Foreign minister S Jaishankar held wide-ranging discussions with his Nigerian counterpart Geoffrey Onyeama on Tuesday.

The discussion on the entire gamut of India-Nigeria bilateral relations was held in virtual mode.

The foreign ministers' discussions covered a wide spectrum of cooperation on political, economic and trade, defense and security, developmental assistance, and cultural cooperation. India and Nigeria have extensive cooperation in the field of defense training and capacity building, and it is expanding to newer areas such as defense equipment support, medical and maintenance services, sharing of R&D expertise for counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency. India-Nigeria will also be holding the next meeting of the Joint Defense Cooperation Committee later this year in Abuja.

With a bilateral trade turnover of USD 13.9 billion in 2019-20, India is Nigeria’s largest trading partner, and Nigeria is India’s largest trading partner in Africa. Nigeria is a leading energy security partner of India, and both sides have agreed to strengthen their cooperation in this sector including at Government to Government level. 

Amid Covid 19 pandemic, Keralites across the globe is celebrating Thiruvonam today, the biggest cultural festival of the State.
 
AIR correspondent reports, Thiruonam is the most auspicious day of Onam festival. This annual harvest festival of the State celebrates the visit of mythical and righteous King Mahabali.
 
Onam is being celebrated by all Keralaites irrespective of religion symbolising secularism and harmony.
 
Onam marks the season of plenty, but this time the Covid pandemic had taken the sheen out of the festivities.
 
As authorities had urged to follow strict guidelines for a safer onam, people at large will be celebrating the festival in their homes.
 
As large gatherings are prohibited onapookalam, onakalikal, onasadhya, will all be restricted to one's own home, as safety remains the primary concern.

India and Russia were declared joint winners of the 2020 Online FIDE Chess Olympiad after the final was marred by internet disconnection last night.
 
Russia were initially declared winners after two Indian players, Nihal Sarin and Divya Deshmukh, lost out on time in the final after suffering a disconnection with the server.
 
India had appealed against the controversial decision. 

However, the international chess federation Fide's president Arkady Dvorkovich decided to award the gold medal to both the teams.
 
This was the first time Fide was holding the Olympiad in an online format. 

India had reached the finals of the FIDE Chess Olympiad for the first time. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that self-sufficiency in agriculture is not limited to food only, rather it is a matter of self-sufficiency of the entire economy of the village. Speaking after inaugurating the College and Administration Buildings of the Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Agricultural University through video conference today,  Mr Modi said, it is the mission to bring value addition to the agricultural products produced in the country and to take it to the markets in the country and the world. He said, the goal of self-sufficiency in agriculture is to make the farmer a producer as well as an entrepreneur.

Mr Modi said, when farmers and agriculture move forward in the form of an industry, employment and self-employment opportunities will be ready in the village and nearby the village on a large scale. He said, it is also necessary to take education related to agriculture and its practical application to the school level. Mr Modi said, efforts are on to introduce the subject of agriculture at the middle school level. The Prime Minister said young researchers, young scientists will have to work continuously on modern technologies like drone technology, artificial intelligence, and modern agricultural equipment to make it more useful in the agriculture sector in the country.

He said, six years ago, there was only one Central Agricultural University in the country and today, three Central Agricultural Universities are functioning in India. The Prime Minister said, apart from it, three more national institutes are being established. These are IARI-Jharkhand, IARI-Assam and Mahatma Gandhi Institute for Integrated Farming at Motihari.

The prize money in four of the seven categories of the National Sports and Adventure Awards has been enhanced. Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju announced the enhancement  on the occasion of the National Sports Day today. The prize money for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award has been increased to 25 lakh rupees from the previous amount of 7.5 lakh rupees.  Arjuna Award has been enhanced to 15 lakh rupees from 5 lakh. The Dhronacharya (Lifetime) awardees, who were earlier given 5 lakh rupees will now be given 15 lakh rupees as cash prize, while Dhronacharya (Regular) will be given 10 lakh instead of  5 lakh rupees per awardee. Dhyanchand Awardees will be given 10 lakh rupees instead of 5 lakh rupees.

Speaking about the decision, Mr. Rijiju said, the prize money for the Sports Awards was last reviewed in 2008. He said these amounts should be reviewed once every 10 years at least. He added that if professionals in every field have seen an enhancement in their earnings, sportspersons should also get enhanced earnings.

The Minister was talking to the media after paying floral tributes to hockey wizard Major Dhyanchand at his statue in Dhyan Chand Stadium in Delhi this morning.  Mr Rijiju  congratulated the winners of National Sports Awards for the accolades and honours they brought to India. He said that the performance of Indian athletes at international level has gone up as compared to the past. He stated that well performing athletes have to be recognised and rewarded and therefore, the number of awardees in National Sports Awards has also gone up this year.

President Ram Nath Kovind today virtually conferred the National Sports and Adventure Award 2020 on the occasion of National Sports Day. Mr Kovind presented Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, Arjuna Award, Dronacharya Award, Dhyan Chand Award, Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award and Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Kovind said, due to Covid-19, the sports world has been impacted. He said, in India also all sports activities have been affected. The President expressed happiness that players and coaches have been connected through online coaching and webinars. He said, Sports Ministry and other institutes have also maintained contact with the coaches and players. The President expressed hope that people connected with the sporting world will come out of it with more mental strength and they will create new history with their achievements.  He said, sports and sportspersons strengthen the spirit of solidarity among our countrymen.

Paying tributes to Major Dhyanchand, the President said, he is a role model for sportsperson as well as all other countrymen. Mr Kovind said, Major Dhyanchand got extraordinary achievements in the field of hockey with his dedication and skill amidst the simple surroundings and facilities.

Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju and several other dignitaries attended the ceremony from Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi.

The awardees attended the ceremony from various places across the country, Bengaluru, Pune, Sonepat, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Lucknow, Delhi, Mumbai, Bhopal, Hyderabad and Itanagar. The Ceremony was broadcast live on AIR News and Doordarshan.

For the first time, the National Sports and Adventure Award ceremony is being conducted virtually.

Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh launched the Directorate General National Cadet Corps (DGNCC) Mobile Training App.

The App will assist in conducting countrywide online training of NCC cadets.

In view of the restrictions imposed by COVID-19, training of NCC cadets has been affected adversely as it is mostly contact based training.

Since schools/colleges are not likely to open in near future, a need was felt that training to NCC cadets should be imparted utilising the digital medium.

Raksha Mantri also interacted with the NCC cadets via video conferencing during the launch of the App and also answered their questions. He wished them success and motivated them to excel in all spheres of life.

In his address to the NCC Cadets, Raksha Mantri said the app will be useful to them in digital learning and overcoming the difficulties posed by COVID-19 due to restrictions on direct physical interactions. But if one moves ahead with determination and self-confidence, he or she would be able to clear all hurdles and achieve success, he added.

The Government has approved 78 new routes under the 4th round of Regional Connectivity Scheme - Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik, (UDAN) to further enhance the connectivity to remote and regional areas of the country. The Civil Aviation Ministry said, North East Region, Hilly States and Islands have been given priority in the approval process for the new routes. It said, 29 served, eight unserved and two underserved airports have been included in the list for approved routes. The Ministry said, overall 766 routes have been sanctioned so far under the UDAN scheme. 

Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Usha Padhee said, the Ministry had launched the 4th round of UDAN in December last year with a special focus on North-Eastern Regions, Hilly States and Islands. She said, the awarding of these 78 routes under UDAN - 4 is in line with the Act East Policy of the Central Government. Under UDAN 4, the operation of helicopter and seaplanes is also been incorporated. Ms Padhee said, since its inception, Civil Aviation Ministry has operationalised 274 UDAN routes that have connected 45 airports and three heliports.

The Ministry of Culture has announced 7 new circles of Archaeological Survey of India, ASI. In a video message, Culture and Tourism Minister Prahlad Singh Patel said, Ministry of Culture has taken the step in accordance with the Prime Minister’s call to facilitate and strengthen the process of preservation and registration of archaeological monuments.

He informed that new circles have been created in Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal and Gujarat. Mr Patel said, Trichy, Raiganj, Rajkot, Jabalpur, Jhansi and Meerut have been announced as new circles.
 
The Minister said, in a large state like Tamil Nadu which has thousands of temples and glorious memories of the Chola kings, Trichy has been made a new circle along with the circle of Chennai. He said, Hampi city in Karnataka is a place of international importance from the point of view of archaeological heritage therefore the Hampi Sub-Circle now has been made a new full fledged circle.

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister Dr. C N Ashwathnarayan has announced opening of degree colleges from first of September. Speaking to media persons in Bengaluru yesterday, he said that all the degree colleges will commence online classes from 1st of next month and offline classes from the 1st of October.
 
The Deputy Chief Minister informed that guidelines in this regard are awaited from the Central Government on conducting offline classes as well as a few degree exams in September. AIR Correspondent reports, Dr. Ashwathnarayan has said that all the decisions regarding commencement of degree colleges are taken in the sole interest of the students. Speaking regarding the opposition to NEET exam, the minister said that vested interests should not play with the future of children.
 
Expressing suspicion over the opposition, the minister said it could be an attempt to allocate seats to professional courses through opaque means rather than that based on merit. He cited the example of Karnataka which successfully conducted Common Entrance Test for more than 1.94 lakh students, including those 63 Covid positive students.