In a major push to the Go-Electric campaign in Delhi and in sync with the Centre’s vision on Electric Mobility, All India Radio has shifted its entire fleet to Electric vehicles for all its transportation needs. Chief Executive Officer of Prasar Bharati Shashi Shekhar Vempati and Director General All India Radio N Venudhar Reddy flagged off a fleet of 23 Electric Vehicles at Akashwani Bhawan in New Delhi today.

Later speaking to media, the Chief Executive Officer of Prasar Bharati Shashi Shekhar Vempati said, it is an important decision to convert to Electric Vehicles. He said, it is the mission of Prime Minister for a clean India where environment is also clean. Mr Vempati expressed happiness that it is second largest Electric Fleet in national capital Delhi.  
 
Director-General All India Radio N Venudhar Reddy hoped that electric vehicles will be brought in for other stations of All India Radio based on the experience of these E-Vehicles at Akashvani Bhawan. He said, AIR has entered into an agreement with CESL for the E-Vehicles for the next five years.  

The government has issued a gazette notification to repeal the three farm laws. The Parliament repealed these laws on the first day of the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address to the nation on the 19th of last month had announced that the new farm laws enacted in 2019 will be repealed in the winter session of Parliament. He had appealed to all protesting farmers to go home in good spirits on the day of Gurpurab. The PM had also said a committee would be constituted to look into all aspects of agriculture.

President Ram Nath Kovind has said that Dr B R Ambedkar was in favour of awakening the moral conscience of the society and he used to say that rights cannot be protected only by laws, but it is also necessary to have moral and social consciousness in the society. Addressing the inauguration ceremony of the International Ambedkar Conclave in New Delhi today, Mr Kovind said, Dr Ambedkar always emphasized on non-violent and constitutional means. He said, in the Constitution, many provisions have been made to protect the interests of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and Article 46 of the Constitution directs that the State shall develop the educational and economic interests of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes with special care. The President said, also, in this article, the State has been directed to protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation. He said, a number of institutions and procedures have been put in place to give effect to these guidelines. Mr Kovind said, there has been a lot of improvements, but a lot remains to be done by our country and society.

The President said that many people of the deprived sections are not aware of their rights and government’s initiatives for their welfare and therefore, it is the responsibility of members of Forum of SC and ST Legislators and Parliamentarians to make them aware of their rights and government’s initiatives. He said, it is also their responsibility to take forward the people of scheduled castes and tribes who have been left behind by them in the developmental journey. Mr. Kovind said, by this way they can pay their true tributes to Dr Ambedkar.

The clinical trial of Bharat Biotech's COVAXIN on children began at AIIMS Patna.

All 15 kids who voluntarily turned up for the vaccine trial had gone through the screening process such as RT-PCR, antibody test and general check up prior to receiving their shots.

Three children were found fit for vaccine trials after screening. Children found with antibodies could not participate in the vaccine trial. Dr Sanjeev Kumar, nodal-in-charge for COVID at AIIMS, Patna said, the children who received their first shot are in the age group of 12 to 18 years. After being administered 0.5.ml dose of intramuscular injection, the children were monitored for two hours.

The second dose will be given after four weeks. During this period their health will be closely monitored.

Asian Boxing Championships get under way today in Dubai. India were already assured of medals after seven women entered the semifinals when draws were unveiled yesterday.
 
Due to the small size of their respective draws, Indian pugilists  MC Mary Kom, Pooja Rani, Anupama, Saweety, Lovlina Borgohain, Lalbuatsaihi, and Monika made to the last-four stage.
 
Mohammad Hussamuddin, Shiva Thapa and Sumit Sangwan will begin their campaign for India on the opening day today. A total of six Indian male boxers, including defending champion Amit Panghal, Varinder Singh, Vikas Krishan, Ashish Kumar, Sanjeet and Narender got first-round byes into quarterfinals.
 
In all, 19 Indian boxers nine men and 10 women will stake their claim for the top honours.  A total of 27 countries were  expected to participate but that shrunk to 17 yesterday due to COVID-forced travel restrictions. The total women's participation in this edition is 47 boxers across 10 weight categories.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina gave away the highest civilian award of Bangladesh ‘Swadhinta Puraskar 2021’ also known as Independence Award to nine individuals and a research organisation on Thursday.

She handed over the award at her official residence Ganabandhan in Dhaka.The Independence Award is conferred on people or organisations for their outstanding contribution to the Liberation War of Bangladesh, Science and Technology, literature and Culture among others.

The award for the year 2021 included four posthumous awards given to AKM Bazlur Rahman, Shaheed Ahsanullah Master, Brigadier General Khurshid Uddin Ahmed, and Akhtaruzzaman Chowdhury Babu for their contribution to independence and the War of Liberation.
Dr. Mrinmoy Guha Neogi received the honour for his contribution to Science and Technology while Mohadeb Saha was bestowed with the award for his contribution to the field of literature. Ataur Rahman and Gazi Mazharul Anwar got the award for Culture and Prof. M Amjad Hossain for Social Work.

Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY), a Central Sector Scheme, was announced in August 2003 to address imbalances in availability of tertiary care hospitals and improve medical education in the country.

The scheme received a fresh impetus to fulfil Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of quality medical education in the underserved States, and many new All India Institutes of Medical Sciences are being set up under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana. So far setting up of 22 new AIIMS has been approved under the scheme, out of which six AIIMS at Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Jodhpur, Patna, Raipur and Rishikesh are already fully functional. In another seven AIIMS, OPD facility and MBBS classes have started while in five more institutes only MBBS classes has started.

These regional AIIMS, set up or being set up under PMSSY, have played a very significant role in management of COVID since the beginning of the pandemic early last year. Their contribution becomes significant when seen in the light of the fact that they serve areas where the health infrastructure was weak.

Senior BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma was sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Assam today. Governor Prof. Jagdish Mukhi administered him the oath of office. Along with Mr. Sarma 13 ministers also took oath today. 10 ministers from the BJP, while 2 ministers from Asom Gana Parishad and 1 from UPPL are included in the Himanta Biswa Sarma ministry.
 
State BJP President Ranjeet Kumar Dass, Asom Gana Parishad Atul Bora and Working President Keshab Mahanta, senior BJP leaders Chandra Mohan Patowary, Parimal Suklabaidya and Pijush Hazarika took oath as ministers. BJP legislators Bimal Borah, Ashok Singhal ,Ranuj Pegu are some of the new faces included in the ministry. National President of BJP J P Nadda, Union ministers Jitendra Singh, several Chief Ministers of North East and former Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal attended the oath taking ceremony.
 
Mr. Sarma who is representing Jalukbari assembly constituency, joined the BJP in 2015. Prior to  joining the BJP, he held several important portfolios in the Tarun Gogoi led Congress government. A writer and sports administrator, Shri Sarma is also holding the post of Convenor of the North East Democratic Alliance, NEDA. 

In tennis, World number six Alexander Zverev beat Matteo Berrettini to clinch his second Madrid Open title.
 
After beating top-seeded Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals and fourth-ranked Dominic Thiem in the semifinals, Zverev rallied to defeat Italian world number 10 Berrettini 6-7 (8), 6-4, 6-3 in the final.
 
In the men’s doubles final, Marcel Granollers of Spain and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina defeated Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic of Croatia 1-6, 6-3, 10-8, claiming the doubles title yesterday.
 
Earlier, Aryna Sabalenka turned the tables on world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty to win the women’s title. The world number seven Belarus's Sabalenka beat Australian player 6-0, 3-6, 6-4.

India is the fastest country globally to administer 17 crore COVID vaccine doses.  It has taken 114 days to achieve this coverage while China took 119 days and USA 115 days for reaching the same landmark. 

Over 17 crore one lakh vaccine doses have been administered so far in the country.  In the last 24 hours, more than 6.8 lakh vaccination doses were administered in the country.

Over 20 lakh 31 thousand beneficiaries in the age group of 18 to 44 years have been administered the first jab so far since the third phase of the largest vaccination drive kick-started from 1st of this month.
 
The Center is taking several steps to provide relief to the people during this pandemic. It is ensuring that the global aid is being expeditiously delivered to States and UTs through fast custom clearances, and use of air and road.

So far, 6,738 Oxygen Concentrators, 3,856 Oxygen Cylinders, 16 Oxygen Generation Plants, 4,668 ventilators, Bi-PAP and more than three lakh Remdesivir vials received as part of global aid to India have been delivered and dispatched to States and UTs to augment and supplement their infrastructure.