Indian Embassy in Beijing, Consulates General of India in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Guangzhou celebrated Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav by reliving the history of India’s struggle for its independence. A play “The Oudh Quatrain”, a musical revolving around Oudh’s last king Nawab Wajid Ali Shah and his wife Begam Hazrat Mahal’s clash with the British East India Company in 1857 was staged on the occasion.

In a diplomatic outreach by India, Ambassadors of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and the deputy chief of mission of Nepal embassy in China also joined in the celebrations and enjoyed the play at the Indian Embassy in Beijing which was live-streamed from Hong Kong. The top envoys could easily correlate with this piece of history and thanked India’s Ambassador for inviting them over. Bangladesh Ambassador to China Mahbub Uz Zaman hailed the shared culture and heritage with India and recalled Indian movies and fine traditions of Indian theatre and dance forms. Nepal’s Deputy Chief of Mission in China, Kaushal Ray said that watching this historic play took him back to his college days while studying Indian literature, theatre, and drama.

A new Quad fellowship programme has been launched today at the QUAD summit in Tokyo. This is a first-of-its-kind scholarship program that will bring together the top minds of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

The Fellowship will sponsor one hundred students per year, 25 from each Quad country, to pursue master's and doctoral degrees at leading STEM graduate universities in the United States.

In his message, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, the Quad fellowship programme is a wonderful and unique initiative. He said, this prestigious fellowship will offer our students great opportunities to pursue graduate and doctorate programmes in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Mr Modi said, it will encourage academic excellence and promote people to people linkages between our countries.

North Korea tested a presumed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in one of three missile tests on Wednesday, according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The tests come on the heels of US President Joe Biden's first presidential trip to Asia.
South Korea said the presumed ICBM was fired at about 6 a.m. local time Wednesday with a flight range of about 360 kilometers (223 miles) and altitude of approximately 540 kilometers (335 miles).
At about 6:37 a.m., the North fired a second ballistic missile -- not believed to be an ICBM -- which seems to have disappeared from South Korean tracking at an altitude of 20 kilometers (12 miles), South Korea said.

The 123rd birth anniversary of the national poet of Bangladesh Kazi Nazrul Islam is being celebrated in the country on Wednesday.

Cultural and social organisations across the country are organising programmes on this occasion to pay tribute to poet Kazi Nazrul Islam.

The birth anniversary progamme of the poet started with the Minister of State for Culture KM Khalid laying a wreath on the grave of Kazi Nazrul Islam in the Dhaka University area early in the morning. Other eminent personalities such as Director-General of Bangla Academy, Poet Muhammad Nurul Huda, Director General of National Museum Khondakar Mostafizur Rahman and senior officials from the government also paid floral tribute to the poet. 

The third edition of Indian Navy and Bangladesh Navy Bilateral exercise Bongosagar commenced at Port Mongla, Bangladesh. The Harbour Phase of exercise is underway. It will be followed by a Sea Phase in the Northern Bay of Bengal starting tomorrow.

Exercise Bongosagar is aimed at developing a high degree of interoperability and joint operational skills through the conduct of a wide spectrum of maritime exercises and operations between the two navies.

Indian Naval Ships Kora, an indigenously built Guided Missile Corvette, and Sumedha, an indigenously built Offshore Patrol Vessel are participating in the Exercise. Bangladesh Navy is being represented by BNS Abu Ubaidah and Ali Haider, both Guided Missile Frigates.

The Annual Meeting of World Economic Forum will begin today at Davos in Switzerland. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal will lead the Indian delegation at the five-day meet.

The delegation will include Health and Family Welfare Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Chief Ministers and Senior Ministers of six states - Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Telangana. Several industry leaders will also participate in the deliberations of World Economic Forum.

This event would further help reinforce country's position as an important and relevant stakeholder in shaping the global narrative, particularly as India assumes Presidency of the G-20 next year.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said that the 'Yes, we can do it' attitude of the sportspersons has become the new strength of India. The Prime Minister said this while interacting with the Indian men's badminton team who scripted history by winning the Thomas Cup and the women's team of the Uber Cup.  Mr Modi lauded the  Indian team, of Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy, doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty for winning the first-ever Thomas Cup for India.

The Prime Minister mentioned that this team has infused tremendous energy in the country by winning the Thomas cup and a long wait of seven decades finally came to an end. He added that whosoever knows Badminton, must have dreamt of this feat and it has been realized by this team.

The fourth edition of the Indian Navy-Bangladesh Navy Coordinated Patrol CORPAT commenced in the Northern Bay of Bengal today.

Indian Navy and Bangladesh Navy units will undertake joint patrolling along the International Maritime Boundary Line IMBL till tomorrow. The last IN-BN CORPAT was conducted in October 2020.

Two indigenously built IN Ships - Kora, a guided-missile corvette and Sumedha, an offshore patrol vessel are participating in the exercise along with Bangladesh Navy Ships BNS Ali Haider and BNS Abu Ubaidah. In addition, Maritime Patrol Aircraft of both navies would also be participating in the Coordinated Patrol.

On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of independence, the Central government has taken the initiative to increase expansion of general libraries in the country as a means of expanding public education.

This was stated by the Union Minister for Culture and Tourism, Shri G. Kisan Reddy, while participating in a virtual event at the Science City Auditorium in Kolkata today to mark the 250th Birth Anniversary of Raja Ram Mohan Roy. He called upon the states and Union Territories to take the lead in this endeavor.

Shri Reddy said that Raja Ram Mohan Roy, as a pioneer of renaissance, realized the importance of spreading universal education in social reform. In order to honour great men like him, initiatives have been taken to strengthen the country's library network as part of the nectar festival of independence.

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has said that the manufacturing of the semi hi-speed Vande Bharat train sets are on fast track. He inspected the manufacturing of the modern trains in the Integrated Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai today. He flagged off 12-thousandth LHB-type coaches that were readied in the ICF and also interacted with its workers. Later, in a tweet, he said the manufacturing process is going on a fast track.

Earlier, the Minister inspected the Egmore Station in Chennai last night. He told reporters that the Indian Railways is undergoing transformation to provide world class services to the public. He said, it will help in the transformation of the Indian economy as well. He added that, on the lines of the redevelopment of the Gandhi Nagar Station in Gujarat and Rani Kamlapati Station in Madhya Pradesh, many more are being redeveloped. They include Chennai Egmore, Kanyakumari, Madurai, Rameswaram and Katpadi stations in Tamil Nadu in the first phase. He said, the five stations will be redeveloped at a cost of two-thousand crore rupees.