Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Anupriya Patel launched the Indian Business Portal in New Delhi this evening. This portal will serve as an international trade hub for Indian exporters and foreign buyers. The portal is a business-to-business digital marketplace to empower small-medium enterprises exporters, artisans and farmers to identify new markets for their products and grow their sales globally.

Speaking after launching the portal, Ms Patel said that this portal will act as an e-commerce marketplace to help Indian exporters get global visibility.

She said, it will address a number of elements that are part of the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a commitment of the government like digitizing exporters, supporting MSME and encouraging greater exports of Indian products. The Minister said, various e-commerce platforms showed immense potential in supporting millions of businesses to sustain themselves, despite the challenging time of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Films Division complex, which also houses the National Museum of Indian Cinema is getting ready to host the 17th Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short Fiction and Animation films on Sunday.

The opening ceremony of the weeklong biennial film festival will take place at the Nehru Centre, Worli, while all the festival screenings will happen in the Films Division Complex, which has state-of-the-art auditoriums. (auditoria).

MIFF 2022 has got an overwhelming response from filmmakers across the world, receiving a whopping 808 film entries from 30 countries. Out of these, 102 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’

Highlighting the importance of technology, the Prime Minister said, it has ensured last-mile delivery and with the help of technology, the target of Antyodaya can be achieved. Terming drone technology as an effective tool for delivery of services and improving ease of living, he said, drone technology will take the farming sector to another level and it will ensure the progress of marginalized farmers.

He said, farmers' confidence in the technology has increased in the last eight years and now they are adopting technology without any fear.

He said, the drone sector has immense potential for the generation of employment opportunities in the country. He said, under the Mantra of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas', the government used technology as a bridge to bring welfare to the common citizens. He said, drones will play a crucial role in the delivery of medicines and vaccines in the far-flung areas of the country.

In a major boost to the country’s infrastructure, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for six key projects worth 28,540 crore rupees at a function in Chennai a short while ago. He also dedicated to the nation five projects that have been completed at a cost of 2,960 crore rupees. The total expenditure on all the eleven projects is around 31,500 crore rupees.

Some of the completed projects include the third broad-gauge line connecting Tambaram and Chengalpattu in the periphery of Chennai. Another is the 75-km long Madurai-Theni Gauge Conversion project that has been executed at a cost of over 500 crore rupees.
He also laid the foundation stone for the ambitious Chennai - Bengaluru Expressway worth 14,870 crore rupees, that covers parts of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

Hindi author Geetanjali Shree’s novel Ret Samadhi, Tomb of Sand has won the International Booker prize, becoming the first novel translated from Hindi to do so.

Geetanjali Shree is not only the award’s first Hindi winner, but also it is for the first time a book originally written in any Indian language has won the booker prize.

Geetanjali Shree said  There is a melancholy satisfaction in the award going to Tomb of Sand. This is an elegy for the world we inhabit, a lasting energy that retains hope in the face of impending doom.

A Report Geetanjali Shree's Tomb of Sand translated from Hindi by Daisy Rockwell has won the prestigious Booker prize, the prize money of 50,000 Pounds will be shared between the author and translator equally.

Shree's book clinched the award, where 135 books competed.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate India's biggest Drone Festival-Bharat Drone Mahotsav 2022 this morning at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi.

Drones have many functions, ranging from monitoring climate change to agriculture, geo mapping,  carrying out search operations after natural disasters, photography, filming, and delivering goods.

Their use  by the security agencies for reconnaissance, surveillance and in some cases targeted attacks is also well known.
The evolution of complementary technologies like 5G, augmented reality and computer vision is expected to drive drone market growth and improve drone communication and intelligence.

They are also used in fertilizer and pestcide spraying, afforestation, Healthcare delivery, telecom tower inspection, VIP security and High altitude surveillance.

Indian Embassy in Beijing, Consulates General of India in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Guangzhou celebrated Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav by reliving the history of India’s struggle for its independence. A play “The Oudh Quatrain”, a musical revolving around Oudh’s last king Nawab Wajid Ali Shah and his wife Begam Hazrat Mahal’s clash with the British East India Company in 1857 was staged on the occasion.

In a diplomatic outreach by India, Ambassadors of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and the deputy chief of mission of Nepal embassy in China also joined in the celebrations and enjoyed the play at the Indian Embassy in Beijing which was live-streamed from Hong Kong. The top envoys could easily correlate with this piece of history and thanked India’s Ambassador for inviting them over. Bangladesh Ambassador to China Mahbub Uz Zaman hailed the shared culture and heritage with India and recalled Indian movies and fine traditions of Indian theatre and dance forms. Nepal’s Deputy Chief of Mission in China, Kaushal Ray said that watching this historic play took him back to his college days while studying Indian literature, theatre, and drama.

A new Quad fellowship programme has been launched today at the QUAD summit in Tokyo. This is a first-of-its-kind scholarship program that will bring together the top minds of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

The Fellowship will sponsor one hundred students per year, 25 from each Quad country, to pursue master's and doctoral degrees at leading STEM graduate universities in the United States.

In his message, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, the Quad fellowship programme is a wonderful and unique initiative. He said, this prestigious fellowship will offer our students great opportunities to pursue graduate and doctorate programmes in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Mr Modi said, it will encourage academic excellence and promote people to people linkages between our countries.

North Korea tested a presumed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in one of three missile tests on Wednesday, according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The tests come on the heels of US President Joe Biden's first presidential trip to Asia.
South Korea said the presumed ICBM was fired at about 6 a.m. local time Wednesday with a flight range of about 360 kilometers (223 miles) and altitude of approximately 540 kilometers (335 miles).
At about 6:37 a.m., the North fired a second ballistic missile -- not believed to be an ICBM -- which seems to have disappeared from South Korean tracking at an altitude of 20 kilometers (12 miles), South Korea said.

The 123rd birth anniversary of the national poet of Bangladesh Kazi Nazrul Islam is being celebrated in the country on Wednesday.

Cultural and social organisations across the country are organising programmes on this occasion to pay tribute to poet Kazi Nazrul Islam.

The birth anniversary progamme of the poet started with the Minister of State for Culture KM Khalid laying a wreath on the grave of Kazi Nazrul Islam in the Dhaka University area early in the morning. Other eminent personalities such as Director-General of Bangla Academy, Poet Muhammad Nurul Huda, Director General of National Museum Khondakar Mostafizur Rahman and senior officials from the government also paid floral tribute to the poet.