The High-Level Committee under the Chairmanship of Home Minister Amit Shah has approved additional Central assistance of over one thousand 887 crore rupees to five States under the National Disaster Response Fund. These states are Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Sikkim and West Bengal.

Home Ministry said, more than one thousand crore rupees has been approved for Bihar, over 292 crore rupees for Rajasthan, more than 475 crore rupees for West Bengal, over 59 crore rupees for Sikkim and over 21 crore rupees for Himachal Pradesh. This additional assistance is over and above the funds released by the Centre to the States in the State Disaster Response Fund.

The Ministry said, Central Government had deputed Inter-Ministerial Central Teams to these States immediately after the calamities without waiting for the receipt of the Memorandum from them.

Tata Steel has appointed Noel Naval Tata, a trustee on the boards of Sir Ratan Tata Trust and Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, its additional director and designated him as the vice-chairman. A decision in this regard was taken by the board of the company at its meeting held on Monday, Tata Steel said in a regulatory filing.

“Based on the recommendations of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee, the Board of Directors (have) considered and unanimously approved the appointment of Noel Naval Tata as an Additional Director (Non-Executive, Non-Independent) effective March 28, 2022. Further, the Board designated Noel Naval Tata as the Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors,” the filing said on Monday.

Belgian footballer Miguel van Damme has died at the age of 28 following a long battle with leukaemia.

Van Damme's Belgian top-flight club, Cercle Brugge, said "words are not enough to describe what we feel" following the news on Tuesday.

The goalkeeper was first diagnosed with the disease over five years ago.

"It is with great sadness we report that our friend and team-mate Van Damme has fought his long and uneven battle against leukaemia," the club said.

National Commission for Women has launched a legal aid clinic in collaboration with Delhi State Legal Services Authority which will act as a single-window facility for resolving grievances of women by offering them free legal assistance.

Addressing the gathering in New Delhi, NCW Chairperson Rekha Sharma said, the legal aid centre aims to provide free advice and legal services to women. She said, the legal aid clinic will focus on protecting women’s rights and providing them with a one-stop centre for seeking legal counseling and help.

Under the new legal aid clinic, counseling will be provided for walk-in complainants, women in distress will be given legal assistance, advice and information on various schemes of the National Legal Services Authority.

President Ram Nath Kovind today launched the Jal Shakti Abhiyan - Catch the Rain 2022, heralding a new era of ensuring water security in the country. The campaign will continue till 30th November this year. He said this year's focus of the campaign is springshed development, catchment area augmentation and gender-mainstreaming. Mr Kovind said, the government is taking effective all-out effirts to ensure water security and conservation of water bodies across the country.

Stating that the water crisis has impacted at the international levels, President appealed to the people to ensure the success of the campaign. He said, the conservation of water should be made a mass campaign  

On this occasion, the President also felicitated the winners of the 3rd National Water Awards in New Delhi.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that under PM Awas Yojana, women have ownership rights of about 2 crore houses. Mr Modi said this ownership has strengthened the participation of the women in the financial decision-making of the household.

Prime Minister was addressing a ‘Grih Pravesham’ function of about 5.21 lakh beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana - Gramin in Madhya Pradesh yesterday via video-conferencing. Mr Modi said, the Union government’s scheme of providing pucca houses to the poor will make women of the villages Lakhpati. In a dig at the Opposition parties, Prime Minister said, earlier political parties did not do enough for the poor despite their professed stance. Mr Modi said, once the poor are empowered, they have the courage to fight poverty. When efforts of an honest government and efforts of empowered poor come together, poverty is defeated, he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today gave a clarion call of making Bay of Bengal the bridge of connectivity, prosperity, and security and stressed that regional cooperation has become a greater priority in the present scenario.

Attending BIMSTEC Summit virtually, the Prime Minister said recent developments in Europe have raised questions about the stability of the international order. He said it has become important to make BIMSTEC regional cooperation more active. He pointed out that the region has not remained untouched by today's challenging global scenario.

Mr. Modi said BIMSTEC charter is being adopted to develop institution architecture for BIMSTEC group. This is the 25th year of the establishment of BIMSTEC. He said the outcome of this landmark summit will write a golden chapter in the history of BIMSTEC.

The transaction is for a consideration of Rs. 171 crore on debt-free cash-free basis. The transaction comes into effect from April 1, 2022 and expected to close by May 2022. This acquisition vehicle will greatly help Aurobindo as a launch pad for marketing biosimilar and other products in India.

Hyderabad-headquartered Aurobindo Pharma on Monday, March 28th announced the acquisition of domestic formulation business of Veritaz Healthcare on a slump sale basis. According to a note issued by the company, “with this acquisition, Aurobindo marks its 1st step to set its footprint in the Indian Domestic Market.”

President Ram Nath Kovind presented Padma Awards at the Civil Investiture Ceremony-II held at Rashtrapati Bhavan this evening. Mr Kovind presented Padma Vibhushan to veteran Hindustani Classical vocalist Dr Prabha Atre. Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh was given the second highest civilian award posthoumously.  

Nine Padma Bhushan awards were presented today. Krishna Murthy Ella and Suchitra Ella of Bharat Biotech which produced Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin, Odia Littérateur Dr Pratibha Ray, veteran jurisprudence scholar Acharya Vashistha Tripathi and Actor Victor Banerjee got the award. India-born Mexican scientist Dr Sanjaya Rajaram was given the award posthumously.  

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address Matua Dharma Maha Mela 2022 at Shreedham Thakurnagar, Thakurbari in West Bengal at 4:30 PM today through video conferencing on the occasion of 211th birth anniversary of Shree Shree Harichand Thakur.

Shree Shree Harichand Thakur ji devoted his life for the cause of betterment of the oppressed, downtrodden and deprived persons in undivided Bengal during the pre-independence era. The social and religious movement started by him originated from Orakandi which is now in Bangladesh in 1860 and led to the formation of the Matua Dharma.

Matua Dharma Maha Mela 2022 is being organised by All India Matua Mahasangha from 29th March to 5th April 2022.