Union Minister for Labour & Employment, Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Shri Bhupender Yadav inaugurated the 71st Foundation Day of EPFO held at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi today through virtual mode. He congratulated everyone on the occasion. Shri Rameshwar Teli, Union Minister of State for Labour & Employment, Petroleum & Natural Gas, Smt. Arti Ahuja, Secretary Labour & Employment and Smt. Neelam Shami Rao, Central P F Commissioner, Dr. Rajendra Kumar, Director General, ESIC were also present.

Shri Bhupender Yadav expressed happiness over the way EPFO has grown in the years gone by and the way it is managing its huge corpus of savings of the members. He also praised 'Nidhi Aapke Nikat,' an outreach program conducted by every EPFO office at the district level on the 27th of each month. The Union Minister also stated that EPFO had extended the Act's provisions to the working class of Jammu and Kashmir, effective from October 31, 2019.

Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog today opened applications for school innovation challenge ATL Marathon 2023-24. ATL Marathon is a national-level innovation challenge for young innovators who can solve community problems of their choice, and develop innovative solutions in the form of working prototypes. Top teams will get an Internship opportunity through the Student Innovator Programme with leading corporates and Incubation Centres of India, certificates from Atal Innovation Mission. The marathon is open to all schools across the country.

This year’s ATL Marathon is themed around India’s 75th Republic Day, with several problem statements on which student teams can build projects, These are Space, Agriculture, Inclusivity, Disaster management, Mobility, Health, Education, and Skill Development.

The last edition of the Marathon witnessed over twelve thousand innovations from school students across the country.

In its bid to promote economic cooperation between the state of Odisha and Korea in multiple sectors, a high-level Korean mission, called Team Korea, comprising representatives of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea, Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), Korea SMEs and Startups Agency (KOSME), Korea Institute for International Economy Policy (KIEP), KOSMA - Korean Small & Medium Enterprises Association in India, K-SURE- Korea Trade Insurance Corp., and Korea Plus of Invest India visited Bhubaneswar, Odisha on Thursday.

The Team Korea interacted with Industry department of Odisha government.

In a significant development for the Indian expatriate community in the United Arab Emirates , Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan held a meeting with the Principals of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) affiliated schools in Dubai. One of the significant announcements made during the meeting was the acceptance of a long-standing demand by CBSE schools is to open a regional administrative office in UAE, recognizing the country's central role in overseeing CBSE-affiliated schools in the GCC region. The new office is set to come in the Emirate of Dubai, UAE. This decision is expected to streamline operations and enhance the educational experience for students and teachers in these schools.

Pradhan acknowledged the diverse nationalities within CBSE-affiliated schools in Dubai and commended their contributions to Indian academia and culture. He noted that after the implementation of the National Education Policy in 2020, new challenges and opportunities have emerged.

India and Italy signed the Mobility and Migration Partnership Agreement to enable seamless movement of workers, students and professionals after External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar held a comprehensive and productive meeting with his counterpart Antonio Tajani.

Mr. Jaishankar is in Rome on the last leg of his four-day visit to Portugal and Italy.

"A comprehensive and productive meeting this evening with DPM & FM @Antonio_Tajani," Mr. Jaishankar posted on Twitter after the meeting.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) of India and the National Science Foundation (NSF) of the United States initiated the 1st Workshop on MeitY-NSF Research Collaboration. The workshop, inaugurated by MeitY Secretary S. Krishnan on November 2, 2023, provided a platform for US and Indian researchers to come together, share ideas, and establish collaborative projects.

The Handshake between MeitY and NSF signifies the commitment of both nations to enhance their shared vision of a strategic technology partnership, capitalizing on their respective research expertise. Encouraging joint efforts, the initiative encourages teams of investigators from the US and India to build partnerships with testbed providers, local communities, and industry players, ensuring the necessary resources and expertise for successful project outcomes.

This collaboration between MeitY and NSF was formalized through an Implementation Arrangement (IA) signed in May 2023. The research opportunity focuses on driving discoveries and innovations in areas of mutual interest, as outlined in the Joint Statement issued during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US in June 2023.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Mega food event ‘World Food India 2023’ in New Delhi tomorrow. The three-day event will be held at Bharat Mandapam at Pragati Maidan. Over 1200 exhibitors and participants from over 80 countries will participate in it.

The Prime Minister will also disburse Seed Capital Assistance to over one lakh Self Help Groups’ members and inaugurate the Food Street at the event. Various pavilions will be set up to showcase the rich Indian food culture to the world. Around 50 dialogue sessions will also be held focusing on various aspects of the Food Processing Industry. In an exclusive interview with the Akashvani News, Secretary of the Ministry of Food Processing Industries Anita Praveen said there will be a special focus on Millet in the mega food event. 

The Election Commission of India has designed in-house software for complete Candidate and election management through ‘ENCORE’ which stands for Enabling Communications on Real-time Environment.

This provides a seamless facility for Returning Officers to process candidate nomination, affidavit, Voter turnout, counting, results and data management. 
The ENCORE counting application is an end-to-end application for returning officers to digitize the votes polled, tabulate the round-wise data and then take out various statutory reports of counting.

Another application called ENCORE Scrutiny Application allows Returning Officers to do scrutiny of the nominations filed by the candidates on-line. After  verification of the nomination the status is marked as Accepted, Rejected or Withdrawn helping the Returning Officer to prepare the final list of contesting candidates and assign the symbols.

Indian rifle shooter Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar and the mixed trap team including Manisha Keer and Prithviraj Tondaiman bagged gold medals at the Asian Shooting Championships 2023 in Changwon on Wednesday.

Aishwary scored 463.5 in the men's 50m rifle 3 positions event final to take home the gold medal. China's Tian Jiaming claimed a silver medal with a score of 462.7 while his compatriot Du Linshu bagged a bronze medal with 450.3.

Indian rifle shooter was the only Indian shooter to finish in the top eight in the qualification round, finishing fifth with a score of 591. Akhil Sheoran finished ninth with a score of 587, while Swapnil Kusale finished 11th with a score of 586. The trio's cumulative score enabled them to win the silver medal in the team event.

Even as India geared up to face Sri Lanka in a 2023 ICC ODI World Cup match at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, the day prior to the game saw a special ceremony for a special cricketer who had carried the hopes of the nation on the cricket field for 24 years.

Sachin Tendulkar was born in Mumbai, played all his junior and domestic cricket in Mumbai and later, retired from international cricket at the Wankhede Stadium in 2013. On Wednesday, a statue of the 50-year-old was unveiled at the venue in the presence of his family and other dignitaries.

Reacting to the statue unveiling at the venue, Tendulkar recalled the first time he stepped onto the Wankhede Stadium and later had some memorable moments at the venue. "I still remember our joyous chants, the camaraderie of that group, and the overwhelming support from the North Stand over the years. To think that I first stepped foot in Wankhede as a fan, then went on to be the ball boy in the '87 World Cup, lifted the 2011 World Cup, and played my last international game here – it is a journey words can't capture," Tendulkar wrote on Thursday.