Government has said that efforts are on to have at least 25 per cent of all sales by women Self-Help Groups, SHGs through e-commerce portals annually. This was stated by Union Minister of State for Rural Development Faggan Singh Kulaste on Friday, while inaugurating SARAS FOOD FESTIVAL, 2022. On this occasion, the Minister also launched the e-commerce portal www.esaras.in for better and more effective marketing of Saras products prepared by women of self-help groups. He said, Ministry of Rural Development will take steps to establish Saras stalls by women SHGs in all State capitals, major cities and metros, airports and railway stations for widening the reach of marketing.

Referring to Atmanirbhar pitch of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mr Kulaste said, the best products of SHGs are also being exported in different countries.

The Steel Authority of India Limited, SAIL and the Airport Authority of India, AAI signed an Operation and Management agreement on Friday in New Delhi to facilitate commercial operations from Rourkela in Odisha. SAIL, in 2018, had signed a MOU for the use of its own airport, under the UDAN scheme, for the operation of commercial flights. Now, SAIL has signed the Operation and Management contract with AAI, through its Rourkela Steel Plant, to facilitate the commencement of commercial flights from Rourkela. The Ministry of Civil Aviation has provided financial support for the up-gradation of this airport. The government of Odisha will provide the security, fire, and ambulance services, besides helping with other local clearances. AAI, on behalf of SAIL-Rourkela Steel Plant, will operate and manage the airport.

Minister of State for Science and Technology Dr. Jitendra Singh has said that India will become a digital health leader with the best technical manpower and cheapest data in the world. 

Addressing the first Global Digital Health Summit, Expo, and Innovation Awards, Dr. Singh said the recent launch of 5G will bring a new revolution in the digital healthcare system in India. Dr. Singh said that the whole world recognized India’s leadership role during the Covid-19 pandemic. He said, we achieved the rare feat of delivering over 220 crore vaccines through a fully digital platform - COWIN and the process continues. 

Union Minister of Law & Justice, Kiren Rijiju will inaugurate the national seminar on 'Environment and Sustainable Development - Role of Judiciary' and Digitization of Indian Judiciary - Its Impact in Dispensation of Justice' organised by the Gauhati High Court in collaboration with the government of Assam at Kaziranga today, October 29. 

Assam Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma, Judges of the Supreme Court, and the Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court will be present on the occasion. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed happiness over resumption of Neral-Matheran Toy Train in Maharashtra. In a tweet, Mr. Modi said that the resumption of the Toy Train will make the scenic journey even more memorable. He said, it is great news for local tourism.  

Earlier, in a tweet, the Ministry of Railways informed that Neral-Matheran Toy Train in Maharashtra has resumed its services post-infra upgradation in the section. 

President Droupadi Murmu today paid homage to former President of India Dr. K.R. Narayanan on his birth anniversary at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The President and officials of Rashtrapati Bhavan offered floral tributes in front of a portrait of Dr. Narayanan.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of a C-295MW transport aircraft manufacturing project for the Indian Air Force (IAF) at Vadodara in Gujarat on the 30th of this month. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia and Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendrabhai Patel and other dignitaries will attend the function.

Briefing the media in New Delhi through video conferencing, Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar said, this transport aircraft manufacturing project will create an entirely new ecosystem for the aviation sector in the country. He said, this facility will enhance India's overall position in transport aircraft manufacturing. Terming this a big step towards ease of doing business to promote Make in India, he said, several steps have been taken in the direction of self-reliance in the defence sector. He said, this state-of-the-art transport aircraft of 5 to 10 tons capacity is going to be manufactured for the first time in the country.

Steel Authority of India Limited, SAIL has crossed ten crore rupees in Procurement Value on Government-e-Marketplace (GeM). The Ministry of Steel said that SAIL became the first Central Public Sector Enterprise, CPSE to achieve the major milestone of procurement through the GeM since its inception.

The Ministry said that SAIL started from an amount of twenty crore seven lakh rupees in the financial year of 2018-19, Which has crossed the total value of ten crore rupees this year. It said, SAIL was also the largest CPSE procurer on GeM in the previous Financial Year with a value of over forty-six hundred Crore rupees.

Indian  Railways will launch a month-long mega safety drive from tomorrow as safety continues to be its foremost priority.  Ministry of Railways has directed Zonal Railways to launch the safety drive to remove any gaps in the maintenance of fixed assets, locomotives and rolling stock and strengthen safety in Railways. During the drive, it will be ensured that extant procedures are being conformed and monitoring of Human Factors shall be done.

Railway Board has directed all Zonal Railways to ensure that officers in Headquarters and Divisions carry out thorough inspections and ensure the correction of deficiencies found during inspections. It said, at least one Headquarter officer must be on inspection on each day during the drive in each Division. Also, each major section of each division must be under Night Foot Plate Inspection by an Officer.

Envoys of Five Nations presented their credentials to President Droupadi Murmu today. Mrs Murmu accepted credentials from High Commissioner of Uganda and Ambassadors of Vietnam, Iran, Sweden, and Belgium at a ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Those who presented their credentials were Ms. Joyce Kakuramatsi Kikafunda, High Commissioner of the Republic of Uganda, Mr Nguyen Thanh Hai, Ambassador of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Dr Iraj Elahi, Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mr Jan Thesleff, Ambassador of Sweden and Mr Didier Vanderhasselt, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium.