Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat had promised to visit Shahdol in Madhya Pradesh, from where his wife hailed, in January 2022, and also assured to take steps in setting up a ‘Sainik school’ in the district, his relative said on Wednesday.

Gen Rawat, India’s first CDS, his wife Madhulika and 11 other armed forces personnel died on Wednesday after the military helicopter they were travelling in crashed near Coonoor in Tamil Nadu, the Indian Air Force said.

Madhulika, daughter of late Kunwar Mrigendra Singh of Sohagpur Garhi in Shahdol district, had got married to Rawat in 1986. Her family currently lives in the ancestral residence ‘Rajabagh’ in the Shahdol district headquarter, the family sources said.

Group Captain Varun Singh, the lone survivor of the helicopter crash Wednesday, is in critical condition at the Military Hospital in Wellington.

A year ago, he had a close call when a Light Combat Aircraft that he was flying developed system failure, resulting in total loss of control. Going “beyond the call of duty”, he managed to land the aircraft and for this “act of exceptional gallantry”, he was awarded the Shaurya Chakra on Independence Day this year.

In one of his Twitter posts, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said: “Praying for the speedy recovery of Gp Capt Varun Singh, who is currently under treatment at the Military Hospital, Wellington.”

President Ram Nath Kovind presented the President’s Standard award to the 22nd Missile Vessels Squadron of the Indian Navy at a ceremony held in the naval dockyard on Wednesday morning. The President’s Standard is the highest honour bestowed by the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces to a military unit in recognition of the service rendered to the nation.

The Union Cabinet has approved continuation of Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana - Gramin till March 2024. Briefing the media in New Delhi yesterday, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said, Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana will ensure housing for all in rural areas. He said, the scheme will provide assistance for construction of remaining over 155 lakh houses and will achieve target of 2.95 crore pucca houses with basic amenities.
 
Mr. Thakur said, the cabinet has also approved Ken-Betwa interlinking of rivers project. He said, it will ensure water availability in the water starved Bundelkhand region. The project will cost of 44 thousand 605 crore rupees and will be completed in 8 years.

The last rites of Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and his wife Madhulika Rawat will be performed tomorrow in Delhi Cantonment. Their mortal remains are expected to arrive in the National Capital in a military plane by this evening. Before that a wreath-laying ceremony will take place at the Madras Regimental Centre in Wellington today. Chief of Army staff General MM Naravane, IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhury and Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral R Hari Kumar will reach Wellington this morning to attend the wreath-laying ceremony.

After that the mortal remains will be flown to Delhi. Their mortal remains will be brought to Gen Rawat's residence in New Delhi tomorrow. People will be allowed to pay their last respect from 11 am to 2 pm.

General Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat and 11 others died in a tragic chopper crash in Tamil Nadu yesterday. The mishap took place when the Mi-17V5 helicopter carrying Rawat and 13 others crashed shortly after it took off from an IAF base in Sulur near Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. The Indian Air Force has already ordered an inquiry into the chopper crash that led to Rawat's untimely death. Lone survivor in the crash, Group Captain Varun Singh is under treatment at a military hospital in Wellington.  

President Ram Nath Kovind will award the President’s Standard to the 22nd Missile Vessel Squadron, also known as the Killer Squadron at a ceremonial parade to be held at Naval Dockyard in Mumbai today. To mark the occasion, a Special Day Cover along with a commemorative stamp will also be released by the Postal Department.

The ceremony is expected to be attended by the Governor, Chief Minister of Maharashtra and Chief of the Naval Staff as well as several other civil and military dignitaries.

The President’s Standard is the highest honour bestowed by the Supreme Commander to a military unit in recognition of the service rendered to the nation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the reconstruction works of Kashi Vishwanath Dham on 13th of this month. Briefing reporters in New Delhi yesterday, BJP General Secretary Tarun Chugh said, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath and about three thousand religious leaders, saints, artists and other dignitaries from across the country will attend the program.

He said, Prime Minister Modi had started the work of beautification of Kashi Vishwanath Dham. Mr  Chugh said, from 13 December to 14 January next year, everyday there will be a festival in Kashi and this program will be shown live at 51 thousand places of the country. 

India successfully test-fired Short Range Surface to Air Missile from integrated test range, Chandipur, Odisha yesterday. Defence Research and Development Organisation, DRDO said, the launch was conducted from a vertical launcher against an electronic target at a very low altitude.

Yesterday's launch of the system was conducted to validate integrated operation of all weapon system components including the vertical launcher unit with controller and weapon control system required for future launches of the missile from Indian Naval Ships.

The first trial was conducted on the 22nd of February this year and this is confirmatory trial to prove the consistent performance of the configuration and integrated operation.     

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has congratulated DRDO, Indian Navy and industry for the successful flight test. 

The Reserve bank of India will announce its fourth bi-monthly monetary policy today. RBI governor Shaktikanta Das will announce Monetary policy at 10am. The three-day meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee began on Monday. If RBI maintains status quo in policy rates today it would be the ninth consecutive time since the rate remains unchanged. The central bank had last revised the policy rates on May 22, 2020. Industry players are also expecting the rates to remain unchanged.

Dr. Soumya Kanti Ghosh, Group Chief Economic Adviser of State Bank of India has said that the forthcoming monetary policy comes against the backdrop of the global scare of Omicron, that we are still trying to unravel.

YS Chakravarti, MD & CEO of  Shriram City has said that they are expecting RBI to maintain status quo in the last monetary policy meet for the year 2021.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated several development projects worth 10,000 crore rupees at Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh yesterday. He said, he was grateful to inaugurate the projects the foundation stones of which were laid by him five years ago. The projects include Fertiliser Plant, AIIMS and a new building of the Regional Centre of Indian Council of Medical Research-ICMR.

Mr. Modi said the projects are a testimony to the fact that nothing is impossible for New India.

The Prime Minister announced that four more fertiliser plants will be revived in the coming years. He said, ‘PM Oorja Ganga Gas Pipeline Project’ will provide cheap gas to the households as well. Mr. Modi said, the demand for AIIMS in Gorakhpur was pending for years and no government paid any heed to it.

Mr Modi said the work is on to build 16 AIIMS and the government is working with the aim to open at least one Medical College in each district of the country.

Mr. Modi also lauded Yogi Adityanath's government for continuously working for the benefit of the farmers. He said, the Uttar Pradesh government has paid a large chunk of the dues to sugarcane farmers in comparison to the previous governments.