Railway Minister Piyush Goyal will inaugurate the first phase of East - West Metro in Kolkata today.

In this phase, trains will play from Salt Lake's sector five to Salt Lake Stadium. Passenger services will start in this 5.8 Kilometres stretches from Friday.

The services will remain open from 8 in the morning to till 8 at night with 20 minutes frequencies of trains within six stations.

Mr Goyal will also launch several other Railway projects for West Bengal from the same venue.

Two teachers in every school will be made Health and wellness ambassador to spread awareness about health issues. These ambassadors will be supported by class monitors as Health and Wellness Messengers. Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Minister of State for Health Ashwini Kumar Choubey launched the School Health and Wellness Ambassador initiative under Ayushman Bharat in New Delhi yesterday. Initially, the programme will be started in 200 districts.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Pokhriyal said that the goal of education is not only to increase the knowledge but also to inculcate be­havior which promotes consciousness about good health. He said that the teachers are the best mentors for the children and now they will also act as Health and Wellness Ambassadors. Mr Pokhriyal said, the first phase of implementation will be in all the public upper primary, secondary and senior secondary schools of aspirational districts.

Today is World Radio Day. The day is observed every year on this date to raise greater awareness among the public and the media of the importance of radio and to encourage decision makers to establish and provide access to information through radio. It is also a day to remember the unique power of radio which touches lives and brings people together from every corner of the globe.

The theme of this year's World Radio Day is Radio and Diversity.

In his message on World Radio Day, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said, radio brings people together and in an era of rapid media evolution, it retains a special place in every community as an accessible source of vital news and information. He urged the people to recognize the enduring power of radio to promote diversity and help build a more peaceful and inclusive world.
On the occasion, Chief Executive Officer of Prasar Bharati Shahsi Shekhar Vempati said that radio has a very unique role and place in people's life. He said, several parts of the country continue to rely on radio as their primary medium and source of information. Mr Vempati said that Prasar Bharati as a public service broadcaster of India has immense responsibility to sustain and develop radio as a medium of public broadcasting. He also highlighted the various initiatives taken to increase the popularity of All India Radio.
Ever since its inception in 1937, All India Radio has grown manyfold. AIR News today broadcast 607 bulletins in 92 languages and dialects every day.

Union Cabinet has approved the Pesticide Management Bill 2020. Briefing reporters in New Delhi yesterday, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said, the legislation will promote organic pesticides in the country. Major Ports Authority Bill to enhance overall efficiencies of the ports was cleared by the Cabinet.

Cabinet has also approved changes in the Direct Tax Vivad se Vishwas Bill, 2020. The bill seeks to increase its scope to cover litigations pending in various debt recovery tribunals (DRTs).

In another decision, the Cabinet has given in-principle approval for capital infusion of  2,500 crore rupees in three Public Sector General Insurance Companies. They are Oriental Insurance Company Limited, National Insurance Company Limited and United India Insurance Company Limited. The decision has been taken in the wake of the critical financial position and breach of regulatory solvency requirements of these companies.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah will inaugurate a two-day Conference on Combating Drug Trafficking for BIMSTEC Partner Nations in New Delhi today. The conference is being organized by Narcotics Control Bureau. This platform will provide an opportunity to all the member nations to deliberate on the increased threats posed by drug trafficking.

Asian countries are increasingly being affected by drug trafficking and BIMSTEC is one of the most effective platforms to tackle this global threat. The BIMSTEC is a regional organization comprising seven Member States lying in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal - Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand besides India.

Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal will take oath as the Chief Minister of Delhi for the third time on February 16 at Ramlila Maidan, Deputy CM Manish Sisodia confirmed via a press conference in Delhi on February 12.

Invites are expected to go out to all political stalwarts from India, cutting across ideologies.

The two-time CM of the National Capital won the Delhi Assembly elections with a thumping majority by securing more than 60 seats, slightly short of the 67-seat benchmark it had set for itself in the previous polls.

Notably, the post of CM was abolished in Delhi for years, interspersed with President's rule a couple of times.

World Health Organisation (WHO), on February 11, announced that the novel Coronavirus 2019 would officially be called Covid-19.

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced the official name on Twitter. “Having a name matters to prevent the use of other names that can be inaccurate or stigmatizing,” Ghebreyesus said.

The ‘Co’ stands for corona, ‘vi’ for virus, ‘d’ for disease, and the ’19’ stands for the year of its outbreak. Tedros said the name had been chosen to avoid references to a specific geographical location, animal species or group of people in line with international recommendations for naming aimed at preventing stigmatisation.

Taking a unique initiative to solve the queries of students ahead of the Board Examinations starting next week, Uttar Pradesh Government has launched toll-free helpline numbers.

Launching the helpline numbers yesterday Deputy Chief Minister, Dinesh Sharma said that a senior officer of Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad is also designated as Nodal Officer so that students get maximum benefit.

AIR correspondent reports that The helpline numbers will remain active from 8 am to 8 pm. In case students have any queries regarding the board exams they can connect at the helpline numbers, 1800-180-5310 and 18001805312.

Experts of different subjects including English, life sciences, geography, general science, Hindi, Sanskrit, chemistry will be available on call on these numbers. Academicians will be open to queries regarding any subject,.

India forward Lalremsiami has been named as the 2019 FIH Women's Rising Star of the Year by the International Hockey Federation.  

Announcing the awards today the FIH said that 19-year-old Lalremsiami took the prize ahead of Argentina's Julieta Jankunas and Frederique Matla of the Netherlands.

The player from Mizoram got 40 per cent of all the votes cast. She got 47.7 per cent of her votes from among national associations, while the media, fans/players contributed 28.4 per cent and 36.4 per cent respectively.

Lalremsiami first came into the wider hockey consciousness at the Hockey Women's World Cup in 2018 when she was one of the stand-out players of the tournament.

Since then she has been at the heart of the rise of the Indian women's hockey team.

Ace cuiest Aditya Mehta defeated multiple-time world champion Pankaj Advani 6-2 to win the National Snooker Championship here.

Mehta, who represented the Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) in the clash on Sunday night, started off with a bang after wining the first frame with a break of 103 while the score remained 103-17.

He lost the next two frames with a close margin of 50 -58, 47-48 and it looked like Advani was staging a comeback.

But, Mehta held his nerves and claimed all the following four frames to win the title with a 6-2 score line in the best of 11 frames.

“This title will be very special to me since it’s coming after four years. I was nursing an injury which kept me off the tables,” Mehta was quoted as saying on Monday.