Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh is visiting Tashkent, Uzbekistan from 23rd to 25th August, 2022 to attend the Annual Meeting of the Defence Ministers' of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Member States. During the Annual Meeting, Defence Cooperation issues among the SCO Member States will be discussed and it is expected that a joint communiqué will be issued after the deliberations. Shri Rajnath Singh's address at the meeting is slated to be held on August 24, 2022.

 

During the visit to Tashkent, Raksha Mantri will meet his Uzbekistan counterpart Lieutenant General Bakhodir Kurbanov, Minister of Defence of the Republic of Uzbekistan, which is also the host country. In addition, meetings are also scheduled with Defence Ministers' of some other Member countries of SCO on the sidelines of this meeting, where bilateral issues and issues of mutual interest will be discussed.

 

During the stay in Tashkent, Raksha Mantri shall pay homage at the monument of Late Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and meet Indian Diaspora in Uzbekistan..

Source : PIB

Minster of State for Textiles and Railways Smt. Darshana Vikram Jardosh inaugurated the SILK MARK EXPO, in the presence of Shri. Upendra Prasad Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Textiles ( MOT) and Shri. Rajit Ranjan Okhandiar IFS, CEO & Member Secretary, Central Silk Board, MOT here (22d Aug 2022). The exihibition is organised by Silk Mark Organization of India (SMOI) a Society, sponsored by Central Silk Board, Ministry of Textiles ,Govt. of India.

 

* The original high-quality silk made by the women weavers will attract consumers across the World.

 

* A total of 39 exhibitors are participating in the Silk Mark Expo.

 

* Silk Mark is a quality assurance label launched by the government to determine the quality of the natural and pure silk produced by the weavers.

 

* The Silk Mark highlights the qualifying standards of the product, which will eventually build consumers’ confidence in both domestic and export markets.

 

* The Silk Mark Expo aims to protect the interests of all the silk consumers as well as the stakeholders of the silk value chain..

Source : PIB

An Indian Parliamentary delegation led by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will be attending the 65th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference scheduled to be held in Halifax, Canada from 20 August 2022 - 26 August 2022.

 

The delegation includes Anurag Sharma, MP (Lok Sabha) & CPA Executive Committee Member; Sunita Duggal, MP (Lok Sabha) & CWP Steering Committee Member; Neeraj Shekhar, MP (Rajya Sabha), Santosh Kumar, MP (Lok Sabha); Anubhav Mohanty, MP (Lok Sabha); Dr Kanimozhi NVN Somu, MP (Rajya Sabha) and Utpal Kumar Singh, Secretary General, Lok Sabha.

 

The Conference will also be attended by 23 Presiding Officers and 16 Secretaries from State Legislatures from India who are also members of CPA.

 

During the Conference, eight workshops will be held on various subjects. The Lok Sabha Speaker will participate as a panelist in the Workshop ‘C’ titled “A People’s Parliament: Accessibility through Innovation”.

 

Other members of the delegation including Presiding Officers from State Legislatures will also participate in various other workshops and the General Assembly of the Conference.

 

During the visit, the Lok Sabha Speaker will also interact with his counterparts from other commonwealth countries to discuss the matters of mutual interest and parliamentary cooperation.

 

Birla will also interact with business community and Indian Diaspora during his stay in Halifax..

Source : The States Man

India secured the third rank in medal tally at the 15th International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA). India held the third position jointly with Singapore with students winning three gold and two silver medals. The 15th International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA) 2022 held in Kutaisi, Georgia, from 14 to 21 August, 2022.

 

The team was accompanied by two leaders : Prof. Sarita Vig (Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram), Prof. Ajit Mohan Srivastava (Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar), and two Scientific Observers: Dr Shriharsh Tendulkar (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai) and Mr Tejas Shah (Fr. Agnel Multipurpose School & Jr. College, Navi Mumbai).

Dr Tendulkar was himself a gold medallist at the International Astronomy Olympiad in 2002 and 2003 (overall topper in the latter). There were 209 students from 37 main and 6 guest teams participating in this year's IOAA. In addition, 24 students from 6 countries participated in the online mode.

This year's competition was originally scheduled to be held in Kyiv, Ukraine; it was shifted to Kutaisi, Georgia in March 2022 due to the war in Ukraine.

 

In the medals tally India was placed jointly in the third position along with Singapore, behind Iran's official team (5 golds) and guest team (4 golds, 1 silver). In all, 28 gold, 38 silver and 55 bronze medals were awarded at this IOAA..

Source : PIB

Search engine giant Google on Tuesday(23rd August 2022) paid tribute to one of India's first female scientists "Anna Mani" by creating a doodle of her on her 104th birth anniversary. Her life’s work and research made it possible for India to make accurate weather forecasts and laid the groundwork for the nation to harness renewable energy.

 

Born in 1918, Anna Modayil Mani was a physicist and a former deputy director general of the Indian Meteorological Department.

 

Anna did her bachelor's in Physics and Chemistry from Chennai. After her graduation, she worked with the Nobel laureate, Professor C.V Raman, and researched the optical properties of ruby and diamond.

 

Gradually, she found her interest in meteorology, and in 1945, she went to Imperial College, London where Anna ended up specialising in meteorological instruments. Before this, she also went to the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru for research in 1940.

 

By 1945, Anna completed her PhD dissertation and published five papers. In 1948, she began working with IMD and through her skills, she helped the country design and manufacture its own weather instruments. 

 

She excelled so much in this male-dominated field that by 1953, she became head of the division. Under her leadership, more than 100 weather instrument designs were simplified and standardized for production..

Source : Mint

The Union Government has launched Rashtriya Puruskar Portal to bring together all the awards of the various Ministries, Departments and agencies of the government under one platform. This has been done to ensure transparency and public partnership.

 

Home Ministry in a statement said that this common portal facilitates every citizen or organization to nominate individuals or organizations for various awards instituted by the government. It informed that the nominations or recommendations for the Padma Awards are open till 15th of next month, while nominations or recommendations for Jeevan Raksha Padak will be invited till 30th of next month.

 

Individuals and organizations can visit Rashtriya Puruskar Portal WWW.AWARDS.GOV.IN

 

 in for making their nominations or recommendations for various awards constituted by the government..

Source : News on Air

HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company, a private sector general insurance company, has launched 'All Things EV,' a one-stop-solution portal for electric vehicles (EV).

 

* In line with the Government of India’s push for electric mobility, this initiative caters to the needs of existing and potential EV users, it said.

 

* As a part of this initiative, the company has unveiled a dedicated platform for the existing and prospective EV ecosystem users, which hosts end-to-end information on this emerging sector; the platform caters to all Indians who have either purchased EVs or are planning to buy EV or to make an earning out of the booming EV space.

* The platform has a roadmap with features like slot booking at charging stations, roadside assistance, RTO services and creation of an EV community.

 

* The platform helps the existing users with information on nearby charging stations, locations of charging stations along the route for intercity commute and rich content around the maintenance of their EVs, said the company in a media release.

 

* Potential EV buyers can get information on all the EV options available in India, along with the cost of ownership and subsidies offered by different state governments..

Source : Economic Times

Punjab and Haryana on Saturday(20th Aug 2022) agreed to name the Chandigarh International Airport after Shaheed Bhagat Singh.

 

The decision was taken at a meeting between Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann and Haryana deputy CM Dushyant Chautala. Mann tweeted, “Punjab and Haryana have agreed to name the Chandigarh International Airport after Shaheed Bhagat Singh. A meeting in this regard took place with the Haryana deputy CM.”

 

Dushyant in an official statement said he has recommended adding Panchkula with the name of the Chandigarh airport.

 

He said the collective contribution of the Haryana government, Punjab government and the Chandigarh administration is involved in the construction and modernisation of the Chandigarh airport and after expansion, the airport is boosting the development and industrialisation of the area.

Both states have been exchanging war-of-words over the naming the airport on the martyr and as the airport is technically in Mohali, there had been reports that Haryana, which is a partner state in the airport, is not happy with Punjab’s demand to name the new airport as Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh International Airport, Mohali..

Source : Hindustan Times

The Central government has planned to collaborate with the Arunachal Pradesh Government to develop a "District Good Governance Portal" for monitoring the performance of each district of the state on a monthly basis and help in benchmarking performance.

 

Apart from this, the plan is to help the state in upgrading the e-office version 5.6 to e-office version 7.0 in a phased manner.

 

Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) under theMinistry of Personnel will develop the "District Good Governance Portal" in collaboration with the Arunachal Pradesh government.

 

Union Minister Jitendra Singh made the announcement during the two-day Regional Conference on "Bringing Citizens and Government Closer through Administrative Reforms" at Itanagar..

Source : India Times

In Himachal Pradesh, the 10th National Conference of Women Police will begin in Shimla 21st Aug 2022. More than two hundred women police officers and employees across the country are participating in this two-day National conference.

 

The conference is being organised by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) in collaboration with Himachal Police.

 

Union Minister of State for Home affairs Nityanand Rai will inaugurate the conference.

 

The main objective of this conference is to enhance the leadership potential of women police officers and discuss their problems and challenges. It will also highlight and discuss the new roles and responsibilities of women in terms of changing technology and crime.

 

State Director General of Police Sanjay Kundu said, at present the strength of women in the police force in Himachal is 13 percent and the women quota in the police has been increased to 25 percent..

Source : News on Air