Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be on a three-day visit to Gujarat from today. Upon his arrival, Mr Modi will first inaugurate the 'Vibrant Gujarat Global Trade Show' in Gandhinagar. An official release said the event is an integral part of the ninth edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit which the Prime Minister will inaugurate tomorrow. The Trade Show will showcase more than 25 industrial and business sectors under one umbrella.

Mr Modi will also dedicate to the nation the newly-constructed Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Institute of Medical Sciences and Research in Ahmedabad today. It is a state of the art, the super-speciality public hospital built by Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and is equipped with all modern amenities, including an air ambulance. 

Mr Modi will also inaugurate the Ahmedabad Shopping Festival at Sabarmati River Front. It is the first event of its kind in India which will provide an opportunity for city enterprises to showcase their products. The Prime Minister would address gatherings at both the places.

Mr Modi will inaugurate the three-day Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit tomorrow morning. The summit provides a platform for brainstorming on agendas of global socio-economic development, knowledge sharing and forging effective partnerships. The theme of the Summit is 'Youth Connect 2019: Shaping A New India - The Story of Billion Dreams'. Fifteen countries including Australia, Canada, France and Japan have agreed to be partner countries this year.

On Saturday, the Prime Minister visit Hazira industrial area near Surat to mark the setting up of the Hazira Gun Factory. From Hazira, Mr Modi will head to Silvassa, the capital of Dadra and Nagar Haveli. 

There, he will inaugurate and lay the foundation stone for various projects. The Prime Minister will also go to Mumbai on Saturday. He will inaugurate the new building of the National Museum of Indian Cinema.

Malayalam director-screenwriter Lenin Rajendran passed away in Chennai on Monday. He was 67.

Rajendran was undergoing treatment for a liver ailment at Apollo hospital in Chennai.

Lenin Rajendran made his directorial debut with 1982 film Venal. He went on to helm films like Swathi Thirunal, Daivathinte Vikrithikal, Kulam, Rathri Mazha and Makaramanju. His last directorial was the 2016 film Edavappathy.

Sharing the news on Twitter, Oscar-winning sound designer Resul Pookutty wrote, “Ace Malayalam director who made some inspiring movies #LeninRajendran is no more…such a sad loss! He had so many ideas and we were in sync at many issues concerning Chitranjali Studio…everything left unaccomplished!You will remain in our memories, May your Soul Reat In Peace.”

Mohammed Ali Qamar, the man who won India's first Commonwealth Games gold medal in boxing, has taken over as chief coach for the country's women pugilists, becoming the youngest ever to get the top job. Ali Qamar, who turns 38 in a couple of months' time, was appointed to the position on Monday night, replacing veteran Shiv Singh. Ali Qamar has been an assistant coach in the national camp for more than a year.

In addition, the Arjuna awardee has helmed the Railways Sports Promotion Board's women's team for more than three years. "It has come as a bit of surprise to me, I got to know only last night and I am thankful to the Boxing Federation of India for considering me worthy enough for the position," Ali Qamar, whose history-making CWG gold came in the 2002 Manchester edition in the light flyweight category, told PTI in an interview.

The diminutive Kolkata native will be working alongside Italian coach Raffaele Bergamasco and will have seven assistant coaches in his team, including superstar M C Mary Kom's trainer Chhote Lal Yadav.
The man he succeeds is well past 60 and there were murmurs of a possible change in the women's camp after the BFI named a 39-year-old C A Kuttappa as the chief coach for the men's camp. India's previous chief coaches for women -- Anoop Kumar and Gurbax Singh Sandhu -- were well over 50 when they took over.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development Tuesday approved a proposal to extend the seventh pay commission recommendations to academic staff of government and aided technical institutions with granting of Rs 1,241 crore for the purpose.

"This will directly benefit a total of 29,264 teachers and other academic staff of state government funded institutes. Besides, about 3.5 lakh teachers and other academic staff of private colleges or institutions within the purview of All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) will also benefit from the approval," Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar told reporters.

Karnataka swimmer Srihari Nataraj has emerged as the most prolific gold medal winner at the Khelo India Youth Games. He has won 7 Gold medals. With SP Likith, picking five, the Karnataka duo were the most decorated gold medalists of the Games.

In Shooting, Patiala-based Sartaj Singh defeated National Junior Champion Aishwarya Pratap Singh Tomar of Madhya Pradesh and won the gold medal in the 50-metres rifle-3 position event.

In the Under-21 Boys hockey played in Mumbai, Odisha were crowned as champions. Maharashtra continues to be way ahead in the medals tally. The hosts have, so far, bagged a total of 177 medals - 64 Gold, 51 Silver and 62 Bronze.

Delhi is at the second spot with 121 medals - 47 Gold, 31 Silver and 43 Bronze, while Haryana is placed third with 110 medals - 37 Gold, 35 Silver and 38 Bronze.

British lawmakers defeated Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit divorce deal by a crushing margin on Tuesday, triggering political chaos that could lead to a disorderly exit from the EU or even to a reversal of the 2016 decision to leave.

After parliament voted 432-202 against her deal, the worst defeat in modern British history, opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn promptly called a vote of no confidence in May’s government, to be held at 1900 GMT on Wednesday.

With the clock ticking down to March 29, the date set in law for Brexit, the United Kingdom is now ensnared in the deepest political crisis in half a century as it grapples with how, or even whether, to exit the European project that it joined in 1973.

“It is clear that the House does not support this deal, but tonight’s vote tells us nothing about what it does support,” May told parliament, moments after the result was announced. “… nothing about how – or even if – it intends to honour the decision the British people took in a referendum parliament decided to hold.”

In order to promote Micro irrigation amongst farmers, Ministry of Water resources and River development is going to organise 9thInternational Micro irrigation conference from today in Aurangabad, Maharashtra.

The conference will focus on the theme of  “Micro Irrigation and Modern Agriculture”.

Union Minister for water resources and river development Shri Nitin Gadkari will be officially inaugurating the event. Chief Minister of Maharashtra Shri Devendra Fadnvis and Union Minister for Agriculture Shri Radha Mohan singh will be presence in this occasion.

The conference will discuss, deliberate and strategize with eminent stakeholders including farmers, to create awareness about the use of Micro Irrigation on a large scale.

740 delegates including 100 foreign delegates from 56 countries and as many 100 Agricultural scientists will also attend the conference.

Shri Nitishwara Kumar, Joint Secretary of Ministry for Water Resources and River development told that this conference was meant to promote interaction between the scientist and farmers and ensure that more farmers adopt the micro irrigation system.

The government on Tuesday announced the composition of a seven-member Group of Ministers (GoM), which will examine and suggest ways to resolve the issues plaguing the real estate sector after the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST). A lower GST rate of 5% is one of the demands of industry players. Gujarat deputy chief minister Nitin Patel will head the panel that has eight terms of reference set for it.

The committee will suggest ways for a scheme to address the problems facing both developers and buyers. It will examine various aspects of levying GST on transfer of development rights and development rights in a joint development agreement and suitable model. It will also look at legality of inclusion or exclusion of land or any other ingredient in the scheme and suggest a valuation mechanism.

At present, GST is levied at an effective rate of 12% (standard rate of 18% minus 6% abatement for land value) on premium housing and effective rate of 8% (12% minus 4% abatement) on affordable housing on payments made for under-construction property or ready-to-move-in flats where completion certificate wasn’t issued at the time of sale.

Union Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu on Tuesday said the government is working on a policy framework for the domestic manufacturing of aircraft and also looking at aircraft financing and maintenance work within the country.

Prabhu also emphasised on carrying out of maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) work domestically. “We will soon roll out a road map for manufacturing of aircraft in India,” Prabhu said while speaking to the media at the Global Aviation Summit 2019, organised jointly by the Civil Aviation Ministry, the Airports Authority of India and Ficci.

The country needs 2,300 new aircraft to meet the future air travel demand, he said. “We would like to join hands with top players from across the globe.” The minister said the government wants aircraft financing to be done by domestic players. “We are already working on financing of aircraft and how that should happen from India. We are losing out lot of resources to outsiders,” Prabhu said.

The nation is celebrating the 71st Army Day today to remember the valiance and exemplary achievements of army personnel who risk their lives for the nation. The day is being celebrated formally with an annual parade at the Cariappa Parade Ground in New Delhi at 10:15 am.

Speaking at the event, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat said that the Indian Army will not hesitate to take strong action to deal with terror activities along the western border. Taking an alleged dig at Pakistan, the Army Chief said, “The country along our western border is providing support to terror groups. We are dealing with them effectively.”

Army Day is celebrated on January 15 every year to mark the day when (then) Lieutenant General KM Cariappa took over from General Sir Francis Butcher as Commander-in-Chief of India on January 1949. Popularly known as “Kipper”, KM Cariappa was the first Indian commander-in-chief of the Indian Army. He is one of only two Indian Army officers to hold the five-star rank of field marshal.