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.

Minister of State for Railways Suresh Angadi, who had tested positive for coronavirus, passed away at AIIMS, New Delhi. The National flag will be flown half mast today in all Government offices in Delhi due to the demise of Angadi.
 
President, Vice President and Prime Minister have expressed grief over his demise. In a tweet, President Ram Nath Kovind said, an amiable leader Suresh Angadi worked tirelessly for the people of his constituency, Belagavi and Karnataka. Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu said that he is deeply shocked by the sudden demise of Suresh Angadi.
 
Condoling his death, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, Suresh Angadi was an exceptional Karyakarta, who worked hard to make the Party strong in Karnataka. Mr Modi said, he was a dedicated MP and effective Minister, admired across the spectrum.

Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and BJP President JP Nadda have also expressed grief over the passing away of Suresh Angadi.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with fitness influencers and citizens during a nation-wide online Fit India Dialogue today. The Dialogue is being organized to celebrate the first anniversary of the Fit India Movement.

The online interaction will see participants sharing anecdotes and tips of their own fitness journey while drawing out guidance from the Prime Minister on his thoughts about fitness and good health.
 
Among those who will participate range from Virat Kohli to Milind Soman to Rujuta Diwekar in addition to other fitness influencers. Envisioned by Prime Minister as a People's Movement, the Fit India Dialogue is yet another endeavour to involve citizens of the country to draw out a plan to make India a Fit nation.
 
All India Radio, Delhi in coordination with News Services Division will broadcast live this programme. It can be heard on FM Gold, Indraprastha and AIR LIVENEWS 24X7 youtube channels from 12 noon.

Parliament has passed the three labour code Bills for the welfare and protection of the workers. Rajya Sabha gave its nod to these bills today while the Lok Sabha had already passed it yesterday.
 
The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code 2020, seeks to amend the laws regulating the occupational safety, health and working conditions of the persons employed in an establishment. The second bill, The Industrial Relations Code 2020, aims at amending the laws relating to Trade Unions, conditions of employment in industrial establishment or undertaking, investigation and settlement of industrial disputes. The third bill, The Code on Social Security, 2020 seeks to amend the laws relating to social security of the employees in the country.
 
 Replying to a discussion on the bill, Labour and Employment Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar said that these historic bills will have far-reaching effects on the interests of the workers by creating a time bound grievance resolution mechanism. He said, several provisions have been included in the bills to provide a safe environment to the workers and robust social security mechanism. He said, the government is committed for the welfare of the workers and in the last six years several steps have been taken in this direction. He clarified that the government has not taken away the rights of labourers to protest. He said, 14 days of prior notice period for strike has been put there to find an amicable solution of the issues to be raised by the labourers. He added that several provisions have been made for the welfare of the migrant workers.

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar today said India is home to the largest number of Greater One-Horned Rhinoceros in the world with population in the range of 3000 animals in Assam, West Bengal and UP.

In his message on the occasion of World Rhino Day, Prakash Javadekar said Environment Ministry has launched a National Conservation Strategy for Indian One-Horned Rhino.

He added that the conservation initiatives for rhino has also enriched the grassland management which help in reducing the negative impacts of climate change through carbon sequestration.

The National Rhino Conservation Strategy for India was launched last year to conserve the greater one-horned rhinoceros.

This is a first of its kind for the species in India which aims to work for the conservation of the species under five objectives.

In tennis, world number one Novak Djokovic won a record 36th Masters title by beating Diego Schwartzman in the Italian Open at Rome last night.

The Serb, playing in his first tournament since being disqualified from this month's US Open, won 7-5, 6-3 in the final to ensure he goes into next week's French Open on a high.

Djokovic, drew level with Rafael Nadal last month on the all-time list of Masters winners with his Western and Southern Open title, but is now clear. The French Open starts on Sunday, with Nadal seeking a record-extending 13th men's singles title in Paris.

Djokovic has also passed childhood idol Pete Sampras for the second-most weeks at No. 1 with 287 - trailing only Roger Federer’s 310 weeks in the top spot.

Earlier, top-seeded Simona Halep of Romania won her first Italian Open title when defending champion Czech Karolína Pliskova retired midway through the final with an injury. Halep was leading 6-0, 2-1 when Czech player Pliskova stopped playing after just 31 minutes.

In his address to the Maldivian Parliament, People’s Majlis, during his State Visit to the Maldives in June 2019, PM Narendra Modi had announced India’s commitment to start a ferry service connecting India and the Maldives.

In less than 15 months' time, First Cargo Ship set sail to the island nation from the Indian Port of Tuticorin.

The maiden voyage was launched in an e-flag off ceremony jointly by MOS (Independent Charge) Ministry of Shipping Mansukh Mandaviya and Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation of Maldives Aishath Nahula. Speaking on the occasion, Mandaviya noted that this service is another milestone in the comprehensive bilateral relations between India and Maldives. He mentioned that this direct cargo service will further cement the close ties between India and Maldives by enhancing people-to-people contact and boosting bilateral trade.

An MoU between the Ministry of Shipping in India and the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation, Maldives to commence the Cargo Ferry service was signed during PM’s visit to the Maldives last year in June, PM had opted the Maldives for his First state visit in his second term as the Prime Minister of India.

India has been ranked at the 116th position in the latest edition of the World Bank’s annual Human Capital Index that benchmarks key components of human capital across countries.

However, India’s score increased to 0.49 from 0.44 in 2018, as per the Human Capital Index report released by the World Bank on Wednesday.

The 2020 Human Capital Index update includes health and education data for 174 countries — covering 98 per cent of the world’s population — up to March 2020, providing a pre-pandemic baseline on the health and education of children, with the biggest strides made in low-income countries.

The analysis shows that pre-pandemic, most countries had made steady progress in building human capital of children, with the biggest strides made in low-income countries.