Category: Participation / Membership in Global Organisations

** Former RBI governor Urjit Patel appointed vice president of AIIB

He has been appointed vice-president of Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

Former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Urjit Patel has been appointed vice-president of the Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

Mr. Patel will serve a three-year term as one of the multilateral development bank’s five vice-presidents, and will take the place of former Gujarat Chief Secretary D.J. Pandian who had been, as Vice-President, leading the AIIB’s investment operations and all sovereign and non-sovereign lending in South and Southeast Asia.

** Digitized war records of Indian troops killed in WWI Iraq highlight long forgotten Kut Al-Amara siege

The beautifully handwritten note on the yellowing service record, compiled by the Punjab government in 1919 and now over a century old, is as brief as it is poignant.

In faded ink, the entry for Wasawa Singh, the son of Shera, a Jat from the village of Gaike in northeast Punjab, tells the story of a young life cut short in the service of an alien empire.

There are no dates, merely a rank — havildar, equivalent to sergeant — and the name of a unit, the 30th Punjabis.

** Former CEC Arora joins board of advisors of International IDEA that supports sustainable democracies

The Election Commission said in a statement on Tuesday that Mr. Arora was invited to join the International IDEA’s board of advisors.

Former Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora has joined the board of advisors of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), an inter-governmental organisation based in Stockholm.

While serving as the chair of the Association of World Election Bodies (AWEB) and Forum of the Election Management Bodies of South Asia (FEMBoSA) under Mr. Arora’s tenure, the EC ensured further enhancement of capacity building.

** Gita Gopinath to take on new role at IMF as First Deputy Managing Director

Indian-American Gita Gopinath, the chief economist of International Monetary Fund, is being promoted as IMF’s First Deputy Managing Director, the fund announced Thursday.

She would replace Geoffrey Okamoto who plans to leave the Fund early next year. Gopinath, who was scheduled to return to her academic position at Harvard University in January 2022, has served as the IMF’s chief economist for three years.

** Professor Bimal Patel elected to International Law Commission for 5-year term

Prof. Patel has served in various roles such as the Director at the Gujarat National Law University and member of the 21st Law Commission of India

Professor Bimal Patel, Vice-Chancellor, Rashtriya Raksha University and Member of National Security Advisory Board of India, has been elected to the International Law Commission for a five-year term starting January 1, 2023 in a hard-fought election at the United Nations.

** 65 Indian artists will get together in Italy for a groundbreaking exhibition in November

The Hub India art show in Turin marks what one hopes will be the re-emergence of physical art viewing worldwide

Sometimes art is the best catharsis. Even as India emerges into what seems like the beginning of the end of the pandemic, a major project featuring more than 65 Indian artists will open in Turin, Italy, in the coming days, signalling the relaunch of public and overseas engagements for art. Coming in these fractured times, the Hub India exhibition seems like a testament to the irrepressible quality of the humane and artistic spirit.

** PM Modi and other G20 leaders visit iconic Trevi Fountain in Rome

It is believed that if you throw a coin over your shoulder into the water of the fountain, you will be sure to return to Rome

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday visited the famous Trevi Fountain here along with other world leaders on the sidelines of the G20 summit.

The fountain is one of the most visited monuments of France and is loved by tourists. The historical fountain has drawn many filmmakers to it who have popularised the Baroque art-styled monument as the epitome of a place of romance.

** Isha Ambani appointed on the Board of Trustees of the prestigious Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art

In 2019, Nita Ambani, wife of Reliance Industries’ Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani, was elected to the board of New York’s The Metropolitan Museum of Art

** India reiterates demand for finding origin of COVID-19

India’s Raman Gangakhedkar, a renowned epidemiologist and Dr. C.G. Pandit National Chair at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), is among 26 members of the Scientific Advisory Group for determining the origins of the virus, according to the WHO.