Lieutenant General Baggavalli Somashekar Raju will take over as the Vice Chief of the Army Staff on Sunday.  An alumnus of Sainik School Bijapur and National Defence Academy, he was commissioned in the JAT Regiment on 15th December 1984.

He commanded his Battalion during OP PARAKRAM in the Western Theatre and in Jammu and Kashmir. Mr Raju also holds the distinction of commanding the Uri brigade along the Line of Control, a Counter Insurgency Force, and the Chinar Corps in the Kashmir Valley.

The General Officer also served as the Commandant, of the Indian Military Training Team in Bhutan. During his illustrious career spanning 38 years, he has tenanted many important regimental, staff, and instructional appointments in the Army Head Quarters and in field formations to include,  Colonel Military Secretary Legal in Military Secretary branch, Brigadier General Staff of the operationally active White Knight Corps, Deputy Director General Military Operations & Director General Staff Duties.

Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal will inaugurate the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of the  Cochin Shipyard Ltd this afternoon. The Minister will unveil a golden jubilee statue and launch the startup engagement framework of Cochin Shipyard on the occasion. He will also launch the work for developing the Ro-Ro (Roll-on, Roll-off) jetty near Mattacherry Wharf of the Cochin Port and unveil the new logo of the Cochin Port Authority.

The event will be attended by Minister of State for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Shantanu Thakur, Minister of State, External Affairs V Muraleedharan, State Minister of Labour and General Education V Shivankutty among others.

Sarbananda Sonowal will also inaugurate a workshop on "Green Shipping in India --Keeping Pace with the Global Maritime  Green Transitions" in Kochi this morning. Union Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change Bhupendra Yadav, NITI Ayog CEO Amitabh Kant, are among those who are participating in the workshop.

Government has approved the highest bid of Star9 Mobility Private Limited for sale of entire 51 percent of government's shareholding of Pawan Hans Limited and transfer of management control. The Alternative Mechanism, empowered by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, comprising Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia approved the strategic buyer for the disinvestment of Pawan Hans Limited.

Pawan Hans Limited is a joint venture of Government and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited. Government holds 51 percent of the shares in the company and ONGC holds the balance 49 percent shareholding.

Rural Development Minister Giriraj Singh today launched ‘Azadi se Antyodaya Tak,’ 90-day inter-ministerial campaign under Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. Celebrating the spirit of the year-long Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, the identified districts are aligned with the birthplace of one hundred Freedom Fighters, who made the ultimate sacrifice for the nation during its struggle for independence. The campaign will be implemented involving all rural stakeholders like families of selected freedom fighters, Panchayati Raj Institutions, women networks, youth groups and students highlighting the achievements of the schemes.

Speaking on the occasion in New Delhi, Mr Singh said, the campaign has been launched with a mission to saturate 75 Districts across 28 States and Union Territories with beneficiary schemes of nine central ministries. He said, during the campaign 17 select schemes with direct assistance to beneficiaries in saturation mode, reaching out to the person at the bottom of the pyramid in rural areas by each of the participating ministries and departments.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate Semicon India Conference-2022 today. This three-day event will take place in Bengaluru. The three-day conference, is being organised to take forward the vision of Prime Minister to make India a leader in the electronics manufacturing , semiconductor design, manufacturing and innovation, according to a Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) release.

The conference is envisioned as the launch pad to kick start country's ambition in becoming the global semiconductor hub and nurture the chip design and manufacturing ecosystem. Eminent experts from industry associations, research organizations and academia will take part in this conference. They will deliberate upon policy, talent, government’s role and efforts in creating a favorable growth environment for the semiconductor ecosystem in the country.

Union Road Transport and highways Minister Nitin Gadkari will be dedicating two NHAI projects in Telangana to the nation this morning.

The Four laning of the National Highway 161, in two stretches, Mangalore to Telangana and Ramsanpalle to Mangalore will be dedicated to the nation.

The two stretches have been developed for about 96 Kilometers at a cost of 2926 crore rupees.

Besides, the Minister will also be laying the foundation stone for 19 other NHAI projects of an estimated cost of over 5000 crore rupees covering 370 Kilometers.  Seven of these projects have been taken up under the Central Road and Infrastructure Fund. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Global Patidar Business Summit (GPBS) in Surat Gujarat today via video conferencing. Sardardham is organizing GPBS under Mission-2026 to provide an impetus to the socio-economic development of Patidar community.

The Summit is organized every two years. The first two Summits were held in Gandhinagar in 2018 and 2020 and the current Summit is now being held in Surat. The main theme of GPBS-2022 is Aatmanirbhar Community to Aatmanirbhar Gujarat and India.

Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan will launch the Mandate Document of National Curriculum Framework today. The National Education Policy - 2020 recommends  development of National Curriculum Frameworks, NCF in four areas of School Education, Early Childhood Care and Education, Teacher Education and Adult Education.

The Mandate Document describes the development process of the National Curriculum Framework, its expected structure and objectives. The National Curriculum Framework is being drafted through a collaborative and consultative process, starting from district to state level and then National level.

Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Vivek Chaudhari on Thursday inaugurated the logistics seminar LOGISEM VAYU-2022 in New Delhi.

During the seminar, Air Chief Marshal Chaudhari delivered the inaugural address which included the roadmap for logistics management in Indian Air Force.

The Chief of the Air Staff directed that the present supply chain management should look forward with an aim to enhance logistics capabilities and develop a focused approach towards indigenisation of critical components to achieve self-reliance in Defence.

Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions is organizing a Webinar Series on National Good Governance from April this year to March next year. Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh will be inaugurating the National Good Governance Webinar Series tomorrow. One Webinar on an identified sector or theme will be held every month. The first webinar in the series is on the theme ‘Improving Service Delivery’.