Prime Minister Narendra Modi  interacted with India’s leading economists on charting the economic agenda in the post covid world. The interaction was organised by the NITI Aayog. All the attendants agreed that high frequency indicators are showing signs of a strong economic recovery and that too earlier than expected.

Prime Minister Modi appreciated the inputs received from the participants and highlighted the crucial role such interactions played in setting the national development agenda. He highlighted how the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent management threw up new professional challenges for all those involved. Mr Modi underlined that together with a fiscal stimulus, the government also tried reform based stimulus, which was seen through historic reforms in agriculture, commercial coal mining and labour laws.

The Prime Minister explained his vision behind an Atmanirbhar Bharat, where Indian companies are integrated in global supply chains in a manner not seen before. He underscored  the faith shown by foreign investors in India’s growth story, with foreign direct investment growing by 11 per cent between April and October, despite a global recession. Mr Modi highlighted the economic potential set to be unleashed by the National Optical Fibre Network, providing internet connectivity to some of India’s most remote areas.

On infrastructure, the Prime Minister highlighted the National Infrastructure Pipeline as the government’s commitment to developing world class infrastructure. The Prime Minister  stated the importance of partnerships in achieving the goals and  that such consultations play a crucial role in setting the broader economic agenda.

The attendants were broadly in agreement that next year will see robust growth and suggested measures to maintain this growth rate to drive India’s socio-economic transformation. The participants stressed the importance of investing in public health and education, as human capital would also likely emerge as a driver of growth, especially in the knowledge economy going forward. They also stressed on labour-intensive manufacturing given the success India has achieved in launching the production linked incentives,PLI scheme in mobile manufacturing.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur, Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar and Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant and other officials also attended the meeting along with leading economists of the country.

The 16th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas convention will be held today through virtual mode. The convention will commence at 10 AM in the morning and will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. During the inaugural session, President of the Republic of Suriname and Chief Guest, Chandrikapersad Santokhi will address the participants. The Valedictory Address will be delivered by President Ram Nath Kovind. The theme of the 16th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is “Contributing to Aatmanirbhar Bharat”.

 Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is celebrated once in every two years to strengthen the engagement of the overseas Indian community with the Indian Government and it is also an endeavour which reconnects them with their roots. This year due to the pandemic, the convention is being held in a virtual mode, which will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The inaugural session will be followed by the two plenary sessions where discussions between eminent diaspora experts will be held on themes which include Role of Diaspora in Aatmanirbhar Bharat, and Facing Post Covid Challenges. India is proud of its largest diaspora across the globe which consists of nearly 31 million people. External Affairs Minister, Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, recently said that the Indian government values it’s vast diaspora enormously as they are the image of the country in the world.

India is also the country with the highest foreign remittances in the world which amounts to over 80 billion US dollars. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has time and again said that the Indian diaspora is the living root bridge between India and the world. He believes that the success of our diaspora has changed the perception of both India and Indians across the world. In the political sphere as well, people of Indian Origin are in prominent positions across the world.

Kamala Harris, Priyanca Radhakrishnan , Pravind Jugnauth, Leo Varadkar , Nikki Haley, Bobby Jindal, Priti Patel, Preet Bharara and Pramila Jayapal are few such names in the long list. The growing prominence of Indians in both business and politics abroad is  raising the profile of the country and will further encourage future trade links. Huge number of participants have registered this year to participate in the convention where 30 eminent diaspora members will be honoured with the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awards.
Fifteen winners of the Bharat Ko Janiye Quiz will also be announced in the convention who would be later invited for a pan-India tour after the Covid-19 pandemic.

World Leaders have condemned violent scenes in the United States after supporters of US President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol building in Washington DC. The incident left four people dead. A state of emergency has been declared for 15 days in the US Capital.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said, in such circumstances, it is important that political leaders impress on their followers the need to refrain from violence, as well as to respect democratic processes and the rule of law.

In a tweet, United Nation General Assembly President Volkan Bozkir has said that he believes that peace and respect for democratic processes will prevail in our host country at this critical time.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that he is distressed to see the news about rioting and violence in Washington DC. He said, orderly and peaceful transfer of power must continue and the democratic process cannot be allowed to be subverted through unlawful protests.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson termed the scenes in US Congress as disgraceful. He said that the United States stands for democracy around the world and it is now vital that there should be a peaceful and orderly transfer of power.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said, her thoughts are with everyone who is as devastated as they are by the events of the day. The Prime Minister said, she has no doubt democracy will prevail.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, Canadians are deeply disturbed and saddened by the attack on democracy in the United States, our closest ally and neighbour.

The riot forced the suspension of a joint session of Congress to certify Joe Biden’s electoral victory for few hours. However, later the US Congress certified Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election. The certification has cleared the way for Mr Biden to be sworn in as the 46th President of the United States on 20th of this month.

Vice-President Mike Pence, who as President of the Senate oversaw the certification process, confirmed to Congress that, of the 538 electoral college votes cast, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris received 306 while Donald Trump and Mike Pence received 232 – mirroring the results of November’s election.

India will be chairing three-key subsidiary bodies of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). The panels are, Counter-Terrorism Committee (for 2022), Taliban Sanctions Committee, and Libya Sanctions committee. This was announced by the Permanent Representative of India at the United Nations Security Council, TS Tirumurti today.
 
India will chair the Counter-Terrorism Committee of UNSC in 2022. Mr Tirumurti said, chairing of this committee has a special resonance for India which has not only been at the forefront of fighting terrorism especially cross border terrorism but has also been one of its biggest victims.He said, Taliban Sanctions Committee has always been a high priority for India keeping in mind its strong interest and commitment to peace, security, development, and progress of Afghanistan.
 
Mr Tirumurti said, India will be assuming the chair of the Libya Sanctions Committee at a critical juncture when there is an international focus on Libya and on the peace process.

In Cricket, Australia were 251 for 5 wicket against India on Day 2 of third Test match at Sydney a short while ago. Ravinder Jadeja took the third wicket of Marnus Labuschagne who scored a half-century. The match was stopped for a brief period due to rain and wet outfield.

Earlier, Australia resumed their second day play from an overnight score of 166 for two. The hosts had won the toss and elected to bat first on the opening day.

Rohit Sharma is finally back for the Indian side replacing Mayank Agarwal in the opening slot. Umesh Yadav, who was ruled out of the Test series after getting injured in the Boxing Day Test, has been replaced by Navdeep Saini in the playing XI. This is the debut Test for Navdeep Saini.

The four-match series is currently levelled at 1-1, and if India manages to win this Test, the side will retain the Border Gavaskar Trophy even if Australia goes on to win the last Test at Brisbane.

Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has announced the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Advanced 2021 examination date and the eligibility criteria for admission into Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). The Minister informed that JEE (Advanced) – 2021 will be held as a computer based test on 3rd of July this year.

The eligibility criteria of scoring minimum 75 per cent in Class 12th has been relaxed for taking admission in IITs this year. The exam will be conducted by IIT Kharagpur this year.

The Centre will hold the eighth round of talks with the representatives of farmers’ unions in New Delhi today to address the issues concerning them. In the earlier meeting on 4th of this month, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar had said that the government wanted farmer unions to discuss the three farm laws clause-wise, but they could not find any solution as farmer unions remained adamant on the repeal of these three laws.
 
The Government has repeatedly assured the farmers’ leaders that it is committed to address their issues and both sides need to take steps forward to arrive at an amicable solution. Mr Tomar had reiterated that Minimum Support Price (MSP) and the Mandi system will continue like before.

India has crossed a significant milestone in its fight against COVID-19 with over one crore recoveries. The total number of patients successfully recovered so far from the viral contagion surpassed the tally of one crore 16 thousand. The rate of new daily infection also continues to remain below 25 thousand with only 20 thousand 346 cases being reported in the past 24 hours. The gap between the recovered patients and active cases in the country has further widened and the number of recovered patients stands at 44 times the number of current active cases.

The active caseload in the country comprises nearly two lakh 28 thousand people and stands at 2.19 per cent. Out of these nearly 60 per cent are under home isolation and have mild to very mild symptoms.

The national cumulative recovery rate continues to register gradual improvement and stands at 96.36 per cent with recovery of over 19 thousand 587 people in the last 24 hours.

The second nationwide dry run on the Covid 19 vaccination will be held today. The massive mock drill will be held in 736 districts across 33 States and Union Territories. The objective of this dry run is to simulate the actual vaccine administration event. The entire planning of the vaccination drive, including beneficiary registration, microplanning and vaccination at the planned session site, will be tested under the leadership of District Collector or District Magistrate.
 
 The dry run will also familiarize the State, District, Block and Hospital level officers on all aspects of COVID-19 roll out. AIR correspondent reports that around one lakh 70 thousand vaccinators and three lakh vaccination team members have been trained on the process to be followed at the vaccination sites.

The country’s drugs regulator has approved Covishield and Covaxin for restricted emergency use in the country. The first round of dry run was held across the country on 2nd of January. The exercise is being done to ensure efficient planning and management for vaccine delivery in each district. The second dry run will be held in 736 districts across 33 States and Union Territories except Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. Each district will identify three types of session sites, similar to the previous dry run including a public health facility, private health facility and rural or urban outreach sites.

As the country prepares for the COVID-19 vaccine roll out, Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan will be visiting Tamil Nadu today to personally review the preparedness and oversee the dry run operations at the scheduled sites. The Health Minister will visit the session sites at Government General Hospital and Government Omandurar Hospital in Chennai this morning. Later in the day, Dr Harsh Vardhan will visit the private vaccination centre at Apollo Hospital in Chennai after a brief visit to the General Medical Store Depot (GMSD) in Periamedu. This is one of the four national vaccine storage facilities and the other three are located at Mumbai, Kolkata and Karnal. The Union Health Minister will also visit the vaccination centre at Chengalpattu. He will also be visiting the Hindustan Bio-Tech Ltd. Campus at Chengalpattu after concluding his supervision at these sites.

Yesterday, Dr Harsh Vardhan interacted with the Health Ministers and Principal Secretaries of the States and Union Territories through video conferencing to review the preparedness for the dry run.
 
The Union Health Minister appreciated the tireless efforts being made by the multiple stakeholders including the Central and State government officials and the medical community. He also expressed gratitude to the scientific community who have worked tirelessly for the two vaccines which have recently received the Emergency Use Authorization.
 
The Health Minister highlighted the unique digital platform, Co-WIN, repurposed from the e-VIN platform that will provide real time information of vaccine stocks, their storage temperature and individualized tracking of beneficiaries of the COVID-19 vaccine. He stated that more than 78 lakh beneficiaries have been already registered on the platform.
 
The Minister reassured all his State counterparts that the country’s cold chain infrastructure has been sufficiently upgraded to ensure last mile delivery and that adequate supplies of syringes and other logistics have also been provided for. Dr Harsh Vardhan requested the Health Ministers to be vigilant against rumours and disinformation campaigns regarding the safety and efficacy of the vaccine. He rubbished the rumours being propagated on social media which are raising doubts in the mind of the public regarding the vaccine side-effects.

India has called for introspection within UN Security Council over the lack of representation of African countries among its permanent members. Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said, even though more than half of the issues on the agenda of the Security Council are related to Africa, the African continent does not even have a single voice amongst the permanent membership to defend its own interests. He said, the world body needs to correct this historical anomaly, and collectively support the Ezulwini consensus.
 
Mr Shringla was speaking at the UNSC during Open Debate on ‘Challenges of Maintaining Peace and Security in Fragile Contexts last night. Welcoming the evolution and rise of Africa as a key factor in the contemporary world, he said African Union has a leadership role to play in consolidating peace and post-conflict reconstruction in Africa.
 
Mr Shringla said, collaboration between the UN and the African Union and sub-regional organisations, such as ECOWAS, ECCAS, SDAC and IGAD, has yielded positive results. He said the UN Security Council should remain respectful of the regional approach adopted by countries, in collaboration with regional organizations to address common challenges.

The Standing Committee of National Board of Wildlife has approved the advisory for management of Human-Wildlife Conflict in the country. The advisory makes important preions for the States and Union Territories for dealing with Human-Wildlife conflict situations and seeks expedited inter-departmental coordinated and effective actions.
 
The advisory envisages empowering gram panchayats in dealing with the problematic wild animals as per the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972. Utilising add-on coverage under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna for crop compensation against crop damage due to Human Wildlife Conflict and augmenting fodder and water sources within the forest areas are some key steps envisaged to reduce Human Wildlife Conflict and payment of a portion of ex-gratia as interim relief within 24 hours of the incident to the victim or family.
 
The advisory also envisages prescribing inter-departmental committees at local or state level, adoption of early warning systems, creation of barriers, dedicated circle wise Control Rooms with toll free hotline numbers which could be operated on 24X7 basis.
 
Some of the other important approvals took place during the meeting are, inclusion of Caracal, a medium size wild cat found in some parts of Rajasthan and Gujarat, into the list of critically endangered species for taking up conservation efforts. Now, there are 22 wildlife species under recovery programme for critically endangered species.
 
During the meeting, the Standing Committee also recommended the construction of causeway across Jampannavagu to Muthapur of Govindaraopet and between Jampannavagu to Motlagudem in Mulugu District of Telengana with certain mitigation measures. It also recommended the proposal for Tinaighat-Castlerock-Caranzol Railway doubling of South Western Railways, Karnataka with certain mitigation measures as advised by the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun.
 
The other decisions taken at the meeting are construction of a bridge and canal with an aim to augment the water supply and irrigation facilities in some villages of Balrampur District in Uttar Pradesh and the construction of Integrated Bus Terminus cum Commercial complex in Vashi, Navi Mumbai in Thane district.
 
The National Board for Wildlife is constituted by the Central Government under Section 5 A of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

Centre has decided to form a committee to protect the language, culture and land of Ladakh and ensuring citizen’s participation in the Union Territory’s development. The Committee will be headed by the Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy and will include elected representatives from Ladakh, Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, central government, and the Ladakh administration.
 
The decision to form the Committee came yesterday after Union Home Minister Amit Shah met a 10-member delegation from Ladakh who expressed their views about the need to protect Ladakh’s unique cultural identity. The delegation also spoke about the geographic location and strategic importance of Ladakh, its demographic changes and the need for generating more employment opportunities in the UT. 
 
While speaking to the delegation, Home Minister Amit Shah reiterated the union government’s commitment to preserving Ladakh, saying that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, Ladakh’s land and culture will be protected and developed.

India and France will hold their annual Strategic Dialogue in New Delhi today. National Security Advisor Ajit Doval will lead the Indian delegation while the French delegation will be led by Emmanuel Bonne, Diplomatic Advisor to the French President.
 
In a statement, External Affairs Ministry said, the two sides will hold discussions on wide-ranging bilateral and global issues. Mr Bonne will also call on other Indian dignitaries. The last edition of the Strategic Dialogue was held in February last year in Paris.