Union Minister of State for Culture Meenakashi Lekhi has launched the 75-day countdown to 75th year of Independence in New Delhi. The programme was held at Central Park in Connaught Place yesterday.

On the occasion, Culture Secretary Govind Mohan, Secretary, New Delhi Municipal Council, Isha Khosla and senior Officials of Ministry of Culture and NDMC attended the function along with general public.

Speaking on the occasion, Ms Lekhi said, Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav is about celebrating everything which is good in India, everything which every Indian should be proud of and everything which shows unity in the diversity of India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met women boxers Nikhat Zareen, Manisha Moun and Parveen Hooda yesterday, the medal winners at the recently concluded World Boxing Championships.

Nikhat Zareen won a gold medal in the Championships, the fifth Indian pugilist to have achieved that. Debutants Manisha Moun and Parveen Hooda won bronze medals.

After the meeting, Mr Modi said in a tweet that he was glad to have met boxers, who made India proud at the Women's World Boxing Championship.

The Indian Navy will bid farewell to its two ships INS Nishank and INS Akshay, at Naval Dockyard in Mumbai tomorrow. Both the ships will be decommissioned at Naval Dockyard after 32 years of being at the forefront of safeguarding the maritime interests of the nation.

Commissioned in the freezing temperature of Poti Shipyard of erstwhile Soviet Union which is presently in Georgia, the ships will be decommissioned in the tropical temperature of Mumbai wherein the atmosphere will be laden with emotions and nostalgia of all the ex-crew of both the ships.

All the seafarers bear the names of their ships as their own identity. Home to many a sea warriors, these ships will always remain source of honour and pride.

The government has revised the premium rates of its two flagship social security schemes, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, PMJJBY and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, PMSBY. Premium rates for PMJJBY has revised to 436 from the earlier premium of 330 rupees per annum. For the PMSBY, the revised premium will be 20 rupees instead of the existing 12 rupees per annum. The revised premium rates will come into effect from tomorrow. This is the first revision in the premium rates since the inception of both schemes in 2015.

Union Finance Ministry said, this step would encourage other private insurers to come on board for implementing the schemes. It said, this will increase the saturation of the schemes amongst the eligible target population, especially those who are underserved or unserved population. The Ministry said, a target has been set to increase the coverage from 6.4 crore to 15 crore under PMJJBY and from 22 crore to 37 crore under PMSBY in the next five years.

Ministry of Defence today signed a contract with Bharat Dynamics Limited for the supply of ASTRA MK-I Beyond Visual Range Air to Air Missile and associated equipment for the Indian Air Force and Indian Navy at a cost of two thousand 971 crore rupees. 

Till now, the technology to manufacture missiles of this class was not available. ASTRA MK-I missile has been indigenously designed and developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation, DRDO, based on the requirements of the Indian Air Force. Air to Air missile provides large Stand-Off Ranges to own fighter aircraft which can neutralise the adversary aircraft without exposing themselves to adversary Air Defence measures.

Popular playback singer Krishnakumar Kunnath, better known as KK, collapsed after a concert in Kolkata and was rushed to a private hospital in the city, where he was pronounced dead. He was 53. KK was introduced by A. R. Rahman in a Tamil Film Kadhal Desam. He got his Bollywood break "Tadap Tadap" from Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam.

The Delhi-born singer has recorded songs in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Bengali, Assamese and Gujarati languages. The self-taught KK had never undergone any formal training in music. He is survived by his wife and two children.

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu,  Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Singh Thakur have expressed grief on the passing away of the talented singer

The Union Ministry of Ayush has ‘Yoga for Humanity’ as the theme for International Day of Yoga, 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in his monthly Mann ki Baat address. The eighth edition of the International Day of Yoga will be organized on June 21, with the main event being held in Mysuru, Karnataka. Modi also urged Indians to take part in the celebrations with enthusiasm.

This year’s theme was selected after much deliberation and consultation and appropriately portrays how yoga served humanity in alleviating sufferings during Covid-19, Modi said. He added that yoga would bring people together through kindness and compassion during the post-Covid geopolitical crisis and foster a sense of unity across the world. The theme of last year’s event was ‘Yoga for Wellness’.

The Indian men’s hockey team slipped to fourth spot but the women side gained a place to rise to number six in the latest FIH World Rankings, issued on Monday.

The 17th Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short Fiction and Animation films began in Mumbai this evening. MIFF 2022 has got an overwhelming response from filmmakers across the world, receiving a whopping eight hundred 8 film entries from 30 countries.

Out of these, one hundred 2 films will be screened under the Competition Category -  35 in international competition and 67 in the national competition.  18 Films will be screened under ‘MIFF Prism Category’

The Best Film of the Festival will receive the Golden Conch award, along with a cash prize of Rs 10 lakhs.  Other awards carry cash prize varying from five to one lakh along with Silver Conch, trophy and certificate. 11 movies from Bangladesh will be telecast at the festival. 17th MIFF festival can be watched online also and it is entirely free of cost.

National Council for Teacher Education has launched an online portal to streamline the process of recognition of teacher education programs of Higher Education Institutions and Teacher Education Institutions. This portal will bring in a paradigm shift in the functioning of National Council for Teacher Education.

The portal aims to provide an automated robust framework thereby enhancing accountability, transparency and ease of doing business. The applications for the recently launched four year Integrated Teacher Education Programmes applications will be processed on this portal.