Legion d’Honneur (Legion of Honour): Legion d’Honneur (Legion of Honour) is the highest civilian award given by the French government to person for his outstanding service to France, regardless of the nationality of the recipients. It was instituted in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte. The order (merit for both military and civil merits) is divided into five degrees of increasing distinction: Chevalier (Knight), Officier (Officer), Commandeur (Commander), Grand officier (Grand Officer), and Grand-croix (Grand Cross). President of France is the Grand Master of the Order of the Legion of Honour. Some of the past Indian recipients of this prestigious award include renowned scientist and Bharat Ratna awardee C N R Rao, superstar Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan Amartya Sen, Ravi Shankar, Zubin Mehta, Lata Mangeshkar, JRD Tata and Ratan Tata among others. It was in news as the IT major Wipro’s chairman Azim Premji has been awarded with this award.

International Geeta Festival 2018: The International Gita Festival 2018 will be organised in Kurukshetra in Haryana from December 7 to 23, 2018. This year it is third year of this mega cultural event, where Mauritius is partner country and Gujarat is the partner state. Gita festival will also be organised in Mauritius next February. The objective behind this event is to spread the message of Gita to world. It is being organized to commemorate birth of ‘Srimad Bhagwat Gita’, the sacred scripture containing invaluable advice of Lord Krishna that he proffered to Arjuna, third Pandava in battlefield of Kurukshetra on first day of famous 18-day battle in Mahabharata. It is held mainly on 11th day on Shukla Paksha (waxing phase of moon) of Margashirsh month (November – December) as per traditional Lunar calendar i.e. Shukla Paksha Ekadashi day of Margashirsha month.