THE HEADLINES:

• Prime Minister to launch Madhya Pradesh Startup Policy and address Startup community this evening; Also to launch  Startup portal of the state.

• Supreme Court refuses to postpone NEET PG 2022 examination.

• Election Commission announces poll schedule for elections to 57 Rajya Sabha seats spread over 15 States.

• National Investigating Agency arrests two members of Dawood gang in Mumbai.

• Prime Minister Modi invites citizens to share their inputs for Mann ki Baat programme on 29th of this month.

• Minister of State for Road Transport General V.K Singh calls upon industry players to manufacture safer vehicles with modern technologies to prevent possibility of accidents.

• A Security Personnel killed by terrorists in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir.

• Former Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and his  allies banned by court from leaving the country.

• In Thomas Cup Badminton, Indian Men Beat Malaysia and create history; Enter semi finals and in race for first-ever medal.

• Esha Singh and Saurabh Chaudhary win Gold in Mixed Team Pistol event at ISSF Junior World Cup in Suhl, Germany.

• And in IPL Cricket,  Royal Challengers Bangalore to meet with Punjab Kings today in Mumbai this evening.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the Madhya Pradesh Startup Policy via video conferencing this evening. He will also launch the Madhya Pradesh Startup portal, which will facilitate and help promote the startup ecosystem. The Prime Minister will address the startup community during the Madhya Pradesh Startup Conclave which started in Indore this evening . More from our Bhopal correspondent:

The Startup Conclave-2022, organized at the Brilliant Convention Center, Indore, will be attended by various stakeholders. There are many features of Madhya Pradesh Startup Policy 2022 which gives it a different identity in the country. It includes establishment of Madhya Pradesh Startup Center with the help of subject experts institutionally, development of robust online portal, exchange of necessary academic support from universities and other educational institutions including national and state level technical and management institutions. It is noteworthy that more than 500 startups of Madhya Pradesh have received recognition from the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade last year. Similarly, out of more than 1900 recognized startups, most of the startups are in the progress stage. Around 31 percent startups are located in Bhopal and 44 percent in Indore. Sanjeev Sharma, AIR News, Bhopal."

Talking to AIR News Academician Dr. Sant Chaudhary said under the able leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi the number of start up companies are growing in the country.

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The Supreme Court today refused to postpone the NEET PG 2022 examination. The Apex Court said the delay would cause unavailability of doctors and seriously affect patient care in the country.

While dismissing a plea from a group of doctors seeking postponement of the examination, a bench comprising Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant ruled the postponement would create chaos and uncertainty and would also affect the larger section of students, who have registered for the examination.

Stating that the time schedule laid down by the Apex court must be adhered to, the Bench observed that the Govt is trying to bring the examination schedule back on track as it was affected due to the pandemic.

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The Election Commission has announced the poll schedule for Biennial Elections for 57 Rajya Sabha seats in 15 states. These states include Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Telangana, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. Notification for the election will be issued on the 24th of May and the last date of nomination for these seats will be the 31st of this month. Polling will be held on the 10th of June and counting of votes will be taken up on the same day.

Some of the prominent members who are retiring from Rajya Sabha include Union Ministers Nirmala Sitharaman, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Piyush Goyal, and Ramchandra Prasad Singh, Senior Congress leaders P. Chidambaram, Jairam Ramesh, Kapil Sibbal, Ambika Soni, NCP leader Praful Patel and Sanjay Raut of Shiv Sena. The term of these members is due to expire between June  and August this year.

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National Investigating Agency (NIA)  has arrested two associates of gangster Chhota Shakeel. The arrested accused have been identified as - Arif Abubakar Shaikh and Shabbir Abubakar Shaikh . A senior NIA official informed both were involved in handling Dawood gang's illegal activities and terror financing in the western suburbs of Mumbai.  Both the accused would be produced before an NIA special court later in the day.

Our correspondent quoting NIA official reports, investigations suggest that the entire syndicate is being run by the Dawood gang from across the border . The agency also has summoned 21 persons to explain their roles.

Earlier this week, NIA conducted searches at 24 places in Mumbai Commissionerate and five places in Mira Road Bhayandar Commissionerate.

Earlier this year the investigative agency had conducted raids across 29 places in Mumbai and its adjoining districts in connection with the case filed by the NIA on the 3rd of February.

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Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways General Dr. V.K Singh has stressed on the efforts to educate people about road safety.

Speaking after inaugurating the 6th Road Safety Conference on "Safer & Sustainable Mobility with Innovations and Technology" in New Delhi today, he said, traffic education and road safety values to the youth may reduce the number of accidents in the country. He said around 1.5 lakh young and productive people losing their lives in the accident, is very concerning issue. He lamented the fact that India stands first in terms of fatal road accidents in the world.

Mr Singh called upon industry players to manufacture safer vehicles equipped with modern technologies that prevent the possibility of accidents.

Our Correspondent reports that industry leaders along with experts participated in the day-long conference to deliberate upon the sustainable road safety practices, policy interventions in safer mobility for Aatamnirbhar Bharat and several key points related to road safety.

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In the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, a J&K Police constable was fired upon by terrorists this morning at Gudoora village in south Kashmir's Pulwama district.

Police in a tweet said that the injured Police Constable identified as Reyaz Ahmad Thoker was immediately rushed to district hospital Pulwama. However, he succumbed to injuries in the hospital. The area was cordoned off by the security forces and a massive manhunt has been launched to nab the assailants involved.

This is the second terror attack by terrorists in the Kashmir Valley in less than 24 hours. Earlier, one Kashmiri Pandit employee Rahul Bhat was shot dead in his office at Tehsil Office in Chadoora Budgam last evening. 

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Meanwhile, the District administration, in Shopian is making concerted efforts to promote sanitation under the Swachh Bharat Mission.

Talking to AIR News, Executive Officer of the Municipal Council of the South Kashmir district, Suhail Malik stated that they have been able to effect mass scale behaviour change to promote toilet use and freedom from open defecation. He said the Council has constructed nearly 500 household-owned toilets so far. Shopian was the first Open Defecation Free district of the Union Territory. It was declared ODF on the 13th of September, 2018.

The Executive Officer also informed that the Council has constructed 120 houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas - Urban in pursuance of the Government’s vision of Housing for All.

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In SPOTLIGHT, The News Services Division of All India Radio will bring a Special Program “Jammu Kashmir- Ek Nayee Subah: Vikas ka naya daur” at 9.15 pm today.

This is the third episode of the Special Series "Jammu Kashmir- Ek Nayee Subah” which will showcase the progress made by the government in the area of infrastructure development with a special focus on enhanced connectivity. The episode will also put forward the milestones reached in terms of power generation, power availability and water availability. This special program can be heard tonight on FM Gold Channel and additional frequencies from 9.15 p. m. onwards. This programme will also be available on our website NEWS ON AIR DOT GOV DOT IN and on our YouTube Channel NEWS ON AIR OFFICIAL.

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Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court Judge, Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey inaugurated a Two-Day workshop of Duty Bearers on Implementation of Juvenile Justice Act- 2015 in the Union Territory of Ladakh, today.

Integrated Child Protection Scheme, ICPS, Legal Service Authority, Police and other functionaries who have the responsibility of implementation of JJ Act are participating in the workshop, organized by the Juvenile Justice Committee of JKL High Court, Social Welfare Department of UT Ladakh in support of UNICEF.

Inaugurating the workshop, Justice AM Magrey said that duty bearers have the responsibility of welfare of the children, exploited emotionally and physically.

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Over 190 crore 99 lakh vaccine doses have been administered so far under the Nationwide Vaccination Drive. The Health Ministry said, over 14 lakh three thousand doses were administered yesterday. The recovery rate is currently at 98.74 per cent. Three thousand two hundred 95 people recovered in the last 24 hours. During the same period, Two thousand eight hundred 41 new cases were recorded. While, nine deaths were reported.

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The Health Ministry today said more than 193 crore 53 lakh vaccine doses have been provided to States and UTs so far through the Centre's free of cost channel and through direct state procurement category. It said, more than 17 crore 65 lakh balance and unutilized COVID Vaccine doses are still available with the States and UTs to be administered.

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The Union environment ministry has relaxed the mandatory compliance norms for coal mining expansion projects citing higher demand for coal.

According to the revised norms, coal mines with environmental clearances to expand by 40 per cent, can now expand by up to 50 per cent without any environment impact assessment or public consultation.

Our correspondent reports, the condition is that the mining continues to be in the same lease area and available coal reserves. Earlier, the coal ministry has repeatedly clarified that the ongoing power crisis was not due to the shortage of coal but non-payment of dues to Coal India Ltd by the states, delays in lifting coal  and poor planning.

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Union Minister of State for New and Renewable Energy Bhagwant Khuba has said that  India is committed to increase domestic Manufacturing of high efficiency Solar PV modules. He said, for this  a total budgetary  outlay  24 thousand crore rupees is made.The Union Minister said this  in his address while attending the Intersolar Europe 2022 held at Munich in  Germany.

Mr Khuba said, with a view to promote green hydrogen economy, India has estimated an outlay of  25 thousand 425 crore rupees. The Green Hydrogen Mission has expected outcome of generating 4.1 Million Tonnes of annual Green Hydrogen production. He said, India  also offers a great opportunity for investments.  and currently around 196.98  billion dollar  worth of projects are underway in the country.

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MSME Secretary B.B Swain inaugurated the ‘MEGA JOB FAIR’ and a new testing facility for MSMEs at Technical Services Centre of National Small Industries Corporation, Okhla in New Delhi today. The major objective of this fair was to provide employment opportunities to students passing out from different courses being conducted in the Centre. More than 30 major companies  were present with various job offers for the students.

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Over 18 crore Ayushman Cards have been  issued under Ayushman Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana ( AB- PMJAY ) so far . The scheme is being implemented to provide health cover to the people.

Union Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya in a tweet said that the scheme has proved to be a boon for the poor people. He said,  under the scheme more than  3 crore 20 lakh  people have availed the  benefit of hospital facilities and hospital admission amount to 37 thousand 398 crore rupees.

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Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri, Minister of Economy, United Arab Emirates today launched India-UAE start-up bridge startupindia.gov.in at India-UAE Economic Partnership Summit in Mumbai. This bridge will act as a one stop platform where information regarding the Indian and UAE startup ecosystem will be easily accessible to entrepreneurs and stakeholders from both countries.

UAE's Minister of Economy, Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri said, this is the first such bridge by UAE with any country.

Mr. Goyal said, this bridge will help expand and exchange ideas and increase investment in startup of both the countries. This bridge will facilitate capacity building of incubators, Incubation opportunity for startups, Investment funds, Masterclass etc.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi has invited citizens to share their inputs for Mann ki Baat programme on All India Radio which will be broadcast on 29th of this month. In a tweet, Mr Modi said, he is looking forward to their comments on the NaMo App and MyGov. He said, people can also record their message on 1800-11-7800. The phone lines will remain open till 26th May. It will be the 89th episode of the monthly radio programme. People can also give a missed call on 1922 and follow the link received in SMS to directly give their suggestions to the Prime Minister.

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Most parts of Rajasthan are in the grip of severe heat wave. In most of the districts the day temperature always clocks  above 45 degree Celsius . Our correspondent reports that normal life has been affected due to severe heat and heat wave.

"The temperature reached above 48 degree celsius in Barmer yesterday. Apart from this, the temperature was measured above 47 degrees in seven cities. Many cities have recorded  highest temperatures in the last few years. The Met Department has issued a red alert of severe heat wave for  Sriganganagar, Bikaner, Barmer, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Jalore today, and Orange Alert for 11 districts and Yellow Alert for 6 districts. The department has said that there is no respite from the heat wave for the next 48 hours. Due to the scorching heat, the number of patients suffering from vomiting, diarrhea and other seasonal diseases has increased.J itendra Dwivedi, JAIPUR AIR NEWS

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A three-day Nav Sankalp Shivir of Congress is underway in Udaypur. Taking place in Udaipur. More than 400 leaders from across the country have reached Udaipur  including Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi  to attend this Chintin Shivir. Talking to the media this afternoon , senior Congress leader Ajay Maken indicated a major change in the organization after the meeting. Mr.  Maken said the party would hold talks at making the Congress more youth-centric, with a proposal to include 50 percent  youth leaders in each committee.

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President Ram Nath Kovind today paid homage to former President of India Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed on his  birth Anniversary at Rashtrapati Bhavan. He paid floral tributes in front of a portrait of Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed.

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And now, let's listen to our special programme, 'Azadi ka Safar' highlighting the importance of the day during the freedom struggle.

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A court in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo yesterday imposed a ban on former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and several of his key allies from leaving the country. According to media reports, the travel ban has also been imposed on  Rajapaksa’s son and former Minister Namal Rajapaksa, among others.

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North Korea has confirmed its first death from Covid-19. Local media reported today that six people died after suffering fever with one testing positive for Omicron.

State media reports that tens of thousands more are experiencing fever symptoms.

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In Sports News,

In the 12th Hockey India Senior Women National Championship at Bhopal, Odisha and Kerala  have won their respective matches in Pool "H" today.

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Indian men's badminton team scripted history securing their first-ever medal at the Thomas Cup with a thrilling 3-2 win over Malaysia in the quarterfinals in Bangkok yesterday. India are now assured of at least a bronze in the tournament. They will now face Denmark in the semifinals.

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Indian pistol pairs of Esha Singh and Saurabh Chaudhary won the mixed team pistol gold at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Junior World Cup in Suhl, Germany yesterday. In all, India has so far won 10 medals, including four gold.

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In IPL Cricket, Royal Challengers Bangalore will meet with Punjab Kings today at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai  at 7:30 pm. Last night, Mumbai Indians defeated Chennai Super Kings by five wickets at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.    

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

The National Capital Delhi is experiencing Heat wave. The minimum temperature  was  28 degree Celsius while the maximum  will be around 44 degrees.

Mumbai is expected to have mainly clear sky.

Chennai is likely to have thunderstorm with rain.

Kolkata is likely to have partly cloudy sky with possibility of moderate rain or Thunderstorm.

Srinagar and Muzaffarabad are likely to have  mainly clear sky becoming partly cloudy towards afternoon or evening.

Jammu and Leh are expected to have mainly clear sky.

Gilgit is expected to have partly cloudy sky.

Visakhapatnam is expected to have thunderstorm with rain. 

In Hyderabad rain or thundershowers would occur towards afternoon or evening. 

Bengaluru is likely to have generally cloudy sky with a few spells of rain or thundershowers.

Thiruvananthapuram is expected to have generally cloudy sky with one or two spells of rain or thundershowers.

Puducherry is likely to have Thunderstorm with rain. 

In the North East- Guwahati and Shillong are expected to have generally cloudy sky with a few spells of rain or thundershowers . Imphal, Aizwal, Kohima and Itanagar are expected to have generally cloudy sky with one or two spells of rain or thundershowers.

Gangtok and Agartala are expected to have generally cloudy sky with Heavy rain.

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At the stock markets, the Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange jumped 731 points, or 1.4 percent, to trade at 53,661, in the afternoon session, a short while ago. The Nifty at the Natioal Stock Exchange shot up 243 points, or 1.5 percent, to 16,051.

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THE HEADLINES ONCE AGAIN

• Prime Minister to launch Madhya Pradesh Startup Policy and address Startup community this evening; Also to launch  Startup portal of the state.

• Supreme Court Denies to Reschedule NEET PG Exam. (STORY AWAITED)

• Election Commission announces poll schedule for elections to 57 Rajya Sabha seats spread over 15 States.

• National Investigating Agency arrests two members of Dawood gang in Mumbai.

• Prime Minister Modi invites citizens to share their inputs for Mann ki Baat programme on 29th of this month.

• Minister of State for Road Transport General V.K Singh calls upon industry players to manufacture safer vehicles with modern technologies to prevent possibility of accidents.

• A Security Personnel killed by terrorists in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir.

• Former Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and his  allies banned by court from leaving the country.

• In Thomas Cup Badminton, Indian Men Beat Malaysia and create history; Enter quarterfinals and in race for first-ever medal.

• Esha Singh and Saurabh Chaudhary win Gold in Mixed Team Pistol event at ISSF Junior World Cup in Suhl, Germany.

• And in IPL Cricket,  Royal Challengers Bangalore to meet with Punjab Kings today in Mumbai this evening.

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