India to export wheat to countries most in need, says MEA

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate in the third Quad Leaders Summit in Tokyo on May 24 to review progress of Quad initiative and working groups, identify new areas of cooperation and provide strategic guidance and vision for future cooperation, the Ministry of External Affairs has said.

Agra Union minister for minority affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, union minister of state for law and justice Prof. S. P. Singh Baghel and Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Brajesh Pathak formally inaugurated the 41st edition of Hunar Haat, an effective campaign of “Acclamation to Art” and “Splendour to Skill”, at Shilpgram here on Thursday.

More than 800 artisans and craftsmen from 32 states and union territories are participating in this 12-day “Hunar Haat”, which will conclude on May 29.

India's Nikhat Zareen has won the Women's World Boxing Championships in Turkey, becoming only the fifth Indian woman to be crowned world champion.

The boxer beat Thailand's Jitpong Jutamas 5-0 in the flyweight division of the championship on Thursday.

"Am I trending on Twitter?" an elated Zareen asked at the press conference after her win.

This is India's first gold medal at the championship since Olympic boxer Mary Kom won here in 2018.

Kom has been a six-time champion at the tournament. Other Indian women to win the gold medal include boxers Sarita Devi, Jenny RL and Lekha KC.

"Winning a medal at the world's is always a dream and [that] Nikhat could achieve it so early is extremely commendable," said Ajay Singh, president of the Boxing Federation of India.

Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has said the Amritsar-Jamnagar Greenfield Corridor is being constructed in a full capacity.

This corridor is one of the most important Greenfield Corridors being developed by the National Highways Authority of India. He said, the complete corridor is targeted to be completed by September next year.

In a series of tweets, Mr Gadkari informed that Bikaner to Jodhpur section of 277 kilometres is targeted to be completed and opened to public by the end of this year.

Health Minister Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya today said that India turned crisis into an opportunity to augment Tuberculosis elimination activities by launching new initiatives like ‘bi-directional testing’ of TB with COVID, use of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Tools. He was addressing the 35th Board meeting of the Stop TB Partnership through video-conference. He informed that a new initiative, 'Adopt people with TB' will be launched this year, based on Indian values of collectivism.

The initiative will call upon corporates, industries, organisations, political parties and individuals to come forward and adopt TB infected people and family and provide them with nutritional and social support. Emphasizing on strengthening TB prevention activities, Dr Mandaviya announced that starting later this year, government will introduce a newly approved 'Made in India' TB infection skin test called ‘c-TB’. He stated that this cost-effective tool will be of immense benefit to other high burden countries as well.

Government eMarketplace, GeM and Self-Employed Women’s Association, SEWA today inked a Memorandum of Understanding for the advocacy, outreach, mobilization and capacity-building of last-mile women-led micro and small enterprises, women entrepreneurs, SHGs, Associations, Cooperatives, Collectives, Not-for-Profit Section-8 Companies and various voluntary organizations as sellers and service providers in public procurement.

The MoU was signed by Chief Executive Officer of GeM P. K. Singh and Vice-President of SEWA Rehana Riyawala in New Delhi.

Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur and his Bangladeshi counterpart Dr Hasan Mahmud have jointly released a 90-second intriguing trailer of the India - Bangladesh co-production feature film on ‘Bangabandhu'. The film is named Mujib - The Making of a Nation and has been directed by Shyam Benegal.

Addressing the audience on the occasion, Mr. Anurag Thakur said, the movie, while being a co-production of India and Bangladesh, was an initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said the movie is a gift on birth centenary of Bangabandhu Shekh Mujibur Rahman. Commenting on the struggles in the making of the movie, Mr Thakur said that when the world was going through a challenging time during the COVID pandemic, the work on the movie went on. He cited the movie as an example of good neighbourly ties.

Union Cabinet has approved the Amendments to the National Policy on Biofuels -2018. The amendments are intended to allow more feedstocks for the production of biofuels, advance the ethanol blending target of 20 percent blending of ethanol in petrol and promote the production of biofuels in the country. Besides, the amendments are also to add new members to the National Biofuel Coordination Committee (NBCC) and grant permission for the export of biofuels in specific cases.

The amendments have been brought in view of advancements in the field of biofuels, various decisions taken in the NBCC meetings to increase biofuel production, recommendation of the Standing Committee, and the decision to advance to introduce Ethanol Blended Petrol with up to twenty percent ethanol throughout the country from 1st of April next year. The amendments will pave the way for 'Make in India' drive thereby leading to a reduction in import of petroleum products by a generation of more and more biofuels. Since many more feedstocks are being allowed for production of biofuels, this will promote the Aatmanirbhar Bharat and give an impetus to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of India becoming energy independent by 2047.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur yesterday inaugurated the India Pavilion at Cannes Film Festival. On the occasion, he also unveiled the poster for 53rd International Film Festival of India, IFFI.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Thakur announced an incentive scheme for audio-visual co-production and shooting of foreign films in India with a cash incentive of up to 30 percent with a cap of 260 thousand Dollars. He said, in the case of foreign films that will be shot in India, there will be an additional bonus with a cap of 65 thousand Dollars for employing 15 percent or more manpower in India. Mr Thakur said, the Government of India will do whatever it can to make India the content hub of the world and to make India destination of the world for film production, post-production, and AVGC Sector.

The Minister said, Government of India has started world's largest film restoration project under the National Film Heritage Mission. He said, as part of this drive, 2200 movies across languages will be restored to their former glory.

Ministry of Heavy Industries has signed an MoU with National Research Development Corporation for undertaking various activities for smooth implementation of the Scheme for enhancement of competitiveness in the Indian capital goods sector.

As per the MoU, signed yesterday in New Delhi, the corporation will conduct the activities like evaluation and review of the scheme, management of intellectual property rights, and commercialization support for the products developed under Capital Goods Scheme. 

Speaking on the occasion, Heavy Industries Minister Dr. Mahendra  Nath  Pandey said that the vision of this MoU is to make India a global hub for the manufacturing of capital goods. He said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a mantra of Atmanirbhar  Bharat, with a vision and mission to put Indian Economy on the wheel of high growth.