Lieutenant General Manoj Pande has been appointed as the next Chief of Indian Army. The 29th Army Chief will be the first officer from the Corps of Engineers to become the Chief of Army Staff succeeding General Manoj Mukund Naravane who is scheduled to complete his 28-month tenure on 30th of April.

An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Lieutenant General Pande was commissioned into the Corps of Engineers in December 1982. Lt. General Manoj Pande commanded an engineer regiment during Operation Parakram in the Pallanwala sector along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will dedicate to the nation and lay the foundation stone of multiple development projects at Banas Dairy Sankul in Diyodar, Banaskantha, Gujarat today. Mr Modi will also lay the foundation stone of WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine  (GCTM) in Jamnagar.

Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Kumar Jugnauth and Director-General of World Health Organization Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus will be present on the occasion.

Mr Modi will also dedicate the Banas Community Radio Station to the nation. This Community Radio Station has been established to provide farmers with key scientific information related to agriculture and animal husbandry. It is expected that the radio station will connect with over five lakh farmers of about one thousand 700 villages.

President Ram Nath Kovind has given his assent to the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act, 2022. The objective of the Act is to authorize for taking measurements of convicts and other persons for the purposes of identification and investigation in criminal matters and to preserve records. It also provides legal sanction for taking appropriate body measurements of persons who are required to give such measurements which include finger-impressions, palm-print and foot-print impressions, photographs, iris and retina scan, physical, biological samples, and their analysis among others. The new Act has replaced the Identification of Prisoners Act, of 1920.
 
Ministry of Home Affairs will notify the date on which the Act will come into force and also notify the rules under the Act.

The Union Health Ministry will organise Block Level Health Melas at more than one lakh Ayushman Bharat-Health and Wellness Centres across the country from today. This is being organised in collaboration with all states, Union Territories and key ministries such as Women and Child Development, Information and Broadcasting, Panchayati Raj, Ayush and Education. 

In an exclusive interview to AIR News, Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya said that the Block Level Health Melas are part of week-long celebrations under Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav to create awareness about Ayushman Bharat-Health and Wellness Centres and telemedicine and teleconsultations.

Iconic Week Celebrations of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav of Ministry of Panchayati Raj concluded on Sunday. The Ministry organized a series of National Conferences as part of Iconic Week celebrations during 11th to 17th April. During seven days conference,  more than five thousand participants brought the experience and shared learnings by Panchayats from different States and UTs.

On the 7th day of celebration of Iconic Week today, the Ministry organized the National Level Conference on Localization of Sustainable Development Goals, focusing on Poverty free and Enhanced livelihood village. Speaking on the occasion, Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Sunil Kumar emphasised on the infrastructure that were developed in the recent days. He stated that infrastructure plays an important role in the development of society and eradication of poverty. Mr. Kumar said, roads were constructed under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna and high-speed internet connectivity provided in Gram Panchayats.

Army Commanders’ Conference will begin today in New Delhi. Army Commanders’ Conference is an apex-level biannual event that is held in April and October every year. The conference is an institutional platform for conceptual-level deliberations, culminating in making important policy decisions for the Indian Army.

During the five-day conference, the senior leadership of the Indian Army will review the operational situation along the active borders, assess threats in the entire spectrum of conflict and undertake analysis of capability voids to further focus on capability development and operational preparedness plans. 

Discussions on aspects relating to infrastructure development in border areas, modernisation through indigenisation, induction of Niche tech and assessment on any impact of the Russia - Ukraine war are also scheduled.

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has deeply condoled the sad demise of Prafulla Kar, one of the finest singers and musicians of Odisha. In a message, the Minister has described his passing away as the end of an era in Odia music. He said, his sheer dedication to music and his immortal songs will be long cherished by the people. A Padma Shri Award winner, Shri Kar was a classical & playback singer. Born in Puri in Odisha in February 1939, he went on to become a singer of repute and a household name in Odisha.

The Niti Aayog is planning to launch a National Data and Analytics Platform (NDAP) in May to provide government data in a user-friendly format, to promote data-driven decision making and research, officials of the think-tank said on Friday.

Conceived in 2020, the platform aims to standardise data across government sources and provide flexible analytics that make it easy for users to analyse information using multiple datasets, they said.

Anna Roy, a senior adviser at NITI Aayog, said, “We will launch the portal in May. It will help policymakers, academics, researchers etc to easily analyse data without having to process it. The portal will have 200 datasets from more than 46 ministries at the time of the launch and we will add new datasets up to the village level in the future.” Currently, government data is not standardised, making it difficult for policymakers, researchers, etc. to analyse.

Civil Aviation Ministry flagship Regional Connectivity Scheme -  'Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik', UDAN has been selected for Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration 2020 under the category Innovation (General) - Central. The government has initiated this award to acknowledge, recognize and reward extraordinary and innovative work done by Districts and Organizations of State and Government.

The Ministry said, UDAN scheme emphasises on Good Governance, Qualitative achievements, and last mile connectivity rather than only on achievement of quantitative targets. The award consists of a trophy, scroll and an incentive of ten lakh rupees. The Ministry of Civil Aviation will receive the award at Civil Service Day function on 21st of April.

Govt had enhanced authorised share capital of the three public sector general insurance companies to enable capital infusion of ₹5,000 crore
The government’s decision to infuse capital in the three state-owned general insurers is credit positive, Moody’s Investors Service said on Friday.

“The Finance Ministry’s decision to inject ₹5,000 crore ($ 655 million) additional capital in the state-owned National Insurance Co, Oriental Insurance Co and United India Insurance Co is credit positive because their capital had been significantly depleted after several loss-making underwriting years,” said Mohammed Ali Londe, Vice-President, Financial Institutions Group, Moody’s Investors Service.