From the archives of the Hindustan Times: October 15

Interesting Stories from the Hindustan Times archives.

No change in pattern of Trade with Tibet (1954)

HT

New Delhi- A Trade agreement between India and China, the first of its kind between the two countries, was signed here this afternoon (October 14).

Mr. H. V. R. Iengar, Secretary, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, signed the agreement on behalf of the Government of India and Mr. Kung Yuan, Chinese Vice-Minister Foreign Trade and Leader of the Chinese trade delegation, on behalf of the Government of the People’s Republic of China.

Mr Shen Chien, Charge d’ Affairs ad interim of the People’s Republic of China in India; Mr. Yang Lin, deputy leader of the Chinese delegation; Mr. Tu Tzu-i, Commercial Counsellor and other officials of the Chinese Embassy and representatives of the Central Ministries of Commerce and Industry, External Affairs and Finance were also present on the occasion.

A departure from the usual procedure was the admission of Press correspondents to the Committee Room of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry when the agreement was signed.

The leaders of the two delegations made short speeches in which they expressed mutual appreciation of the atmosphere of cordial friendship and understanding in which the negotiations had been conducted.

They also expressed the hope that the trade agreement would strengthen the friendship that already existed between the Governments and the peoples of India and China and promote trade between the two countries on the principle of equality and mutual benefit.

The text of the agreement has been prepared in Hindi, Chinese and English.

Amartya Sen bags Nobel for economics (1998)

Stockholm: Philosopher-economist Amartya Sen of India won the Nobel Economics Prize today (October 14) for his contribution to welfare economics, and in particular his research into the causes of famine and poverty, report agencies.

Prof. Sen, 64, is the first Asian to win the coveted prize since it was inaugurated in 1969. In its citation, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which adjudged the prize said that Prof. Sen had made “several key contributions to the research on fundamental problems in welfare economics. His contributions range from axiomatic theory of social service, over definitions of welfare and poverty indexes, to empirical studies of famine,” it said.

Economists described Sen as a leftwing Professor who nevertheless pursued an independent line, leading him, for example, to his Nobel-winning work on famine. Speaking to PTI from a New York hotel, Prof. Sen said he was “very pleased” to receive the award, particularly because the subject for which he had been honoured touched the lives of ordinary people. “What pleases me most is that the subject has received recognition,” he said.

Delhi boy is NASA’s student astronaut (2003)

New Delhi- A Class X student of Saket’s Amity International, Saatvik Agarwal, has been selected to take part in the US National Aeronautics & Space Administration’s (NASA’s) Mars exploration programme.

He is among the 16 student astronauts chosen from across the world. Another Indian 14-year-old Vignan Pattamata of Andhra Pradesh, has been chosen for the mission.

Saatvik was selected on the basis of an essay on how he would best use the two robots that have been sent to study Mars.

The robots - Spirit and Opportunity - were launched in July and will reach Mars in January. Saatvik and the others will then join the scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. For two weeks, they will study the data sent by the robots.

Outer space has always fascinated Saatvik. He developed a 75-page website on the subject when he was in Class VII. But his interest began even before that. “I went dressed as an astronaut to a fancy dress competition in pre-nursery school,” he told HT.