Ministry of Civil Aviation and FICCI will jointly organise Asia's largest event on Civil Aviation - WINGS INDIA 2022 - from 24th to 27th of this month at Begumpet Airport, Hyderabad. Theme of the event is “India@75: New Horizon for Aviation Industry.” Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia will be formally inaugurating the event on 25th March.

In his message, Mr Scindia said that this event epitomizes government’s commitment to transform India into the world’s top civil aviation hub. He expressed confidence that the forum would serve to synchronize policy formation, with concerns of the stakeholders in the civil aviation sector. 
On 25th March, WINGS INDIA AWARDS will be conferred upon the Aviation-related companies, institutions and organizations that have created benchmarks and made notable contributions in the area of civil aviation in the country .

Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan will observe Shaheed Diwas in all 623 Districts across the country today as a part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. On 23rd March 1931, Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev were hanged to death. In fond remembrance of the sacrifices made by the brave young revolutionaries, India observes Shaheed Diwas every year on 23rd March.

Youth Affairs Ministry said, the day is being organized by Nehru Yuva Kendra by focussing on the theme - Tribute to Revolutionaries. The programs aim at instilling a sense of gratitude, pride, honor, and duty among the young generation by celebrating the life, work, and philosophy of the freedom fighters. The Ministry said, their stories will inspire the youth to create a spirit of patriotism, nationalism and motivate them further in engaging in National Building activities.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate Biplobi Bharat Gallery at Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata today on the occasion of Shaheed Diwas at 6 PM through video conferencing. The Gallery displays the contribution of the Revolutionaries in the freedom struggle and their armed resistance to British colonial rule. The purpose of this new gallery is to provide a holistic view of the events that led up to 1947 and highlight the important role played by the Revolutionaries. PM will also address the gathering during the event.

Biplobi Bharat Gallery depicts the political and intellectual backdrop that triggered the Revolutionary movement. It showcases the birth of the revolutionary movement, formation of significant associations by revolutionary leaders, spread of the movement, formation of Indian National Army, contribution of Naval Mutiny, among others.

Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda today said, IT Ministry recently initiated a scheme with an outlay of approximately 6,500 crore rupees to enable broadband and 4G connectivity to 7,000 villages in the country. Replying to supplementaries on steps being taken to ensure access to internet connectivity for the tribal population in the country, Mr Munda informed this in the Lok Sabha.

BJD MP Anubhav Mohanty raised his concerns on sickle disease that prominently affects tribals. He asked if the Government had received any representation pertaining to methodologies that would permanently eradicate the disease.

Parliament has passed the Appropriation (No.3) Bill 2022 and the Appropriation (No.2) Bill 2022 with the Rajya Sabha returning them to the Lok Sabha after consideration. The Lok Sabha has already approved these two bills.

As these are money bills, they are generally returned to the Lower House after consideration. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had moved the Appropriation (No.3) Bill 2022 in the Rajya Sabha to authorise payment and appropriation of certain further sums from and out of the Consolidated Fund of India for the services of the financial year 2021-22.

President Ram Nath Kovind presented Padma Awards at the Civil Investiture Ceremony-I held at Rashtrapati Bhavan this evening. Mr Kovind presented Padma Vibhushan to CDS General Bipin Rawat and Radhey Shyam Khemka posthumously. Daughters of General Rawat, Kritika and Tarini and Khemka's son Krishna Kumar received the awards.

Veteran leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, Tata Sons Chairman N. Chandrasekharan, Paralympics Medalist Devendra Jhajharia, former Comptroller and Auditor General Rajiv Mehrishi, Managing Director of the Serum Institute of India Cyrus Poonawalla, welfare activist Sachchidanand Swami, Classical vocalist Rashid Khan received the Padma Bhushan. Singer Gurmeet Bawa was given the award posthumously.      

Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has approved all urban water-supply schemes of the Jharkhand government under the recently launched Atal Renewal and Urban Transformation Mission (AMRUT) 2.0. The state has been allocated a grant of 1178 crore rupees as contribution amount from the Central government for all schemes under AMRUT 2.0.

Jharkhand becomes the first state to submit the City Water Balance Plan among other six states for the first phase of AMRUT 2.0. 

Meanwhile, the central government has given its nod to strengthen water supply and urban resources of 16 municipal bodies under the new plan. More than 1 lakh 90 thousand households present in 16 different municipal bodies will be provided with free tap-water connections under this scheme, benefiting over 9 lakh people.

India's public broadcaster Prasar Bharati has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Australia's public service broadcaster Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) yesterday to boost co-operation in the field of broadcasting.

This will expand the reach of DD News, DD India and multiple language services of DD News amongst the Indian Diaspora in Australia. Through this MoU, the two broadcasters will explore opportunities in co-production and joint broadcasting of programmes spanning multiple genres. They will also exchange programmes of Radio and Television content in the fields of culture, education, science, entertainment, sports, news, travel, music and arts.

UGC Chairman, M Jagadesh Kumar has said that Central Universities will have to use Common University Entrance Test CUET scores to admit students to undergraduate programmes this year. Briefing media in New Delhi yesterday, Mr Kumar said, from the 2022-23 academic year, the National Testing Agency NTA will conduct the CUET for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. He said, the syllabus of the CUET will be mirrored with the Class 12 model syllabus of the NCERT. The UGC Chairman said the CUET will be conducted in the first week of July.

The application process for undergraduate CUET will commence from the first week of April. The CUET will have Section 1A, Section 1B, general test, and domain-specific subjects. Section 1A, which will be compulsory, will be in 13 languages and candidates can choose the language of their choice. The options are English, Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu. Section 1B is optional and for students who want to opt for another language apart from the ones that are a part of Section 1A. Some of the languages on offer are French, Arabic, German, etc.

Seventy five women were conferred with the Women Transforming India Awards-2021 in recognition to their contribution towards a Sashakt Aur Samarth Bharat. NITI Aayog’s Women Entrepreneurship Platform conferred the fifth edition of awards in New Delhi yesterday as part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.

AIR correspondent reports that the awards were presented by an equally exceptional group of women including former Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry Kiran Bedi, former Assistant Secretary-General of UN Lakshmi Puri, former Chairperson of State Bank of India Arundhati Bhattacharya among others.

NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant and Senior members of the Aayog including bollywood singer Kailash Kher were present at the event.