Dublin-based Indian poet Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe's debut poetry collection "Auguries of a Minor God" is among the eight novels, two poetry collections and two short story collections longlisted for this year's Dylan Thomas Prize worth 20,000 pounds.

Eipe, who was born in India and grew up across the Middle East, Europe and North America before calling Ireland home, draws inspiration from Kama, the Hindu god of love and desire, for her first poetry collection.

India on Thursday said it is regrettable that China has chosen to politicise the Winter Olympics. Replying to media queries on reports of China making Galwan soldier the torchbearer at the sporting event, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said the Charge de Affairs of the Indian Embassy in Beijing will not attend the opening or closing ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Replying to another query on torture of a boy from Arunachal Pradesh by Chinese PLA, Mr Bagchi said India has taken up the issue with the Chinese side.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will make its third venture to the Moon through the Chandrayaan-3 mission in August this year. This was stated by Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh in a written reply to Lok Sabha yesterday. Dr. Singh revealed that the realization of Chandrayaan-3 is in progress, and the mission team is making preparations based on the learnings from Chandrayaan-2 and suggestions by national-level experts. He said, the mission-related hardware and their tests are successfully completed and ISRO is all set to launch Chardrayan-3 in August. This year is expected to be quite busy for ISRO as major projects such as Gaganyaan and Aditya solar mission are also in the pipeline. ISRO will conduct 19 missions till December this year.

Tokyo Olympics gold medallist, Neeraj Chopra, is being selected as one of the six nominees for the 2022 Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year Award.

A panel of more than 1,300 of the leading sports journalists and broadcasters in the world have selected the nominees in each of seven categories for this year’s Laureus World Sports Awards. The winners will be revealed in April, following a vote by the Laureus World Sports Academy, the world’s ultimate sports jury, made up of 71 of the greatest sporting legends of all time.

The Department of Food & Public Distribution had reviewed the progress of States/UTs towards the implementation of “One Nation One Ration Card” (ONORC) plan and after successful testing of portability transactions, the Department has approved the integration of Chhattisgarh with the existing cluster of portability States/UTs under ONORC.

Accordingly, the ONORC plan for nation-wide portability of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) ration cards has been enabled in the Chhattisgarh State from 2nd February 2022.

With the integration of Chhattisgarh, the ONORC plan is now operational in 35 States/UTs covering almost 96.8% NFSA population (about 77 Crore NFSA beneficiaries) in the country.

Science and Technology Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh has felicitated the Beating Retreat Drone Light Show - StartUps who had mesmerized the nation by lighting the sky with colourful tricolor at New Delhi's Vijay Chowk on the evening of 29th January. Boatlab Start-Up Co-founders, Sarita Ahlawat, Tanmay Bunkar, and Anuj Kumar Barnwal were present along with their other team members.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Singh said, rules and regulations are being simplified in the Department of Science and Technology for accessing liberal funding by innovative Start-Ups. He said, issues like Single Window Clearance, speedy processing of projects, facilities for incubation, and review of matching funding obligation by Start-Ups will soon be notified for promotion of Start-Ups ecosystem in the country.

Indian Coast Guard is celebrating its 46th Raising Day today. From just seven surface platforms in 1978, the Indian Coast Guard,
(ICG) has grown into a formidable force with 158 ships and 70 aircraft in its inventory. It is likely to achieve targeted force levels of 200 surface platforms and 80 aircraft by 2025. As the fourth largest Coast Guard in the world, it has played a significant role in securing the Indian coasts and enforcing regulations in the maritime zones of India. The ICG has saved over one thousand two hundred lives at sea in the last one year and more than 11 thousand since its inception.

One of the primary duties of the Indian Coast Guard is prevention of smuggling through maritime routes in its area of responsibility. In the last one year, it has seized drugs and contraband worth nearly four thousand crore rupees.

Haj Committee of India has extended its last date for filling up online Haj applications by 15th of this month. Haj Committee stated that in view of the representation received from several state Haj Committees, the last date for filling up of online Haj application forms by the intending pilgrims is extended to 15th of February instead of 31st January.

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the Budget for the fiscal year 2022-23. Earlier, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan this morning before presenting the Union Budget 2022-2023 in Parliament. Along with Ms Sitharaman, Minister of States for Finance, Dr Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad and Pankaj Chaudhary, as well as senior officials of the Ministry were also present. 

A 24-year-old man from Manipur has smashed the Guinness World Record (GWR) for the most push-ups in one minute.

Thounaojam Niranjoy Singh did 109 push-ups in a minute, breaking the GWR, at an event organised by Aztecs Fight Studio in Imphal, according to an ANI report on January 23.