Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar will confer the Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar 2017-18 in New Delhi tomorrow. An official release said, the Department of School Education and Literacy had launched the Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar to honour the schools that have done exemplary work in the field of water, sanitation and hygiene.

These awards are given to ensure long term sustainability and behaviour change towards cleanliness. It also provides a benchmark and roadmap for schools to make further improvements. The Ministry said, this year, first time the awards have also been extended to private schools besides government and government aided schools.

This award was launched as a follow up to the Swachh Vidyalaya Initiative launched in 2014. In his Independence Day in 2014, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi had declared that all schools in the country should have toilets with separate toilets for girls within a period of one year.

Under Swachh Vidyalaya Initiative, a record number of over four lakh 17 thousand toilets were constructed in over two lakh 61 thousand schools.

State-run Punjab National Bank (PNB) on Friday bagged the "Rajbhasha Kirti" award for outstanding performance in implementing the Official Language Policy during 2017-18, the bank said.

The award, under the category of 'Nationalised Banks and Financial Institutions in Region A', was presented by Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu to PNB Chief Executive and MD Sunil Mehta, the bank said in a statement here.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh was among Union Ministers and senior bank officials present on the occasion of Hindi Divas, the statement added.

Billed as the countrys first, an exclusive and certified ‘Dog Park’ boasting of facilities including a walking track, off leash areas and a clinic is all set for inauguration at Kondapur in Hyderabad.

Spread over 1.3 acres, the park has been developed by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) at a cost of Rs 1.1 crore on a site which was earlier a dump yard.

It also has dog training and exercise equipment, splash pool, two lawns, an amphitheatre, loo cafe, separate enclosures for big and small dogs among other facilities, a senior GHMC official said.

“This is the countrys first exclusive and first certified Dog Park. There will also be a Vet on site apart from dog trainer, protocols for cleaning as per standards and free vaccination will be administered (to the pets)”, GHMC Zonal Commissioner D Harichandana told PTI.

Harichandana, a dog lover himself, said she had seen similar dog parks abroad and thought why not have such an international standard park here.

“We called up the landscape designers, pet consultants and put in place proper equipment. We developed this park over the past one year,” she said.

MC Mary Kom lived up to her favourites tag to clinch gold in the 13th International Silesian Women's Boxing Championships in Gliwice, Poland. Manisha (54kg), the other India boxer, lost in her final bout to settle for a silver.

Mary Kom (48kg) prevailed 5-0 against Kazakhstan's Aigerim Kassanayeva in the final of the boxing event to win her third gold medal this year.

The five-time world champion returned to the ring after recovering from some niggles that kept her out of the Asian Games in Jakarta.

Simranjit Kaur (64kg), Monika (48kg) and Bhagyabati Kachari (81kg) claimed gold medals as Indian boxers notched up an impressive seven podium finishes at the Ahmet Comert Tournament in Istanbul, Turkey.

Simranjit, a former national medallist, defeated Turkey’s Sema Caliskan to fetch the top honours.

Competing in the light fly category, Monika beat Ayse Cagirer of Turkey to win the gold medal, while Bhagyabati got the better of Selma Karakoyun, who is also from the host nation, in the light heavyweight category.

However, Pinki Jangra (51kg), a former Commonwealth Games bronze-medallist, had to be content with a silver as she lost to another local hope Busenaz Cakiroglu to sign off second in the tournament.

World Championship silver medallist Sonia Lather (57kg) too, settled for a bronze.

Bhagyabati was declared the most scientific boxer of the tournament, and the Indian women’s team finished third.

Sudan's new 21-member cabinet was sworn in on Saturday, with Prime Minister Moutaz Mousa Abdallah also assuming the finance portfolio in a bid to revive the country's ailing economy.

Sudan has been grappling with an acute foreign exchange shortage and inflation above 65 per cent for several months, prompting President Omar al-Bashir on Sunday to sack the previous 31-member cabinet to "fix the situation".

Bashir had initially nominated Abdallah Hamdok as the new finance minister, but Sudan's official news agency SUNA reported earlier on Saturday that Hamdok had "apologised" and declined to accept the post.

"After consultations with Prime Minister Moutaz Mousa Abdallah, President Bashir decided that the prime minister will hold the finance portfolio," the presidency said in a statement on Saturday.

To accommodate those travelling from around the world to attend the Kumbh Mela and Republic Day, the date for the 15th Pravasi Bhartiya Divas convention has been moved from January 9 to January 21 to 23.

While Pravasi Bhartiya Divas (PBD) has been celebrated on January 9 every year, the decision to move the date this time was done as PBD 2019 will be held in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency of Varanasi.

The Indian diaspora attending the event will also get an opportunity to participate in the 'Kumbh Snan' and attend the Republic Day parade.

The website for the 15th PBD 2019 was jointly inaugurated by Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj and Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath in New Delhi on Saturday.

The event also launched the commencement of online registrations for participation in the PBD Convention 2019. The government of Uttar Pradesh is the partner state for the convention.

Indian Space Research Organisation successfully launched PSLV C 42 with two British earth observation satellites NovaSAR and S1-4 in precision at 10.08 pm from the Sathish Dhawan Space Centre Sriharikota.

The satellites were put into sun synchronous orbit just over 17 minutes after lift off from the first launch pad. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has congratulated ISRO scientists for successful launch of 2 UK satellites.

With the successful launch of two British satellites on Sunday, the total number of foreign satellites launched by India goes up to 239. The 44.4 metres launch vehicle weighing 230.4 tons, blasted off from the first launch pad and soared into the sky with fierce orange flame at its tail lighting up the night skies.

The scientists at the mission control were qually enthralled just like those gathered at Sriharikota to witness the launch . India has been sending foreign satellites belonging to international customers from 29 countries through PSLV. More commercial ventures are expected for nano satellites are expected in the future. Presently there is an order of 980 crore Rupees for this fiscal and next fiscal.

India’s long battle against AIDS is not likely to end any time soon, if the latest figures released by the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) on Friday is any indication. The data revealed that, as of 2017, there were still around 21.40 lakh people living with HIV in India, with the prevalence among adults stood at 0.22 per cent.

There were around 87,000 new HIV infections and over 69,000 AIDS-related deaths (ARDs) in 2017. Around 22,675 mothers needed Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) for prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.

“HIV Estimations 2017 corroborates the previous rounds in terms of the characteristic of the HIV epidemic in India -- national prevalence and incidence remains low, but the epidemic is high in some geographical regions and population groups. The report has noted that the rate of decline in annual new HIV infections has been relatively slower in recent years,” noted a release from the Health Ministry.

Union Health Minister JP Nadda has said that 1.5 lakh Primary Health Centres (PHCs) and sub-centres will be converted into wellness centers by 2022.

Speaking at a function in Hyderabad, he said, these centres will facilitate screening of every individual aged 30 for blood pressure, diabetes, tuberculosis, breast cancer and leprosy among others.

Mr Nadda said, Centre's flagship Ayushman Bharat - National Health Protection Mission will be started from 23rd of this month.

In national capital, Mr Nadda offered shramdaan along with senior officers of the Health Ministry and staff members at Nirman Bhawan yesterday as part of Swachhata Hi Seva Campaign.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Nadda said, sanitation is a key determinant of health and a clean and hygienic environment will contribute to preventing many diseases.

He said, the central government hospitals are also launching such fortnight activities, and senior officers from the Health Ministry will visit the central government hospitals to be part of these efforts.

He said, the Kayakalp initiative has been launched to encourage every public health facility in the country to work towards standards of excellence to help the facilities stay clean and hygienic.