National Academy of Art, Lalit Kala Akademi, celebrated its 65th Foundation Day in New Delhi today. The event was inaugurated by Culture and Tourism Minister Prahlad Singh Patel. Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said, his Ministry is starting cultural mapping of the country which will be completed in a speedy manner. Talking about the administrative management in the Akademi, Mr Patel said, coordinated efforts in transparent manner will ensure better functioning in the institution. 

Sanskar Bharti founder Padmshri Baba Yogendra, Lalit Kala Akademi Chairman, Uttam Pacharne and eminent artist Vasudeo Kamath also graced the occasion. The Minister also inaugurated art camp and artwork and painting exhibition and released a book - Mithila Ki Lok Chitrakala. 

Lalit Kala Akademi or National Academy of Art was established in New Delhi in 1954 by the government to promote and propagate understanding of Indian art, in and outside the country.  The Academy provides scholarships, fellowship programmes and organizes art-related exhibitions in India and overseas. The artwork and painting exhibitions will be open for public till 12th of this month.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah Monday announced that the government has scrapped the special status granted to the state of Jammu and Kashmir by modifying Article 370 of the Constitution. Article 370 of the constitution is a ‘temporary provision’ granting special autonomous status to Jammu and Kashmir.

Speaking in the Rajya Sabha, Shah said Article 370 is “anti-women, anti-Dalit, anti-development”.

Furthermore, the government also ordered the division of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories. While the Union Territory of Ladakh will be without a legislature, the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir will be with a legislature. “We have four bills on Kashmir. We are ready to discuss everything and give answers on everything,” Shah said, amid chaos in Rajya Sabha.

Anant Setalvad, whose pleasant baritone voice distinguished him from other cricket commentators from the mid 1960s through to the 1980s, passed away in the early hours of Sunday. Anant was 84 and he is survived by two sons, Kevic and Tarshish.

Anant’s funeral rites will take place at 4 p.m. at Worli crematorium on Monday “He was ailing for some time. He died at 12.40 a.m. Sunday,” said his son Kevic.

Regarded as a giant in cricket commentary on All India Radio (AIR), Anant shared the microphone with Vijay Merchant, Pearson Surita, Raju Bharatan, Balu Alaganan and Suresh Saraiya.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty today became the first Indian pair to win a BWF Super 500 badminton tournament. 

They beat World champions Li Jun Hui and Liu Yu Chen of China in the summit clash of Thailand Open 21-19, 18-21, 21-18 in Bangkok to win the men’s doubles category. 

The third-seeded Chinese pair settled for the second position after battling hard for an hour and two minutes as the Commonwealth Games silver medallists Rankireddy-Shetty claimed their maiden title. 

Sports fraternity celebrated ‘great win for the Indian doubles’. Twitter exploded with wishes for Satwik and Chirag for putting India on the doubles map. 

India today successfully test-fired its all weather tracked-chassis Quick Reaction Surface-to-Air Missile (QR-SAM) from a mobile launcher at launch complex III of the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur in Odisha this morning. It was the second developmental trial of the missile in this year from the same test range. 

Earlier, the surface-to-air missile was tested successfully on Feb 26, 2019. It was test fired from a rotatable truck-based launch unit at Chandipur. Jointly developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Bharat Electronics Ltd, the QR-SAM weapon system is a quick reaction, network-centric missile system capable of search-on-the-move. 

Veteran Gujarati journalist and columnist Kanti Bhatt died in Mumbai at the age of 88 on Sunday, days after he suffered a stroke.

Born on July 15, 1931, Bhatt hailed from Zanzmer village in Bhavnagar district of Gujarat. He had done his Bachelor of Commerce from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda (Vadodara). Following his graduation, he spent nearly 10 years in Malaysia, handling the business of his uncle.

Bhatt started his journalism career in the late 1960s as a financial journalist in Mumbai. He later became a freelance journalist and also wrote columns for various publications. Bhatt gradually rose to prominence as a prolific columnist who wrote on diverse subjects.

Human Resources Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank today asked students and researchers to bring back India's glory in the field of science and education. He was inaugurating Technology Expo at IIT Delhi to showcase latest innovation in field of science and technology. Over 80 latest innovations and 90 research posters by institutions from across the country are showcasing the prototypes developed by the investigators in the day long exhibition. 

The Minister said research should be in accordance with the need of common people and industry. Later talking to media, Mr Nishank assured all kinds of support to the research community.

HSBC on Monday announced the surprise departure of its Chief Executive Officer John Flint, 51, saying the bank needed a change at the top to address “a challenging global environment”.

The change comes nearly one-and-a-half years after Mr. Flint took helm was announced along with its results, initially scheduled for later on August 5, which showed first-half pretax profit rose 15.9%.

The lender also declared a further buyback of $1 billion, defying some analysts' expectations it might pause its strategy of returning extra capital to investors.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has emphasised on better connectivity between India and other member countries of the Mekong Ganga Cooperation (MGC) bloc for developing a vibrant economic growth corridor.

The MGC, is a sub-regional cooperation organisation comprising India and five ASEAN countries, namely, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. 

Addressing the 10th MGC Ministerial Meeting in the Thai capital Bangkok today, Dr Jaishankar said, connectivity is a major focus area of cooperation for India. He said, New Delhi looks forward to the early completion of the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway and its extension to Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam. He said, the Jakarta-based Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) have been tasked to study the feasibility of developing the planned highway as a vibrant economic growth corridor.  The full report is expected to be completed early next year. 

President Ram Nath Kovind has been awarded the National order of Merit by the President of Guinea for his exceptional contribution to the advancement of overall relations and development of mutual cooperation between India and Guinea and for promoting friendship and partnership between the people of both the countries. 

This is the highest award of Republic of Guinea. 

During the award ceremony President Kovind said, the award is dedicated to people of India and Guinea for his friendship. Earlier, The President had extensive talks with his counterpart. During the delegation level talks, a range of areas of mutual interest in bilateral, regional and multilateral fields have been discussed.