THE HEADLINES:

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address diamond jubilee event of Gujarat High Court at 10:30 AM today.

• Health Minister Harsh Vardhan says, 22 countries requested India for supply of COVID-19 vaccines.

• Jammu and Kashmir government restores 4G mobile Internet service in entire Union Territory.

• Assam government to distribute 3 thousand rupees each to nearly 7.5 lakh people under Chah Bagicha Dhan Puraskar scheme today.

• India's Forex reserves jump by 4.85 billion dollars to record high of 590.18 billion dollars.

• In Cricket, England to resume their first innings at overnight score of 263 for three against India on second day of Chennai Test.

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As the nation fights the COVID-19 pandemic, we begin with a message of precaution to stay safe and protected by following these three simple steps --

·    Wear a face mask.

·    Maintain Do Gaz Ki Doori for social distancing.

·    Focus on hand and face hygiene. 

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address an event marking the Diamond Jubilee of Gujarat High Court at 10:30 AM today through video conferencing. He will also release a commemorative postage stamp marking the completion of sixty years of the establishment of the High Court.

Law and Justice Minster Ravi Shankar Prasad, Judges of the Supreme Court and Gujarat High Court and Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani will be present on the occasion. Members of the law fraternity of Gujarat will also be present during the event. 

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the Gujarat high court judges and members of its bar through video-conferencing. He will also release of a commemorative postage stamp on the diamond jubilee of the Gujarat high court. According to the Gujarat High Court sources, the entire function will be held in virtual mode. The High Court of Gujarat was established after the state of Gujarat was carved out from erstwhile Bombay state in 1960. It was set up in Narol from where it was shifted to Income-Tax Circle in Ahmedabad. Now, it is functioning at Sola Campus in Ahmedabad since 1998. Yogesh Pandya, AIR News, Ahmedabad".

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Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has asserted that the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is committed towards the development of Gaon, Gareeb and Kisan in the country. Mr Tomar was speaking while participating in the discussion in Rajya Sabha yesterday on the Motion of thanks on the President’s address.

The Agriculture Minister said that despite holding a series of threadbare level talks with the farmer unions, none of the unions could come up with any flaw in the farm laws.

Responding to multiple queries of the opposition members regarding contract farming in the farm acts, the minister emphatically asserted that in order to protect the interests of the farmers, the provisions of the new laws allow farmers to move out of the contract anytime.

 The Agriculture Minister said the government is committed towards the goal of doubling farmers’ income and the new farm laws are an instrument to achieve the same.

Mr. Tomar said, the government provided 1 lakh crore rupees for creation and upscaling of Agriculture Infrastructure in the country.

The discussion on the motion of thanks concluded yesterday before the House was adjourned for the day. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will reply to the discussion in the Upper House on Monday.

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The Prime Minister has said that Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has elaborately mentioned every aspects of new farms laws. In a tweet, the Prime Minister shared a video link and urged the people to listen Mr. Tomar remark given in the Rajya Sabha.

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Elaborate security arrangements have been made in Delhi today keeping in view the proposed Chakka Jam by the several farmers' Unions. Security has been beefed up in several places of national capital and heavy deployment of police have been made to thwart any untoward incidents.

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The Center has proposed to more than double the allocation for the Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the Budget for the next fiscal. It has made provision of fifteen thousand seven hundred crore rupees for the sector. The Government has taken a number of steps to support the MSME sector. These include reduction of customs duties on certain products to protect MSMEs from sharp rise in iron and steel prices and  providing incentive to exporters of garments, leather and handicraft items among others.   

MSMEs and other user industries which were severely hit by a recent sharp rise in iron and steel prices are bound to get the much needed boost in the Budget. The government has proposed to reduce Customs duty uniformly to 7.5 per cent on semis, flat and long products of non-alloy, alloy, and stainless steels. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed to revoke anti-dumping duties and countervailing duties on certain steel products. The duty on copper scrap is being reduced from 5 per cent to 2.5 per cent to provide relief to copper recyclers. As an incentive to exporters of garments, leather, and handicraft items, the government is rationalising exemption on import of  certain kind of leathers as they are domestically produced in good quantity and quality, mostly by MSMEs. The government is also raising customs duty on finished synthetic gem stones to encourage their domestic processing. The government is uniformly reducing the basic customs duty rates on caprolactam, nylon chips and nylon fiber to 5 per cent. This will help the textile industry, MSMEs and exports. The Budget also provides for the introduction of a special framework for debt resolution in respect of MSMEs. Through these steps and a higher allocation for the MSME sector, the government aims at achieving inclusive development and the vision of AtmaNirbhar Bharat. Pragya Deora, AIR News Delhi.

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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said that the monetary policy review has decided to continue with an accommodative stance of monetary policy to maintain status quo on key policy rates. This will continue as long as necessary at least through the current financial year and into next year to revive growth and mitigate the impact of Covid-19. The repo rate is kept unchanged at 4 per cent and the reverse repo rate at 3.35 per cent. RBI has extended the moratorium.

While announcing the policy review yesterday, the RBI governor Shaktikant Das said, the GDP growth is projected at 10.5 per cent in the Financial Year 2021-22.

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The country's foreign exchange reserves rose by 4.85 billion US dollars to touch a record high of 590.18 billion dollars in the week ended on 29th January. Forex reserves rose on account of an increase in foreign currency assets (FCA), a major component of the overall reserves. FCA increased by 5.03 billion dollars to 547.22 billion dollars. Expressed in dollar terms, the foreign currency assets include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound and yen held in the foreign exchange reserves. The gold reserves declined by 164 million dollars to 36.29 billion dollars in the week ended January 29.

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Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has said that 22 countries have requested India for the supply of COVID-19 vaccines. The Minister informed the Lok Sabha that India has already supplied Corona vaccines to 15 countries. Dr Harsh Vardhan said, the vaccines have been supplied both as grant assistance and contract doses.

Meanwhile, India has become the fastest country to complete 50 lakhs COVID-19 vaccinations in 21 days. While the US took 24 days and the UK 43 days, Israel took 45 days to complete 50 lakh vaccination. Briefing media in New Delhi, Additional Secretary in Health Ministry Dr Manohar Agnani said that a total of 52 lakh 90 thousand 4 hundred 74 beneficiaries have been vaccinated till 6 PM yesterday. He said, a total of 1 lakh 4 thousand 7 hundred 81 sessions have been held till now. Dr Agnani said, 3 lakh 31 thousand 29 beneficiaries were vaccinated all over the country yesterday.

The country's COVID-19 recovery rate has reached 97.16 per cent with the total recovery of over 15 thousand patients in the last 24 hours. The Health Ministry has said that more than one crore four lakh people have already recovered from the infection.

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Niti Aayog Member Dr VK Paul has said that government has allocated adequate money for vaccination against Covid-19 in the country. Dr Paul was speaking while participating in the Special Public Outreach Programme on COVID-19 of News Services Division of All India Radio.

Dr Paul said, the vaccine also helps prevent spread of Coronavirus infection.

Allaying fears about the Vaccine, Director of AIIMS, New Delhi, Dr Randeep Guleria said that both the vaccines being used in India are effective and fully safe.

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In Bihar, the second Phase of COVID-19 vaccination involving frontline workers is starting today. Over two lakh workers have so far registered for this round. Three lakh 53 thousand 458 health workers have been vaccinated in the state so far. In all, 40 thousand 950 health workers were vaccinated against COVID-19 during the past 24 hours. No side effect has been reported from any part of the state.

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Jammu and Kashmir government has restored 4G mobile Internet service in the entire Union Territory. The announcement was made by government spokesperson Rohit Kansal in a tweet. The 4G internet services remained curtailed in the Jammu and Kashmir since August 5, 2019 after central government revoked Article 370 of the Constitution and split the state into Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. The low-speed or 2G Internet service on mobile phones was restored on 25th of January, 2020. The high-speed mobile data service was restored in Ganderbal and Udhampur districts on 16th August 2020 on a trial basis, as part of calibrated easing of restrictions. However, the ban continued on the high-speed Internet in the rest of the Union territory with the authorities citing misuse of the Internet by the terrorists.

Jammu and Kashmir government has also ordered a revocation of restrictions on the fixed landline internet connectivity. An order issued by the Principal Secretary (Home) said that the pre-paid SIM card holder shall be given access to internet connectivity only after verification as per norms applicable to post-paid connections.

Hoteliers, businesspersons, and those connected with education have welcomed the decision, saying it will help the economic recovery and advance the democratisation of education through technology.

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Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will attend the third phase of Chah Bagicha Dhan Puraskar mela in Guwahati today. Ms Sitharaman will take part in the event as the chief guest. At the event, Assam government will distribute financial assistance of 3 thousand rupees each to nearly 7.5 lakh people belonging to tea garden areas under Chah Bagicha Dhan Puraskar scheme.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma will also attend the event.

The state government started the scheme in 2017- 18. So far, 5 thousand rupees had been deposited to bank account holders in tea garden areas in two phases under this scheme. The Assam government took initiative to open bank accounts in tea garden areas after demonetization.

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BJP President JP Nadda will participate in a series of programmes in West Bengal today. He arrived in Kolkata last night. Mr Nadda will be visiting the Central Institute for Subtropical Horticulture before joining over thousand farmers for lunch in Sahapur village of Malda district. He will also take part in a road show there before heading towards Nabadwip in Nadia district to launch BJP's Parivartan Yatra as the party steps up its campaign to end the Trinamool Congress' 10-year-old reign in the state. BJP president will also pay tributes to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, a revered saint from the Bhakti movement.

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UK Secretary of State for International Trade Mary Elizabeth Truss met Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi yesterday. Ms Truss congratulated India for a forward-looking modern budget with its focus on investments and recovery in the post COVID-19 world. She acknowledged India as an influential player in FinTech, Digital Economy, Start-ups, Innovation and Data. Ms Truss complimented India on the prompt and effective response to COVID-19 pandemic. The close collaboration in the sphere of COVID vaccine, demonstrated the close and trusted partnership between the two countries. She said, the UK government looks forward to working closer with the world’s largest democracy.

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President Ram Nath Kovind has lauded India's strides in defence and aerospace sectors. President Kovind was speaking at the valedictory ceremony of 13th Aero India Show in Bengaluru yesterday.

Speaking during the valedictory ceremony, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh informed that 121 MoUs, 19 transfer of technologies, four handing over of new defence products, 32 major announcements and launching of 18 new products were the outcome of this edition of Aero India international event.

Over 500 companies from 60 countries participated in the three-day event and 4.5 lakh people were virtually took part in the Aero India show. During the event, 35 MSMEs earned business worth 203 crore rupees.

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The Centre told Supreme Court that it is agreeable to grant one more chance to those civil services aspirants who took the exam last year during the Corona pandemic and exhausted their number of attempts. The government, however, said it will not grant another chance to those hit by the age bar. The Centre's response was filed in view of a bunch of petitions filed by students seeking one more chance to appear for examination on the ground that they could not prepare for the test due to the pandemic and were forced to appear as the government turned down their plea to defer the exam.

There were 3,863 candidates who had exhausted their number of attempts, while taking the test last year. Of these, 555 qualified the preliminary test and the government's decision will benefit 3,308 candidates.

There were 2,236 students who are affected by the age bar and they need relaxation of one year. But the government told a bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar that it is not in favour of giving relaxation to students hit by the age bar.

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Minister of State for Culture and Tourism, Prahlad Singh Patel co-chaired the 8th Meeting of ASEAN-India Tourism Ministers with his Cambodian counterpart Thong Khon through video conferencing. The Meeting was in conjunction with the 24th Meeting of ASEAN Tourism Ministers (M-ATM).

The Ministers reiterated the need for cooperative efforts in mitigating the impact of the pandemic on the tourism sector.

The meeting concluded with a Joint Media statement where the Ministers agreed to further enhance ASEAN-India cooperation in tourism under the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding between ASEAN and India.

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The third Bangladesh Film Festival 2021 opened in Kolkata yesterday. Bangladesh Information Minister Dr. Hasan Mahmud inaugurated the festival as Chief Guest. Minister for Science and Technology in West Bengal government, Bratya Basu and Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla took part in the event as the guest of honour.

The five-day long festival will be showcasing 32 Bangladeshi feature films. Film on the life of Prime Minister of Bangladesh ‘Hasina-A Daughter’s Tale’ was the inaugural film of the festival. The film is based on the life of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh.

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Russia has expelled three European diplomats from Germany, Poland, and Sweden for participating in rallies demanding the release of President Vladimir Putin's biggest critic Alexey Navalny. Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it has made formal protests to the embassies of Germany, Poland and Sweden. Representatives of these countries are said to have participated in mass demonstrations that saw thousands take to the streets in cities across Russia over the past two weeks. Politicians across the world have condemned the Moscow Court's sentence of Navalny and called for his release. A Moscow court on Tuesday sent Navalny to prison for more than two-and-a-half years.

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In Cricket, England will resume their first innings at the overnight score of 263 for three against India on the second day of the first Test match at M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai today. The match will begin at 9:30 am. On the opening day yesterday, England Skipper Joe Root scored a classy century in his 100th Test. He was batting at 128 when stumps were drawn. Root also guided young opener Dom Sibley who scored 87. 

For the hosts, Jasprit Bumrah claimed two wickets while Ravichandran Ashwin bagged one.

Earlier, England Skipper won the toss and chose to bat first.

This game marks the return of international cricket in India after a year-long COVID-19 break. India played the last test match  before pandemic against Bangladesh on 22nd November in 2019 at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. 

Both teams have entered the contest on the back of away series wins in the longest format of the game. India have beaten Australia 2-1 to win the Border-Gavaskar Trophy while England defeated Sri Lanka 2-0. The four-match series gets interesting as its result will decide the second finalist of the ICC World Test Championship, who will face New Zealand at The Lord’s in June 2021.

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To commemorate the birth centenary of Bharat Ratna Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, the Arya Sangeet Prasarak Mandal has organised a musical programme called ‘Abhivadan’ from today at Ganesh Kala Krida Manch, Swargate, in Pune. The two-day programme will include musical concerts as well as recollections of Pandit Bhimsen Joshi. 

The programme will be inaugurated at 4 pm today and conducted in three sessions. It will be attended by Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar, NCP President Sharad Pawar, Indian Cultural Relations Council President Vinay Sahasrabuddhe and Pune Mayor Murlidhar Mohol.

The programmes will have free entry, but free passes for the event are mandatory. Eminent dignitaries from field of music will be reminiscing about Pandit ji.

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Now, let us take a look at the weather for today.

The National capital Delhi is facing Moderate Fog. The temperature will vary between six and 23 degrees Celsius.

Mumbai will have mainly clear sky. Temperature will vary between 16 and 30 degrees Celsius.

Chennai had Fog/mist in the morning and partly cloudy sky later. The temperature will hover between 20 and 31 degrees Celsius.

Kolkata will have Partly cloudy sky with possibility of moderate rain or Thunderstorm. The city observed a minimum temperature of 15 degrees Celsius while the maximum temperature will be around 28 degrees.

Srinagar will have Fog/mist in the morning and mainly clear sky later. Temperature will hover between minus three and eight degrees Celsius.

In Jammu, the minimum temperature was eight degrees Celsius while the maximum will be around 20 degrees. The city will have Fog/mist in the morning and mainly clear sky later.

Leh will have partly cloudy sky. The minimum temperature was minus 13 degrees Celsius while the maximum will be around two degrees.

Gilgit will have partly cloudy sky. The temperature will hover between minus four and 12 degrees Celsius.

Muzafarrabad will have mainly clear sky. The temperature will move between five  to 18 degrees Celsius.

In Dehradun, the temperature will hover between four and 20 degrees Celsius. The city will have Mainly Clear sky.

Chandigarh will have Fog/mist in the morning and mainly clear sky later. The temperature is likely to hover between six and 20 degrees Celsius.

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NEWSPAPER HEADLINES.

• "RBI says economy is moving in only one direction: Up" leads Hindustan Times.

• "Retail investor get direct Government Securities (G-Sec) access" informs the Tribune. "Retail investors now allowed to buy government bonds" informs the Asian Age.   

• "18 months after split, downgrade, 4G mobile internet back in Jammu & Kashmir" states the Indian Express.

• "Government ready to give UPSC aspirants another chance" informs the Hindu.

• "Pfizer withdraws India application" reports Financial Express.

• "US to take on challenges posed by China directly, says Biden" notes the Asian Age.

• And finally, The Times of India reports that India has inoculated over 52.9 lakh people against Covid-19 through 1,04,781 vaccination sessions in 21 days, becoming the fastest country in the world to cover 5 million people under its Covid immunisation programme.

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