The world's largest religious and cultural human congregation -Kumbh 2019 has begun with the holy dip at Sangam, the confluence of rivers Ganga, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati at Prayagraj early this morning. The first bathing was taken by saints and seers of different Akharas. According to Kumbh Mela administration around one crore 25 lakh devotees area expected on this Royal bathing Makar Sankranti.

Twenty-one Snan Ghats have been set up for bathing. Special arrangements have been made for women devotees and for the first time three women police units have been pressed into service. More than one lakh twenty thousand toilets have been erected for making Clean Kumbh. AIR correspondent reports that the Kumbh Mela will conclude on 4th of March. 

Whole the area is reverberated with the sound of conch shells, bells, drums and chanting of Mantras, Bhajan and Kirtan. People are donating khichdi bhog and cloths on Makar Sankranti. Elaborate security arrangements have been put in place for the safe bathing. Besides, three Jal police stations, 9 NDRF water emergency teams have been pressed in service. The whole kumbh area is divided into 20 sectors and 9 zones for keen vigil by sector and zonal magistrates. Forty police stations, 58 police outposts including three women police station are erected where more than  20 thousand security personnel are deployed.

The Act providing 10 per cent reservation in government jobs and educational institutions to Economically Weaker Sections of general category has come into effect. The government notified 14th January as the date from which the provisions of Constitution (103rd Amendment) Act, 2019 will be effective.

President Ram Nath Nath Kovind had given his assent to the Act on Saturday. The Act amends Articles 15 and 16 of the Constitution, by adding a clause which allows states to make special provision for the advancement of any economically weaker sections of general category.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Kerala and Odisha today. Mr Modi will reach Thiruvananthapuram and attend a function at Kollam to inaugurate a 13-kilometre bypass connecting a stretch from Mevaram to Kavanad. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will also attend the function. Later the Prime Minister will address a public meeting at Asharamam ground  in Kollam.

Mr Modi will also offer prayers at the famous Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram. He will commission several developmental projects undertaken in the temple complex under Swadeshi Darshan scheme.

The Prime Minister Modi will also visit Balangir in Odisha to dedicate several development projects. Mr Modi will dedicate Multi-Modal Logistics Park Jharsuguda and inaugurate a new railway line from Balangir-Bichupali. An official release said the Prime Minister will also lay foundation stone for Kendriya Vidyalaya building at Sonepur. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will reach Kerala around 4 pm today. He will inaugurate the 13 kilometer long Kollam bypass. The bypass will ease traffic flow from  Thiruvananthapuram to the rest of the state through Kollam. Constructed at a cost of Rupees 352 crores, it includes three bridges over Ashtamudi Lake. The Prime Minister will also address a Rally at Peerangi Maidan in Kollam. In Thiruvananthapuram, Shri Narendra Modi will visit Padmanabha Swamy Temple and unveil a plaque to mark the launch of visitor facilities under the Swadeshi Darshan programme. Tight security arrangements and traffic restrictions are  in place in view of the Prime Minister's visit. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday received the first-ever Philip Kotler Presidential award in New Delhi.

The award focuses on the triple-bottom-line of ‘people, profit and planet’. It will be offered annually to the leader of a nation, a statement from the Prime Minister’s office said.

According to the award citation, Modi was selected for his “outstanding leadership for the nation”.

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“His selfless service towards India, combined with his tireless energy has resulted in extraordinary economic, social and technological advances in the country,” it read.

The citation also states that under his leadership, India is now identified as the centre for innovation and value-added manufacturing (Make in India), as well as a global hub for professional services such as information technology, accounting and finance.

The statement quoted the citation as saying Modi’s visionary leadership has also resulted in the digital revolution (Digital India), including the Unique Identification Number, Aadhaar, for social benefits and financial inclusion.

The citation, the statement said, mentions initiatives such as Make in India, Startup India, Digital India and Swachh Bharat, “which have positioned India as one of the most lucrative manufacturing and business destinations in the world”.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday attacked the previous Congress government for its inability to bring Kartarpur Sabib under India during partition.

Releasing a commemorative coin as part of the 350th birth anniversary celebrations of 10th Sikh guru Guru Gobind Singh, Modi also came down on the Congress for the 1984 riots that took place following the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Referring to the Kartapur Sahib corridor, he said now devotees do not have to look at the shrine in Pakistan using binoculars and they could visit the place without visa using the corridor.

"A mistake took place in August, 1947. It (the corridor) is an atonement of the mistake. An important place of our guru was only a few kilometers away. But it could not be made part (of India during partition) ... the corridor is an effort to reduce the damage," he said in a veiled attack on the then Congress government. Guru Nanak passed away in Kartarpur on September 22, 1539.

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh, former chief justice of India J S Khehar and several Sikh leaders were present at the Prime Minister's residence to participate in the event.

Modi said be it Guru Nanak or Guru Gobind Singh, they have taught us to be on the side of justice. Following the path shown by them, the central government is trying to get justice for the people who suffered during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, Modi said.

Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling on January 12 launched the 'One Family One Job' scheme which entitles one government job for every family in the state.

Chamling had announced the scheme last year during the winter session of the state Legislative Assembly.

At a "Rojgar Mela" (employment fair) organised at the Paljor stadium in Gangtok, over 12,000 unemployed youths were handed out appointment letters on January 12.

However, the letters were awarded only to members of those families which do not have a government job at present.

The task of providing employment was entrusted to the Department of Personnel.

Chamling also announced that over 25,000 already employed but unregularised government employees would also be subsequently regularised within 2019 according to their seniority.

"Sikkim has become the first state in the country to carry out such an exclusive programme for the people who would now be entitled to state government employee benifits," Chamling said.

He also said that Sikkim was the only state that earmarks 70 per cent of its revenues towards salaries for state government employees.

As of now, the state government has over 1 lakh regularised employees on its rolls from a population of just 6.4 lakh.

At the Khelo India Youth Games in Pune today, ten year old Abhinav Shaw became the youngest gold medallist in shooting.  

He teamed up with Mehuli Ghosh to help West Bengal win the 10m air rifle mixed team event. Delhi's Devanshi Rana bagged gold in Under-21 girls  25m pistol event. 
  
Maharashtra once again dominated the gymnastics arena at the Games to wrap up the Under-21 category with a whopping nine medals on the last day of gymnastics events. 

With 18 medals comprising nine gold, six silver and three bronze in gymnastics,  Maharashtra were also crowned champions.

In Hockey under -21 category,  Odisha beat Uttar Pradesh in the first semi-final 2-1 while Haryana proved better than Punjab with a 3-1 win. Odisha and Haryana will now play for gold on Tuesday.  

In overall medals tally, Maharashtra completed its half century of gold medals. Delhi follows with 36 gold and Haryana 31 golds so far. 

Bengaluru Raptors edged the Mumbai Rockets 4-3 to win their maiden Premier Badminton League title on Sunday.

World No. 18 Anders Antonsen lost narrowly to the Bengaluru skipper Srikanth when the two faced off in that battle at the beginning of this week.

Any hope of a turnaround was dashed by a superb Srikanth who grabbed a 15-7, 15-10 victory.

The Bengaluru talisman rode on his smashes to open up a 5-1 lead and extended it to 10-4 in a completely one-sided display.

Antonsen used his tight spinning net game to trouble Srikanth in the first half of the second game and made it 5-5. But that was all he could do against a determined Srikanth who went up to 12-9 and closed out the match for his eighth win on the trot.

Hendra Setiawan and Mohammad Ahsan showed that age is just a number. With the entire stadium cheering vociferously for the Raptors pair, the former world champions never put their foot wrong and finished off a 15-13, 15-10 win.

The World No. 9 pair’s reflexes were too much for Mumbai’s Lee Yong Dae and Kim GI Jung and it was only a matter of time before the men in yellow grabbed the much-coveted win.

All arrangements have been put in place for the Kumbh Mela, that begins at Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh from tomorrow. The Kumbh, world's largest congregation of humanity at one place, will commence with the Shahi Snan of Akharas. 

The administration has already banned entry of vehicles into the Mela area since last night. The event will be broadcast and telecast live by All India Radio and Doordarshan. AIR has set up a separate one kilowatt FM transmitter - Kumbhvani. The broadcast from Kumbhvani can be heard between 5:55 AM and 10:05 PM everyday in a radius of 35 kilometers.

AIR, for the first time, has also made arrangements for live streaming on YouTube of all programs broadcast from Kumbhvani. Doordarshan will start its telecast of special programs on Kumbh Mela from tomorrow. It will telecast about three hours programs each day.

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has drafted a five-year action plan for addressing the problem of drug and substance abuse in the country, dumping a long-pending draft policy on the matter.

The National Action Plan for Drug Demand Reduction (2018-2023) aims to employ a multi-pronged strategy -- involving education, de-addiction and rehabilitation of affected individuals and their families -- to address the issue, a government official said.

The move comes after the ministry withdrew the draft National Drug Demand Reduction Policy from the Cabinet.

It had been pending for more than five-and-half years and was redrafted twice during the period.

"Instead of the policy, the ministry has now prepared a national action plan," the official said. The plan focuses on preventive education, awareness generation, counselling, treatment and rehabilitation of drug-dependent people, besides training and capacity-building of service providers through collaborative efforts of the Centre, state and NGOs, he said.