Prime Minister Narendra Modi has underscored the importance of immediate, demonstrable and irreversible action against terrorism by all concerned countries. In his telephonic conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday, Mr Modi said, terrorism remains one of the gravest threats to global peace and security. An official release said, Mr Erdogan expressed condolences for the victims of recent terror attacks in India, and wished a speedy recovery to those injured.

Mr Modi also spoke with Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan. Both leaders expressed happiness at the growing strength of all-round bilateral co-operation. They reiterated their commitment to further consolidate the comprehensive strategic partnership. The Prime Minister thanked the Crown Prince for the invitation extended to India for addressing the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation Foreign Ministers' Council as a Guest of Honour in Abu Dhabi earlier this month.

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia, Adel bin Ahmed Al Jubeir called on Mr Modi in New Delhi yesterday. The Prime Minister thanked Saudi Arabia for expressing full solidarity with India in the fight against terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. It was agreed that both sides should work together for verifiable and credible steps against all terrorists without any discrimination.

Kavinder Singh Bisht in the 56kg-category struck gold while Shiva Thapa in the 60kg category and three others claimed silver medals to end a fine Indian campaign at the 38th GeeBee Boxing Tournament in Helsinki, Finland on Sunday.
 
Signing off with silver medals were three-time Asian medallist Shiva Thapa,  Govind Sahani, Commonwealth Games bronze-medallist Mohammed Hussamuddin and Dinesh Dagar.

In a rare all-Indian final, a gritty Bisht was up against Commonwealth Games bronze-medallist Hussamuddin in the 56kg summit clash. Both the boxers are from the Services Sports Control Board.

Sahani started off strongly against Thailand's Thitisan Panmod but lost  3-2. Thapa in 60kg category, lost 1-4 to local  Arslan Khataev. Dagar, was defeated by  Commonwealth Games gold-medallist England Pat McCormack in the finals. 

Sumit Sangwan, former youth world champion Sachin Siwach and Naveen Kumar got bronze in their categories. 

The Election Commission on March 10 imposed ‘model code of conduct' with immediate effect for the Lok Sabha elections and announced that ‘voter verifiable paper audit trail' will be used in all polling stations this time. Among other things, the model code of conduct bars the government from announcing any policy move that may impact voters' decision.

Announcing the seven-phase schedule for 2019 Lok Sabha polls beginning April 11, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora also said 10 lakhs polling stations would be set up this time as against about nine lakhs in 2014.

He said model code of conduct for polls has come into immediate effect from March 10 and all political advertisements on social media will need pre-certification.

The EC said 91 constituencies will go for polls in first phase on April 11, followed by 97 constituencies in second phase on April 18.

The total contestants in fray were 8,251, with an average of 15 candidates in each constituency. However, deposit was forfeited in case of 7,000 contestants.

A total of over 55 crore voters (66.3 per cent) exercised their vote, while there were 9.27 lakh polling stations. There were nearly 60 lakh ‘NOTA' votes.

Out of total 543 elected candidates, only 62 were women from 668 who had contested.

As a mark of respect for the CRPF personnel who lost their lives in the Pulwama terrorist attack, the Indian cricketers Friday sported special Army caps during the third ODI against Australia in Ranchi and donated their match fee to the National Defence Fund.

Captain Virat Kohli came out for the toss wearing the camouflage military cap, which had the BCCI's logo on it. He also urged everyone to contribute towards the National Defence Fund so that the money could be used for the welfare of the families of the slain CRPF Personnel. 

The inaugural India-Japan Space Dialogue was held in New Delhi yesterday. The dialogue brought together Ministries and agencies related to outer space in the two countries and provided an opportunity for information exchange on the respective space policies. Discussions were also held on bilateral cooperation between JAXA-ISRO, their space industries, global navigation satellite system, space situational awareness, space security and space-related norms.

The Indian delegation was led by Additional Secretary for Disarmament and International Security Affairs in Ministry of External Affairs, Indra Mani Pandey. The Japanese delegation was co-led by Deputy Assistant Minister in Foreign Policy Bureau of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ambassador Policy Planning and International Security Policy, Kansuke Nagaoka and Director General of National Space Policy Secretariat in Cabinet Office Shuzo Takada.

The Centre and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have signed a 26 million dollar loan agreement to provide additional financing for improving drainage infrastructure in Dibrugarh town of Assam.

The ongoing loan of 51 million dollars under the Assam Urban Infrastructure Investment Program is helping to improve water supply infrastructure in Guwahati and solid waste management and drainage infrastructure in Guwahati and Dibrugarh. 

Additional Secretary in Department of Economic Affairs Sameer Kumar Khare and India Resident Mission of ADB, Hoe Yun Jeong signed the agreement in New Delhi yesterday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh today. He will launch various development projects at Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Institute of Archaeology. Mr Modi will unveil a plaque to mark the inauguration of the institute and unveil the statue of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya at the campus. The Institute is under Archaeological Survey of India. 

The Prime Minister will also inaugurate Noida City Centre - Noida Electronic City Section of the Delhi Metro. The new section will provide a convenient and faster mode of transport for the residents of Noida. It will also decongest the roads and provide an environment-friendly mode of transport. The 6.6 kilometre long section is an extension of Delhi Metro’s Blue Line. 

The Prime Minister will also lay the foundation stone of two thermal Power Plants. One is 1,320 Mega Watt Super Thermal Power Project at Khurja, in Bulandshahar District of Uttar Pradesh and other is 1320 Mega Watt Thermal Power Plant at Buxar in Bihar. Both projects are based on Supercritical Technology with two units of capacity 660 Mega Watt each, equipped with latest emission control technology to protect the environment and has high efficiency and uses less fuel to generate power. 

The Cabinet on Thursday approved the Flood Management and Border Areas Programme (FMBAP) for the entire country, and river management activities and works related to border areas for the 2017-18 to 2019-20 years.

A total outlay of Rs 3,342 crore has been earmarked for the scheme that will be implemented throughout the country for effective flood management, erosion control and anti-sea erosion, a statement said.

It will benefit towns, villages and industrial establishments, strengthen communication links and infrastructure for flood management, and control erosion in the country, the statement added.

Supporting the decisions on electric vehicles approved during the last cabinet meeting, the government, on March 7, further approved creation of Phased Manufacturing Programme (PMP) to support and promote “clean, connected, shared and sustainable” mobility solutions.

The cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved setting up of National Mission on Transformative Mobility and Battery Storage along with creation of the PMP for five years to “support setting up of few-large scale, export-competitive integrated batteries and cell manufacturing Giga plants”.

The government aims to promote indigenous manufacturing of all components utilised in the “supply chain for manufacturing of electric vehicles” through the PMP scheme, which will be executed between 2019-20 and 2023-24 and will be approved by the NMTMBS.

Indian-American television personality and food expert Padma Lakshmi has been appointed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as its newest Goodwill Ambassador, supporting the agency's fight against inequality and discrimination around the world.

The announcement was made by UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner, on the eve of International Women's Day yesterday.