Defence Minister Rajnath Singh launched the Defence India Startup Challenge (DISC 4) during the iDEX event, featuring the initiatives aimed at expanding the horizons of Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) ecosystem in New Delhi today. Mr Singh also launched the iDEX4Fauji initiative and Product Management Approach (PMA) guidelines during the event.

iDEX4Fauji is a first of its kind initiative, launched to support innovations identified by members of the Indian Armed Forces and will bolster frugal innovation ideas from soldiers and field formations.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr  Singh said, the iDEX initiative stands out as one of the most effective and well-executed defence Startupecosystem created in the  country. He said, it would be a decisive step towards achieving self-reliance in the spirit of the AtmaNirbhar Bharat campaign.

The Defence Minister said, for the first time, an atmosphere has been created in the country when different stakeholders have been brought together to push for innovations in the defence sector. He said,  in order to further strengthen defence system and make it self- reliant the participation of private sector is also crucial.

Government has continued to procure Kharif 2020-21 crops at Minimum Support Price (MSP) from farmers as per its existing MSP Schemes.
 
Ministry of Agriculture said, based on the proposal from the States, approval has been accorded for procurement of over 14 Lakh Metric Tonnes of Pulses and Oilseeds  for the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana and Haryana.
 
It said, for other States and Union Territories, approval will also be accorded on receipt of proposal for Kharif Pulses and Oilseeds.

Inaugurating six mega projects in Uttarakhand under the Namami Gange Mission on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured farmers about continuity of guaranteed Minimum Support Price and government procurements of agri produce.
 
The Prime Minister said major reforms have been brought to empower farmers, workers, youth and women of the country. He criticized the opposition for launching agitation against the reforms in labour and farm sectors.

Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan on Monday inaugurated the vaccine portal for Covid-19 to create awareness among masses.

Portal will disseminate vaccine related information regarding Indian efforts towards vaccine development against COVID-19. Currently 3 vaccines are undergoing clinical trials in India for COVID-19.

The Health Minister also launched the ICMR history timeline depicting 108 year journey of the Council which displays key milestones and captures policy and program interventions by ICMR. Minister also released a NIN History Book on its 100 year Journey. The Minister also launched Real Time data collection Program “Mapping of Nutrition and Health Status' which will collect data on dietary intake through crowd sourcing approach.

In addition, a first of its kind ICMR-NIN web portal also has been developed to collect data which will be useful in the present complicated by COVID-19 pandemic. Health Minister also released Report ‘What India Eats’ to know the main dietary patterns in India which is important for nutrition and health policy makers to understand distributions in diets within populations.

Senior Indian Administrative Service Officer Dr P. D. Vaghela has been appointed as the Chairman of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India- TRAI.
 
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved his appointment. He will replace R.S. Sharma. Mr Vaghela will hold the post for a period of three years or until he attains the age of 65 years.
 
Mr Vaghela, a 1986-batch officer of Gujarat Cadre, is currently Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate six mega projects in Uttarakhand under the Namami Gange Mission today through video conference.
 
The projects include construction of a 68 million litres per day or MLD Sewage Treatment Plant, upgradation of the existing 27 MLD at Jagjeetpur and construction of an 18 MLD Sewage Treatment Plant at Sarai, in Haridwar.
 
The inauguration of 68 MLD Jagjeetpur project also marks completion of the first sewage treatment project taken up on hybrid annuity mode of Public Private Partnership.
Mr. Modi will also inaugurate a 26 MLD Sewage Treatment Plant at Lakkadghat in Rishikesh.
 
The Haridwar-Rishikesh zone contributes about 80 per cent waste water load into the River Ganga. These plants will play a significant role in keeping the River Ganga clean.
In Muni ki Reti town, the 7.5 MLD Plant in Chandreshwar Nagar will be the first four-storied Sewage Treatment Plant in the country where the limitation of land availability was converted into an opportunity.  
Mr Modi will also inaugurate a five MLD Sewage Treatment Plant at Chorpani and two plants with capacities of one  MLD and 0.01 MLD at Badrinath.
In all, 30 projects  are now complete in Uttarakhand for taking care of pollution from 17 towns near river Ganga. This is a landmark achievement.
The Prime Minister will also inaugurate “Ganga Avalokan”, the first museum on Ganga dedicated to showcase the culture, biodiversity and rejuvenation activities done in Ganga river. The museum is located at Chandi Ghat, Haridwar.
A book, ‘Rowing down the Ganges’, co-published by National Mission for Clean Ganga and Wildlife Institute of India will be launched at the event.

Nation pays homage to the revolutionary freedom fighter Bhagat Singh on his 113th birth anniversary today.
 
It was on this day in 1907, Bhagat Singh was born in Banga village of Lyallpur district of undivided Punjab province.
 
He fought against British rule for the country's independence and was hanged in Lahore jail at the age of 23, along with Rajguru and Sukhdev.
 
Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tribute to Bhagat Singh and highlighted his contributions to India's freedom struggle.
 
In his Mann Ki Baat programme on Sunday, Mr Modi described the great freedom fighter as symbol of bravery and courage.

The Prime Minister said another beautiful aspect of Shaheed Bhagat Singh's life was that he very well understood the importance of teamwork, be it dedication towards Lala Lajpat Rai, or his attachment with Chandrashekhar Azad, Sukhdev and Rajguru and other freedom fighters.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tributes to Shaheed Bhagat Singh on his birth anniversary today. In a tweet, Mr Modi said, his saga of valor will continue to inspire the countrymen for ages.

Stepping up to the next phase of ‘Khelo India Phir Se’, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) has decided to resume sporting activities of Tokyo Olympics bound Para-athletes and athletes in SAI’s National Centre of Excellence (NCOEs) across the country, in a phased manner.
 
In the first Phase, SAI in early June had started the training for only the Olympic bound athletes at various SAI centres as SAI infrastructure are captive infrastructure and could ensure protection of our national athletes against COVID 19.
 
Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in a statement said that in the next phase, the resumption of sporting activities for Tokyo Olympics bound para-athletes and athletes in NCOEs with a focus on 2024 Paris Olympics and the 2022 Asian and Commonwealth Games, has been planned in stages for nine disciplines.
 
They include para-athletics, para-powerlifting, para shooting, para archery, cycling, hockey, weightlifting, archery, wrestling, Judo, athletics, boxing and fencing. 

It said, the same too is being organised only at SAI Regional Centres with residential facilities so that the athletes are not exposed to any dangers of COVID transmission.

The Uttar Pradesh government has launched a unified portal called ‘U-Rise’ to guide students in learning, career counselling, and getting employment in the state.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath launched the portal  in Lucknow  yesterday. He termed it historic and said it is the biggest reform programme in the education sector after the National Education Policy (NEP)-2020. He said that the programme would connect students with practical and technical knowledge. He added that Uttar Pradesh was the first state to launch a unified portal along with the implementation of NEP.

About 20 lakh students, getting vocational and technical education, and technical experts will benefit from this portal. The e-content, e-library, and online courses available on this portal will be accessible by students even in the most interior areas of the state.

This portal would benefit students and empower them by providing every possible information -- from online exams, digital content, digital assessment, digital examination papers, webinars, internship, e-library, recorded video content to employment.

Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar has announced sanctioning of 670 Electric buses in Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat and Chandigarh under Phase-2 of the FAME India scheme.  

In a tweet, he also announced sanctioning of  241 Charging Stations in Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Gujarat and Port Blair under it. He said, this is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's  vision to push for eco-friendly public transportation.

Mr Javadekar said, Maharashtra has been sanctioned 240 E-buses of which 100 E-buses each are for MSRTC’s Intercity and Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport and 40 E- buses are  for BEST-Mumbai. He said, 100 electric buses have been sanctioned for Goa’s Kadamba Transport Corporation.

He said,  these environment friendly e-buses for the intercity services of Goa would help protect the environment as well as improve mobility.  The Minister said, 250 electric buses have been sanctioned for Gujarat of which 150 e-buses are for Surat Municipal Corporation and 100 e-buses for Rajkot Rajpath Limited.

President Ram Nath Kovind conferred the National Service Scheme (NSS) Awards for the year 2018-19 from Rashtrapati Bhawan through virtual mode on Thursday.

The NSS Award for the year 2018-19 was given to 42 awardees in three different categories like University, NSS Units and their Programme Officers and NSS Volunteers. Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju attended the ceremony from Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi.

Department of Youth Affairs confers the National Service Scheme Award every year to recognize and reward outstanding contributions towards voluntary community service. At present, NSS has about 40 lakh volunteers on its rolls spread over the country.

NSS is a Central Sector Scheme which was launched in the year 1969 with the primary objective of developing the personality and character of the student youth through voluntary community service. The ideological orientation of the NSS is inspired by the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi.