The UN is spearheading a global initiative on digital learning and skills for all, targeting marginalized children and youth and aiming to close the digital divide and drive rapid change in education systems. This initiative focuses on three of the five priorities of the2020 Global Education meeting Declaration : supporting teachers; investing in skills; and narrowing the digital divide.

Building on the established partnership of E9 countries allows Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria and Pakistan the opportunity to benefit from this global initiative and accelerate progress on digital learning and skills towards the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 4 – Quality Education.

The inception meeting taking place on 6 April 2021 is a Consultation of Ministers of Education. It will discuss the co-creation of the Digital Learning initiative by the nine countries. This Consultation will highlight progress, share lessons and explore opportunities for collaboration and scale-up to expand digital learning and skills. In addition, a Marketplace segment, for public-private partnership will focus on promising local and global solutions and opportunities for digital learning to strengthen local ecosystems.

The meeting will feature the participation of the UN Deputy Secretary-General, UNESCO, UNICEF, Generation Unlimited, the Malala Fund, the World Bank and a number of stakeholder representatives including from the private sector partners of the Global Education Coalition.

Multinational Military Exercise SHANTIR OGROSHENA 2021 (Front Runner of Peace) commenced on 04 April 2021 at Bangabandhu Senanibas, Bangladesh to commemorate the birth centenary of Bangladesh’s ‘Father of the Nation’ Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and mark glorious 50 years of liberation. Indian Army contingent of 30 personnel are participating along with contingent of Royal Bhutan Army, Sri Lankan Army and Bangladesh Army from 04 Apr to 12 Apr 2021.  Military observers from USA, UK, Turkey, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Singapore will also be in attendance throughout the exercise.

The aim of the exercise is to strengthen the procedures and enhance interoperability amongst neighbourhood countries to ensure robust peace keeping operations in the region. The armies of all the participating nations will share their valuable experiences and refine their drills & procedures in Peace keeping operations.

Indian Navy Ships INS Satpura (with an integral helicopter embarked) and INS Kiltan along with P8I Long Range Maritime Patrol Aircraft are participating, for the first time in multi-lateral maritime exercise La Pérouse, being conducted in the Eastern Indian Ocean Region from 05 to 07 Apr 2021.

The Indian Navy ships and aircraft will exercise at sea with ships and aircraft of French Navy (FN), Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Japan Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF) and United States Navy (USN) during the three day exercise at sea.

The World Cities Culture Forum is a network of local governments and cultural sector leaders from 40 world cities.

The World Cities Culture Forum was established in London in 2012 with eight cities (London, New York City, Tokyo, Shanghai, Paris, Istanbul, Sydney and Johannesburg) convened by the Mayor of London.

The WCCF enables the policy makers of member cities to share research and intelligence, while exploring the vital role of culture in prosperity. Forum members collaborate via a program of events including themed symposia, regional summits and workshops.

World Cities Culture Report: Delhi will also be part of the World Cities Culture Report – the most comprehensive global dataset on culture in cities.

It is published by the forum every three years, with data and details on innovative projects from cities across the world. The last report was published in 2018.

2021 Theme: The Future of Culture.

India has slipped 28 places to rank 140th among 156 countries in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2021, becoming the third-worst performer in South Asia.

According to the report, India has closed 62.5% of its gender gap till date. The country had ranked 112th among 153 countries in the Global Gender Gap Index 2020.

Among India’s neighbours, Bangladesh ranked 65, Nepal 106, Pakistan 153, Afghanistan 156, Bhutan 130 and Sri Lanka 116.

For the 12th time, Iceland is the most gender-equal country in the world. The top 10 most gender-equal countries include Finland, Norway, New Zealand, Rwanda, Sweden, Ireland and Switzerland.

About the Global Gender Gap Report:

First published in 2006. It benchmarks 156 countries on their progress towards gender parity in four dimensions:

1. Economic Participation and Opportunity,
2. Educational Attainment,
3. Health and Survival and
4. Political Empowerment.

Over the Index, the highest possible score is 1 (equality) and the lowest possible score is 0 (inequality).

Election Commission of India today hosted International Virtual Election Visitors Programme (IEVP) 2021 for Election Management Bodies (EMBs) /Organisations from 26 countries  and three International Organisations during the ongoing elections for Legislative Assemblies of Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.
IEVP 2021 provided the participants an overview of the large canvas of Indian electoral process, the new initiatives taken by ECI on voter facilitation, transparency and accessibility of electoral system etc and ECI’s response to the changing needs of training and capacity building and the new formats necessitated by COVID-19.