The three day-long celebration of 400th birth anniversary of Ahom General Lachit Barphukan will begin in New Delhi today. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will inaugurate an exhibition on this occasion at Vigyan Bhawan this morning. Union Law Minister Kiren Rijijju will attend the cultural event as the Chief Guest in the evening.  Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the closing ceremony on Friday.

Talking to AIR News, Assam Handloom Minister U G Brahma said that the life and culture of Assam's village as well as the events of Lachit Barphukan will be displayed in the exhibition. AIR Correspondent reports that the main objective of organizing the 400th birth anniversary celebration in the national capital is to sanitize the people of the country on the bravery and war skills of Lachit Barphukan. Lachit Barphukan was the famous General of the great Ahom army who defeated the Mughals and halted the expanding ambitions of Aurangzeb in the second half of the 17th century.

The opening ceremony of the FIFA World Cup 2022 has kicked off at the Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor in Qatar with a cultural show amid a loud cheer from the fans. 

Football's greatest show on Earth, FIFA World Cup 2022 has been officially declared open following the glittering opening ceremony held at the Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor. After some beautiful lightsaber and the FIFA World Cup songs, BTS singer Jung Kook performed the track, 'Dreamers', with Qatari singer Fahad Al Kubaisi also accompanying him amid a loud cheer from the crowd in the ceremony. 

Earlier, France legend Marcel Desailly presented the World Cup trophy in front of the fans ahead of the opening ceremony. He lifted the trophy to show it to the fans, who gave a loud cheer to the former footballer.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the month-long Kashi Tamil Sangamam in Varanasi on Saturday. Speaking on the occasion Prime Minister called upon the people of the country to remove the discrimination on the basis of language and strengthen the emotional unity. He said India has the history of confluence be it in confluence of rivers, places, culture or philosophy and the Kashi Tamil Sangamam is continuation of this tradition.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today stressed that development projects are no longer halted or delayed. He said the government has brought a work culture of laying the foundation stone and also inaugurating the projects. After inaugurating the Donyi Polo Airport at Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh, Mr Modi said the government has ensured on-time completion of all the undertaken development projects. He said, Hindrance, pendency and diversion are not aspects of the government. Prime minister emphasised the gathering of such a huge crowd with such a festive feel so early in the morning, is the result of implementation of all the government policies efficiently on time. It is the first Greenfield Airport of the state.

India has improved its position by six slots and is now placed at 61st rank as per the Network Readiness Index 2022 report released recently. In its latest version of 2022, the report maps the network-based readiness landscape of 131 economies based on their performances in four different pillars technology, people, governance, and impact.

India has not only improved its ranking but also improved its score from 49.74 in 2021 to 51.19 in 2022. The report states that India secured 1st rank in AI talent concentration, the second rank in Mobile broadband internet traffic within the country and International Internet bandwidth, third rank in Annual investment in telecommunication services and Domestic market size, fourth rank in ICT Services exports, fifth rank in FTTH and Building Internet subscriptions and AI scientific publications.

National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, NCPCR launched the Training Modules for the Child Welfare Committees, CWCs and Protocols for Restoration and Repatriation of Children in New Delhi on the occasion of World Children’s Day on Sunday. GHAR - GO Home and Re-Unite (Portal for Restoration and Repatriation of Child) was also launched during the event. The aim of the programme is to provide training to members and officials to the child welfare committees and Districts Child Protection Units for the effective implementation of Juvenile Justice Rules in the country.

In a video message, Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Zubin Irani congratulated the NCPCR for holding the first of its kind National level launch ceremony with regard to child protection. She said that for the protection of child rights, Child welfare committees are playing a very significant role. Reiterating government’s commitment towards child protection, the Minister also emphasized that society must be united for the protection of children.

India will take over the Chair of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence, GPAI from France today, November 21. Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar will represent the country at the GPAI meeting in Tokyo for the symbolic takeover from France. This development comes on the heels of assuming the Presidency of the G20, a league of the world’s largest economies.

GPAI is an international initiative to support responsible and human-centric development and the use of Artificial Intelligence. AIR correspondent reports that the GPAI is a congregation of 25 member countries, including the US, UK, European Union, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, South Korea, and Singapore.

Arun Goel has assumed charge as the new Election Commissioner of India. President  Droupadi Murmu has appointed Mr. Goel, a retired IAS officer as the new Election Commissioner. The post of 3rd Election Commissioner remained vacant after the then Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar took the charge of Chief Election Commissioner in May this year.

Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Singh Thakur has inaugurated the '75 Creative Minds of Tomorrow' segment at IFFI 53 in Goa.  

The 75 creative minds initiative aims to identify, encourage and nurture young creative talents from various aspects of filmmaking. The 75 creative minds have been shortlisted and selected on the basis of their submissions by an eminent jury.
Taking part in the inaugural ceremony this morning, the Minister congratulated the 75 young film talent who have been selected from across the country. He said that the young talent has a bright future and they will take wings after today.

President Droupadi Murmu has congratulated ISRO, IN-SPACe and Skyroot Aerospace for the country's first-ever private launch of the Vikram Suborbital rocket. In a tweet today, President said, this is a proud moment for the country as the rocket Vikram-S, India's first privately made rocket was successfully launched today by ISRO. She said, the rocket Vikram-S demonstrates India’s scientific prowess and capabilities of the country's private space industry.