THE HEADLINES:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address One World Tuberculosis Summit at Varanasi this morning.
Foundation stones of infrastructure projects worth over 1700 Crore Rupees to be laid by Prime Minister Modi in Varanasi today.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah to chair the Regional Conference on 'Drug Trafficking and National Security' in Bengaluru.
Protests intensify in France over the government's plan to raise the pension age.
Urban Climate Film Festival to begin today; 11 films from nine countries to be showcased at the festival.
And In Boxing, 4 Indian boxers enter the finals at the Women's World Boxing Championships in New Delhi.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit his parliamentary constituency Varanasi today. The Prime Minister will address the One World TB Summit at Rudrakash Convention Centre at around 10:30 AM.
This summit is being organised by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and Stop TB Partnership. During the event, Prime Minister will launch various initiatives and will also award select States and Districts for their progress towards ending TB. In March 2018, during the End TB summit held in New Delhi, Prime Minister had called on India to achieve TB-related SDG targets by 2025, five years ahead of stipulated time. International delegates from over 30 countries are scheduled to be present at the summit. SUSHIL CHANDRA TIWARI AIR NEWS VARANASI.
Later in the day, Prime Minister Modi will lay the foundation stone of various projects worth more than One Thousand Seven hundred crore rupees at the Sampurnanand Sanskrit University around noon. Mr. Modi will lay the foundation stone of the Passenger Ropeway of 3-POINT-75 Kilometers from Varanasi Cantt. to Godowlia and will be covered in 16 minutes. The ropeway will facilitate the movement of tourists, pilgrims and residents of Varanasi. Prime Minister will also lay the foundation stone of a LPG bottling plant at Isarwar village. He will also inaugurate various other infrastructure projects.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah will chair the Regional Conference on 'Drug Trafficking and National Security' in Bengaluru today. The conference seeks to curtail drug trafficking through sea routes and impose stringent punitive action on drug traffickers with a zero tolerance approach. Mr Shah will also oversee the destruction of close to Ten Thousand Kilograms of seized drugs worth over a thousand 235 crore rupees. Representatives from five Southern States and three Union Territories will also be attending the Conference.
In Jammu and Kashmir, Director General of Police Dilbagh Singh has said that police have launched a major war against narco terror as more and more youth are falling prey to the drug menace. Our Jammu Correspondent reports that the Police chief said that Police have busted several drug operations and recovered weapons as well.
In the Kashmir Valley, Police alongwith security forces have arrested a terrorist associate of the proscribed terror outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba in Sopore and recovered arms and ammunition from his possession. Acting on specific intelligence on the movement of terrorist associates, Police alongwith Army's 52 Rashtriya Rifles and CRPF 177 Battalion launched a joint Cordon and search operation near Railway Station Peth Seer.
In Tripura, the first session of the newly constituted 13th State Legislative Assembly will commence today with the address of Governor Satyadev Narain Arya. The three-day session will see the election of a new Speaker and Deputy Speaker. The Vote on Account for the first quarter of the next financial year will also be tabled in this session. The ruling BJP-IPFT alliance has nominated Biswa Bandhu Sen as their candidate for the post of Speaker. Opposition Congress and CPI-M have fielded Congress MLA Gopal Chandra Roy as their candidate. In the 60-seat Tripura Legislative Assembly, the ruling BJP-IPFT alliance has a total of 32 legislators. TIPRA Motha Party has 13 legislators followed by CPI-M with 11 and Congress with three MLAs.
In Madhya Pradesh, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan unveiled the State Youth Policy and a Youth Portal yesterday. Making several announcements for the youth on the occasion, the Chief Minister said that a State Level Youth Commission will be reconstituted by the fifth of April.
The MP government has given several concessions in the youth policy to connect the youth with employment. The most significant of them is that, to participate in the recruitment process for all government posts in the state, the examination fee will have to be paid only once. Another noteworthy announcement is that a separate merit list will be made for admission to MBBS and BDS for the students studying in government schools of the state. 5 percent seats will be reserved in colleges for this purpose. Shri Chouhan also announced the implementation of Mukhya Mantri Yuva Kaushal Earning Scheme . Under the scheme, an amount of at least Rs 8 thousand will be given to the youth every month on the basis of learning and earning. Sanjeev Sharma, AIR News, Bhopal.
As the Prime Minister's Mann Ki Baat programme approaches its 100th Episode next month, All India Radio brings you a special series with excerpts from the Programme.
The special Mann Ki Baat series can be heard everyday in the Morning and Evening bulletins.
In France, police fired tear gas to repel protesters in Paris as hundreds of thousands of protesters marched across the country against President Emmanuel Macron's plans to raise the pension age. On the ninth day of nationwide protests, train and air travel was disrupted while many teachers struck work. In central Paris, the demonstrators were generally peaceful, however smaller groups of Black Bloc anarchists smashed shop windows. The Bordeaux town hall was set on fire. The protests started after the government pushed through a legislation to raise the retirement age by two years to 64 without a vote in the Parliament. President Macron on Wednesday said the legislation would come into force by the end of the year despite escalating protests across the country.
The Second G-20 framework working group of the finance track will begin in Chennai today. The meeting will be chaired by the Chief Economic Advisor V.Anantha Nageswaran and co chaired by Chief Economic Advisor of UK treasury, Clare Lombardelli. The two day meeting will discuss global macro economic issues which impact food and energy security and climate change. The outcome of the discussions will be recommended to the G 20 finance ministers and Central Bank Governors who will be meeting in Washington DC on the 12th and 13th of this April. Over 80 delegates from G 20 member countries and various international and regional organisations will participate in the meeting.
The Second Meeting of the G20 Sustainable Finance Working Group under India's G20 Presidency concluded in Rajasthan yesterday. Addressing a press conference in Udaipur Ms Geetu Joshi, Advisor in the Department of Economic Affairs said that the Working Group has reached halfway in delivering upon the work plan for 2023.
The holy month of Ramzan has begun today. Ramzan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and devotees observe fast from dawn to sunset during the month. Ramzan culminates with the celebration of Eid-ul-Fitr.
The National Institute of Urban Affairs is organising the first Urban Climate Film Festival under U20 engagement events from today. The Urban Climate Film Festival will be launched today at the M.L. Bhartia Auditorium in New Delhi. A curated selection of 11 films from nine countries will be showcased to create wider awareness of the impact of climate change on life in cities. Selected films will be screened at the festival in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, and Ahmedabad. The festival is being organised with support from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, the French Development Agency and the European Union.
Indian Boxers Nikhat Zareen, Lovlina Borgohain, Saweety Boora and Nitu Ghanghas have entered the finals in the Women's World Boxing Championships being held in New Delhi. The finals will take place tomorrow and on Sunday. With this, India is assured of atleast 4 Silver medals. Nikhat overpowered Colombia's Ingrid Valencia to reach the final of the 50kg category, Lovlina Borgohain, defeated China's Li Qian in the Semi-Final in the 75kg category, Nitu Ghanghas also advanced to the final after beating Kazhakhstan's Alua Balkibekova and Saweety Boora defeated Sue Greentree of Australia in the 81 kg event.
TODAY'S NEWSPAPERS HEADLINE:
Most of the papers have covered Rahul Gandhi’s defamation conviction on their front pages. “Rahul gets 2-year jail for ‘Modi surname’ remark, Congress to contest verdict”, leads The Tribune.
“BJP appoints New Chiefs in Bihar, Rajasthan and Odisha”, reports The Economic Times.
“Lok Sabha approves Rupees 45 Lakh-Crore Budget as Parliament logjam drags on”, writes The Asian Age.
“Naveen, Mamata swear by strong federal structure”, notes The Hindu.
“US allows tourists to apply for jobs”, informs The Pioneer.
“UK to review security at India House; mounted police, chopper at protest”, reports The Indian Express.
“Pakistan’s new turmoil around Imran exposes old fault lines”, writes The Times of India, about flaws in the functioning of Pakistan’s political system.
The Statesman quotes the Centre as saying “Follow 5-fold strategy to deal with Covid”.
And finally, “US-Argentine researcher wins Abel Prize for mathematics”.
In some more news -
One tigress each will be released to Kota's Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve and Bundi's Ramgarh Vishdhari Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan. This decision was taken in a meeting attended by Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav and Loksabha speaker Om Birla in New Delhi on Thursday. Apart from the two tigresses, Gaurs and wild dogs and some other wild animals will also be released in the reserve area. Union Forest and Environment Ministry will also provide Rs 8 crore for development and security-related works in both the Tiger Reserves. A proposal for starting a river cruise in Chambal from Kota Barrage to Jawahar Sagar was also discussed in the meeting. However, the proposal requires a nod from the Centre as the river is home to a Gharial Sanctuary.
THE HEADLINES ONCE AGAIN.