Prime Minister Narendra Modi was today honoured with the first-ever “Lata Deenanath Mangeshkar Award” in Mumbai. The award has been instituted in the memory of the melody queen Bharat Ratna's late Lata Mangeshkar who passed away in February this year. Veteran singers Asha Bhosale, Usha Mangeshkar and Meena Mangeshkar-Khadikar and Adinath Mangeshkar presented the award to PM Modi for his selfless service to the nation and society Addressing the award ceremony, Mr Modi said that he dedicates this award to all citizens of the country. Describing the aesthetic aspect of songs sung by  Latajee, the Prime Minister said music can give a feeling of motherhood and love. Music can take you to the pinnacle of patriotism and duty. We all are fortunate that we have seen this power of music, this power in the form of Lata didi. He added that music is also a sadhana and an emotion.

Besides, veteran actress Asha Parekh, Jackie Shroff, and vocalist Rahul Despande were honoured with Master Deenanth Award. This apart the Mumbai Dabbawalas was also awarded the Anandmayi Award.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the seventh edition of the Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi today. President of the European Commission Ursula Von Der Leyen will be the chief guest at the Dialogue. Several former Prime Ministers of different countries and other dignitaries will also participate in the event.
 
The three-day Dialogue is based on the theme - Terranova, impassioned, impatient, imperilled. There are six broad thematic pillars of the Dialogue including Rethinking Democracy, End of Multilateralism, Water Caucuses, Achieving Green Transitions. Raisina Dialogue will have around 100 sessions with over 210 speakers from 90 countries.

Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare is organizing the 'Kisan Bhagidari, Prathmikta Hamari’ campaign from today. The campaign which will continue till 30th of this month is being organised under 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' in association with various other Ministries and Departments.

The Department of Agriculture Research and Education would be organising a Krishi Mela at each Krishi Vigyan Kendra and field exhibition on natural farming. Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar will launch the country-wide workshop on crop insurance organised by common service centre (CSC). A National Atma Nirbhar Bharat Conclave of 75 selected farmers and entrepreneurs will be under the campaign.

The four-day Naval Commanders' Conference will begin today. The Conference serves as a platform for Naval Commanders to discuss important maritime matters at the military-strategic level as well as interact with senior Government functionaries through an institutionalised forum.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will address and interact with the Naval Commanders on matters pertaining to national security during the conference. It said that the Chiefs of the Indian Army and Indian Air Force will also interact with the Naval Commanders to address the convergence of the three Services via a common operational environment, as well as discuss avenues of augmenting Tri-Service synergy and readiness.

The  Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) with a view to giving a boost to the export value chain.

Ministry of Commerce and  Industry in a statement said that the MoU has been signed for the implementation of the Agri Export Policy and to strengthen the export value chain. The MoU has been inked for utilizing both the organizations’ expertise by working together to synergize the activities in the interest of agriculture and allied sectors for bringing better value to the stakeholders. The MoU’s mandate is to infuse and disseminate technologies jointly with APEDA in the areas of climate-resilient agriculture related to zero carbon emission farming to produce residue/carbon-free food for exports.
As per the MoU document, both the organizations will cooperate in collaborative projects for the commercialization of embedded technology related to Agri and food processing at various levels of the value chain for boosting the export of Agri products.

Dr. Suman K Bery has been appointed new Vice Chairperson of NITI Aayog. He will take charge as Vice Chairperson of NITI Aayog from the 1st of next month. In an order, the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions said that Vice Chairperson of NITI Aayog, Dr. Rajiv Kumar will be relieved from his post on 30th of this month.

Dr. Suman K Bery had earlier served as Director-General of the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) in New Delhi. NCAER is one of the country's leading independent non-profit policy research institutions.

Ministry of Civil Aviation will organize a mega Yoga event - Yog Prabha at Safdarjung Airport, New Delhi on Monday. The event will be inaugurated by Union Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia.

Over 500 officials of the Ministry and its attached organizations will participate in this mega event. Common Yoga Protocol, Lecture on Yoga by Expert, Yoga Demonstration will be some of the activities to be undertaken at the event. This event will help to create wider awareness among the participants about the importance of Yoga in daily life.

At the initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the United Nations General Assembly took a historic decision in 2014 to declare 21st June as the International Day of Yoga. This worldwide acceptance of Yoga is a matter of pride for India as Yoga is an integral part of our nation’s cultural and spiritual heritage.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the seventh edition of Raisina Dialogue on 25th of April. President of the European Union Ursula Von Der Leyen will be the chief guest at the Dialogue. Several former Prime Ministers of different countries and other dignitaries will also participate in this virtual event.

Briefing media in New Delhi on Thursday, Ministry of External Affairs' Spokesman Arindam Bagchi said, this three-day event is based on the theme - Terranova, impassioned, impatient, imperilled. He said, there are six broad thematic pillars of the dialogue including Rethinking Democracy, End of Multilateralism, Water Caucuses, Achieving Green Transitions. He said, Raisina Dialogue will have around 100 sessions with over 210 speakers from 90 countries.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said India is not just a country but a great heritage and a great tradition and everyone should have to be proud of the country’s identity. India has never posed a threat to any country or society and even today, it thinks for the welfare of the whole world. He said,

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today participated in the celebrations of the 400th Parkash Purab of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji at Red Fort in New Delhi. On this occasion, the Prime Minister also released a commemorative coin and postage stamp. Union Culture Minister G. Kishan Reddy and Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri were present on this occasion.  

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will inaugurate DefConnect 2.0 organised by Innovations for Defence Excellence, Defence Innovation Organisation (iDEX-DIO) in New Delhi today.

The event will attract a large number of innovators and investors from country’s leading industries in the defence sector. It will include sessions with stalwarts of the industry, various announcements and static exhibitions of an array of start-ups supported by iDEX-DIO.

The DefConnect will provide a unique opportunity for innovators associated with iDEX-DIO to showcase their capabilities, products and state-of-the-art technologies to the target audience of the industry leaders. The start-ups get to leverage this opportunity to generate investments and leads for future operations. This will be a unique opportunity to meet iDEX start-ups and understand their innovative technologies being developed with requisite support from iDEX and the associated partners.