Ministry of Culture is organizing “Tiranga Utsav” an evening filled with cultural and musical performances to celebrate the contributions of Pingali Venkayya to the nation on the occasion of his 146th Birth Anniversary in New Delhi today. Union Home Minister  Amit Shah will participate in  “Tiranga Utsav. The event will include the release of a commemorative Postal Stamp in honor of Pingali Venkayya for his invaluable contribution to the country followed by the felicitation of his family. The Tiranga Utsav will also witness the grand launch of the “Har Ghar Tiranga” anthem and video. The musical evening will see live performances by maestros such as Kailash Kher & Kailasa, Harshdeep Kaur, and Dr. Ragini Makkhar.

Pingali Venkayya, a freedom fighter and the designer of India’s National Flag was a follower of Gandhian principles, and it was upon the request of Mahatma Gandhi that he designed the Indian National Flag with saffron, white and green colors with chakra in the middle.

Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has said that the fifth generation -5G telecom services is likely to be launched by October this year. Briefing reporters in New Delhi, Mr Vaishnaw said, more than one lakh 50 thousand crore rupees of bids were received during the 5G auction, which commenced on 26th of last month. The spectrum will be assigned to the successful bidders for providing 5G services to the public and enterprises. The auction was held for spectrum in various Low, Medium, and High-frequency bands. Mr Vaishnaw said, of the 72 thousand 98 Mega Hertz of spectrum offered across ten bands, 71 percent was sold.

AIR correspondent reports that Digital connectivity has been an important part of policy initiatives of the government through its flagship programmes such as Digital India, Start-up India, and Make in India. The upcoming 5G services have the potential to create new age businesses, generate additional revenue for enterprises, and provide employment arising from the deployment of innovative use-cases and technologies. Eighty-crore subscribers have access to broadband today compared to ten-crore subscribers in 2014.

National Testing Agency has released the admit cards for the Common University Entrance Test undergraduate (CUET UG 2022) for phase II candidates. Registered candidates can now download their hall tickets from the official CUET UG website by logging in through their registered credentials. The website is cuet.samarth.ac.in. The Phase I exams were conducted in July and the second phase exams are scheduled to take place on 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 10th, and 20th of August.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today launched India’s first International Bullion Exchange (IIBE) at Gujarat International Finance Tech (GIFT) City in Gandhinagar today.

Prime Minister also launched NSE IFSC-SGX Connect and laid the foundation stone of the headquarters of the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) at GIFT City.

Addressing the gathering, Prime Minister said GIFT city has been established as an integrated finance and technology services hub for India and the world.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the Power Ministry’s flagship Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme today. Mr Modi will unveil the scheme during a programme marking the culmination of ‘Ujjwal Bharat Ujjwal Bhavishya - Power @2047’ at 12.30 pm through video conferencing. The five-day programme that concludes today is a part of the ongoing 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' to showcase the transformation in the power sector achieved in the last eight years. It aims to empower citizens by improving their awareness and participation in various power-related initiatives, schemes and programmes of the government.

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar will give away Agriculture Infrastructure Fund Awards in New Delhi today. The Agriculture Infrastructure Fund has launched two years ago, under the ambitious Aatmanirbhar Bharat Package, as a dedicated Central Government scheme that provides a medium-long term credit facility for investment in the creation of post-harvest management infrastructure and community farming assets.

Our correspondent reports that as of now, out of more than 23 thousand applications received on the integrated Portal of Agri Infra Fund, a total of 13 thousand 700 applicants have been sanctioned over ten thousand crore rupees.  The sanctioned infrastructure projects cover warehouses, assaying units, primary processing units, custom hiring centers, sorting and grading units, and cold store, and cold chain projects. 

The Indian Navy received two MH 60R multi-role helicopters from the United States at the Cochin International Airport today. The copters were delivered by the Special Air Assignment Mission Flight of the US Air Force.

The helicopters were part of the 24 MH 60 R Multirole helicopters being procured by India from the United States at a cost of over 14,000 crore rupees. The first three helicopters delivered last year in the US  are being utilized for training the Indian Navy crew.  Another helicopter is scheduled to be delivered on the 22nd of next month.

These helicopters will be initially based at the Naval Air Station INS Garuda in Kochi and will be put through intensive flying trials for integration into the Navy's fleet operations.

Home Minister Amit Shah will launch education-sector-related initiatives in New Delhi today to mark two years of the launch of the National Education Policy. Education and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Minister Dharmendra Pradhan will also be present on the occasion. The initiatives to be launched will cover the entire spectrum of education and skill development verticals. The programme will also witness a cultural performance by students and the address of the gathering by dignitaries. Deliberations will also center around the journey of implementation of National Education Policy 2020. 

Maritime history was created yesterday with the Indian Navy taking delivery of the prestigious Indigenous Aircraft Carrier Vikrant, built by the Cochin Shipyard. The Commanding Officer Designate of Vikrant, Commodore Vidyadhar Harke and the Chairman and Managing Director of Cochin Shipyard Madhu S Nair signed the documents relating to the delivery of the vessel.

The name of India's first Aircraft Carrier was also INS Vikrant which played a vital role in the 1971 war. It was decommissioned in  1997 after 36 years of glorious service to the Navy. The Defence Ministry said in a release that the reincarnation of Vikrant is a true testimony to the country's zeal and fervor in pursuing capability build-up towards enhanced maritime security. 

An MoU was signed by Andaman Nicobar Command and Airport Authority of India in Port Blair yesterday to boost inter-island connectivity under Udaan Scheme. As per the MoU, naval airfields at Shibpur (in Diglipur) in North Andaman and in Campbell Bay will be utilized for civil operations. Passenger flights will be connecting Port Blair directly to Diglipur and Campbell Bay, the two extreme corners of the archipelago.

The MoU was signed by Jameel Khaliq, Director, Port Blair Airport and Commanding Officers INS Kohasaa and INS Baaz i.e. Capt. Satish Mishra and Capt. Jitendra Navet. Now the bidding process for operating flights will be initiated. This would pave the way for infrastructure development and passenger terminals on these remote islands.