President Ram Nath Kovind conferred the Nari Shakti Puraskar 2020 and 2021 at a special ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan on occasion of International Women’s Day today. The award was conferred on 29 outstanding and exceptional women achievers in recognition of their exceptional work towards empowerment of women, especially the vulnerable and marginalised.

The Ministry of Women and Child Development confers Nari Shakti Puraskar on women and institutions in recognition of their relentless service towards the cause of women empowerment and social welfare, and to celebrate women as game changers and catalysts of positive change in the society. The award ceremony for the year 2020 could not be held in 2021 due to the prevalent situation created by COVID-19 pandemic.

Rural Development Minister Giriraj Singh on Tuesday said, the government is working to increase the income of women associated with Self Help Groups. He said, our target is that the income of women should reach one lakh rupees annually.

On the occasion of International Women's Day, the Minister inaugurated the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav Iconic Week Celebrations at Vigyan Bhawan today.  While addressing, the Minister said, bank linkage of Self Help Groups has increased manifold in the last seven years. Appreciating the efforts of banks which played important role in bank linkage, Mr. Singh said, all the banks of the country have been a major contributor in this drive. He said, discrimination against women will end only when women become financially independent. He said, there are 150 lakh women enterprises in the country which is 20 per cent of the total enterprise of the country. He added that it will reach 300 lakhs by 2030. 

Union Minister for Power R.K. Singh on Tuesday launched the Virtual Smart Grid Knowledge Center (SGKC) and Innovation Park virtually as part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav Programme.

Minister of State for Power Krishan Pal Gurjar was also present on the occasion. The SGKC has been established by POWERGRID for demonstration and advancement of frontier smart grid technologies.SGKC aims to be one of the leading Centers of Excellence globally to foster innovation, entrepreneurship and research in smart grid technologies and create capacities in the power distribution sector.

The Virtual SGKC that was launched today enables a digital footprint of the physical setup of SGKC, the need for which was felt during COVID-19 pandemic.

The Karnataka government has approved 48 industrial projects worth Rs 2,062  crore that would provide jobs for over 6,393 people in the state. The clearance for the projects was given at the State Level Single Window Clearance Committee (SLSWCC) meeting chaired by Large and Medium Scale Industries Minister Murugesh Nirani on Saturday. 

According to Nirani, the panel has considered and approved seven important large and medium-size industrial projects worth Rs 1,275.67 crore, which are expected to create employment opportunities for 3,181 people in the state. 

The ninth edition of India-Sri Lanka Naval Exercise, SLINEX, is scheduled at Visakhapatnam from today to this Thursday. The exercise is being conducted in two phases, the Harbour Phase at Visakhapatnam on 07 to 08 March this year, followed by the Sea Phase on 09 to 10 March in the Bay of Bengal.

The Sri Lanka Navy will be represented by SLNS Sayurala, an advanced offshore patrol vessel and the Indian Navy by INS Kirch, a guided missile corvette. Other participants from the Indian Navy include INS Jyoti, a Fleet support tanker, Advanced Light Helicopter, Seaking and Chetak Helicopters and Dornier Maritime Patrol Aircraft. The previous edition of SLINEX was conducted off Trincomalee in October 2020.

International Women’s Day is being celebrated today. The Day is observed every year to celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating women's equality. The theme for this year is 'hashtag breaks The Bias'.

President Ram Nath Kovind has greeted citizens on International Women’s Day. In a tweet, Mr Kovind said, Women are making exemplary contributions in all walks of life. He called upon everyone to recommit themselves to ensure their safety and dignity and to provide opportunities to each of them to pursue their dreams and aspirations.

As part of ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’, week-long celebrations of International Women’s Day started on 1st March in New Delhi. The week-long events will culminate with the conferment of Nari Shakti Puraskar for the years 2020 and 2021 by President  Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan today.

Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, MSME Minister Narayan Rane launched a Special Entrepreneurship Promotion Drive for Women - “SAMARTH” on the occasion of International Women’s Day 2022 in New Delhi today. On the occasion, Mr. Rane also conferred awards to twenty women entrepreneurs from different entrepreneur sectors across the country.

The ministry said that under the Samarth initiative twenty percent seats in free Skill Development Programs organized under skill development schemes of the Ministry will be allocated for Women and more than seven thousand 500 women will be benefitted. It said that twenty percent of MSME Business Delegations sent to domestic and international exhibitions under the schemes for Marketing Assistance implemented by the Ministry will be dedicated to women owned MSMEs.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with winners of Nari Shakti Puraskar Awards in New Delhi yesterday. He praised the awardees for the tremendous work done by them. He said, they are contributing to society and the country and innovation is clearly visible in their work. The Prime Minister said, there is no sector where women have not made their mark and made the country proud.

Mr Modi said, government is committed to working towards realizing the potential of women and is framing policies with that objective. The Prime Minister noted that it is important to ensure that all women become part of decision-making at family level.

A three-day symposium, starting from today, i.e March 7 is being held in Chennai under the theme ‘Imagining India at 2047 through Innovation.’ The symposium is being organized by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) in collaboration with the IIT Madras. The symposium that is set to take place at the IITM Research park, Chennai will be inaugurated by the Union Minister of State for Science & Technology Dr Jitendra Singh will inaugurate the symposium on 8th March, 2022.

During the Mohali Test, the broadcast displayed the list of 12 Indians to have played 100 or more Tests, Virat Kohli being the latest entrant to the club. On commentary, former Sri Lanka batsman Russell Arnold told Sunil Gavaskar – another member of the club – that the list included mostly batsmen. The only bowlers on it are Anil Kumble, Kapil Dev, Ishant Sharma and Harbhajan Singh. When the telecast resumed after an ad break, Gavaskar responded by saying that he’d just received a text from Kapil Dev. ‘I’m not a bowler, I’m an allrounder.’

On Sunday at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Ravichandran Ashwin went past Kapil’s tally of 434 Test wickets when he dismissed Charith Asalanka in the Sri Lankan follow-on innings. It was the 11th wicket to fall on a day Sri Lanka lost 16 in an innings rout, and the weekend crowd celebrated it amidst India’s inexorable march to victory. As they had celebrated all the Sri Lankan wickets preceding it, and would celebrate all the wickets to follow. One wonders whether some of the fans celebrated Asalanka’s fall more because it had made Ashwin India’s second-highest wicket-taker in Tests, after Kumble.