Digi Yatra to be implemented at Kolkata, Pune, Vijayawada and Hyderabad Airports by March 2023
One-day workshop organised at Bhopal under India's G-20 presidency
Govt is taking measures to augment domestic capacity for the future realisation of space tourism: Dr Jitendra Singh
India to hold first Energy Transitions Working Group Meeting in Bengaluru from Feb 5 under G-20 presidency
Parliamentary delegation from Zambia calls on President Droupadi Murmu
Telangana Assembly Budget Session to start on Friday
Foreign Affairs Minister of Nepal Dr Bimala Rai Paudyal leaves for Colombo to attend 75th Independence Day celebrations of Sri Lanka
Sarbananda Sonowal urges representatives of G-20 member countries to act collectively to make sustainable lifestyle a mass movement
India condemns instances of violence by Khalistani extremists in Australia
LCA Tejas to be at the centre stage of ‘India Pavilion’ at 14th edition of Aero India Show
THE HEADLINES:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi says India continues to make strides in world of manufacturing; Mobile phone exports raced past 5 billion dollar mark in record time.
Campaigning concludes for the first phase of Assembly Polls in Gujarat; Voting for 89 assembly seats tomorrow.
President Droupadi Murmu to confer the National Sports Awards 2022 at Rashtrapati Bhawan today.
Third and final ODI between India and New Zealand underway at Hagley Oval in Christchurch.
In FIFA World Cup, the Netherlands beat Qatar 2-nil while Senegal win against Ecuador 2-1; USA defeat Iran 1-0 and England thrash Wales 3-nil.
<><><>
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed happiness over mobile Phone exports getting more than double year on year in April to October of this fiscal. The mobile phone exports raced past 5 billion dollar mark within seven months, which is more than double of 2.2 billion dollar that India clocked in the same period of last year. In reply to a tweet of Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar in this regard, Mr Modi said that India continues to make strides in the world of manufacturing.
It is expected that at the current pace, exports from India will surpass the entire Fiscal Year 22 figure by early December itself, and end Fiscal year 23 in the 8.5 to 9 billion dollars range. The country had exported mobile phones worth 5.8 billion dollars in FY22.
Backed by the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, Apple and Samsung contribute over 90 percent of India's mobile phone exports. According to industry body India Cellular and Electronics Association, as exports grow, India has also reduced dependency on mobile imports to around five percent in FY22, from as high as 78 percent in 2014-15. India aims to export 60 billion dollars of cellphones by 2025-26.
The PLI scheme has attracted the world's largest mobile phone companies - such as Apple to expand operations and set up new bases in India.
The Government e-Marketplace, GeM platform has crossed one lakh crore rupees Gross Merchandise value till yesterday for the financial year 2022-2023. GeM is an online platform for public procurement in India which was launched in August 2016 with the objective of creating an open and transparent procurement platform for government buyers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has termed it as excellent news saying that GeM is a game changer when it comes to showcasing Indian entrepreneurial zeal and furthering transparency. Lauding all those who are displaying their products on this platform, Mr Modi asked others to do the same.
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that the Prime Minister's vision of democratised and transparent public procurement has created a platform which has emerged as a trusted partner for businesses especially Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
In Gujarat, voting will be held for 89 constituencies of Saurashtra, Kutch and South Gujarat in the first phase of polling tomorrow. More than two crore 39 lakh voters will decide the fate of 788 candidates in this phase.
The election commission has made all necessary arrangements to ensure free and fair elections.
"A total of 25 thousand 430 polling booths have been set up in the 19 districts that will go for poling tomorrow. Each constituency will have one eco friendly, one model polling booth and one polling booth manned by Divyang people. There will be 611 Sakhi polling booths where all the polling and police staff will be women while 18 Yuva Polling booths will be manned by young staff. There will be some unique polling booths in this phase including the one inside the Gir forest for a lone voter, another one at a shipping container and yet another on an island in Arabian sea. Voter Information Slips have been distributed in all the poll bound districts. With Sushil Chandra Tiwari and Manas pratim Sharma, Aparna Khunt, AIR News, Ahmedabad."
Meanwhile, poll campaigning has been intensified in Central and North Gujarat, which will go for polling in the second phase on the 5th of next month. The counting of votes for Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections is scheduled to be taken up on the 8th of December.
President Droupadi Murmu attended the civic reception hosted in her honour by the Haryana Government at Raj Bhavan in Chandigarh last evening. Addressing the gathering, the President acknowledged the contribution of Haryana in various fields such as politics, space science, sports, food security of the country, industrial production, service sector and defence. She said that with the area of less than 1.4 percent and population of less than two percent of the country, Haryana has been contributing immensely in the overall development of the country. Farmers of this state have made invaluable contributions to the food security. She noted that more than 250 Fortune-500 companies have their offices in Gurugram and this city is called ‘Global City’. Concluding her two-day visit, the President will today interact with ASHA workers, women wrestlers, Olympians, other sports persons as well as girl students.
Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, along with Minister of State for Civil Aviation General V. K. Singh (Retired) inaugurated multiple flights to further expand the connectivity to Northeastern Region. Enhanced connectivity in the Northeastern region will help bolster tourism and trade in the region and contribute to the economic development of the states. Mr. Scindia yesterday virtually flagged off Indigo flight from Itanagar to Mumbai via Kolkata. Alliance Air has also introduced flight services on two routes Dibrugarh to Itanagar and Ziro as well as Dibrugarh to Itanagar and Pasighat.
Mr Scindia said that in the last eight years, the Narendra Modi government has given unprecedented priority to the Northeastern states. He said, it is the vision of the Prime Minster to provide air connectivity to each corner of the country and his Ministry is working in collaboration with each state to materialize it.
Nagaland is all set to host the 23rd Hornbill Festival 2022 at Naga Heritage Village Kisama from tomorrow. Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar will grace the inaugural function of the 10 day festival as the Chief Guest. Addressing media persons at Kohima yesterday, Advisor for Tourism, Art and Culture Department, H Khehovi Yeputhomi said, all necessary arrangement has been put in place for the celebration and constant monitoring have been undertaken for the successful conduct of the festival.
The Advisor also informed that five crore rupees have been allocated for the 10 day festival.
India has provided financial assistance of 100 million dollars to Maldives. The assistance is in the form of budgetary support to tide over the difficult economic situation in the archipelago nation. The assistance is being extended without any conditions and Maldives is free to use it in its economic recovery as it deems fit.
Speaking at the handover ceremony virtually, External Affairs Minister Dr Jaishankar expressed hope that the financial assistance will help Maldives channelise her energies towards rapid economic growth. He added that India’s Neighbourhood first and Maldives’ India first policies have been special and together they have delivered results.
India will assume the Presidency of the G20 for one year from tomorrow till 30 November next year. During the course of its Presidency, India will be holding about 200 meetings in 32 different sectors in multiple locations across the country. The G20 Summit to be held next year, would be one of the highest profile international gatherings to be hosted by India.
The G20, is an intergovernmental forum of the world’s major developed and developing economies.
President Droupadi Murmu will confer the National Sports Awards 2022 and National Adventure Awards 2021 to the awardees at a function at Rashtrapati Bhawan this evening. Table Tennis player Sharath Kamal Achanta has been chosen for Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award for 2022. Our correspondent reports that the National Sports Awards are given every year to recognize and reward excellence in sports.
This year Arjuna Awards for outstanding performance in Sports and Games will be given to 25 sportspersons. They include athletes Seema Punia and Eldhose Paul, shuttlers Lakshya Sen and HS Prannoy, woman boxer Nikhat Zareen, Hockey player Deep Grace Ekka, weightlifter Vikash Thakur, Wrestlers Anshu and Sarita and Para Badminton player Tarun Dhillon. Five coaches have been chosen for the Dronacharya Award in the regular category and three other coaches in the lifetime category. Ashwini Akkunji and Dharamvir Singh are among the four sportsperson who have been chosen for Dhyan Chand Award for Lifetime achievement in Sports Games. Three entities have been recommended for the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar. This year Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Trophy will be given to Guru Nanak Dev University of Amritsar. Anand Kumar, AIR News Delhi.
In the FIFA World Cup in Group 'A' fixtures, The Netherlands and Senegal have qualified for the Round of 16 stage. We have report.
"Qatar became the earliest nation to exit from the group stage of the FIFA World Cup in 92 years. Qatar suffered heart-breaking defeats in all of its three group games of the showpiece event. The hosts were defeated by Netherland by 0-2 where as by virtue of Ismaïla Sarr's penalty and Kalidou Koulibaly's second-half strike, Senegal scripted famous win over Ecuador. Now, the African country entered the last 16 of the FIFA World Cup with a 2-1 triumph. On the other hand, Group A leaders Netherlands have also been entered the last 16. In the aftermath of the infamous 'Disgrace of Gijon' episode, FIFA revised the structure of the group games taking place at the World Cup. That is why, Netherlands' match against Qatar and Senegal's clash with Ecuador kicked off at the same time. However in the midnight episode , Rashford and Phil Foden both scored to put England into the last 16 of the World Cup with a 3-0 victory over Wales. England coach Gareth Southgate opted to add both players in the starting lineup for the team’s final Group B match and they responded with all three goals. England will next face Senegal in the round of 16. Wales finished in last place in the group and has been eliminated. In the other group B game, USA defeated Iran by 1-0 to advance along with the Three Lions. With Pratyush Ghosh this is Anupam Mishra, AIR NEWS."
Today, in the Group 'D' stage, Tunisia will take on France at the Education City Stadium while Australia will clash with Denmark .
In Cricket, India were 73 for 2 in 16.4 overs against New Zealand in the third and final ODI at Hagley Oval in Christchurch, when the last report came in.
The hosts won the toss and decided to field first.
TODAY'S NEWSPAPERS HEADLINE:
RBI to launch retail digital rupee from December 1, on trial basis, writes The Asian Age.
Vistara to merge into Air India under a deal wherein Singapore Airlines will acquire 25.1 percent stake, reports The Pioneer.
At least 5 servers at AIIMS Delhi, hosting data of 3 to 4 crore patients, have been infected by cyber attack, disabling online services for a week now, reports The Indian Express.
Area under wheat at 4-year high, government expects a robust output this season, headlines Hindustan Times.
And finally, The Tribune reports that BSF women constables in Amritsar Sector shot down a Pakistani drone, foiling a drug smuggling attempt.
THE HEADLINES ONCE AGAIN:
And, in FIFA World Cup, the Netherlands beat Qatar 2-nil while Senegal win against Ecuador 2-1; USA defeat Iran 1-0 and England thrash Wales 3-nil.