Prime Minister Narendra Modi will share his thoughts with the people in the country and abroad in the 'Mann Ki Baat' programme on All India Radio at 11 AM on Sunday. It will be the 71st episode of the monthly radio programme.

It will be broadcast on the entire network of AIR and Doordarshan and also on AIR News website www.newsonair.com and newsonair Mobile App. It will also be streamed live on the YouTube channels of AIR, DD News, PMO and Information and Broadcasting Ministry.

AIR will broadcast the programme in regional languages immediately after the Hindi broadcast. The regional language versions will be repeated at eight in the evening.

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari inaugurated and laid the foundation stones of 16 National Highway projects worth 7477 crore rupees in Uttar Pradesh yesterday.
 
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was also present at the virtual function. These road projects worth 505 kilometers will enhance better connectivity, convenience and economic growth in the state.
 
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Gadkari said that National Highways works worth two lakh crore rupees are being undertaken in UP. Thanking the Central government, the Chief Minister said that National Highways works done in the state in the last 6 years is more than what was done in 65 years after independence.

Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju has launched the second edition of Fit India School Week program. To participate in the program the schools have to register themselves on www.fitindia.gov.in/fit-india-school-week.

During the launch ceremony yesterday, Mr Rijiju spoke about the importance of fitness in school life and said students are the driving force behind making India fit. The Minister said, he is happy to see that so many schools have registered for Fit India School Week and the numbers are increasing day by day. He said, this helps in achieving the target to make every Indian fit as the energy for it is generated from these schools itself.

The Fit India School week program was launched in November last year and saw participation from over 15 thousand schools across the country.

Legendary Argentine footballer, Diego Maradona, widely regarded among the greatest football players of all time passed away yesterday following a heart attack. The 60-year-old had been hospitalised at the start of November, days after celebrating his birthday. Maradona was hospitalised after he complained of regularly being fatigued. His tests at the La Plata clinic revealed a blood clot in Maradona's brain, which doctors later revealed was operated on successfully.
 
Maradona was also released from the hospital, but in the early hours yesterday, Maradona suffered cardiac arrest, and paramedics at the scene failed to revive him. Maradona had begun his professional career with Argentinos Juniors at the age of 16 and he went on to become one of the greatest players to ever play the game of football. The ace footballer represented Boca Juniors, Barcelona, Napoli, Sevilla, and Newell's Old Boys as a player. Diego was considered the main player in taking Argentina to their second World Cup title in 1986. Maradona also coached Racing Club, Dorados, Gimnasia and the Argentina national team.
 
Argentina has declared three-day mourning for the legendary footballer.

Argentine striker Lionel Messi has said that the World Cup -winning footballer will always remain in everyone's heart forever. Messi also said that Maradona's demise is a sad day for the entire sports fraternity. The pair of Messi and Maradona had teamed up between 2008 and 2010 as the latter managed Argentina's national team.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will virtually inaugurate the 3rd Global Renewable Energy Investors Meet and Expo (RE-INVEST 2020) today. During the three-day virtual conference, all the leading companies will display their latest technological development in the field of renewable energy and discuss various options available for energy transition.
 
Several world leaders, Energy Ministers of 75 countries and 200 eminent speakers will take part in the event. The summit is organised by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. It aims to accelerate the worldwide effort to scale up development and deployment of renewable energy and connect the global investment community with Indian energy stakeholders. The theme for RE-Invest 2020 is ‘Innovations for Sustainable Energy Transition’.

India has announced the launch of Phase-IV of the High Impact Community Development Projects in Afghanistan. It envisages more than 100 projects worth  80 million dollars that India would undertake in Afghanistan. External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar said this during the  2020 Afghanistan Conference organized in Geneva through video- conference. The two day conference began from yesterday and was co-hosted by the United Nations, the Government of Afghanistan, and the Government of Finland.
 
Dr Jaishankar also announced that India had just concluded with Afghanistan an agreement for the construction of the Shatoot dam, which would provide safe drinking water to two million residents of Kabul city. He said, India had earlier built the 202-kilometer Phul-e-Khumri transmission line that provided electricity to Kabul city.
 
In his statement, Dr Jaishankar emphasized India’s long term commitment to the development of Afghanistan and the benefit of it’s people as a contiguous neighbor and strategic partner. He said, India’s development portfolio in Afghanistan has to-date amounted to over 3 billion US dallars. He highlighted that no part of Afghanistan today is untouched by the 400 plus projects that India has undertaken in all 34 of Afghanistan’s provinces. He said, more than 65 thousand Afghan students have also studied in India.

A two-day All India Presiding Officers' Conference will begin at the Statue of unity in Kevadia Gujarat from today. The theme of this year's conference is Harmonious Coordination of Legislative, Executive and Judiciary - Key to a Vibrant Democracy.
 
The Conference will be inaugurated by the President Ram Nath Kovind this morning. Vice President and Chairman of Rajya Sabha M. Venkaiah Naidu will be present on this occasion. Lok Sabha speaker and Chairperson of the Conference Shri Om Birla will grace the two day conference.
 
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the valedictory session of the conference on 26th to mark the celebration of the constitution day. Governor of Gujarat Acharya Devvrat, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and other dignitaries will also attend the conference. AIR correspondent reports that the Presiding Officers of all State Legislative Assemblies and legislative councils have been invited to the conference. 27 presiding officers have already confirmed their participation. Secretaries of State Legislatures and other senior officials are also expected to participate in the conference.
 
All Presiding Officers and Secretaries of Legislatures shall take a pledge to make legislatures more accountable, while strengthening and empowering them according to constitutional values.The Conference will conclude with the adoption of a Declaration.

To mark the occasion of 3 years of UMANG and 2000 plus services milestone, an online conference was organized under the chairmanship of  Minister for Electronics and Information Technology, Ravi Shankar Prasad.

On this occasion,  Mr Prasad launched the UMANG’s international version in coordination with Ministry of External Affairs for select countries that include USA, UK, Canada, Australia, UAE, Netherlands, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. It  will help Indian international students, NRIs and Indian tourists abroad, to avail Government of India services, anytime. It will also help in taking India to the world through ‘Indian Culture’ services available on UMANG and create interest amongst foreign tourists to visit India.

The international version of the UMANG App can be downloaded from Play Store of specific countries. The Union Minister also launched an e-Book which presents major milestones of UMANG and major services available on UMANG App classified into various categories. Mr Prasad also unveiled the newly instituted UMANG Awards for Partner Departments of Centre and States based on the highest number of transactions across services. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Pasad said that Digital India must lead to digital inclusion and it must bridge the digital divide. He said, it must be achieved by technology which is home grown and also inclusive.

Veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah has received the Aditya Vikram Birla Kalashikhar Puraskar at Sangit Kala Kendra Awards, which was recently held virtually.

Two emerging stars, Neel Choudhary and Irawati Karnik, were awarded the Aditya Vikram Birla Kalakiran Puraskars.

"We rejoice, the spirit of our, founder president, Aditya Vikram Birla and his love for the performing arts. The Sangit Kala Kendra's, 'Aditya Vikram Birla, Kalashikhar Puraskar' and the 'Kalakiran Puraskars', were instituted in 1996, as a befitting memorial to, Adityaji and through it, create a significant pathway, for a singular recognition, of exemplary talent, in this domain," said Rajashree Birla, President, Sangit Kala Kendra.

On November 11, India became the fourth country in the world to have its independent regional navigation satellite system recognised by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) as a part of the World Wide Radio Navigation System (WWRNS).

The navigation system can now replace GPS in the Indian Ocean waters upto 1500 km from the Indian boundary. The process of getting the recognition for the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System based on satellites of the Indian Space Research Organisation took about two years. Merchant vessels in Indian waters can now use the “modern and more accurate” system as an alternative navigation module, said Director General of Shipping, Amitabh Kumar.