Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Anurag Singh Thakur will launch the nationwide programmes on World Bicycle Day tomorrow from Major Dhyan Chand Stadium in New Delhi. During the launch ceremony, Mr. Thakur along with seven hundred fifty Young Cyclists will peddle on seven and a half-kilometre distance.

Mr Thakur said, India is celebrating 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' and on the occasion several events are being organised. He said, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has taken a unique step to organise bicycle rally on the occasion of World Bicycle Day.  
 
The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports said that the cycle rallies will be conducted by Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan at 75 iconic places across the country during which 75 participants will cover the distance of seven and a half-kilometre distance.

India and Senegal have signed three MoUs for cultural exchange, cooperation in youth matters and visa-free regime for officials. The MoUs were signed after delegation-level talks between Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and President of Senegal Macky Sall in the capital city of Dakar.

During the meeting, Mr. Naidu assured Senegal of India's continued commitment to support the socio-economic development of that country through all means, bilateral, regional and international frameworks.

Complimenting Senegal for positioning itself as one of Africa's model democracies, the Vice President said that India, as the world's largest democracy appreciates Senegal's success in this regard.

Popular playback singer Krishnakumar Kunnath, better known as KK, collapsed after a concert in Kolkata and was rushed to a private hospital in the city, where he was pronounced dead. He was 53.

KK was introduced by A. R. Rahman in a Tamil Film Kadhal Desam. He got his Bollywood break "Tadap Tadap" from Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam.

The Delhi-born singer has recorded songs in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Bengali, Assamese and Gujarati languages. The self-taught KK had never undergone any formal training in music. He is survived by his wife and two children.

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Singh Thakur have expressed grief on the passing away of the talented singer.

The third passenger train service between India and Bangladesh was flagged off on Wednesday, June 1 by the Railway Ministers of the two countries virtually from Delhi.

Mitali Express connecting New Jalpaiguri in West Bengal to Dhaka started its maiden journey after Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav and his Bangladeshi counterpart Nurul Islam Sujan flagged off the train virtually from Delhi.

Mitali Express is the third passenger train service between Bangladesh and India.The fully air conditioned biweekly train Mitali Express will connect North East India with Bangladesh providing the people of Bangladesh easy access to tourist destinations across North East India. The train will run on the Haldibari-Chilahati railway line which was inaugurated in 2020 during the virtual summit meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The Mitali Express train was inaugurated during the visit of Prime Minister Modi to Bangladesh in March last year to take part in the golden jubilee celebration of the liberation of Bangladesh but it could not be operationalised due to COVID 19 pandemic.

In a first in India, the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi introduced radio-frequency identification (RFID) enabled baggage tags which will give passengers real-time information about the location of their luggage. The RFID technology will be personalised and help arriving passengers keep track of their check-in luggage.

Union Minister of State for Culture Meenakashi Lekhi has launched the 75-day countdown to 75th year of Independence in New Delhi. The programme was held at Central Park in Connaught Place yesterday.

On the occasion, Culture Secretary Govind Mohan, Secretary, New Delhi Municipal Council, Isha Khosla and senior Officials of Ministry of Culture and NDMC attended the function along with general public.

Speaking on the occasion, Ms Lekhi said, Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav is about celebrating everything which is good in India, everything which every Indian should be proud of and everything which shows unity in the diversity of India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met women boxers Nikhat Zareen, Manisha Moun and Parveen Hooda yesterday, the medal winners at the recently concluded World Boxing Championships.

Nikhat Zareen won a gold medal in the Championships, the fifth Indian pugilist to have achieved that. Debutants Manisha Moun and Parveen Hooda won bronze medals.

After the meeting, Mr Modi said in a tweet that he was glad to have met boxers, who made India proud at the Women's World Boxing Championship.

The Indian Navy will bid farewell to its two ships INS Nishank and INS Akshay, at Naval Dockyard in Mumbai tomorrow. Both the ships will be decommissioned at Naval Dockyard after 32 years of being at the forefront of safeguarding the maritime interests of the nation.

Commissioned in the freezing temperature of Poti Shipyard of erstwhile Soviet Union which is presently in Georgia, the ships will be decommissioned in the tropical temperature of Mumbai wherein the atmosphere will be laden with emotions and nostalgia of all the ex-crew of both the ships.

All the seafarers bear the names of their ships as their own identity. Home to many a sea warriors, these ships will always remain source of honour and pride.

The government has revised the premium rates of its two flagship social security schemes, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, PMJJBY and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, PMSBY. Premium rates for PMJJBY has revised to 436 from the earlier premium of 330 rupees per annum. For the PMSBY, the revised premium will be 20 rupees instead of the existing 12 rupees per annum. The revised premium rates will come into effect from tomorrow. This is the first revision in the premium rates since the inception of both schemes in 2015.

Union Finance Ministry said, this step would encourage other private insurers to come on board for implementing the schemes. It said, this will increase the saturation of the schemes amongst the eligible target population, especially those who are underserved or unserved population. The Ministry said, a target has been set to increase the coverage from 6.4 crore to 15 crore under PMJJBY and from 22 crore to 37 crore under PMSBY in the next five years.

Ministry of Defence today signed a contract with Bharat Dynamics Limited for the supply of ASTRA MK-I Beyond Visual Range Air to Air Missile and associated equipment for the Indian Air Force and Indian Navy at a cost of two thousand 971 crore rupees. 

Till now, the technology to manufacture missiles of this class was not available. ASTRA MK-I missile has been indigenously designed and developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation, DRDO, based on the requirements of the Indian Air Force. Air to Air missile provides large Stand-Off Ranges to own fighter aircraft which can neutralise the adversary aircraft without exposing themselves to adversary Air Defence measures.