Month: March 2022

** Sri Lanka hands over three wind farm projects to India

Sri Lanka has decided to hand over to India the development of three wind farms that was originally awarded to a Chinese firm. The decision was announced on Tuesday, after a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in this regard was signed in the presence MEA S Jaishankar in Colombo.

The USD 12 million project, to be built on three small islands (Nainativu, Analaitivu and Delft) in the Palk Strait between India and Sri Lanka, was awarded to a Chinese firm in 2019, with funding from Asian Development Bank (ADB). India had been protesting against the project citing its proximity to its coast. Due to various reasons the work didn’t commence and the project had to be shelved. 

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** India to lead security pillar of BIMSTEC; PM pitches for focus on regional security

The seven countries in the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) today adopted a charter and connectivity roadmap and entrusted India to be at the helm of its security pillar.

“With the charter, Bimstec now has an international personality, it has an emblem, it has a flag, it has formally listed purpose and principles that it is going to adhere to and an architecture. So that represents a fairly significant evolution of this grouping process which was happening since 2004, but gained traction after 2014,” said additional secretary Bimstec, Rudrendra Tandon. 

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** Axis Bank buys Citibank’s retail business

Axis Bank, the country’s third-largest private bank, has purchased Citibank’s consumer banking business for $1.6 billion or Rs 12,325 crore in an all-cash deal. Axis expects to secure regulatory approvals for the deal in nine months, following which it will integrate Citi’s retail customers with its platform over the next 12-18 months.

Under the deal, Citibank will transfer its credit card, retail banking, wealth management and consumer loans business to Axis Bank. Axis Bank said the deal would give it access to around 3 million unique customers of Citibank, which will enhance its presence in “key identified growth segments.”

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Air Force to hold Conclave to commemorate 60 years of Helicopter operations in India

 The Indian Air Force (IAF) plans to hold a conclave in order to provide a platform to showcase six decades of helicopter operations in the country. The Conclave will be highlighting Chetak helicopter operations in particular which have completed 60 years of service to the Nation in the inventory of the Indian Armed Forces.

To commemorate this momentous event, a Conclave is being organized on 2nd April 2022 by Air Force Station Hakimpet under the aegis of Indian Air Force and Training Command, IAF.

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** Maiden edition of Indian Ocean Naval Symposium Maritime Exercise held

 The premier forum Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) helds its maiden Maritime Exercise 2022 (IMEX-22) at Goa and in Arabian Sea from 26 – 30 Mar 22 which witnessed participation of 16 out of the 25 member nations of IONS which included Iran.

The Indian Navy in its statement on Wednesday said, “IMEX 22 aimed to develop the IONS capability to efficiently and effectively coordinate amongst member nations the ability to address a HADR contingency, coordinate the operations, build upon the individual strengths & develop interoperability in critical areas such as Search & Rescue operations, cross deck operations of helicopters, medical support, diving expertise and seamless communications.”

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** 65-yr-old breathes free after India’s 1st BTVA procedure

For the first time in India, the procedure of Bronchoscopic Thermal Vapour Ablation (BTVA), which is an endoscopic lung volume reduction (ELVR) treatment was done at the Yashoda Hospital. The procedure is known to help reduce hyperinflation and improve respiratory mechanics in patients with severe emphysema. 

Emphysema is a sub-type of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD) wherein the air sacs within the lungs are destroyed. The patient who received the procedure at Yashoda Hospital was a 65-year-old man, previously a chain-smoker, who was nearly bed-ridden due to a lack of oxygen absorption 

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** Distinguished service awards presented

A naval investiture ceremony was held at the Naval Base here on Wednesday.

Vice Admiral M.A. Hampiholi, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Southern Naval Command, presented distinguished service awards announced last year to the recipients. Captain P.E. Prasad was conferred Nao Sena Medal (Devotion to Duty) while Commodore Ashok Kumar Rai, Commodore Ramesh M.S. Menon and Commodore Gautam Marwaha were conferred the Vishisht Seva Medals (VSM). The Vice Admiral also presented Unit Citations to INS Garuda and INS Shardul that delivered exceptional performances over the past year.

The CNS Trophy for best green practices was awarded to INS Venduruthy.

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** Doctors at Apollo perform two heart valve procedures simultaneously

Doctors at the Apollo Hospitals have performed procedures to address critical problems in the mitral valve and the aortic valve of the heart at the same time on a 75-year-old patient from Sri Lanka.

While a transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) was performed to address the narrowing of the aortic valve, a clip was placed to repair the mitral valve to address mitral valve regurgitation.

Sai Satish, senior interventional cardiologist, who has performed over 450 TAVRs, said it was the experience of performing mitral valve clip procedures and TAVR in the recent years and the infrastructure available at Apollo Hospitals that made the simultaneous procedures possible.

Pointing out that the hospital was the first to perform a mitral valve clip procedure in the country in 2018 and it was among the highest in the number of TAVRs performed, she said the achievement was not about the numbers but about how these procedures helped so many patients lead a quality life.

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** Generali acquires majority stake in India life insurance JV

Generali said it has completed the acquisition of the entire stake (about 16%) held by Industrial Investment Trust Limited (IITL) in Future Generali India Life (FGIL) and the subscription of additional shares in FGLI, following receipt of all necessary approvals from the relevant regulatory and competition authorities. 

Generali now holds a stake of about 68% in FGIL, which may increase further to 71% by the end of 2022, following further subscription of shares by Generali, it said

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