The Nation pays homage to former Prime Minister and Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee on his 97th birth anniversary today. Dignitaries will pay floral tributes to the former Prime Minister at his memorial Sadaiv Atal in Delhi.

The day is also celebrated as Good Governance Day.
 
Vajpayee was elected ten times to the Lok Sabha and twice to the Rajya Sabha. He was a parliamentarian par excellence, who had the trust, affection and belief of the people in his leadership.

As a parliamentarian and particularly as Prime Minister, he made innumerable important contributions which paved the way for a stronger economy through bold reforms and rapid development of infrastructure.

President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, BJP President J P Nadda, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh, several other Union Ministers, Family members of the former Prime Minister paid floral tributes at Sadaiv Atal, the memorial of Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Delhi.

In Uttar Pradesh, night curfew will be imposed from tonight. The decision was taken yesterday by chief minister after a review meeting with senior officials, keeping in view the rising cases of Omicron in the country. AIR correspondent reports, The night curfew will be in place from 11pm to 5am. As per the order release by chief secretary of the state during night curfew people who work in the night shifts can go after showing their identity cards. essential services and emergency vehicles are also allowed.

A maximum of 200 people will be allowed for any gathering and events like weddings. Number of persons are restricted to  50% of the capacity for open spaces.

Organiser of the event has to inform also to the local administration about the gathering. In markets, a policy of ‘no service if no mask’ will be implemented.

Vendors and traders would be told not to sell to someone who is not wearing a mask. Masks are also mandatory on roads and in markets.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the Gurpurab celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev Ji at Gurudwara Lakhpat Sahib in Kutch, Gujarat around 12:30 PM today through video conferencing. Every year from 23rd December to 25th December, Sikh Sangat of Gujarat celebrate the Gurpurab of Guru Nanak Dev at this Gurudwara.

Guru Nanak Dev had stayed at Lakhpat during the course of his travels. Gurudwara Lakhpat Sahib has his relics including wooden footwear and palkhi as well as manuscripts and markings scripts of Gurmukhi.

The Gurudwara had suffered damages during the 2001 earthquake. The then Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, had undertaken urgent efforts to ensure repair of the damages. This step showed the deep reverence of Mr Modi for the faith, as also reflected in multiple recent endeavours.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has chaired the first meeting of the High-Level Committee (HLC) which has been constituted to commemorate 150th Birth Anniversary of Sri Aurobindo in a befitting manner. The notification of the HLC was issued on 20th of this month and it comprises 53 members from various walks of life.

Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister expressed his gratitude to the esteemed members for their valuable thoughts and suggestions on Sri Aurobindo’s Commemoration. Mr Modi said, the two aspects of Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy of ‘Revolution’ and ‘Evolution’, are  of key importance and should be emphasised as part of the commemoration.

He added, the youth should be encouraged towards the concept of greatness as embodied in the philosophy of  Nar to Narayan to create a Maha Manav as propounded by Sri Aurobindo.
 
The Prime Minister further added that it is the responsibility of India as a spiritual leader of the world to contribute in terms of spiritualism to nations across the globe. He suggested that 150 universities across the country should be involved in writing papers on different aspects of Sri Aurobindo’s life and philosophy and the 150 papers to be published on the occasion.

Haryana government has banned unvaccinated people from using public places from January 1, next year. This has been done to encourage people to get vaccinated against the deadly coronavirus infection. Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij said that those who are not fully vaccinated will not be allowed at public places after January 1. As per the new order issued by the state government, the unvaccinated people will not be able to use marriage hall, hotel, bank, any mall, any government office, and bus services from 1 January 2022. The order also said that other places of gathering like religious places, petrol and CNG stations, LPG gas cylinder collection centres, sugar mills, milk booths, and ration shops also should allow only fully vaccinated persons. It said, parks, yoga shalas, gyms, and fitness centres also should allow only those who have received the second dose of vaccine. No individuals including government servants to be allowed to visit government offices without being fully vaccinated.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Varanasi and kickstart multiple development initiatives today. During his visit, the Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone of ‘Banas Dairy Sankul’ at Uttar Pradesh State Industrial Development Authority Food Park at Karkhiyaon in Varanasi. Spread across 30 acres of land, the Dairy will be built at a cost of about 475 crore rupees and will have a facility for processing five lakh liter of milk per day. This will strengthen the rural economy and help farmers of the region by creating new opportunities for them. Mr. Modi will also lay the foundation stone for the Bio-gas based Electricity generation plant for the Milk Producers Cooperative Union Plant at Ramnagar in Varanasi. It will be a key step towards making Milk Producers Cooperative Union Plant energy self-sufficient.  

AIR correspondent reports, The Prime Minister will also launch a Portal and a logo dedicated to the Conformity Assessment Scheme of milk products, developed by the Bureau of Indian Standards with the help of National Dairy Development Board.

The Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill 2021, which seeks to enhance the legal minimum age of marriage of a girl from 18 to 21 across all religions was introduced in the Lok Sabha amid protests by the Opposition members yesterday. After the introduction of the Bill, it was sent to the Standing Committee of the Parliament for further discussion and scrutiny.

Introducing the Bill in the House, the Women and Child Development Minister, Smriti Zubin Irani said, the Legislation will provide the right of equality to women across all religions and castes in marriages.

The Rajya Sabha today took up the Appropriation (No.5) Bill, 2021 for consideration and return. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had moved the bill in the House. The Bill seeks to authorize payment and appropriation of certain further sums from and out of the Consolidated Fund of India for the services of the Financial Year 2021-22.

The legislation seeks to authorize the Government for gross additional expenditure of more than 3.73 lakh crore rupees during the period of 2021-22. Out of the additional net cash outgo of 2.99 lakh crore rupees provision has been made for big-ticket expenditure like Air India, Fertilizers subsidies, and MGNREGA.

Initiating the discussion on the bill, Sujeet Kumar of BJD while supporting the bill stressed the need to reform the fertilizer sectors. He drew the attention of the government towards leakage in fertilizer subsidies.

M Thambidurai of AIADMK also supported the bill saying that the Narendra Modi government is taking a lot of welfare programmes for the welfare of people.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated in a one-of-its-kind programme on women empowerment in Prayagraj yesterday. The programme was attended by over 2 lakh women, many of them beneficiaries of different government schemes.

The Prime Minister transferred an amount of 1000 crore rupees in the bank accounts of Self Help Groups (SHGs), benefiting around 16 lakh women members. The Prime Minister also transferred 4000 rupees as first month's stipend in 20,000 accounts of Business Correspondent-Sakhis, B.C.-Sakhis.

Over 20 crore rupees were transferred to more than 1 lakh beneficiaries under the Mukhya Mantri Kanya Sumangala Scheme. On the occasion, the Prime Minister spoke to some women beneficiaries.

The Prime Minister said that schemes and programmes of the central and state governments are bringing big change in the lives of women and giving them security. He said that the nation is watching how Uttar Pradesh is working for the empowerment of women and double-engine government has given security and increased the dignity of the women of the Uttar Pradesh.

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu today paid tributes to the legendary mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan on his birth anniversary, which is also celebrated as National Mathematics Day.

In a tweet, Mr Naidu asked people to spread awareness on the importance of mathematics in sustainable development, innovation and most of all in improving the quality of lives.