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. 

THE INDIAN Air Force on Thursday said it was in a “high state of preparedness” to pro-actively engage any perceived threat from Pakistan, in an indication that tension remained between the two countries.

Citing a document of Pakistan’s civil aviation authority, the IAF said the neighbouring country has opened its airspace with Oman, Iran, Afghanistan and China only and the 11 entry and exit points located along the India-Pakistan airspace were still closed.

“The Indian Air Force is in a high state of preparedness, to pro-actively engage any perceived threat in the present security scenario,” the IAF said in a statement. It said a strict vigil in the skies is being maintained to detect and thwart any act of aggression by the Pakistan Air Force .

Officials said all the frontline IAF bases along India’s western border have been kept on maximum alert.

Dr. Ausaf Sayeed, presently High Commissioner of India to the Republic of Seychelles, has been appointed as the next ambassador of India to Saudi Arabia. 

An External Affairs Ministry release said, the Indian Foreign Service officer of the 1989 batch, Sayeed will succeed Ahmad Javed, who had been serving as envoy to Saudi Arabia since December 2015. 

Mr Sayeed has handled different areas including political, economic, consular and cultural work, besides Haj management and served as Ambassador to Yemen and Consul General of India in Chicago and Jeddah. 

International Women's Day is being observed today. Governments, NGOs and other organisations across the world observe the day on 8th of March every year to highlight the achievements of women.

The theme for this year's women's day is 'Think Equal, Build Smart, Innovate for Change'. The purpose of the theme is to achieve gender equality by putting innovation by women and girls, for women and girls, at the heart of efforts. 

President Ram Nath Kovind has extended greetings to all fellow citizens and particularly to the daughters of India who, through their success, have brought glory to the nation. 

President Ram Nath Kovind will present the highest civilian honour for women in India, Nari Shakti Puraskar 2018 in New Delhi today.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch several development projects in Varanasi, Kanpur and Ghaziabad districts of Uttar Pradesh today. 

In Varanasi, the Prime Minister will first visit the Kashi Vishwanath Temple at Varanasi and lay the foundation stone for the approach road beautification and strengthening project to Kashi Vishwanath Temple. 

He will also attend National Women Livelihood Meet, 2019 at Deendayal Hastkala Sankul at his Parliamentary constituency.

In Kanpur, the Prime Minister will unveil the Panki Power Plant, establishment of new 660 megawatt electricity generation and distribution unit. He will also inaugurate Lucknow Metro Rail Project. Later, he will also address a gathering on this occasion.

In Ghaziabad, Mr Modi will inaugurate Dilshad Garden - Shaheed Sthal Section of Metro. This elevated metro corridor section has eight stations and provide convenient mode of transport for people in Ghaziabad and New Delhi. Mr Modi will also inaugurate the Hindon Airport Civil Terminal at Hindon Airport Civil Terminal, Ghaziabad.

After a slide in cleanliness ranking for two consecutive years, Rajkot staged a comeback as the city broke back into top 10 after four years on Wednesday. In the latest Swachh Survekshan list, Rajkot was ranked the ninth cleanest city in the country, an improvement of 26 places as compared to last year. Ahmedabad, which also broke into the top 10, and Gandhinagar also improved their rankings but others dropped in the chart.

In the survey conducted by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs in New Delhi, Rajkot secured 4000 marks out of 5000 and was ranked ninth out of 100 cities in the country. Madhya Pradesh’s Indore was declared the cleanest city of India for the third consecutive year. Ambikapur of Chhatisgarh came second in the ranking, followed by Mysuru, Ujjain and New Delhi. Ahmedabad was ranked sixth cleanest city. Navi Mumbai, Tirupati, Rajkot and Devas completed the list of top 10 cleanest cities of the country in the category of cities having population of more than one lakh.

Incidentally, Rajkot was ranked the seventh cleanest city in the inaugural Swachh Survekshan, 2016. However, it slipped to eighteenth position in 2017 and further down to 35 in 2018 as the city suffered due to not having proper solid waste processing facilities in place.

In a first, the government is all set to introduce Rs 20 coins that will soon be in circulation in the country. The Ministry of Finance Wednesday issued a gazette notification regarding the new Rs 20 coin which will be shaped like a “dodecagon” – a 12-edged polygon. This means that the new coin will not be circular in shape like the other coins in circulation.