In Cricket, in the Vijay Hazare Trophy one-day championship, two semi-final matches will be played today in Delhi. The first match will be between Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh team won 4 of their 5 league matches and beat Delhi in the Quarter-finals by 46 runs. While Gujarat won all their league matches and beat Andhra by 117 runs in the quarter-finals. 

In another semi-final, Mumbai will take on Karnataka. It will be an intersting tussle between two talented openers Prithvi Shaw and Devdutt Padikkal. Both youngsters would be keen to score big and push their teams into the final. The final match will be played on 14th March.

The US House of Representatives today gave final approval to the landmark 1.9 trillion dollar COVID-19 relief bill that gives President Joe Biden his first major victory in office.
 
The Congress has cleared the massive economic aid plan 220-211 along partisan lines, with no Republicans voting in favour. After the vote, in a tweet Mr.Biden wrote, help is here. The White House said he plans to sign the bill on Friday. The Senate has already passed the bill. Republicans in both chambers opposed the bill unanimously.

The festival of Maha Shivratri is being celebrated across the country with full religious fervour and gaiety.

On this occasion, the devotees worship Lord Shiva, the destroyer of evil. The devotees also visit Shiva temples to pay their obeisance to seek God’s blessings.

It is believed that worship of Lord Shiva on Shivratri absolves a devotee of past sins. The worship is said to liberate a soul from the cycle of birth and death and helps attain moksha or salvation.

President Ram Nath Kovind has extended greetings  to all the countrymen on the auspicious occasion of Mahashivaratri. In a tweet, Mr Kovind wished that the festival be celebrated as a sacred remembrance of the marriage of Goddess Parvati with Lord Shiva.

Similarly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi too has extended his greetings to the people on the special occasion of Mahashivratri. 

In Uttar Pradesh, on the occasion of Mahashivratri, lakhs of devotees are taking holy dip in various rivers and worshipping Lord Shiva in temples. Administration has made elaborate arrangements for today’s snan at Sangam which will also mark the end of Magh Mela 2021.
 
In Andhra Pradesh, devotees thronged to various Shiva temples on the occasion of Maha Shivaratri. The highly revered temples like Sri Kalahasteshwara Temple in Kalahasti and the Bharamarambha Malikarjunaswamy Temple in Srisailam are witnessing devotees in big numbers.

In  Vijayawada, devotees take holy dip in river Krishna and have a darshan of lord Shiva at the famous Mallikharjuna Swamy temple atop the hill. Devotees from across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh also make a beeline to the hill shrine of Kotappakonda Shiva temple and Amaralingeswara temple, located on the banks of the River Krishna at Amaravathi in Guntur district.

The Pancharama temples of Amaravathi, Samarlakota, Draksharamam, Palkollu and Bhimavaram also witnessed a surge in pilgrims during Shivaratri.

Hindus consider it auspicious to worship Lord Shiva on a Shivaratri as it is believed that worship of Lord Shiva absolves a devotee of past sins. The worship is said to liberate a soul from the cycle of birth and death and attains moksha or salvation.

President Ramnath Kovind who is on a three day visit to Tamilnadu  will be the chief guest at the 41st convocation of the prestigious Anna University today.
 
Sixty nine students who topped in various undergraduate programs will receive the gold medal from the President according to the University. A few of the selected first rank holders of full time Engineering Courses and Architecture will receive the degrees in person.
 
The Anna University has the potential for excellence in Bio Medical Engineering and Instrumentation. Named after former Chief Minister C.N.Annadurai  on September 4th 1978,the university was formed by bringing together and integrating four well known technical institutions in the city of Madras.
 
The College of Engineering established in 1794, Alagappa College of Technology established in 1944, Madras Institute of Technology established in 1949 and School of Architecture and planning established in 1957. The main campus of the University extends over 189 acres abutting the Adyar River.
 
The Madras Institute of Technology at Chrompet constitutes the second campus of the University which extends over 52 acres and a third campus is located at Taramani in over five acres of land. It offers 29 UG and 90 PG programs in various disciplines in the University departments and 41 UG and 57 PG programs in affiliated Institutions. About 16000 students are pursuing their degree in the campuses of the University and more than seven lakh students are pursuing their degree in the affiliated institutions.
 
The University is proud of having more than 14 thousand Ph.D. scholars in Science, engineering and technology.

The Parliament gave its nod to the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2021 with Rajya Sabha passing it yesterday.

The Upper House cleared the bill amid protest by Opposition parties including Congress, DMK and NCP over the issue of farm laws.

The Lok Sabha has already passed the bill last month.

The legislation seeks to amend the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. 

The Act contains provisions to deal with domestic and international arbitration and defines the law for conducting conciliation proceedings.

The Bill replaces an Ordinance with the same provisions promulgated on 4th November, 2020.

It contains provisions to deal with domestic and international arbitration.

Replying to the discussion on the Bill, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that India wants to be an excellent hub for the arbitration and the Narendra Modi government will make India a big hub for domestic and international arbitration.

He said, freedom must be given to the domestic and international arbitrators to make the process easier so that the country can move towards the path of economic development.

He asserted that India respects the honest process and the government is committed to bring transparent mechanisms in every sphere of governance.

Mr. Prasad said, the legislation seeks to ensure that all stakeholders get an opportunity to seek an unconditional stay on enforcement of arbitral awards where the arbitration agreement or contract is induced by fraud or corruption.

He said, the bill also aims at giving greater flexibility to the Arbitration Council of India and helping in promotion of institutional arbitration.

The Parliament gave its nod to the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2021 with Rajya Sabha passing it yesterday.

The Upper House cleared the bill amid protest by Opposition parties including Congress, DMK and NCP over the issue of farm laws.

The Lok Sabha has already passed the bill last month.

The legislation seeks to amend the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. 

The Act contains provisions to deal with domestic and international arbitration and defines the law for conducting conciliation proceedings.

The Bill replaces an Ordinance with the same provisions promulgated on 4th November, 2020.

It contains provisions to deal with domestic and international arbitration.

Replying to the discussion on the Bill, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that India wants to be an excellent hub for the arbitration and the Narendra Modi government will make India a big hub for domestic and international arbitration.

He said, freedom must be given to the domestic and international arbitrators to make the process easier so that the country can move towards the path of economic development.

He asserted that India respects the honest process and the government is committed to bring transparent mechanisms in every sphere of governance.

Mr. Prasad said, the legislation seeks to ensure that all stakeholders get an opportunity to seek an unconditional stay on enforcement of arbitral awards where the arbitration agreement or contract is induced by fraud or corruption.

He said, the bill also aims at giving greater flexibility to the Arbitration Council of India and helping in promotion of institutional arbitration.

In Kerala, the ruling CPI-M announced its list of 83 candidates for the upcoming Legislative Assembly Election, yesterday. According to reports, 33 sitting MLAs including five ministers in the present cabinet are not contesting this time as the party strictly follows a two-term policy. Due to this policy, some prominent leaders were left out of the list.
 
In the ruling LDF, CPM published the list of its candidates for 83 constituencies last day.The list includes 74 party candidates and 9 independents supported by the party.
 
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will contest from Dharmadom. In UDF, as selection talks in Congress is progressing in New Delhi, the primary list is expected to be published today.
 
In NDA the candidate selection process in BJP is in the final phase. Declaration may follow the electoral committee meeting to be held today.
 
Meanwhile, the official notification of assembly polls in Kerala will be out tomorrow. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the Kindle version of Swami Chidbhavananda’s Bhagavad Gita and also address the occasion today through virtual mode. The event has been organised to commemorate the sale of over five lakh copies of the Swami Chidbhavananda’s Bhagavad Gita.
 
Swami Chidbhavananda is the founder of Sri Ramakrishna Tapovanam Ashram at Thirupparaaythuray situated near Tiruchirapalli in Tamil Nadu. Swami Chidbhavananda, a man of letters, has authored 186 books. His scholarly work on the Gita is one of the most extensive books on the subject.
 
Tamil version of the Gita with his commentary was published in 1951 and became an instant hit. It was translated into English in 1965. The translations of the epic literary work into Telugu, Odia, German and Japanese were undertaken by the devotees of Swami Chidbhavananda.

The fourth edition of Prime Minister’s interaction Programme Pariksha Pe Charcha will be held this month.

The programme will be held virtually.

Through this programme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a brain storming session with school students, teachers and parents in connection with the upcoming examinations.

The registration process for the programme is underway on MyGov platform and it will remain open till Sunday.

The questions related to dealing with examination stress from school students of Class 9 to 12 are being invited through MyGov platform and selected questions will feature in the programme.

About two thousand school students, teachers and parents from all across the country are to be selected winner and there will be attractive prize for the winners.

The selected participants will be taking part in the programme online from their respective State and UT headquarters and will be presented with a special Pariksha Pe Charcha kit.

Both the Houses of the Parliament passed legislation today amid ruckus created by opposition parties over the issue of farm laws.
The opposition parties hard pressed on their demand of holding a discussion under Rule 267 over the farm laws.

In the Lok Sabha, when the House met post lunch after repeated adjournments, the opposition party members trooped into the well and raised slogans against the government.

When the Lower House initiated its proceedings today, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury raised the issue of farmers’ protest at Delhi borders and said that many of them have lost their lives in the course of the agitation.

He said, the House must take cognizance of the issue and a discussion may be allowed. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla expressed unhappiness over the ruckus in the House.

He said, the House is for discussion over the issues related to people and sloganeering is against the sanctity of the House.

He repeatedly urged the agitating members to get back to their seats and allow the House to function.

In the Rajya Sabha also, when the House met after the repeated adjournments, opposition parties trooped into the well and started sloganeering against the three farm laws.

Amidst the noisy scene, the House took up the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2021. After passing the bill, the House was adjourned for the day.

Today, when the proceedings of the House started, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge said that the opposition parties have given adjournment notices to discuss the farm laws.

Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu said the matter has already been discussed during the first leg of the Budget Session.

He however said, the issues can be discussed during the deliberations on other legislative business.

Amidst uproar, Mr. Naidu tried to run the House and appealed to the agitating members to maintain decorum.

Proceedings of both the Houses will resume on Monday morning at 11 AM.

Tirath Singh Rawat took oath as the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand in Dehradun today.
 
He was administered the oath of office by Uttarakhand Governor Baby Rani Maurya.
 
Earlier, accompanied by BJP MLAs and MPs, Mr Rawat met the Governor at Raj Bhawan to stake his claim to form the government.
 
Tirath Singh Rawat was the state BJP president from 2013 to 2015 and is currently the party’s national secretary.
 
Trivendra Singh Rawat stepped down as Uttarakhand’s chief minister on Tuesday.

France launched its first military exercise in space this week to evaluate its ability to defend its satellites and other defense equipment from an attack. Michel Friedling, the head of France’s newly created Space Command said the exercises are a “stress-test of their systems. He said that they were a first for the French army and even a first in Europe. The exercise, codenamed “AsterX” in memory of the first French satellite from 1965, will be based on 18 simulated events in an operations room.

During the drill, the French military will monitor a potentially dangerous space object as well as a threat to its own satellite from another foreign power possessing a considerable space force. The new US Space Force and German space agencies are taking part in the French exercises which began on Monday and will last until Friday. The French Space Forces Command, Commandement de l’Espace (CdE) was created in 2019 and is set to have 500 personnel by 2025.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has raised the projection for India’s economic growth rate by 4.7 percentage points at 12.6 per cent for 2021-22. That would enable India to retain its earlier tag of the fastest growing large economy in the world. In its interim report on economic outlook, OECD said, activity moved above pre-pandemic levels in India, helped by strong fiscal and quasi-fiscal measures and a recovery in manufacturing and construction.

It, however, pegged economic growth rate to come down to 5.4 per cent in 2022-23, which would be higher by 0.6 percentage points than its earlier estimates. That year, India would share its fastest-growing large economy tag with Indonesia, according to the OECD. The Indian economy was projected to decline by 8 per cent in the current fiscal year. However, OECD believes that contraction would be less steep at 7.4 per cent. In the report, titled Strengthening the recovery: The need for speed, OECD said fiscal measures announced in India and a few other countries would help growth in 2021-22 as well.

Additional discretionary fiscal measures announced in several countries during the past three months will add to the overall support, including in the US, Japan, Germany, Canada, and India, the report said. The OECD also unveiled major upgrades to its global outlook, saying that economic prospects have improved markedly in recent months thanks to the deployment of coronavirus vaccines and additional stimulus announcements.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a fruitful conversation with his Japanese counterpart Mr. Suga Yoshihide on the progress of India-Japan Special Strategic and Global Partnership, yesterday. The two leaders expressed satisfaction at the positive momentum in India-Japan Special Strategic & Global Partnership in the last few years, guided by mutual trust and shared values.

They appreciated that bilateral exchanges were maintained over the last year despite the COVID-19 pandemic. They also welcomed the recent signing of the Memorandum of Cooperation on Specified Skilled Workers (SSW) and looked forward to its early implementation. Prime Minister Modi noted the Mumbai Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) project as a shining example of India-Japan bilateral strategic partnership and expressed his commitment to its successful implementation.

The two leaders further exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual interest and concurred that the partnership between the two countries could play a pivotal role in addressing common challenges. In this regard, they emphasized that their engagement with like-minded countries such as Australia and the U.S. in the form of QUAD consultations holds value and agreed that these useful discussions must continue.

The leaders agreed to celebrate in a befitting manner, the 70th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries that falls in 2022. Prime Minister Modi invited his Japanese Counterpart to visit India at the earliest for the Annual Bilateral Summit.

President Ramnath Kovind is on a three day visit to Tamilnadu. He will leave for Vellore by helicopter and attend the 16th annual convocation at Thiruvalluvar University. State Governor Banwarilal Purohit will preside over the function. Earlier, he arrived at Chennai yesterday and was received by Tamilnadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit, Chief Secretary Rajeev Ranjan and other top officials.

President Kovind will confer doctorate degrees to 217 students.in the function.  Thirty five students will be given their  graduate and 31 students will get their post graduate degrees in the convocation. A total of more than 80 thousand students will be getting their graduate and post graduate and M.Phil degrees from the University this year.

The President will visit the Golden temple at Sripuram Vellore in the afternoon after which he will return to Chennai. Tomorrow the President will attend the 41st Annual Convocation at the Anna University after which he will depart to Delhi by Indian Airforce Flight.