Could World Test Championship Revive Test Cricket?

The International Cricket Council almost removed ODIs from the newly released the Future Tours Programme (FTP) for the cycle till 2022. The new FTP has limited the maximum number of ODIs in bilateral series to three but the number of T20s has been shot up.

Highlights of FTP

Revival of ODIs

ICC has been aggressive in its approach to promote T20s but it says that the new format would help in globalizing the sport. Presently, ICC is putting little focus on ODIs but the popular format could see resurgence before the 2023 World Cup. Also, ICC has suggested a minimum number of games format to make a new qualification system. But ICC won’t interfere in bilateral series played between two countries.

Test Cricket and World Test Championship

Starting World Test Championship is a great idea but it is still at its nascent stage. But ICC is trying to find a solution to questions like number of matches played and point system. The latter issue is raised in the Ashes series between India and West Indies where people accused ICC of disparity.

Uniformity in cricket

ICC stands for uniformity but the present FTP puts more focus on T20 and Test Cricket. The world body hops to make the next FTP more uniform than the present.

Source: https://bit.ly/2kIkFx8

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Xi Jinping Won’t Discuss Kashmir With Modi

Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to India in October but they won’t talk Kashmir. The dates of meeting are yet to be finalized but both the countries agree that it would be an informal meeting without aides.

Conclusion from the last meeting

The two leaders met in Wuhan last year but the meeting remained informal. They discussed strategic matters that are of bigger importance instead of concentrating their talks on one or two specific issues especially Kashmir.

Chinese stand on Kashmir

China raised the issue of Kashmir in United Nations but Kashmir has never been an issue between India and China. The leaders met last year but didn’t discuss Kashmir. They will again meet in October and discuss strategic issues only.

Belt and Road Initiative

Xi Jinping is likely to push his Belt and Road Initiative during his talks with India. Chinese government wants India to be a partner country in its road initiatives. Also, the Chinese government would discuss measures that can help in safeguarding peace and stability in the border areas. The Chinese government promised that there would be no hidden agenda and the meeting would be a start of trust building.

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Narendra Modi Visits Gujrat On His 69th Birthday

PM Narendra Modi turns 69 today. Last year, he celebrated his birthday with school children of his constituency Varanasi. But this year, he’s in Gujrat to pay tribute to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and inaugurate Namami Narmade Mahotsav.

Visit to the Statue of Unity

Narendra Modi visited the statue he inaugurated on the birth anniversary of Sardar Patel last year. There he paid tributes to the Iron Man of India and shared pictures of the jungle safari and cactus garden on social media. He praised the statue in his tweets and video.

Namami Narmade Mahotsav

PM Modi along with Gujrat CM Vijay Rupani came to the Narmada dam, he inaugurated in 2017 and offered prayers to river Narmada to mark the beginning of the NamamiNarmade Mahotsav.

Narmada dam would provide potable water to 131 urban centers and 9,633 villages that is 53% of Gujrat. Also, the dam would provide irrigation facility to 18.54 hectares, covering 3,112 villages in 15 districts of the state.

Visit to Duttatreya Mandir Later PM Modi visited the Duttatreya Mandir in Garudeshwar village and a children’s park. Finally, he addressed a public meeting at Kevadia, a town approximately 200 km from the state capital Ahmedabad

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PM Modi To Address 50,000 Indian-Americans Jointly With US President Trump

According to English news headlines, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump are going to create history on September 22 by jointly addressing more than 50,000 Indian-Americans in a joint rally at NRG Stadium in Houston.

What is this event?

PM Modi is going to address the Indian-American community in a mega Houston event “Howdy, Modi! Shared Dreams” organized by a non-profit Texas India Forum. It is a newly formed body of Indian-American organizations in the US.

What is the significance of the event?

It is the third major address by PM Modi and first after his reelection as Prime Minister. He first addressed Indian-Americans in 2014 at the Madison Square Garden in New York and the second time in 2016 in the Silicone Valley. Both the events were attended by 20,000 audience. But the third one on September 22 is going to be big with 50,000 audience have already registered for the event.

Modi Trump joint rally

Both the leaders displayed bonhomie by announcing the joint rally. Also, it would be the third meeting between the two leaders. The earlier two meetings were on the sidelines of G20 Summit in Japan in June and G7 Summit in France in July. India isn’t a member of G7 Summit but PM Modi was invited as a special guest by French President Emanuel Macron.

White House preparing for Howdy Modi event US President Trump agreed to jointly address the Indian-American community who he had promised to meet again during his election campaigns. Trump has promised to Indian-Americans that he would be the best friend of India, if elected to the office.

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8 Google Pays Tribute To BB King On His 94th Birthday With A Doodle On His Life

Today’s Google Doodles is the latest trending news on the web. Dedicated to late BB King on his 94th birth anniversary, the video features the true colors of the vibrant life of the iconic guitarist, singer-songwriter and record producer.

Who’s BB King?

Born in 1925 near a town called Itta Bena in Mississippi, BB King started his music career with recording in 1949 and soon became an iconic musician of his time. But he won the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the year 1987 after almost four decades of his music career.

Interesting incident of his life

It happened in 1949. BB King once ran into a burning nightclub to rescue his beloved guitar. The incident shows his love for music. He risked his life to save his guitar from burning.

Ruined personal life

BB King tied the knots two times but both the marriages ended in a failure. His first wife was Martha Lee Denthon and second wife was Sue Carol Hall. While BB King made a remarkable progress in his professional life, he had to struggle a lot to maintain a balance in his personal life that remained traumatic right from the beginning.

Famous tracks of BB King The Shrill is Gone and Every Day I have the Blues are his popular tracks but his first hit was “Three O’Clock Blues”. The Doodle illustration was produced by Little Rock-based guest artist Steve Spencer and animator NayeliLavanderos from Brooklyn. The Doodle video is the journey of personal and professional life of BB King.

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Engineers’ Day Is Celebration Of Live Of M. Visvesvaraya

Every year, September 15 is celebrated as Engineers’ Day to commemorate the birthday and the achievements of Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya, former Diwan of Mysore.

Who was Visvesvaraya?

Born on September 15, 1860, M. Visvesvaraya is known as an Indian civil engineer and statesman. He also served as 9th Diwan of Mysore from 1912 to 1919. His birthday is celebrated as Engineer’s Day in India, Sri Lanka and Tanzania.

Notable works

  • Worked in different cities under British Rule
  • Construction of Krishna Raja Sagara dam
  • Designing a flood protection system for Hyderabad
  • Protecting Visakhapatnam port from sea erosion
  • Making The Mysore Soap Factor
  • The State Bank of Mysore
  • Mysore Chamber of Commerce

Awards and Recognitions

  • Knighted as a Knight Commander of Order of Indian Empire (KCIE) by British in 1915
  • Barat Ratna in 1955

Engineers’ Day is a way to celebrate the life and work of Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya. On September 15, people visit his memorial to pay their tributes.

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On Hindi Diwas Amit Shah Suggests Hindi To Be Used As One Language To Unite The Nation

Latest trending news on Hindi Diwas is Union Home Minister Amit Shah voted for one for the country and suggested Hindi to be the Mother tongue of all India. But at the same time, he acknowledged the presence of different lingos and dialects in India but said that Hindi has the capability to represent Indian culture on the world forum. He was awarded with the Rajbhasha Award for ‘outstanding contribution in promoting Hindi’.

PM Modi on Hindi Diwas

Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted on Hindi Diwas to congratulate the nation and described the value of Hindi as a simple and decent language that gives expressions to feelings.

Vice President Venkaiah Naidu on Hindi Diwas

The Vice President highlighted the need to strengthen the efforts to make the official language Hindi simpler. He also put focus on the interaction of Hindi with other Indian languages and said that Hindi would be benefitted with this interaction. It can incorporate words, idiom and phrases from others.

Languages in Indian constitution

There are 22 Schedule languages in the constitution but the government uses only Hindi and English as official languages. Spoken by over 250 million people worldwide, Hindi is the prime language of northern Indian states.

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Pro Kabaddi 2019 Season 7 Results: Patna Pirates Lag Behind With Only 4 Win Against 7 Of Jaipur Panthers

Patna Pirates take on Jaipur Panthers at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Indoor Stadium in Kolkata in the Season 7 of Pro Kabaddi 2019. It would be their second big win after Tamil Thalaivas. But Jaipur Panthers are also eager to end their five-match winless streak.

Patna Pirates

These warriors are standing at the bottom place in the Season 7 and they desperately need a win to start ascending. They have won only 4 matches out of 14 in the Season 7. In the previous match with Tamil Thalaivas, they came out of their six-match losing streak by beating Tamil team with 51-25 score. But they need another victory to rise three places up and secure a playoffs spot the upcoming matches.

Jaipur Panthers

With 7 wins from 14 matches, Jaipur team is at a better position than their counterpart. Jaipur Panthers recently settled a crucial match with Haryana Steelers for tie and now they are looking for a win that can place them in Top 6 in the table. The skipper of Jaipur Panthers is high in spirit after scoring his fourth Super 10 of the season. Sandeep Dhull is also doing good but lack of team support could fail his attempts.

It is a crucial match for both the contestants – Patna Pirates and Jaipur Panthers – and the exciting thing is that both the teams seem to be in high spirit. While Patna Pirates need to strengthen their defense, Jaipur Panthers need to work on the team of the team support.

Source: https://bit.ly/2ma6n8B

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Google Doodle Shows Hans Christian Gram Discovering Gram Stain On His 166th Birth Anniversary

Google celebrates the 166th Birth Anniversary of Hans Christian Gram, Danish bacteriologist, noted for developing Gram stain. The stain technique developed by Gram is used to differentiate bacterial species even after more than a century.

Hans Christian Gram

Born on September 13, 1853, discovered stain technique while working with German microbiologist Karl Friedlander in Berlin in 1884. He noted that staining bacteria makes it easy to classify bacterial species. He classified bacteria in Gram-positive and Gram-negative.

Gram’s career

A noted scholar, Gram earned his MD from the University of Copenhagen in 1878 and. He started teaching pharmacology and in 1891 and was appointed professor at the University of Copenhagen. But he resigned from the chair in pharmacology in 1900 to become a professor of medicine.

Google’s Doodle on Gram

Created by Danish guest artist Mikkel Sommer, the Doodle spells each letter of Google to represent Gram carrying out his experiment.

The letter “G” is Gram staining bacteria; letters “OO” are made round glasses on the face of Gram; letter “G” becomes a microscope classifying the bacteria and letters “LE” represent bacteria classified by Gram.

The Doodle looks like Gram carrying out experiment on bacteria. It shows the Gram stain technique developed by the scientist.

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What Is Anant Chaturdashi And What Is Its Significance In Ganesh Chaturthi?

Anant Chaturdashi comes 10 days after Ganesh Chaturthi and is celebrated as Ganesh Visarjan all over the country. It is the 14th day of lunar fortnight and it has significance for Hindus and Jains.

Ganesh Chaturdashi and Anant Chaturdashi

According to traditions, devotees invite lord Ganeshs to their homes on Ganesh Chaturdashi. Idols of lord Ganesha are brought homes followed by 10 days of worship. Finally, the idol is submerged in water when the lord leaves for his heavenly abode. The visit comes to an end with the lord Ganesha leaving his devotees with his blessings.

Significance of Anant Chaturdashi

It is the last day to offer your prayers to lord Ganesha. He is God Anant and he’s leaving for his heavenly abode. Devotees tie sacred threads on their wrists and take oath to the lord Ganesha. In return, the God Anant blesses the devotees with prosperity and fortune.

History of Ganapati Festival

The history of Ganapati festival can be traced back to the times of Chhatrapati Shivaji and the Maratha empire. It continued in the Mughal rule but at a low level and then again flourished in the British period when freedom fighter Lok Manya Tilak used the Ganapati festival as a mean to bring together to form a movement.

Ganesh Chaturthi in modern times

Celebrated with much fervor, the festival has spread to entire northern India where it was little knownin the ancient time. Acceptance of God Anant is increasing with devotees sharing their stories and experiences on social media.

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