Union Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw today flagged off the Jaipur-Delhi Sarai Rohilla-Jaipur Sainik Express via video conferencing from Rail Bhavan, New Delhi. The train number 14021/14022 - Sainik Express is now extended to Delhi Junction with increased frequency from tri-weekly to daily.

The Ministry of Railways said that this train will boost the rail connectivity of Shekhawati region of Rajasthan. The Ministry highlighted that this train service is especially popular among soldiers. The soldiers residing in this area use Railways for transportation.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Vaishnaw said, today is a historic day as this train is being extended to Delhi Junction from Sikar with increased frequency. He said that it will facilitate our Sainik brothers to visit the Capital city.

Bajaj Finserv Limited's Chairman and Managing Director Sanjiv Bajaj has assumed the office of Confederation of Indian Industry,CII President for the year 2022-23. 

During a meeting today, CII elected its new office-bearers and accordingly Chairman and CEO of Hero MotoCorp Limited Pawan Munjal, has taken over as CII President-Designate. Executive Vice Chairman of TVS Supply Chain Solutions R Dinesh has taken over as Vice President. 

According to an official press release, Mr. Bajaj has been engaged with CII for many years. He had led CII National Committees on Insurance and Pensions and CII Taskforce on Fintech. 

Union Minister for Housing, Urban Affairs, Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri has said that India went from thirty eight per cent toilet coverage to hundred per cent toilet coverage in rural areas while also building over seventy three lakh household and community toilets in urban areas. He said that the Swachh Bharat Mission became a 'Jan Andolan' that inspired the country towards safe and proper sanitation. Mr. Puri said this at the launch of BHARAT TAP initiative at the Plumbex India exhibition in New Delhi today.

Mr. Puri highlighted the exhibition saying that this exhibition caters to a fundamental service in the development of the nation- water and sanitation and there is no progress or growth without adequate sanitation, which is foundational in the hierarchy of basic services that citizens expect. He further said that there was a paradigm shift in India’s social development after the Prime Minister announced that Swachhata was the key to India’s development.

Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and the United Nations Development Programme have signed a Memorandum of Understanding wherein UNDP will provide technical support towards Centre’s aspirational Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana scheme (PMFBY) and Kisan Credit Card - Modified Interest Subvention Scheme. 

Under the MoU, UNDP will leverage its expertise in systems and global know-how for supporting the Ministry of Agriculture for the implementation of combined agriculture credit and crop insurance.

The MoU was signed in the presence of Union Minister of Agriculture Narendra Singh Tomar by Chief Executive Officer of PMFBY Ritesh Chauhan and UNDP Resident Representative Shoko Noda.

The President has appointed Rajiv Kumar as the Chief Election Commissioner in the Election Commission of India. Rajiv Kumar will assume the charge of office of the Chief Election Commissioner with effect from 15th of May. Sushil Chandra will demit the Office of the Chief Election Commissioner on 14th of this month.

Extended range version of BrahMos Air Launched missile successfully fired from Su-30 MKI fighter aircraft today. The missile achieved a direct hit on the designated target in the Bay of Bengal region.

Defence Ministry said, it was the first launch of extended range version of BrahMos missile from Su-30 MKI aircraft. With this, the Indian Air Force has achieved the capability to carry out precision strikes from Su-30 MKI aircraft. The extended range capability of the missile coupled with the high performance of the Su-30 MKI aircraft gives the IAF a strategic reach and allows it to dominate the future battle fields.

As the world gears up to the International Day of Yoga, Indian Embassy in China kicked off the celebrations by holding an “Office Yoga” session at the headquarters of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Beijing.

SCO Secretary-General Zhang Ming and Indian Ambassador to China Pradeep Kumar Rawat along with SCO diplomats attended the specially designed session of yoga postures for office goers conducted by yoga teacher Ashish Bahuguna of the “WeYoga Academy” Beijing. In his opening remarks, Ambassador Rawat said this yoga event is yet another instance of India’s proactive contribution to strengthening cultural cooperation among SCO countries. Ambassador Rawat said: “India will assume SCO presidency in September 2022 and is looking forward to playing a very constructive role in enriching the role of SCO in all spheres”. SCO is a unique organization bringing people from different ethnicities, faiths and languages under one umbrella. Yoga also transcends differences promoting harmony and unity, Amb Rawat said.

The National Health Authority, under its flagship scheme Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, has announced successful integration of additional 13 digital health solutions in the mission in the last three months.

With this, so far 40 digital health service applications have been successfully integrated with Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission since the national launch was announced in September last year. Union Health Ministry in a statement said that the ABDM partners ecosystem now consists of 16 government applications and 24 private sector applications.

The integration is a technical collaboration between ABDM and health tech service providers that will help bridge the existing gap among different digital platforms, user applications and stakeholders in the digital health space.

IIT Hyderabad (IITH), Suzuki Motor Corporation, Japan (SMC), Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) have jointly taken up research in India-specific vehicle usage scenarios based on futuristic V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything) communication technology.

The V2X communications technology, when used in conjunction with appropriate infrastructure, traffic rules, and driver education, can help reduce traffic accidents and traffic congestions. The first-of-its-kind 5 prototype vehicles showcasing the experimental applications in the Indian context were displayed at the IIT Hyderabad campus yesterday.

Ambulance Alerting System, Wrong-way Driver Alerting system, Motorcycle Alerting System, and Road Condition Alerting System are among the systems that have been demonstrated on the occasion.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah laid the foundation stones for many government office complexes at a function held in Guwahati. On this occasion, Mr. Shah said that the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) formed governments in North-Eastern states due to policies of the BJP.

He said, the BJP always wanted to solve the problems of North East while Congress divided the region. Mr. Shah said that peace and progress returned to Assam in BJP's rule. He said that Assam would be free from flood soon.  He further said that due to the efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the connectivity in North East region got a tremendous boost. He said that BJP only believed in progressive policies not in divisive policies. Mr. Shah said that the Assam government provided 23,000 employment during the last one year.