President Droupadi Murmu launched ‘My Bengal, Addiction Free Bengal’ Campaign under the ‘Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyan’, organized by Brahma Kumaris at Raj Bhavan, Kolkata today, August 17. Speaking on the occasion, the President said that drug abuse is a matter of concern for society and the country.

Due to these addictions, youth are not able to choose the right direction in their lives. This is very worrying and there is a need to work on all fronts in this matter. She stated that this situation can be improved through spiritual awakening, medication, social solidarity and political will. She appreciated organizations like Brahma Kumaris for discussing such issues and working to solve them.

On the occasion of 77th Independence Day on Tuesday, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren announced ‘Abua Awas Yojna’ at a cost of Rs 15,000 crore under which, three-room houses will be made available to the needy in the next two years.

Hoisting the tricolour at Morabadi Ground in Ranchi, Soren said his government was constantly striving to build a strong state and making honest attempts to fulfil the promises made to the people of this state.

“As I promised to the people of this state, today I announce a new scheme, ‘Abua Awas Yojana’ from this stage. Under this scheme, the state government will spend around 15,000 crores from its fund and provide houses to the needy in the next two years,” said Soren.

CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute launched an improved variety of the national flower Lotus with 108 petals called 'Namoh 108'. The flower was dedicated to the nation a day before Independence Day. The Lotus variety is more weather resilient and can flower from March to December. CSIR-NBRI also released apparels made from lotus fibre and a perfume developed from Lotus plants. A new variety of Aloe Vera called 'NBRI-Nihar' was also launched, which has 2.5 times more gel yield and is least affected by bacterial and fungal diseases. Research on cotton will be made easier with the use of a chip to make all information about cotton available.

The Tokyo Olympian and 2021 Asian Championship bronze medallist wrestler Seema Bisla has been handed a one-year suspension for 'whereabouts failure'. Seema, who participates in the 50kg weight category in women's freestyle, has been handed a one-year suspension by the Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel (ADDP). The ADDP passed the order to ban the 30-year-old Seema Bisla on July 21 and her name was included in the list put up by the National Anti-Doping Agency.

This is the third violation of anti-doping rules reported by NADA recently with a 14-year-old Asain Games-bound swimmer and a wushu player who had tested positive for banned substances. Though Seema Bisla has been banned because of a whereabouts violation, NADA has not made it clear whether it was a filing failure or missed test. The period of ineligibility started in May 2023.

Prominent Indian-American economist Raj Chetty has been awarded the coveted George Ledlie Prize for wielding big data to break myths about who achieves the American Dream and the obstacles faced by others.

Along with Mr Chetty, Biologist Michael Springer, professor of systems biology at Harvard Medical School, who created a better, faster COVID test system to help deal with the spread of COVID, was also honoured with the coveted Harvard University's George Ledlie Prize.

Indian Space Research Organisation is planning its next launch of the Aditya L1 satellite this month.  It will be the first space-based Indian mission to study the Sun. The satellite will carry seven instruments to study the solar atmosphere, solar magnetic storms and its impact on the environment around Earth. It will be ed in a halo orbit around L1 point between the Earth and the Sun. The satellite will take around 109 Earth days after launch to reach the halo orbit called L1, covering a distance of over 1.5 million kilometres. The Aditya L1 spacecraft, which was assembled and integrated at the U.R. Rao Satellite Centre (URSC), Bengaluru, has arrived at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. The Director of U R Rao Satellite Centre in Bengaluru Dr. M Shankaran has spoken exclusively to Akashvani on the Aditya L1 mission.

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved an extension of the government’s flagship Digital India scheme with an outlay of Rs 14,903 crore for five years, starting FY2021-22 to FY2025-26. Cybersecurity has been kept as a big focus of the expansion, which includes enhancing the capabilities of the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In).

Under the expansion, 5.25 lakh IT professionals will undergo upskilling while 2.65 lakh people will be trained in cybersecurity. The mobile-based Umang application will get 540 more services, up from the current 1,700, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said.

With a view to improve rail connectivity and ease travel for commuters, the Union Cabinet approved seven projects for Ministry of Railways at a cost of around ₹32,500 crore. Spanning 35 districts in nine States - Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha, Jharkhand, and West Bengal, the projects will add 2,339 km to the existing network.

The proposed doubling of the 96-km-long Gorakhpur Cantonment-Valmiki Nagar (Bihar) single-line section at a cost of ₹1,269.8 crore, will save two to three hours in running time for trains to Assam, Tripura, north Bihar, and eastern Uttar Pradesh, and for passengers to and from Nepal, said Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister for Railways. “Jute, sugar industries, maize and its products of north Bihar will be benefitted,” said Mr. Vaishnaw.

President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Vice President  Jagdeep Dhankhar paid floral tributes to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at Sadaiv Atal on his death anniversary today. Home Ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Anurag Singh Thakur, and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla among other prominent leaders also paid their tributes.

Earlier, in a tweet to Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he joined the 140 crore people of India in paying homage to the remarkable Atal Ji on his Punya Tithi. The Prime Minister added that India benefited greatly from his leadership and played a pivotal role in boosting our nation's progress and in taking it to the 21st century in a wide range of sectors.

The Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved the PM e-Bus Sewa Scheme, Minister of Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur said at a briefing. The Cabinet also approved an extension to the Digital India programme and allotted an outlay of 14,903 crore.

Cabinet approves 7 projects for Indian railways with an outlay of Rs 32,500 cr.

A total of Rs 57,613 crore has been allotted to the e-bus scheme. Of this, the central government will provide Rs 20,000 cr and the balance will be paid for by the state governments.