15th Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas (PBD) will culminate with valedictory address of President Ram Nath Kovind today evening.
The President will also confer the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awards to 30 recipients from all over the world. More than 5000 NRI are participating in the Pravasi Bharatiya Sammelan.

Secretary overseas Indian affairs Gyaneshwar Mule told media that there were largest ever registration of 7,228 people this time and overseas delegates were about 5 thousand which is highest for any PBD.

Today is the last and final day of PBD. The opening day of event started with the Youth PBD and UP PBD on Monday and on the second day of event, PM Narendra Modi formally inaugurated the convention.

For the first time, the three day long convention is being organized in Varanasi, the cultural and spiritual capital of India. The theme of PBD Convention 2019 is "Role of Indian Diaspora in building New India".

Tuesday evening became memorable for NRIs who got the chance to see the famous actress and classical dancer Hema Malini performance as holy river Ganga and narration about the history of Ganga and how it's getting polluted.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday inaugurated Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose museum at Red Fort in Delhi to mark the leader's 122nd birth anniversary. Notably, the Indian National Army trials were held in the Red Fort. 

Modi also unveiled more museums commemorating India's freedom struggle - 'Yaad-e-Jallian' Museum (on the Jallianwala Bagh and World War I), Museum on 1857 (India's first war of Independence) and Drishyakala-Museum on Indian Art at the same venue. 

The museum on Bose exhibits various artefacts related to Subhas Chandra Bose and the Indian National Army. The artefacts on display include wooden chair and sword used by Bose, medals, uniforms, badges and other items related to the INA.

The ‘Yaad-e-Jallian' museum will showcase the history of Jallianwala Bagh massacre which took place in 1919. It also portrays the Indian soldiers' heroism, valour and sacrifices made during World War-1. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Mauritian counterpart Pravind Kumar Jugnauth held talks on Tuesday.
They have discussed ways to boost bilateral trade and investment, including finalisation of a comprehensive economic partnership agreement.

Both leaders met in Varanasi on the sidelines of the 15th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas which was inaugurated by Mr Modi, and in which Mr Jugnauth was the Chief Guest and keynote speaker.

In a statement, the External Affairs Ministry said, both Prime Ministers reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral relations, and the talks focussed on the initiatives to further strengthen the ties.

Mr Modi and Mr Jugnauth also discussed the ongoing bilateral development co-operation projects.
New proposals for critical partnership projects in health, disaster management and energy sectors were agreed upon in the deliberations.

The two leaders also discussed ways to expand further co-operation in areas of blue economy.
Blue economy is the sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihood and jobs, and ocean ecosystem health.

Both the Prime Ministers also discussed collaboration in Africa.
Earlier, inaugurating the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, Mr Modi said, NRIs can play a great role in Start Up, Stand Up and in Defence manufacturing sector while working for the development of India.

He called upon the Indian diaspora to play a greater role in the development of the land of their forefathers.
In his address, the Mauritian Prime Minister hailed Mr Modi's leadership, saying that India had transformed under him and taken many initiatives to facilitate the less fortunate to have better access to opportunities.

The theme of this year's Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is, 'Role of Indian Diaspora in building New India'.
Mr Jugnauth will call on President Ram Nath Kovind today.

Uttarakhand received the seasons' heaviest snowfall on Tuesday. Nainital, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri received heavy snowfall, Mussoorie received nearly half-feet snow, while Dhanaulti is covered with snow since Monday night.

Dehradun received incessant rain which started on Monday. Officials said, the Rishikesh-Badrinath national highway and some other roads are closed between Kund and Chameli due to snowfall.

Met department said rain and snowfall might continue for the next few days.

Badrinath, Yamunotri, Gangotri and Kedarnath are covered with snow, while many areas have been receiving rains for the past 24 hours.

Cold wave has disrupted normal life in Tehri, Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag and Chamoli districts. Schools have been closed due snowfall and rain in some districts.

Road traffic in remote hilly areas has also been affected. While upper ranges of Uttarakhand are witnessing heavy snowfall, the plains received rains during the past 24 hours.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have announced cash rewards for All-India Senior Selection Committee members following Indian cricket team’s historic Test series win in Australia followed by the ODI series for their first bilateral ODI series win in Australia. The board announced that the selection committee comprising five members will get a bonus of Rs 20 lakhs each.

Making the announcement, Committee of Administrators (CoA) chairman Vinod Rai said, “We are extremely proud of the way Team India have performed in Australia. We had announced cash rewards for cricketers and support staff earlier and are now rewarding selectors.”

“The five men have played a crucial role in picking a balanced Indian squad and offering the team management enough options to work around different combinations. The boys chosen to represent the Indian team went about their task in a fearless manner and stood up in challenging situations.”

The 28-hour countdown for the launch of Cartosat-2 series satellite along with 30 co-passenger satellites from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh began at 5.29 am on Thursday.

Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, in its 40th flight (PSLV-C38), would launch the 712 kg Cartosat-2 series satellite for earth observation and 30 co-passenger satellites together weighing about 243 kg at lift-off into a 505 km polar Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO) at 09.20 hours on Friday, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said.

The total weight of all these satellites carried onboard PSLV-C38 is about 955 kg.

The co-passenger satellites, comprise 29 Nano satellites from 14 countries - Austria, Belgium, Chile, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America besides a Nano satellite from India.

PSLV-C38 will be launched from the First Launch Pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre.

This will be the 40th flight of PSLV and 17th flight of PSLV in 'XL' configuration (with the use of solid strap-on motors).

The space agency said the 29 international customer Nano satellites are being launched as part of the commercial arrangements between Antrix Corporation Limited (Antrix), commercial arm of ISRO and international customers.

Nation pays homage to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on his 122nd birth anniversary today.

President, Vice President and Prime Minister today paid tributes to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on his birth anniversary.
In a tweet, President Ram Nath Kovind said, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose remains one of the most beloved national heroes and an icon of India's freedom struggle.

He said, Netaji is cherished, remembered and missed to this day all over the country.

Paying his tributes Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu said, he bows to the heroism, vision and dedication of Netaji towards the country.
He urged citizens of every generation to study the personality and work of patriotic leaders like Netaji and respect their contribution in the history of the country.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a tweet said, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was a stalwart who committed himself towards ensuring India is free and leads a life of dignity.

The Prime Minister said the Government is committed to fulfilling his ideals and creating a strong India.

The Union government on Monday formed a committee housed in its think tank NITI Aayog to recommend medicines for price control, diluting the central role of the National Pharmaceuticals Pricing Authority (NPPA) in setting drug prices.

Currently, NPPA functions as an autonomous body regulating prices of medicines and health products such as stents under the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM), besides monitoring prices of those that are not on the list. The new order also ends the existing mechanism in which drugs declared essential would automatically come under price control. From now, the NITI Aayog committee will decide which drugs should be under price control.

A 21 January order from the ministry of chemicals and fertilizers announced the formation of a standing committee on affordable medicines and health products (SCAMHP) led by member (health), NITI Aayog, and including the chief economic adviser in the ministry of finance; secretary of the department of health research; NLEM vice chairman; joint secretary of the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP); director general of health services and a subject expert on biomedical devices/pharmaceuticals.

“The committee should be housed in the NITI Aayog and will be serviced by it," said the order.

Indian skipper Virat Kohli created history by winning all three top awards at ICC Awards 2018.

Virat Kohli bagged all the major laurels during the ICC Awards 2018 that were declared Tuesday by becoming the first to win the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) cricketer, test and one-day international (ODI) player of the year awards. Kohli became the first player in history to win the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for ICC Cricketer of the Year, the ICC Men’s Test Player of the Year and the ICC ODI Player of the Year awards following an extraordinary 2018. In addition to these, he was also named the captain of the ICC Test and ODI teams of the year for 2018.

Indian cricketers and fans went all out to celebrate this occasion online and dubbed him as ‘King Kohli’. The 30-year-old from Delhi finished the year as the top-ranked batsman in Tests and ODIs. The highest scorer in both forms of the game in 2018, he was one of only two batsmen to score more than 1,000 runs in Tests and only among three to do so in ODI cricket. He scored 1,202 ODI runs in 2018 at a stunning average of 133.55. He also became the fastest to reach the milestone of 10,000 runs in the format.

Nepal's central bank has announced the ban of Indian currency notes with denominations above Rs 100.

The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) on Sunday issued a circular for the institutions licensed by it notifying them about the ban, reports Xinhua news agency.

Nepal's cabinet in December had decided to ban the use of these currency notes.

The decision to ban these notes has come a time when the NRB has requested the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) arequesting the latter to allow Nepal to use currency notes with all denominations.