Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu has paid tribute to the first President of India, Dr Rajendra Prasad on his birth anniversary. In a tweet today, Mr. Naidu said, Rajendra Prasad was a visionary statesman, accomplished lawyer, devout patriot and a true Gandhian. He will always be remembered for his sterling contribution to nation-building.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has paid tribute to the first President of independent India and Bharat Ratna Rajendra Prasad on his birth anniversary.

In a tweet today, Mr. Modi said, Rajendra Prasad made a special contribution to the freedom struggle of the country. He said, Rajendra Prasad's life dedicated in the interest of the nation will always remain a source of inspiration for the countrymen.

Today is International Day of Persons with Disabilities. President Ram Nath Kovind will confer the annual National Awards on individuals, institutions, organizations and states and districts for their outstanding achievements and work towards the empowerment of Persons with Disabilities today.

Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Dr. Virendra Kumar will preside over the function. The event is being organized by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities Divyangjan under Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

Ministers of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale, A. Narayanaswamy and Pratima Bhoumik will also be present on the occasion.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that India has proved to the world that it is second to none when it comes to adopting technology or innovating around it. He said, transformational initiatives under Digital India have opened doors for innovative Fintech solutions to be applied in governance.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today inaugurated InFinity Forum through video conferencing. The event is being hosted by International Financial Services Centres Authority under the aegis of Government of India in collaboration with GIFT City and Bloomberg. Indonesia, South Africa and the U.K. are partner countries in the first edition of the Forum.

Highlighting the importance of fintech, Mr. Modi said, fintech has immense oportunity in the country and now it is a time to convert these fintech initiatives into a fintech revolution. He said, this revolution will help to achieve financial empowerment of every single citizen of the country.

India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has crossed 125 crore doses. Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said this is another proud moment for every Indian. He said as India intensifies the Har Ghar Dastak campaign, the country is marching ahead with a new zeal and new energy in its fight against COVID19.

Around 125 crore doses of COVID vaccine have been administered in the country so far under the Nationwide Vaccination Drive. Union Health Ministry said, more than 80 lakh 35 thousand vaccine doses were administered in the last 24 hours. The Ministry said, eight thousand 548 COVID patients recovered during the last 24 hours and the national recovery rate stands at 98.35 percent. Till now, more than three crore 40 lakh 37 thousand people have recovered from COVID-19.

The country reported nine thousand 765 new Covid cases in last 24 hours. Currently, India's active caseload is around 99 thousand. Presently the active cases constitute 0.29 percent of the country's total Positive Cases, which is lowest since March last year.

The Ministry said, the testing capacity across the country continues to be expanded and more than 64 crore 35 lakh COVID-19 tests have been conducted so far.

The Centre has said the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi has been adjudged the ‘Best Airport in India and Central Asia’ this year by Skytrax. In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Gen VK Singh said the Delhi airport along with the others in Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Bengaluru feature in the World To 100 airports list published by Skytrax.

Replying to another question, Gen VK Singh said the Government is taking several steps to strengthen the basic air service infrastructure in the country. He said 36-thousand crore rupees worth investments are being planned to develop new greenfield airports across the country under the Public-Private Partnership mode. 

In a major push to the Go-Electric campaign in Delhi and in sync with the Centre’s vision on Electric Mobility, All India Radio has shifted its entire fleet to Electric vehicles for all its transportation needs. Chief Executive Officer of Prasar Bharati Shashi Shekhar Vempati and Director General All India Radio N Venudhar Reddy flagged off a fleet of 23 Electric Vehicles at Akashwani Bhawan in New Delhi today.

Later speaking to media, the Chief Executive Officer of Prasar Bharati Shashi Shekhar Vempati said, it is an important decision to convert to Electric Vehicles. He said, it is the mission of Prime Minister for a clean India where environment is also clean. Mr Vempati expressed happiness that it is second largest Electric Fleet in national capital Delhi.  
 
Director-General All India Radio N Venudhar Reddy hoped that electric vehicles will be brought in for other stations of All India Radio based on the experience of these E-Vehicles at Akashvani Bhawan. He said, AIR has entered into an agreement with CESL for the E-Vehicles for the next five years.  

The government has issued a gazette notification to repeal the three farm laws. The Parliament repealed these laws on the first day of the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address to the nation on the 19th of last month had announced that the new farm laws enacted in 2019 will be repealed in the winter session of Parliament. He had appealed to all protesting farmers to go home in good spirits on the day of Gurpurab. The PM had also said a committee would be constituted to look into all aspects of agriculture.

President Ram Nath Kovind has said that Dr B R Ambedkar was in favour of awakening the moral conscience of the society and he used to say that rights cannot be protected only by laws, but it is also necessary to have moral and social consciousness in the society. Addressing the inauguration ceremony of the International Ambedkar Conclave in New Delhi today, Mr Kovind said, Dr Ambedkar always emphasized on non-violent and constitutional means. He said, in the Constitution, many provisions have been made to protect the interests of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and Article 46 of the Constitution directs that the State shall develop the educational and economic interests of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes with special care. The President said, also, in this article, the State has been directed to protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation. He said, a number of institutions and procedures have been put in place to give effect to these guidelines. Mr Kovind said, there has been a lot of improvements, but a lot remains to be done by our country and society.

The President said that many people of the deprived sections are not aware of their rights and government’s initiatives for their welfare and therefore, it is the responsibility of members of Forum of SC and ST Legislators and Parliamentarians to make them aware of their rights and government’s initiatives. He said, it is also their responsibility to take forward the people of scheduled castes and tribes who have been left behind by them in the developmental journey. Mr. Kovind said, by this way they can pay their true tributes to Dr Ambedkar.

The clinical trial of Bharat Biotech's COVAXIN on children began at AIIMS Patna.

All 15 kids who voluntarily turned up for the vaccine trial had gone through the screening process such as RT-PCR, antibody test and general check up prior to receiving their shots.

Three children were found fit for vaccine trials after screening. Children found with antibodies could not participate in the vaccine trial. Dr Sanjeev Kumar, nodal-in-charge for COVID at AIIMS, Patna said, the children who received their first shot are in the age group of 12 to 18 years. After being administered 0.5.ml dose of intramuscular injection, the children were monitored for two hours.

The second dose will be given after four weeks. During this period their health will be closely monitored.

Asian Boxing Championships get under way today in Dubai. India were already assured of medals after seven women entered the semifinals when draws were unveiled yesterday.
 
Due to the small size of their respective draws, Indian pugilists  MC Mary Kom, Pooja Rani, Anupama, Saweety, Lovlina Borgohain, Lalbuatsaihi, and Monika made to the last-four stage.
 
Mohammad Hussamuddin, Shiva Thapa and Sumit Sangwan will begin their campaign for India on the opening day today. A total of six Indian male boxers, including defending champion Amit Panghal, Varinder Singh, Vikas Krishan, Ashish Kumar, Sanjeet and Narender got first-round byes into quarterfinals.
 
In all, 19 Indian boxers nine men and 10 women will stake their claim for the top honours.  A total of 27 countries were  expected to participate but that shrunk to 17 yesterday due to COVID-forced travel restrictions. The total women's participation in this edition is 47 boxers across 10 weight categories.