block Institutes of Teachers Education in 196 districts during the current Five Year Plan. These institutes will be opened in SC/ST/Minority concentrated districts. More than 690 crore rupees have been approved with 1/3rd of this investment being made in 8 high deficit states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Assam, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh. Over Rs. 6300 crore are earmarked in the 12th Five Year Plan for training of untrained teachers.

Under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan more than 6 lakh in-service teachers need to be trainined. Several states including the 8 states mentioned above have requested the centre to extend time for training of these teachers. The maximum no. of 190000 teachers need to be trained in Bihar followed by Uttar Pradesh where a total number of 124000 teachers needs to be trained. While the number of teachers to be trained in Chhattisgarh is over 45000 in Madhya Pradesh the number is 35000. The training of teachers will be through National Institute of Open schooling as in Jharkhand, State Open Universities as in Assam, State Councils of Education Research and Training as in Chhattisgarh and through State Board of Primary Education as in West Bengal. To strengthen teacher education capacity, the states have obtained recognition for opening of 81 new Government institutes. It will help in the training of more than 4000 teachers in the 8 high deficit states. The curriculum has been revised in light of National Curriculum framework for teachers education.

At least three Indian movies, two produced by Cannes regular Anurag Kashyap, are making waves at the film festival. Ritesh Batra's debut film Lunchbox has bagged the Critics Week Viewers Choice Award at the 66th Cannes Film Festival.

Dabba ( The Lunchbox) — Director: Ritesh Batra’s debut film starring Irrfan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Nimrat Kaur that has got the best buzz so far. Part of the Cannes International Critics Week, the film centres on how a wrongly delivered lunchbox ignites a secret romance between an unhappy housewife and a soon- to- retire government official.

About 67,000 women die in India every year due to pregnancy related complications. About 13 lakh infants die within one year of birth. Out of 9 lakh newborns that die within 4 weeks of birth, about 7 lakh die within the first week of their birth. The first 28 days of infancy period are very important for children. Both maternal and infant deaths can be reduced by ensuring timely access to public health facilities without any burden of out of pocket expenses.

The launch of Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram on June 1, 2011 signals to huge leap forward in the quest to make “Health for All” a reality. It invokes a new approach to healthcare, placing for the first time, utmost emphasis on entitlements and elimination of out of pocket expenses for both pregnant women and neonates. The initiative entitles all pregnant women delivering in public health institutions to absolutely free and no-expense delivery. All expenses relating to delivery in a public institution are borne by the government. Under this initiative, a pregnant woman is entitled to free transport from home to the government health facility. Entitlement includes free drugs and consumables, free diagnostic, free blood, free diet for the duration of a woman’s stay in the facility. Similar entitlements have been put in place for all sick newborns accessing public health institutions for healthcare till 30 days after birth. They are entitled to free treatment besides free transport, both ways and between facilities in case of a referral.

JSSK is estimated to benefit more than one crore pregnant women and newborns every year both in urban and rural areas. It supplements the cash assistance given to a pregnant woman under Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY). JSSK will encourage pregnant women to deliver at public health institutions. It will empower service providers working at the health facilities in providing quality ante-natal, intra-natal and post-natal services at the institutions. This initiative will also help in reducing both maternal and infant mortality and morbidity.

While Rs. 1437 crores were allocated to the states for implementation of free entitlements under JSSK during 2011-12, a total of Rs. 2050.78 crores were allocated during 2012-13.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today approved a proposal by the Department of AIDS Control, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare for the implementation of National AIDS Control Support Project (NACSP) under the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) for an amount of Rs. 2550 crore. NACP is financed by the Government of India and the World Bank in equal proportion.

The primary objective of the project is to increase safe behaviour among high risk groups in pursuance of the national goal of accelerated reversal of the HIV epidemic by 2017. The primary focus of the project activities would be strengthening and scaling up of prevention interventions and related BCC strategies for sub-groups of population identified to be most-at-risk by the NACP. These include Female Sex Workers (FSW), Men who have sex with Men (MSM), Transgender (TG) / Hijra populations and Injecting Drug Users (IDU). The project would also support the planned expansion and consolidation of tailored interventions for other at-risk populations, including migrant workers and truckers which play a critical role in the transmission dynamics of HIV in the country. The BCC strategies developed under the project would provide emphasis on demand generation for prevention services among high risk groups and vulnerable populations, including a specific focus on youth. This component would also address the need for reduction of stigma associated with HIV by focused IEC to change the prevailing attitudes and perceptions.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today approved the implementation of the project of 4-laning of the Dimapur-Kohima section from Km. 124.1 to Km.172.9 of NH-39 (excluding Dimapur and Kohima bypass) in the state of Nagaland, under the special Accelerated Road Development Programme (SARDP-NE) Phase ‘A’ in North Eastern Region on Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT - Annuity).

The total length of the road will be 42.8 km. with total project cost of Rs.1089.87 crore (excluding land acquisition and pre-construction). The concessionaire will make all expenditure to complete the project and will charge the annuity from the Government.

The main object of the project is to expedite the improvement of infrastructure in Nagaland. The project is one of the stretches approved by the Government under SARDP-NE. It will facilitate reducing the time and cost of travel for traffic playing between Dimapur to Kohima. It will also increase the potential of employment to local labourers for project activities.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi and India-born PepsiCo chief Indra Nooyi figure among the top 10 in the global list of most powerful women compiled by Forbes magazine for 2013.

Gandhi is ranked ninth while Nooyi is at the 10th place in the global list of world's 100 most powerful women.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel tops the list for the third consecutive year, followed by Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff, Melinda Gates of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, US First lady Michelle Obama and philanthropist Hillary Clinton.

An 80-year-old Japanese mountain climber who has had four heart surgeries reached the top of Mount Everest on Thursday becoming the oldest person to conquer the world's highest mountain.Yuichiro Miura, who took the standard southeast ridge route pioneered by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay 60 years ago, reached the top of the 8,848 metre (29,028 feet) mountain at roughly 9:00 a.m. local time (0300 GMT). He was accompanied by three other Japanese, including his son, and six Nepali sherpas.

On 22nd May is the International Day for Biological Diversity . The theme for 2013 is ‘Water and Biodiversity’, both of which represent essential building blocks of life on Earth. The theme reflects the reality that water sustains all life on earth, and that ecosystems of our world, particularly forests and wetlands, ensure that clean water is available to us. However, despite being two sides of the same coin, they are rarely seen in unison when it comes to their conservation, use and management. The United Nations has proclaimed May 22 as the International Day for Biological Diversity to commemorate the adoption of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Celebrating International Day for Biological Diversity every year affirms our resolve and responsibility to safeguard the precious heritage of bio-resources for the future generations.

Arunima Sinha, 26, became India’s first woman to conquer Mt. Everest on a prosthetic leg. A former national volleyball player, Arunima lost her left leg, having been thrown off a moving train for resisting a chain-snatching attempt by some criminals on April 12, 2011.

Arunima completed her expedition from Kathmandu to the top of the peak in 52 days.As per information released by the Tata Steel Adventure Foundation (TSAF), which supported her climb, Arunima followed Susen Mahato, another climber of the Foundation, who scaled Mt. Everest on May 19, 2013.

The President of India has appointed Shri Shashi Kant Sharma, IAS, as the Comptroller & Auditor General of India, in terms of Article 148 (1) of the Constitution of India. Shri Sharma is presently holding the post of Defence Secretary in the Ministry of Defence, Government of India. He will be taking over the charge of the Comptroller & Auditor General of India from 23rd May, 2013.

In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (1) of article 217 of the Constitution of India, the President has appointed Shri Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta, Judge of the High Court of Uttarakhand, as the Chief Justice of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh with effect from the date he assumes charge of his office.

Every year it is observed throughout the country on 21st May. The day is marked by a pledge taking ceremony among other activities. The Day is observed to generate awareness in the country among all sections of people, about the danger of terrorism and violence and its effect on the people, society and the country as a whole. It was on this day in 1991 that former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi fell to the designs of terrorists. The objective behind the observance of Anti-Terrorism Day is to wean away the people from terrorism and violence. On the occasion, debates, discussions, symposia, seminars, lectures, etc. are held in schools, colleges and universities on the dangers of terrorism and violence.

Dr Laxman Singh Rathore, Director General of Meteorology & Permanent Representative of India with WMO has been elected as Member of Executive Council of WMO during the 65th Executive Council of World Meteorological Organization (WMO) meeting currently being in progress at Geneva.

Dr Rathore has earlier served a term as Vice President of Commission of Agriculture Meteorology of WMO and has been elected to serve the Executive Council in an individual capacity. The Council is composed of 37 Heads/directors/Director Generals of National Meteorological Services and include the President and three Vice-Presidents who are elected by Congress, and the presidents of the six regional associations, by whom they are elected. Dr Rathore is one among the 27 members who are elected. He has been elected by the Executive Council after two posts fell vacant due to retirements of the existing members.

The Executive Council is the executive body of the Organization, which meets annually, implements decisions of Congress, coordinates the programmes, examines the utilization of budgetary resources, considers and takes action on recommendations of Regional Associations and Technical Commissions and guides their work programme, provides technical information, counsel and assistance in the fields of activity of the Organization and studies and takes action on matters affecting international meteorology and related activities.

The foundation stone of Indian National Defence University (INDU), to be constituted under an Act of Parliament, will be laid by PM Manmohan Singh on May 23