The Indian men’s hockey team slipped to fourth spot but the women side gained a place to rise to number six in the latest FIH World Rankings, issued on Monday.

The 17th Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short Fiction and Animation films began in Mumbai this evening. MIFF 2022 has got an overwhelming response from filmmakers across the world, receiving a whopping eight hundred 8 film entries from 30 countries.

Out of these, one hundred 2 films will be screened under the Competition Category -  35 in international competition and 67 in the national competition.  18 Films will be screened under ‘MIFF Prism Category’

The Best Film of the Festival will receive the Golden Conch award, along with a cash prize of Rs 10 lakhs.  Other awards carry cash prize varying from five to one lakh along with Silver Conch, trophy and certificate. 11 movies from Bangladesh will be telecast at the festival. 17th MIFF festival can be watched online also and it is entirely free of cost.

National Council for Teacher Education has launched an online portal to streamline the process of recognition of teacher education programs of Higher Education Institutions and Teacher Education Institutions. This portal will bring in a paradigm shift in the functioning of National Council for Teacher Education.

The portal aims to provide an automated robust framework thereby enhancing accountability, transparency and ease of doing business. The applications for the recently launched four year Integrated Teacher Education Programmes applications will be processed on this portal.

Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs will be celebrating the Iconic Week of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav from today. As part of the celebrations, the Ministry is giving wide-spread publicity to the 'Video - Tutorial of Youth Parliament.

The tutorial seeks to showcase the noble ideals of Youth Parliament like encouraging tolerance of divergent views, addressing problems by debating and discussing, with a view to strengthen the roots of democracy. The tutorial also carries the message of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. The Ministry said, some schools are also slated to perform their youth parliaments during the week.

Hindi author Geetanjali Shree’s novel Ret Samadhi, Tomb of Sand has won the International Booker prize, becoming the first novel translated from Hindi to do so.

Geetanjali Shree is not only the award’s first Hindi winner, but also it is for the first time a book originally written in any Indian language has won the booker prize.

Geetanjali Shree said  There is a melancholy satisfaction in the award going to Tomb of Sand. This is an elegy for the world we inhabit, a lasting energy that retains hope in the face of impending doom.

A Report Geetanjali Shree's Tomb of Sand translated from Hindi by Daisy Rockwell has won the prestigious Booker prize, the prize money of 50,000 Pounds will be shared between the author and translator equally.

Shree's book clinched the award, where 135 books competed.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Gujarat today. The Prime Minister will visit the newly built Matushri KDP Multispeciality Hospital at Atkot in Rajkot at 10 AM where he will address a public function. The hospital will make available high end medical equipment and provide world class health care facilities to the people of the region.

Around 4 PM, the Prime Minister will address the Seminar of Leaders of various Cooperative Institutions on 'Sahakar Se Samriddhi' at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar, where he will inaugurate World's first Nano Urea (Liquid) Plant constructed at Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Ltd (IFFCO) at Kalol. The cooperative sector of Gujarat has been a role model for the entire nation. There are more than 84 thousand cooperative societies in the state. The organization of the Seminar of leaders of various Cooperative institutions on 'Sahakar Se Samriddhi' is yet another step towards further strengthening the cooperative movement in the state. More than 7,000 representatives from various cooperative institutions of the State will participate in the Seminar.

President Ram Nath Kovind will inaugurate the Arogya Manthan programme at Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh today. President Kovind will also launch several health infrastructure projects. President Kovind reached Bhopal yesterday on a three-day visit to the state. He was received by Governor Mangubhai Patel and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan at the Bhopal Airport. During his three-day stay, President Kovind will also visit Ujjain and Indore.

AIR correspondent reports that  President Ram Nath Kovind will inaugurate the Arogya Manthan program at Kushabhau Thackeray International Convention Center in Bhopal. The President will also address the gathering on the topic "One Nation - One Health is the need of the present time". The second major program of the President will be held in the evening at Motilal Nehru Stadium in Bhopal. Shri Kovind will perform the Bhoomi-Poojan for 10 urban health institution buildings costing about Rs 182 crore and inaugurate the newly constructed buildings of 4 health institutions costing Rs 72 crore. These include hospital buildings in Bhopal, Indore, Dewas, Jabalpur, Sehore, Morena, Guna and Ujjain. The President will also perform Bhoomi-Poojan for the construction of Regional Institute of Respiratory Diseases and Center of Excellence for Orthopedics in Bhopal. The President will leave for Ujjain in the morning of May 29.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh undertook a sea sortie on a Scorpene class submarine INS Khanderi at Karwar Naval base in Karnataka yesterday. The submarine built at Mazagon Docks in Mumbai was commissioned in September 2019. The Indian Navy operates four submarines of this class with two more likely to join the fleet by the end of next year. Speaking on the occasion, Defence Minister said that indigenous aircraft carrier Vikrant will be inducted soon to bolster the maritime security of the country and guarantee peace and security in the Indian Ocean region.

According to a press release issued by the Navy, during the sea sortie for over four hours, the Defence Minister was shown the combat capabilities and offensive strength of the submarine. The search and rescue capabilities, underwater operations and stealth features were also demonstrated. During the sortie, a P-81 Maritime Patrol Aircraft and seat King Helicopter were also deployed along with a fly past by MiG-29K fighter aircraft.

Today is the birth anniversary of great nationalist and freedom fighter Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, popularly called Veer Savarkar.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tributes to great revolutionary leader and social reformer on the occasion. The Prime Minister also shared a video message on the social media platform on the occasion.

Home Minister Amit Shah also paid tributes to Veer Savarkar on his birth anniversary. In a series of tweets, Mr Shah said, Savarkar was the epitome of sacrifice and tenacity. He said, Veer Savarkar was given two life terms of imprisonment but the inhuman tortures in dungeon could not deter his resolve to return the ultimate glory of Mother Bharati. The Home Minister said, Veer Savarkar's unparalleled contribution to the freedom movement and his efforts to remove social evil of untouchability from the society can never be forgotten.

Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Anupriya Patel launched the Indian Business Portal in New Delhi this evening. This portal will serve as an international trade hub for Indian exporters and foreign buyers. The portal is a business-to-business digital marketplace to empower small-medium enterprises exporters, artisans and farmers to identify new markets for their products and grow their sales globally.

Speaking after launching the portal, Ms Patel said that this portal will act as an e-commerce marketplace to help Indian exporters get global visibility.

She said, it will address a number of elements that are part of the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a commitment of the government like digitizing exporters, supporting MSME and encouraging greater exports of Indian products. The Minister said, various e-commerce platforms showed immense potential in supporting millions of businesses to sustain themselves, despite the challenging time of the Covid-19 pandemic.