INTERNATIONAL

Bangladesh has the highest business bribery risk among South Asian countries, according to the Trace Bribery Matrix which releases annual ranking for 200 countries.

The Matrix evaluates countries under four parameters which are business interaction with the government, anti-bribery deterrence, transparency and civil society oversight.

Bangladesh has been placed at 178 positions among 200 countries in terms of business bribery risk.

In South Asia, Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries where the bribery risk is ‘high’.

In terms of risk score, India ranked 78th, Pakistan 153rd, Afghanistan 168th, and Myanmar ranked 157th on the index.

Overall, according to this year’s TRACE Matrix data, Somalia, South Sudan, North Korea, Yemen and Venezuela presented the highest risk of bribe demands.

New Zealand, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland presented the lowest bribery risk.

NATIONAL

· National Press Day is celebrated on 16 November

National Press Day is celebrated on 16th November 2019.It is celebrated every year. The day marks the presence offree and responsible press. On this day, the Press Council of India started functioning as a moral watchdog. It ensures that the press maintains high standards and is not fettered by any influence or threats. Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu conferred excellence in journalism awards.
In 1956, theFirst Press Commission was planned to form a Press Council to protect freedom of the press in India. On 4 July 1966, the Press Council was established in India. It came into effect from 16 November 1966. Therefore, 16 November is celebrated as National Press Day every year.

Brazilian President Bolsonaro to be the chief guest at India’s Republic Day celebrations in 2020

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will be the chief guest at India’s Republic Day celebrations parade in 2020.

PM Modi met Bolsonaro on November 13 on the sidelines of the 11th BRICS Summit held in Brasilia.

The prime minister also welcomed the decision of the President to grant visa-free travel to Indian citizens.

PM Modi calls for a road map to meet $500-bn intra-BRICS trade target by 2020

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on called upon the BRICS Business Council to prepare a roadmap to achieve the target of USD 500 billion trade between the member countries of the bloc by 2020.

The Prime Minister said that the partnership agreement between New Development Bank (NDB) and BRICS Business Council will be helpful for both the institutions.

He requested BRICS countries and NDB to join the coalition for disaster-resilient infrastructure and called for the completion of the regional office of NDB in India.

Rosogolla Divas was celebrated with great enthusiasm in Kolkata on 14 November to mark the second anniversary of West Bengal winning the Geographical Indication (GI) tag for the sweet dish in a bittersweet battle with neighbouring Odisha.

West Bengal and Odisha were involved in a tug-of-war to stake a claim to the origin of the sweet.

While West Bengal was granted the GI tag for ”Banglar Rosogulla” or the Bengal variant of the sweetmeat in 2017, Odisha got the GI tag for ”Odisha Rasagola” or the Odisha variant earlier this year.

The Tobacco Board of India was awarded the Golden Leaf award 2019 in the ‘Public Service Initiative’ category for its efforts in undertaking various ecological initiatives towards Flue-Cured Virginia (FCV) tobacco cultivation in India.

Executive director K Sunitha received the award on behalf of the company at Tab Expo 2019 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

The awards under this category are given to a company or institution which practices a public service programme or educational campaign, to ensure optimum utilisation of resources.

The Golden Leaf Awards was conceptualised to recognise professional excellence and dedication in the tobacco industry by Tobacco Reporter, an international magazine in 2006.