Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate who helped end apartheid in South Africa, has died aged 90. A contemporary of anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela, he was was one of the driving forces behind the movement to end the policy of racial segregation and discrimination enforced by the white minority government against the black majority in South Africa from 1948 until 1991.

The outspoken Tutu was considered the nation's conscience by both, the black majority and the white minority, an enduring testament to his faith and spirit of reconciliation in a divided nation. He was awarded the Nobel prize in 1984 for his role in the struggle to abolish the apartheid system.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed sadness at the demise of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu. In a tweet, Mr Modi said the Archbishop was a guiding light for countless people globally and his emphasis on human dignity and equality will be forever remembered.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Kanpur tomorrow and inaugurate the completed section of the Kanpur Metro Rail Project.

During the programme, Prime Minister will also inaugurate the Bina-Panki Multiproduct Pipeline Project. Prior to this, Mr. Modi will attend the 54th Convocation Ceremony of IIT Kanpur.

The completed section of the Kanpur Metro Rail Project is 9 Km-long section from IIT Kanpur to Moti Jheel. Prime Minister will inspect the Kanpur Metro Rail Project and undertake a metro ride from IIT metro station to Geeta Nagar. The entire length of the Metro Rail Project in Kanpur is 32 Km, and is being built at a cost of over 11,000 crore rupees. Prime Minister will inaugurate the Bina-Panki Multiproduct Pipeline Project also. The 356 Km long project has a capacity of around 3.45 million metric tonnes per annum. Extending from Bina refinery in Madhya Pradesh to Panki in Kanpur, the project has been built at a cost of over Rs 1500 crore. It will help the region access petroleum products from the Bina refinery.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Pariksha Pe Charcha, which is held for students before their exams, will be held early next year. The registrations for the same will begin tomorrow and will go on till January 20. Mr. Modi announced the plans for the next Pariksha Pe Charcha in his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ programme yesterday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Mandi in Himachal Pradesh today. He will inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of hydropower projects worth over 11 thousand crore rupees around 12 noon. Prior to the event, Mr. Modi will preside over the second ground breaking ceremony of Himachal Pradesh Global Investors’ Meet around 11:30 AM.

Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone of Renuka Ji Dam project. Pending for about three decades, the project was made possible through the vision of cooperative federalism of the Prime Minister, when six states - Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, and Delhi were brought together by the Centre for making the project possible. The 40 MW project will be built at a cost of around 7,000 crore rupees. It will prove to be immensely beneficial for Delhi, which will be able to receive around 500 million cubic metre water supply per year.

Mr. Modi will lay the foundation stone of the Luhri Stage 1 Hydro Power Project. The 210 MW project will be built at a cost of over 1800 crore rupees. It will lead to the generation of over 750 million units of electricity per year. The modern and dependable grid support will prove beneficial to surrounding states of the region as well.

Minister of Agriculture, Narendra Singh Tomar has said that, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, agriculture is being given priority and 1 lakh 62 thousand crore rupees have been provided to 11.5 crore farmers in the country under PM Kisan Yojana. He was speaking after inaugurating the four-day agriculture exhibition 'Agrovision', in Nagpur, Maharashtra today.  Union Minister Nitin Gadkari was also present on this occasion. Stressing upon the infrastructure development in the agriculture sector Mr.Tomar expressed the need for private sector investment in the sector.  He informed that the central government had sanctioned One lakh crore rupees for infra-structural funding in the agriculture sector under the  ‘Aatmanirbhar’  package. Under this, facilities like ware house, cold chain storage  are being constructed at village level and farmers are getting the benefit.  He also appealed to the farmers to turn towards organic farming.

Union Minister Gadkari said that the cost of imports on petroleum and fuel is over 10,000 crore. To overcome this, Bio-ethanol is needed which is an environment friendly and cost-effective fuel. Mr Gadkari said that 100 per cent ethanol-powered vehicles would give farmers the opportunity to set up bio- ethanol. He also appealed to the farmers to avail the facilities of state government schemes, veterinary clinics and embryo lab in Nagpur to achieve the target of 50 lakh liters of milk production in Vidarbha.

The Nation pays homage to former Prime Minister and Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee on his 97th birth anniversary today. Dignitaries will pay floral tributes to the former Prime Minister at his memorial Sadaiv Atal in Delhi.

The day is also celebrated as Good Governance Day.
 
Vajpayee was elected ten times to the Lok Sabha and twice to the Rajya Sabha. He was a parliamentarian par excellence, who had the trust, affection and belief of the people in his leadership.

As a parliamentarian and particularly as Prime Minister, he made innumerable important contributions which paved the way for a stronger economy through bold reforms and rapid development of infrastructure.

President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, BJP President J P Nadda, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh, several other Union Ministers, Family members of the former Prime Minister paid floral tributes at Sadaiv Atal, the memorial of Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Delhi.

In Uttar Pradesh, night curfew will be imposed from tonight. The decision was taken yesterday by chief minister after a review meeting with senior officials, keeping in view the rising cases of Omicron in the country. AIR correspondent reports, The night curfew will be in place from 11pm to 5am. As per the order release by chief secretary of the state during night curfew people who work in the night shifts can go after showing their identity cards. essential services and emergency vehicles are also allowed.

A maximum of 200 people will be allowed for any gathering and events like weddings. Number of persons are restricted to  50% of the capacity for open spaces.

Organiser of the event has to inform also to the local administration about the gathering. In markets, a policy of ‘no service if no mask’ will be implemented.

Vendors and traders would be told not to sell to someone who is not wearing a mask. Masks are also mandatory on roads and in markets.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the Gurpurab celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev Ji at Gurudwara Lakhpat Sahib in Kutch, Gujarat around 12:30 PM today through video conferencing. Every year from 23rd December to 25th December, Sikh Sangat of Gujarat celebrate the Gurpurab of Guru Nanak Dev at this Gurudwara.

Guru Nanak Dev had stayed at Lakhpat during the course of his travels. Gurudwara Lakhpat Sahib has his relics including wooden footwear and palkhi as well as manuscripts and markings scripts of Gurmukhi.

The Gurudwara had suffered damages during the 2001 earthquake. The then Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, had undertaken urgent efforts to ensure repair of the damages. This step showed the deep reverence of Mr Modi for the faith, as also reflected in multiple recent endeavours.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has chaired the first meeting of the High-Level Committee (HLC) which has been constituted to commemorate 150th Birth Anniversary of Sri Aurobindo in a befitting manner. The notification of the HLC was issued on 20th of this month and it comprises 53 members from various walks of life.

Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister expressed his gratitude to the esteemed members for their valuable thoughts and suggestions on Sri Aurobindo’s Commemoration. Mr Modi said, the two aspects of Sri Aurobindo’s philosophy of ‘Revolution’ and ‘Evolution’, are  of key importance and should be emphasised as part of the commemoration.

He added, the youth should be encouraged towards the concept of greatness as embodied in the philosophy of  Nar to Narayan to create a Maha Manav as propounded by Sri Aurobindo.
 
The Prime Minister further added that it is the responsibility of India as a spiritual leader of the world to contribute in terms of spiritualism to nations across the globe. He suggested that 150 universities across the country should be involved in writing papers on different aspects of Sri Aurobindo’s life and philosophy and the 150 papers to be published on the occasion.

Haryana government has banned unvaccinated people from using public places from January 1, next year. This has been done to encourage people to get vaccinated against the deadly coronavirus infection. Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij said that those who are not fully vaccinated will not be allowed at public places after January 1. As per the new order issued by the state government, the unvaccinated people will not be able to use marriage hall, hotel, bank, any mall, any government office, and bus services from 1 January 2022. The order also said that other places of gathering like religious places, petrol and CNG stations, LPG gas cylinder collection centres, sugar mills, milk booths, and ration shops also should allow only fully vaccinated persons. It said, parks, yoga shalas, gyms, and fitness centres also should allow only those who have received the second dose of vaccine. No individuals including government servants to be allowed to visit government offices without being fully vaccinated.