Prime Minister Narendra Modi says Aatmanirbhar Bharat is about transforming India into a manufacturing hub.
Prime Minister to virtually interact with IPS Probationers in Hyderabad at 11 am today.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh meets his Russian counterpart in Moscow: appreciates Russia's support to defence and security needs of India.
General Bipin Rawat says India has put in place adequate measures to stop China’s aggressive misadventures.
India calls for protecting the interests of foreign students and facilitate stranded seafarers back to their home country at the G-20 Foreign Ministers' virtual summit.
Nearly 13 lakh Indians repatriated under Vande Bharat Mission so far.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that 1.3 billion Indians have embarked on one mission to make Aatmanirbhar Bharat which merges the local with the global. He said Aatmanirbhar Bharat is about transforming India from being just a passive market to an active manufacturing hub at the heart of global value chains. Delivering keynote address at the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum last evening, Mr Modi said, India has shown time and again that its goal is global good.
The Prime Minister said the current COVID-19 situation has shown the world that decision on developing global supply chains should be based not only on costs but also on trust.
The Prime Minister said India offers diverse opportunities. These opportunities are in the public as well as private sector. They cover core economic sectors as well as social sectors.
The Prime Minister pointed out that India offers a transparent and predictable tax regime. He said,India's GST is unified and there is a fully IT enabled indirect tax system.
The Prime Minister stated that country's reform trajectory continues and in the recent months, there have been far reaching reforms which are making business easier and red tapism lesser. Work is actively underway on the world's largest housing programme. Renewable energy infrastructure is being expanded. Rail, road and air connectivity is being boosted. Mr Modi said, country is creating unique digital model to build a national digital health mission. He said the best of fin tech is being used to provide banking, credit, digital payments and insurance to millions. The Prime Minister said, there is a need to focus on ramping capacities, securing the poor, future proofing citizens. He stressed that this is the path India is taking.
Mr Modi highlighted that 800 million Indians are being provided support during the time of the pandemic. The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana is among the largest support system seen anywhere globally. He said free food grain is being provided to 800 million people.
The Prime Minister said India was among the first countries to advocate the use of masks and face coverings as public health measure. India was also among the earliest to create public awareness campaigns about social distancing.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with IPS Probationers through video conferencing during the Dikshant Parade event at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy (SVPNPA) in Hyderabad today. A total of 131 IPS probationers including 28 lady Probationers have completed 42 weeks of Basic Course Phase-I training at the Academy.
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Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat said, India wants peace and tranquility across its borders. Speaking at US India Strategic and Partnership Forum,USISPF yesterday, General Rawat said, despite China’s aggressive misadventures, India has adopted an adequate measure to control and stop these misadventures. He said threat from Pakistan side is like proxy war but Pakistan will not succeed in its attempt.
General Rawat said, India and USA have signed several defence agreements, with potential for more such agreements in the near future. He expressed hope that this will enable better strategic collaboration for the two countries. General Rawat cautioned armed forces to be prepared to meet immediate crisis and concurrently prepare for future. He said, necessary steps were taken so see that country's frontline soldiers are not affected by COVID.
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The Chief of Army Staff General MM Naravane is on a two-day visit to Leh. General Naravane visited forward and tactically important posts in Eastern Ladakh region yesterday. During his visit, the Army Chief held a comprehensive review of the situation and interaction with the commanders at the ground zero in forward location and at Fire and Fury Head quarters. Army Chief's visit to Leh, review of the ground situation and operational preparedness would be influencing the future talks in Chushul or else where between India and China to de-escalate the tensions in eastern Ladakh. General MM Naravane will be returning to Delhi later today.
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Almost 13 lakh Indians have already been repatriated under Vande Bharat Mission through different modes. These modes are Air India, private and foreign carriers, chartered flights, naval ships and land border crossings. Briefing media, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said, the sixth phase of the mission has been operational from the 1st of this month. In this phase, one thousand and seven international flights from 24 countries have been scheduled to operate during this month. They are expected to repatriate over two lakh people.
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Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has appreciated the steadfast support provided by Russia consistent with the defence and security needs of India. Mr Singh met his Russian counterpart General Sergey Shoigu in Moscow yesterday. The Defence Minister along with other senior officials are on a three-day visit to Russia. The meeting was held ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Defence Ministers' meet scheduled to be held at 2 PM today.
The Defence Minister thanked Russia for its timely response to the requests for procurement of particular weapon systems in the country. The meeting covered a broad range of areas of cooperation between the two countries where it was also noted that it coincides with the 'Indra Naval Exercises' scheduled to be conducted by the Indian and Russian Navies off the Straits of Malacca over the next two days.
The Defence Minister briefed his Russian counterpart on the 'Make in India' defence programme in the context of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of 'AtmaNirbhar Bharat'. Both sides welcomed the advance stage of discussions for setting up of an Indo-Russian Joint Venture for manufacturing AK-47 203 rifles in India at the Korwa Ordnance factory in Uttar Pradesh.
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India has called upon Governments around the world to ensure that interests of foreign students are protected and movement of stranded seafarers back to their home country facilitated. Participating in the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Extraordinary virtual Meeting, External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar also proposed development of voluntary ‘G20 Principles on Coordinated Cross-Border Movement of People’ in the backdrop of Covid-19.
Dr. Jaishankar apprised the G20 Foreign Ministers about the steps taken by India including Vande Bharat Mission and creation of ‘travel bubbles’ for the welfare and protection of foreign citizens stranded here as well as its own citizens abroad. The meeting was convened by the current G20 Chair, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The Ministers also exchanged national experiences and lessons learned from the cross-border management measures taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said that the state government has made an appeal in the Supreme Court for the re- verification of the National Register of Citizens (NRC). Talking to AIR news, the Chief Minister said, it must be ensured that all genuine Indian citizens be included in the NRC list while the name of illegal citizens should be excluded.
Mr. Sonowal emphasized that North Eastern states must join hands to promote the region. He said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given special emphasis for the development of this region. Mr. Sonowal said, the Prime Minister visited North East 30 times in last few years. The Chief Minister said, that the Act East Policy has played a very important role in promoting the region.
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Railways Minister Piyush Goyal held a meeting with top courier service agencies to facilitate robust partnership with Railways Freight and Parcel service. The meeting was called to discuss and explore the possibilities of expanding the business of private parcel services through Indian Railways. During the meeting it was informed that Railways will offer reliable, fast, affordable and easy to handle parcel services for logistics and courier agencies. In order to quickly work out the best guidelines and ease of doing business, joint working group will be formed consisting of Railway officials and representatives of logistics and courier providers.
The Railways Ministry said, that more than five thousand parcel trains were run between 22nd March and 2nd of this month. A total of over three lakh 18 thousand tonnes of consignments were loaded in these trains and Railway earned more than 116 crore rupees.
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Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that the new age entrepreneurs are going to change the fortune of India. Addressing CII event on launch of India's Future Business Group yesterday, Mr Goyal said that new age ideas will help prepare India to contribute in a much bigger way to global supply chains. He said, there is a need to build a platform with like-minded countries and trusted partners to promote new-age businesses in India. On improvement in India’s rank from 52 to 48 in the Global Innovation Index, Mr Goyal urged everyone to work together to make India the innovation hub.
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In Bihar, a six-member Central team visited flood affected areas to assess the extent of damage in the state. Before returning to Delhi today, the team will hold review meeting with Chief Secretary and officials of the State Disaster Management Department. The team will submit its report to the Central government for assistance.
Three separate groups of the team yesterday visited worst affected Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur and Gopalganj districts to asses the situation. It also reviewed corona pandemic situation in flood ravaged areas of the state. Over 83 lakh 62 thousand people spread over 1,333 panchayats of 16 districts are reeling under the impact of floods.
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Over 30 lakh people in the country have recovered from COVID-19. Health Ministry has said, the constant increase in recoveries have ensured that the actual caseload of the country has reduced and currently comprises only around 21 per cent of the total positive cases. The number of recovered patients has overtaken the active cases by over 3.6 times. The Ministry said, the number of recovered patients has grown over four times from the first week of July to the first week of September 2020.
Effective implementation of 'Test,Track and Treat' approach has led to higher recoveries and lower fatality. The overall National recovery rate stands above 77 per cent. Health Ministry has informed that less than even 0.5 per cent of the total active cases require ventilator support whereas only 2 per cent require Intensive Care support. It said this has been possible due to early detection, early hospitalisation and effective clinical management based on Standard Treatment Protocol.
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The Rajasthan government has directed all government and private universities in the state to conduct final year examinations in the third week of this month. The Higher Education Department has written a letter to all universities regarding this. It has been directed that if it is not possible for a university to conduct examination by 30th of September, then according to the decision of the Supreme Court, the university can apply to the UGC to extend the exam period.
In Tamil Nadu, the total number of Covid-19 cases has surged to over four lakh 45 thousand, with 5892 new cases recorded yesterday. Meanwhile, the officials have tightened monitoring of offices and commercial establishments to prevent violation of mask and social distance norms.
"Senior officials in the state have reiterated that an ordinance is on the anvil to make penalties against violations of safety protocols more stringent. They say the possibility of carelessness in workplaces cannot be taken lightly, as lowering the bar on safety may throw up more challenges. Meanwhile, the Chennai Metro is sprucing up the stations and readying the train sets to bring the services back on track. The Southern Railway has begun announcing a series of special trains within the state, on a hundred percent reservation basis, so that the social distancing norms could be effectively implemented. Jayasingh, AIR News, Chennai".
Following relaxations in Covid-19 lockdown norms, the Southern Railway has announced four daily special train services in Tamil Nadu from 7th of this month. Reservations for these fully reserved trains will start tomorrow. Passengers have been advised by the Southern Railway to reach the station atleast one and a half hours prior to scheduled departure time. The Raiways have also asked passengers to download Arogya Sethu app and to ensure that maintenance of social distancing and wearing of face masks are followed throughout the journey.
In Gujarat, COVID-19 case tally has crossed 1 lakh mark. AIR Ahmedabad correspondent reports that the state registered 1325 new cases during last 24 hours.
"With record 1325 new cases, the total cases of Covid-19 in the state have gone up to 1 lakh 375. At the other end, 1126 patients have been discharged after recovery during the last 24 hours. Recovery rate further improves to 80.88 percent. More than 25 lakh 59 thousand tests have been carried out in the state till date, out of which 75487 tests were carried out yesterday. At present 16131 active cases in the state, out of which 89 patients are on ventilator. 16 patients have lost their lives yesterday, taking the total death due to Covid-19 in the state up to 3064. Yogesh Pandya, AIR News, Ahmedabad".
In Madhya Pradesh, the state government has decided to reopen all the museums and state protected monuments from today. Our correspondent reports that the state government has taken this decision as per the guidelines issued under Unlock-4.
"Archaeological Archives and Museum Commissioner Shiv Shekhar Shukla informed that visitors will be given admission in all these places as per the guidelines issued by the Central and the State Government. The Tribal Museum of Bhopal is also opening from today with revised entry rules. In view of the corona pandemic, the admission ticket of the visitors will be valid only for one hour. After every hour, the museum will be closed for 20 minutes for sanitization. Similarly, not more than 50 visitors will be allowed to enter any gallery of the museum at one time. Photography will also be completely banned during this period. The total number of COVID-19 cases in MP rose to 68 thousand 586, while more than 52 thousand people have recovered so far. Sanjeev Sharma, AIR News, Bhopal".
In Ladakh, COVID-19 Nodal Officer, Shantmanu along with a team of senior doctors from Union Health Ministry visited Kargil to take stock of the measures being taken up to contain the novel Coronavirus. During their two-day visit, they reviewed patient care facilities at the dedicated COVID-19 Hospital at Kurbathang, especially in view of the approaching winter season.
In Jammu and Kashmir, the highest ever spike in positive cases has been recorded yesterday as 1079 tested positive. Jammu division alone registering 622 cases, first ever single day rise in cases since the pandemic outbreak in the Union Territory. Our Jammu Correspondent reports that the deadly virus also claimed nine more lives yesterday, thus taking the toll of deaths to 745 including 666 from Kashmir and 79 from Jammu division.
Bihar tested a record one lakh 40 thousand 931 COVID-19 samples in last 24 hours. Principal Secretary Pratyaya Amrit said, this is the highest number testing in the country in a single day.
Over 35 lakh 71 thousand tests have been conducted in the state so far. Recovery rate has improved to 88 percent which is 11 per cent more than national average.
Odisha is fast nearing the mark of 20 lakh Covid-19 sample tests. The state yesterday completed a cumulative test of 19,50,591, with about 60 thousand samples being tested everyday. Odisha has been testing 42,404 samples per million people which is more than the national average.
"With 3631 people reported positive yesterday, the per day detection of cases have remained incremental for quite some time now, going beyond 1 lakh 13 thousand in absolute numbers. The death toll too has touched 522. While the virus continues to hold more and more people captive as the days roll on, the number of people who have got themselves cured is also following the caseload close by crossing the 87 thousand figure. As against the rising graph of positivity, the recovery rate too has paced up to 76.78 per cent-one of the highest in the country. The fatality rate too has gone further down to 0.46 per cent-one of the lowest in the country. Girish Chandra Dash, AIR NEWS, Bhubaneswar".
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Participating in AIR live phone-in programme on COVID 19, Dr Anupam Prakash, Director at Lady Hardinge Medical College spoke about the use of steroids in the treatment of coronavirus infection.
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Special series on Mahatanma Gandhi and Ek Bharat Sherstha Bharat:
Mahatma Gandhi believed social service is as an important component of education. He was a great advocate of interlinking education and social service. The Father of the Nation said that "Social service that savours of patronage is not service.
"Mahatma Gandhi related the education of the students to the future of the country. He reminded the students of their responsibility towards their country and countrymen. Gandhi Ji said, students are the hope of the future. He said, You will be called upon, when you are discharged from your colleges and schools, to enter upon public life to lead the poor people of this country. Mahatma Gandhi asserted that an educational system is faulty if it does not respond to the requirements of the country. For Gandhi, the student volunteer work was not part of leisure activity, but an integral part of social reform and nation-building. With Dipendra, Anand Chaturvedi, AIR News Delhi".
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The Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat programme aims to actively enhance interaction between people of diverse cultures living in different States and Union Territories, with the objective of promoting greater mutual understanding amongst them. Under the initiative, Sikkim and Delhi have been paired for cultural exchanges.
"Shreya Sharma left her hometown Gangtok, Sikkim for Delhi in 2019 to pursue a degree in law.She shares the highlights of her stay:
While negotiating a busy schedule of online classes, Ms Sharma is eagerly waiting for the situation to normalize so that she can return to Delhi to complete her studies. With Saikat Sarkar, Parijat Sharma from Gangtok for AIR".
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Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has congratulated the people of Ayodhya on the start of construction work of Ram Temple. The Chief Minister said, the city of Lord Rama will be developed as Solar City which will add a new identity to Ayodhya. The Chief Minister yesterday held a meeting with public representatives and senior officials of Ayodhya division and discussed extensively on the development of the city as a world famous tourist hub.
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In Tennis, India's Sumit Nagal exited the US Open after suffering defeat at the hands of World Number three Dominic Thiem. The world number 122, Nagal lost to second seed Austrian, in straight sets in the second round.
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Today’s weather forecast
The National Capital Delhi is likely to witness a generally cloudy sky with light rain. The minimum temperature was 26 degree Celsius and the maximum will be around 33 degrees.
Mumbai will also have generally cloudy sky with light rain. The temperature is likely to hover between 26 degree Celsius and 33 degree Celsius.
Chennai is likely to witness rain or thundershowers towards evening or night. The minimum was 26 degree Celsius while the maximum temperature could reach upto 33 degree Celsius.
Kolkata may have a partly cloudy sky with one or two spells of rain or thundershowers. The minimum temperature was 27 degree Celsius while the maximum is expected to be around 33 degrees.
On to the North, in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, the minimum temperature was recorded at 26 degree Celsius in Jammu while the maximum will be around 31 degrees. The city will have generally cloudy sky with moderate rain.
In Srinagar, the temperature will hover between 17 degrees and 30 degree celsius. The city is likely to have partly cloudy sky with possibility of rain or thunderstorm or duststorm.
Ladakh is likely to witness partly cloudy sky becoming generally cloudy towards afternoon or evening.The temperature may hover around 16 and 30 degrees Celsius.
In Gilgit, the minimum temperature was 15 degrees and the maximum will be around 23 degree Celsius. Thunderstorm with rain is likely in the city today.
Muzzafarabad is also likely to have thunderstorm with rain. The minimum temperature was 19 degree Celsius and the maximum is expected to be around 23 degree Celsius.
In Dehradun, the minimum temperature was 25 degree Celsius and the maximum could be 32 degrees. The city may witness generally cloudy sky with a few spells of rain.
Chandigarh may witness generally cloudy sky with possibility of development of thunder or lightning. The temperature may hover between 28 and 33 degree Celsius.
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Newspaper Headlines
Most newspapers today talk about the preparedness of the Delhi Metro to welcome back passengers. The Hindustan Times on its front page carries a picture of a worker cleaning a Metro Coach as the Delhi Metro gears up to resume services with certain instruction from September 7th.
The newspapers have also taken note of visit of General M.M. Naravane to Leh. The Asian Age headline reads, "Army Chief in Ladakh to review strategy on how to handle PLA."
The Indian Express quoting the Prime Minister at the US-India strategic Partnership Forum states "PM hardsells young, diverse, democratic India, says virus has not hit aspirations.
The Business Standard headlines reads, "Don't declare accounts NPA till further orders, says SC".
Amid the Coronavirus gloom, cargo, one of the least glamorous aspects of flying, is proving a rare ray of light for airlines. The Financial Express informs, Airlines removing seats to make space for gadgets, seafood.
With online shopping being the new buzzward, the Economic Times informs, E-commerce firms, Amazon, Flipkart, brace for big spurt in festive demand as COVID-19 keeps, shoppers online.
People being more focussed on what they eat, the Times of India talks about a 800 Sq ft. room in Lajpat Nagar, that supplies green and leafy vegetables to South Delhi. "Indoor green revolution: Get veggies within hours of harvest".
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