President Ram Nath Kovind will address the nation today on the eve of the 72nd Republic Day. The address will be broadcast from 7 PM on the entire national network of All India Radio and telecast over all channels of Doordarshan in Hindi, followed by English version.
 
Broadcast of the address in Hindi and English on Doordarshan will be followed by broadcast in regional languages by regional channels of Doordarshan. All India Radio will broadcast regional language versions from 9.30 PM onwards on its respective regional networks.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar awardees through video conferencing today.

Thirty two children have been awarded the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar this year. AIR correspondent reports that Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani will also be present on the occasion.
 
The Government has been conferring the Bal Shakti Puraskar under Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar to the children with exceptional abilities and outstanding achievement in the fields of innovation, sports, arts and culture, social service and bravery. AIR correspondent reports that the awardees are from 32 districts of 21 States and Union territories.
 
Seven awards have been given in the field of Art and Culture, nine awards have been given for Innovation and five for scholastic achievements. Seven children have won in Sports category, three children have been felicitated for Bravery and one child has been honoured for her efforts in the field of Social Service.

In yet another milestone, DRDO successfully conducted captive and release trial of indigenously developed Smart Anti-Airfield Weapon SAAW from Hawk-I of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) off the Odisha coast.
 
The smart weapon was successfully test-fired on Thursday from Indian Hawk-Mk132 of HAL. This was the ninth successful mission of SAAW conducted by DRDO till now. It was a text book launch, which met all mission objectives. The telemetry and tracking systems installed at Interim Test Range (ITR), Balasore captured all the mission events.
 
SAAW is indigenously designed and developed by DRDO’s Research Centre Imarat (RCI) Hyderabad. This is 125 Kg class smart weapon, capable of engaging ground enemy airfield assets such as radars, bunkers, taxi tracks, and runways etc. up to a range of 100 kilometres. The high precision guided bomb is light weight as compared to weapon system of the same class. The weapon was earlier successfully test fired from Jaguar aircraft.

Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and Indian Institute of Technology, IIT Roorkee signed an MoU in New Delhi today for continuation of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways Professorial Chair focusing on research and development, teaching and training in the area of Development of Highway Infrastructure. The MoU was signed by Indresh Kumar Pandey, Special Secretary and Director GeneralRoad Development and Prof. Manoranjan Parida, Deputy Director and Professor of Civil Engineering, IIT Roorkee. Secretary in the Ministry Giridhar Aramane presided over the MoU signing ceremony.
 
This collaboration of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways with IIT-Roorkee will strengthen Research and Development activities in Road Sector and the Chair professor is expected to provide leadership in conducting and coordinating research, development and teaching in the area of Development of Highway Infrastructure.

Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina has thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the gift of 2 million doses of COVID 19 vaccine to Bangladesh.

Addressing a conference through virtual mode in Dhaka on Thursday, Prime Minister Hasina expressed the hope that the vaccines purchased from India will also arrive by January 25-26, reports the official news agency BSS.

Referring to the measures taken by the government in purchasing COVID 19 vaccine, Prime Minister Hasina said that the government is taking all the required measures to face the Coronavirus.

Earlier, High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh Vikram Doraiswami handed over 2 million doses of COVID 19 vaccine gift to Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dr. A K Abdul Momen and Health Minister Zahid Maleque in a function held in Dhaka on Thursday. 

Joe Biden took oath as the 46th President of the United States of America at a scaled-back ceremony in the US Capitol building in Washington last night that was largely stripped of its usual pomp due to the Coronavirus and security concerns. In his first speech as US president, Mr Biden vowed to defeat political extremism and white supremacy.
 
He spoke of unifying the country and pledged that he will be the President for all Americans. He said, America has been tested and they have come out stronger for it. Mr Biden said, they will repair their alliances and engage once again. 78 year old Biden has become the oldest US President in history. His deputy Kamala Harris was also sworn in as 49th Vice-President of the country. The daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India, Kamala Harris made history as America's first woman and first person with south Asian roots to take the office of the Vice President.

In Ladakh, the Union Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju launched the first ever Khelo India Zanskar Winter Sports Festival at Padum in Zanskar of Kargil district. The festival is being organised by the Ladakh UT Administration to promote Zanskar as winter tourists' destination.

The main features of the 13-day festival are Ice Climbing, trekking on frozen Zanskar River, Ice Hockey, snow sculpture and ethnic food festival. Addressing the inaugural function of the Khelo India Zanskar Winter Sport and Youth Festival, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said that the Ministry will provide sports facilities in all regions of Ladakh. He said, the Ministry will promote Ladakh as a centre for Ice Hockey and soon open an centre for archery and polo in two areas in the region.

Zanskar Winter Sports and Youth festival is being introduced as an annual event in Zanskar to showcase its potential in adventure tourism and sports. It is one of the major events planned to promote winter tourism in Ladakh. Lieutanant Governor Ladakh R. K. Mathur and Member of Parliament Jamyang Tsering Namgyal , Chief Executive Councilor of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Leh Tashi Galsion also attended the inaugural function. 

Union Government has said that more than one crore one lakh houses have been approved under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) till date. The construction of more than 70 lakh houses is in various stages and more than 41 lakh houses have been completed.
 
Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry said, the construction of one lakh 68 thousand 606 new houses have been approved in the 52nd Meeting of the Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee under the scheme. The Ministry said, 14 States and Union Territories participated in this meeting. Speaking on the occasion, Secretary of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs Durga Shanker Mishra urged the States and UTs to strategize the expeditious implementation of PMAY(U) projects.
 
He said, the progress under the Mission has been steady and there is a need to move towards completion of houses with all the basic physical and social infrastructure. Mr Mishra said, the States and UTs should focus on completion and delivery of houses to beneficiaries. He also urged them to expedite the implementation of Affordable Rental Housing Complexes scheme.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will release financial assistance of around Rs. 2691 crores to 6.1 lakh beneficiaries in Uttar Pradesh under Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana – Gramin (PMAY-G) on 20th January, 2021 at 12 noon via video conferencing.

Union Rural Development Minister and Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh will also be present on the occasion. The assistance would include release of first installment to 5.30 lakh beneficiaries and second installment to 80 thousand beneficiaries who have already availed first installment of assistance under PMAY-G.

Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana – Gramin

Prime Minister gave the clarion call of “Housing for All by 2022”, for which a flagship programme of PMAY-G was launched on 20th November, 2016. So far 1.26 crore houses have already been built across the country under the scheme. Under PMAY-G, each beneficiary is given 100% grant of Rs.1.20 lakh (in plain areas) and Rs. 1.30 lakh (in Hilly States/North Eastern States/Difficult areas/UT of J&K and Ladakh/IAP/LWE districts).

The beneficiaries of PMAY-G, in addition to the unit assistance, are also provided support of unskilled labour wages under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and assistance of Rs. 12,000 for construction of toilets through Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin (SBM-G), MGNREGS or any other dedicated source of funding.

Union Government has decided to celebrate the birthday of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose as 'Parakram Diwas' on 23rd of January every year. Ministry of Culture said in a notification that the decision has been taken to honour and remember Netaji’s indomitable spirit and selfless service to the nation. It said, the people fondly remember Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's unparalleled contribution to the nation on his 125th Birth Anniversary.
 
Government has decided to celebrate the 125th Birth Anniversary Year of Netaji beginning from this month in a befitting manner at national and international level.