The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has appointed Nand Mulchandani, an Indian-American Silicon Valley IT expert, as its first-ever Chief Technology Officer.

The intelligence agency’s director, William J Burns, announced the appointment on social media.

 

“CIA Director William J. Burns appoints Nand Mulchandani as CIA’s first Chief Technology Officer (CTO). With more than 25 years of experience, Mr. Mulchandani will ensure the Agency is leveraging cutting-edge innovations to further CIA’s mission,” the CIA said in a tweet.

 

 

 

A student of Delhi’s Bluebells International School between 1979 and 1987, Mulchandani graduated from Cornell University. He completed his undergraduate course in Computer Science and Math.

 

According to Hindustan Times, he went on to secure a Master of Science degree in Management from Stanford, and a Master in Public Administration degree from Harvard.

 

He was also a fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science & International Affairs from 2019 to 2021..

Source : First Post

Dr. Suman K Bery has been appointed new Vice Chairperson of NITI Aayog. He will take charge as Vice Chairperson of NITI Aayog from the 1st of next month. In an order, the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions said that Vice Chairperson of NITI Aayog, Dr. Rajiv Kumar will be relieved from his post on 30th of this month.

 

Dr. Suman K Bery had earlier served as Director-General of the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) in New Delhi. NCAER is one of the country's leading independent non-profit policy research institutions..

Source : News On Air

* C-DAC will act as an outreach partner in the program and give exposure to the select startups

 

* With this mentoring program, Qualcomm India aims to provide mentorship, technical training, and industry outreach to Indian startups

 

* Qualcomm India will shortlist approximately 10 Indian startups for the mentoring program

 

Mobile chipset manufacturing company Qualcomm India has collaborated with the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) to organise the Qualcomm Semiconductor Mentorship Program (QSMP) 2022 for startups working in the Indian semiconductor space. 

 

With this program, Qualcomm India aims to provide mentorship, technical training, and industry outreach to Indian startups in the semiconductor space. 

 

C-DAC is the research and development organisation of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

 

Qualcomm India will shortlist approximately 10 Indian startups for QSMP 2022. Each startup will be paired with a Qualcomm India leader for mentorship on product planning and development.

Source : Inc42

* Seasoned diplomat Vinay Mohan Kwatra on Sunday(1st May 2022) took charge as India's new foreign secretary at a time New Delhi is dealing with various geopolitical developments including the crisis in Ukraine.

 

* A 1988-batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, Kwatra succeeded Harsh Vardhan Shringla who retired from service on Saturday(1st May 2022).

 

* Kwatra was serving as India’s envoy to Nepal before assuming the charge of the foreign secretary.

 

* “Shri Vinay Kwatra assumed charge as Foreign Secretary today(1st May 2022) morning. #TeamMEA wishes Foreign Secretary Kwatra a productive and successful tenure ahead,” MEA Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted on Sunday.

 

* Kwatra is known to be having extensive expertise in dealing with India’s neighbourhood as well as the US, China and Europe.

 

* He took charge as the foreign secretary at a time India is dealing with various geopolitical developments including the Ukraine conflict, the severe economic crisis in Sri Lanka and situation in Afghanistan and developments in the Indo-Pacific.

 

* Before his diplomatic posting to Nepal in 2020, he served as the Ambassador of India to France from August 2017 to February 2020.

 

* A career diplomat with over 32 years of experience, Kwatra has also held the position of a Joint Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) for two years between October 2015 and August 2017.

Source : Indian Express

Maharashtra and Gujarat celebrated their "Statehood Day" on 1st May 2022. On May 1st, 1960, the bilingual state of Bombay was divided into two separate states by the Bombay Reorganisation Act, 1960: Maharashtra for Marathi speaking people and Gujarat for Gujarati speaking people. Gujarat was established as the 15th state of the Indian Union.

 

* Capital: Mumbai

* Sex Ratio: 929 female per 1000 male (National: 943)

* Literacy: 82.34% (National: 74.04%)

* Arabian Sea guards the western boundary of Maharashtra, while Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh are on the northern side. Chhattisgarh covers the eastern boundary of the State. Karnataka and Telangana are on its southern side.

* The State has been identified as the country’s powerhouse and Mumbai, its capital as the centre point of India’s financial and commercial markets.

* Maharashtra has two major ports, Mumbai Port and Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNP) both located in Mumbai harbour.

* According to the India State of Forest Report (ISFR)-2019, Maharashtra’s forest cover is 16.50% of the state’s geographical 

 

 

* Capital: Gandhinagar

* Sex Ratio: 919 female per 1000 male (National: 943)

* Literacy: 78.03% (National: 74.04%)

* The state is bounded by the Arabian Sea in the west, Pakistan and Rajasthan in the north and north-east respectively, Madhya Pradesh in the south-east and Maharashtra in the south.

* Gujarat is the first state in the nation to start a separate department of ‘climate change’ to tackle the issue of global warming.

* Kandla Port is the major port in Gujarat along with 41 minor ports.

* Gamit, Bhils, Dhodias, Bawcha, and Kunbi are the major tribes present in the state.

* According to the India State of Forest Report (ISFR)-2019, Gujarat has the largest area of wetlands within Recorded Forest Area/Green Wash (RFA/GW) in the country followed by West Bengal.

Every year, the first Sunday in May is observed and celebrated as World Laughter Day. This year, World Laughter Day will be observed on 1st May. Through its annual observance, the day aims to raise awareness about the importance of laughter in an individual's life and its many healing benefits.

 

The day also aims to manifest world peace and to build up a feeling of friendship and brotherhood through laughter.

 

History : World Laughter Day came into existence on 10 May 1998, when it was celebrated for the first time in Mumbai. The day was arranged by Dr Madan Kataria, founder of the Laughter Yoga Movement. Dr Kataria, a family doctor in India, was inspired to start the Laughter Yoga Movement in part by the facial feedback hypothesis, which suggests that a person's facial expressions can have an impact on their emotions.

Source : First Post

Every year on May 1st, International Workers' Day, also known as Labour Day in most countries is celebrated. It honours employees' contributions and sacrifices for society. In India, it is also called May Day. It came into prominence in India in the year 1923 after the Labour Kisan Party of Hindustan organised the celebrations for the first time in the country, which were led by Comrade Singaravelar. A resolution was passed stating that on Labour Day, the government should grant everyone a national holiday and since then Labour Day has been celebrated every year.

 

Labour Day is celebrated throughout India under a variety of titles, including 'Kamgar din' or 'Antarrashtriya Shramik Diwas' in Hindi, 'Uzhaopalar Naal' in Tamil and 'Kamgar Diwas' in Marathi. In the year 1923, the province of Madras in India celebrated its inaugural Labour Day.

Source : Republic World

The Sitio Burle Marx site, a landscape garden in "Brazilian" city Rio de Janeiro has been added to UNESCO’s list of World Heritage sites. The garden features more than 3,500 species of plants native to Rio and is considered a laboratory for botanical and landscape experimentation.

 

The site has been named after Burle Marx, a Brazilian landscape architect whose designs of parks and gardens made him world-famous. The Sitio Burle Marx site was his home until 1985.