A complete ban on the use of polythene bags will come into force in Uttar Pradesh from tomorrow. 

Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi said, local police station and its in-charge will be held responsible for non-compliance of the government order in this regard. 

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had vowed last year to make Uttar Pradesh plastic and polythene-free. 

Allahabad High Court had also banned the use of polythene in the state. Government has said that alternative things will be made available to the people.

A delegation from the 59th course of National Defence College (NDC) India comprising 15 senior officers from civil services and defence forces of India, UK, Japan, Mongolia and Bangladesh visited Nepal. 

During the three-day visit which was concluded on Wednesday, the team led by Vice Admiral Srikant, AVSM, Commandant NDC called on Nepal’s Chief of Army Staff, General Purna Chandra Thapa and discussed matters of mutual interest. 

The delegation was briefed about various functions of the Nepali Army during its visit to Nepali Army headquarters. The team also visited Western Division Headquarters at Pokhara as well as the prestigious Mountain Warfare School at Jomsom. 

The delegation also paid a courtesy call on Nepal’s Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali and Defence Secretary Reshmi Raj Pandey. 

The government has announced the merger of ten public sector banks into four banks. It announced the merger of Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank with Punjab National Bank as well as the merger of Canara Bank and Syndicate Bank.

The merger of Union Bank of India, Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank and the consolidation of  Indian Bank with Allahabad Bank was also announced. Briefing media in New Delhi yesterday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that government wants a strong financial system to make the country a five trillion economy. 

The Finance Minister said, after the merger of banks, the country will now have 12 public sector banks instead of 27. She said, the profitability of public sector banks has improved and total gross non-performing assets have come down to  7.9 lakh crore rupees in March this year from 8.65 lakh crore rupees in December last year. 

The CBI has carried out joint surprise checks at 150 places across the country with the vigilance teams of the central government departments, Union Territories and public sectors undertakings. 

It was conducted in places including Delhi, Jaipur, Guwahati, Srinagar,  Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Goa, Bhopal, Nagpur, Patna, Ranchi, Ghaziabad, Lucknow and Dehradun. 

Official sources said, the exercise aimed to take forward Prime Minister Narendra Modi's message of ease of living. The departments covered during the surprise checks include the railways, coal mines, coalfields, medical and health care organisations, customs and FCI. 

The drive will sensitise all stakeholders about possible avenues of corruption and difficulties common citizens face while seeking services from such departments.

The final National Register of Citizens, NRC of Assam will be published at 10 AM today. 

The state government has made necessary arrangements to provide free legal aid to those whose names do not figure in final NRC. 

They can represent their case in front of foreigners tribunals. 

Talking exclusively to AIR, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said his government is ready to extend support to needy people. He appealed to the public to maintain peace and tranquility in the state. 

It is for the first time since 1951 that the NRC is being d in Assam to identify bonafide residents. The entire project is headed by the State Coordinator of National Registration, Assam, under the strict monitoring of the Supreme Court. 

NTPC Ltd has commissioned country’s first ultra-super critical power generation unit having a capacity of 660 MW at Khargone in Madhya Pradesh.

“This plant operates at efficiency of 41.5 per cent which is 3.3 per cent higher than the conventional super-critical ones, with steam parameters of 6000 degrees C temperatures and 270 kg/cm2 pressure,” NTPC said.

“The high efficiency will result in less coal consumption for generating same amount of electricity vis-à-vis super critical plants and will result in reduction of 3.3 per cent carbon dioxide emissions,” the company added.

NTPC said that the Khargone plant will have a total capacity of 1,320 MW - 2 Units of 660 MW each. The required facilities such as fuel handling and transportation systems for sustainable running of the plant are ready and will start its commercial operation very soon.

In a report published by Fitch Solutions Macro Research, it has been stated that India will overtake China as the largest importer of coking coal by 2025.

“We forecast India’s coking coal consumption to grow at an annual average rate of 5.4 per cent between 2019 and 2028, driven by an equally robust expansion in steel production in the country,” it said in a report.

“As a result, we expect India to overtake China as the largest importer of global coking coal by 2025, despite the country only importing half as much as China in 2017,” it added.

While China will remain dominant in terms of overall market share, India will become increasingly important in terms of seaborne demand, it said.

Fresh restrictions were imposed in Srinagar and other parts of the Kashmir Valley as a preventive measure in view of Friday congregational prayers which passed off peacefully, officials said.

Restrictions under Section 144 of the CrPc were announced on public address system. People have been asked not to venture outside and barricades have been placed.

While Friday congregational prayers were offered in mosques located in the interiors of the city and elsewhere in the valley, no prayers were allowed in major mosques and shrines of the valley for the third consecutive week.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said government has set a target of setting up 12,500 AYUSH centres across India. He said government is trying to set up 4000 such centres this year itself. Giving away Yoga Awards to the winners for Outstanding Contribution for Promotion and Development of Yoga in New Delhi, Mr Modi said 1.5 lakh health and wellness centres are being opened across the country. 

The Prime Minister said AYUSH and Yoga are strong pillars of 'Fit India' movement. He attributed his health to Yoga, Pranayama and Ayurveda. He expressed happiness that 'Sowa - Rigpa' has become the sixth member of the AYUSH family after Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Siddha, Unani and Homeopathy. 

President Ramnath Kovind today gave away the national sports awards in New Delhi. 

Para-athlete Deepa Malik was conferred with Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award. 

Footballer Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, hockey player Chinglensana Kangujam, sprinter Mohammed Anas, heptathlete Swapna Barman and shooter Anjum Moudgil are among some prominent names who were given Arjuna award.