Prime Minister Narendra Modi will deliver the inaugural address at the National Metrology Conclave tomorrow through video conferencing. He will also dedicate National Atomic Timescale and Bhartiya Nirdeshak Dravya to the nation and lay the foundation stone of the National Environmental Standards Laboratory.

Union Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan will also be present on the occasion.

The National Atomic Timescale generates Indian Standard Time with an accuracy of 2.8 nanosecond. Bhartiya Nirdeshak Dravya is supporting testing and calibration of laboratories for quality assurance, at par with international standards.

The National Environmental Standards Laboratory will aid self-reliance in the certification of ambient air and industrial emission monitoring equipment.

National Metrology Conclave 2021 is being organised by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-National Physical Laboratory, CSIR-NPL New Delhi which is entering into its 75th year of inception.

The theme of the conclave is Metrology for the Inclusive Growth of the Nation.

51st International Film Festival of India (IFFI) will open on 16th January, with the Indian premiere of the movie ‘Another Round’ by Thomas Vinterberg.

The movie starring Cannes Best Actor Award winner Mads Mikkelsen is among a star-studded line up of movies being showcased at IFFI. The movie is also Denmark’s official entry to the Oscars.

The festival will also witness the World Premier of ‘Mehrunisa’. The film by Sandeep Kumar will premier mid-fest.

The festival will close on 24th January with the India Premier of the historical drama ‘Wife of a Spy’ by Kiyoshi Kurosawa.

51st IFFI is being organised from 16th to 24th January in Goa.

This edition is being organised in a hybrid mode for the first time and will comprise both online and in-person experience. The festival will be loaded with a line-up of famous movies with a total of 224 films from across the globe.

This includes 21 non-feature films and 26 feature films under the Indian Panorama section. Media registration for the festival has opened recently and is available till 10th January.

In yet another matter of pride for India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been rated as the most popular head of state by an American research firm.

According to research firm, Morning Consult, over 75 per cent people approved Mr Modi, while 20 per cent disapproved, putting his net approval rating at 55 per cent. This is higher than any other world leader.

The survey was conducted by the American firm in 13 countries including the US, Japan and Brazil.

Home minister Amit Shah has hailed the Prime Minister for the global praise he is receiving in the backdrop of the Covid-19 fight that Mr Modi led in India. Mr Shah said, entire world is praising Mr Modi for the way he is handling COVID-19 global pandemic, taking care of Indians and helping the world community in such challenging times.

BJP President JP Nadda said, the latest rating is a testimony of the Prime Minister’s able leadership and hard work and is a thing of pride for all citizens of the country.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar also congratulated the Prime Minister and said that it is a matter of pride for the country.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister has shared a poem written by him, along with a video. The poem is titled “Abhi toh Suraj Uga Hai (The Sun has just Risen)”. Let’s listen to the poem:

India continues to scale several peaks in its fight against the COVID19 pandemic. As the country readies for the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has been pro-actively involved in the preparations for this roll-out over the past couple of months to ensure that the preparations for roll-out of COVID-19 vaccine are on track, in close collaboration with the States, UTs and other stakeholders.

In a massive nation-wide exercise yesterday, an end-to-end mock drill on the vaccine administration was conducted in all States and UTs at 286 session sites spread across 125 districts. Each District conducted the dry run at three sites or more which included a public health facility District Hospital or Medical College, Private Health Facility and rural or urban outreach sites.

All the State and District officials were trained on the Operational Guidelines and  for conducting the dry-run. This dry run was aimed at testing the laid out mechanisms for COVID-19 vaccination roll-out in the health system and to assess operational feasibility of using Co-WIN application in the field environment for planning, implementation and reporting at the block, district and state level.

The dry run was also conducted to familiarize the State, District, Block and Hospital level officers on all aspects of COVID-19 roll out.

The States and UTs conducted the dry run from 9 am across the country, in a seamless manner. The activities starting from beneficiary data upload, session site allocation and micro planning, vaccine allocation, session site management with test beneficiaries, reporting mechanism etc were covered in this one day dry run to execute the nearest possible simulation of the actual day.

The preparation to handle any Adverse Events Following Immunization at all session sites and functionality of the Call Centers was also tested.

The dry run was supervised by the District collectors. This dry run ended with debriefing meetings at district and the state level to discuss the issues and challenges encountered during the day. The Health Ministry was in constant touch with the States throughout the day to seek feedback on their experience.

The States and UTs have expressed complete satisfaction on the successful conduct of the dry run which included the operational process and its linkages with the Co-WIN Software.

The Co-WIN software has been developed by Health Ministry for real time information of vaccine stocks, their storage temperature and individualized tracking of beneficiaries for COVID-19 vaccine.

This software will assist the programme managers across all levels through automated session allocation for pre-registered beneficiaries, their verification and a digital certificate will be generated upon successful completion of the vaccine schedule.  More than 75 lakh beneficiaries have been registered on Co-WIN software till date.

The cold chain infrastructure is sufficient to ensure last mile delivery of COVID-19 vaccine in a temperature controlled environment across the country. Sufficient supplies of syringes and other logistics have also been ensured to begin COVID-19 vaccination drive.

Around 1 lakh 14 thousand one hundred vaccinators have been trained on the process to be followed at the vaccination sites which includes beneficiary verification, vaccination, cold chain and logistics management, Bio-Medical Waste management, Adverse Events Following Immunization  management and uploading the information on Co-WIN software.

The entire operational planning and IT platform has been field tested in four states which include Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Punjab and Gujarat on 28th and 29th December 2020 and on the basis of feedback received, minor enhancements have been made in the IT system.

India continues to scale several peaks in its fight against the COVID19 pandemic. As the country readies for the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has been pro-actively involved in the preparations for this roll-out over the past couple of months to ensure that the preparations for roll-out of COVID-19 vaccine are on track, in close collaboration with the States, UTs and other stakeholders.

In a massive nation-wide exercise yesterday, an end-to-end mock drill on the vaccine administration was conducted in all States and UTs at 286 session sites spread across 125 districts. Each District conducted the dry run at three sites or more which included a public health facility District Hospital or Medical College, Private Health Facility and rural or urban outreach sites.

All the State and District officials were trained on the Operational Guidelines and  for conducting the dry-run. This dry run was aimed at testing the laid out mechanisms for COVID-19 vaccination roll-out in the health system and to assess operational feasibility of using Co-WIN application in the field environment for planning, implementation and reporting at the block, district and state level.

The dry run was also conducted to familiarize the State, District, Block and Hospital level officers on all aspects of COVID-19 roll out.

The States and UTs conducted the dry run from 9 am across the country, in a seamless manner. The activities starting from beneficiary data upload, session site allocation and micro planning, vaccine allocation, session site management with test beneficiaries, reporting mechanism etc were covered in this one day dry run to execute the nearest possible simulation of the actual day.

The preparation to handle any Adverse Events Following Immunization at all session sites and functionality of the Call Centers was also tested.

The dry run was supervised by the District collectors. This dry run ended with debriefing meetings at district and the state level to discuss the issues and challenges encountered during the day. The Health Ministry was in constant touch with the States throughout the day to seek feedback on their experience.

The States and UTs have expressed complete satisfaction on the successful conduct of the dry run which included the operational process and its linkages with the Co-WIN Software.

The Co-WIN software has been developed by Health Ministry for real time information of vaccine stocks, their storage temperature and individualized tracking of beneficiaries for COVID-19 vaccine.

This software will assist the programme managers across all levels through automated session allocation for pre-registered beneficiaries, their verification and a digital certificate will be generated upon successful completion of the vaccine schedule.  More than 75 lakh beneficiaries have been registered on Co-WIN software till date.

The cold chain infrastructure is sufficient to ensure last mile delivery of COVID-19 vaccine in a temperature controlled environment across the country. Sufficient supplies of syringes and other logistics have also been ensured to begin COVID-19 vaccination drive.

Around 1 lakh 14 thousand one hundred vaccinators have been trained on the process to be followed at the vaccination sites which includes beneficiary verification, vaccination, cold chain and logistics management, Bio-Medical Waste management, Adverse Events Following Immunization  management and uploading the information on Co-WIN software.

The entire operational planning and IT platform has been field tested in four states which include Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Punjab and Gujarat on 28th and 29th December 2020 and on the basis of feedback received, minor enhancements have been made in the IT system.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called upon students to discover new and innovative solutions to make local products global. Addressing the students and faculty of IIM Sambalpur, Odisha, he said, IIMs can work as a bridge between local products and international collaboration for Atmanirbhar Bharat.

Mr Modi said, the vast talent pool of the IIMs both within and outside the country can help realise the goals of globalising brand India. Mr Modi said, today’s startups are the multinational companies of tomorrow.

Prime Minister yesterday laid the foundation stone of the permanent campus of IIM Sambalpur, via video conferencing.

Prime Minister said that the real task of the management is not just to manage the institutions but also to improve the lives of the people. Mr Modi said, those who are left behind in the race of development must also be included in the journey towards growth. 

Government has decided to resume flights between India and the UK from the 8th of this month. These services were suspended last month to prevent the spread of a new variant of Covid-19 discovered recently in the UK.

Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said only 30 flights per week will operate between India and the UK till January 23. Indian and UK carriers will each be operating 15 flights per week during this period to and from Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad only.

Over 60 passenger flights per week were flying between India and the UK in December. But the Civil Aviation Ministry suspended all passenger flights connecting the two countries from December 23. Several countries had also suspended flight services to the UK in the wake of the new Covid-19 strain.

Centre has decided to extend Disability Compensation to all serving employees, if they get disabled in the line of duty while performing their service and are retained in service in spite of such disablement.

This was announced by Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Jitendra Singh yesterday. He said, the move will particularly provide a huge relief to young Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel like CRPF, BSF and CISF since disability in performance of duties is generally reported in their case due to constraints of job requirement as well as hostile or difficult work-environment.

Dr Singh said, Narendra Modi Government is making all efforts to simplify the rules and to do away with discriminatory clauses. The ultimate objective of all these new initiatives is to provide ease of living for the government servants even after they have superannuated and become pensioners or family pensioners or elder citizens.

In another employee-friendly decision, the Ministry of Personnel recently did away with minimum qualifying service of 10 years for pension, if a government servant is incapacitated due to bodily or medical infirmity and retired from government service.

Accordingly, the rule was amended to provide Invalid Pension at 50 per cent of the last pay, even if the employee had not completed minimum qualifying service of 10 years.

In addition to these, in yet another reform in the Pension Rules, a decision was also taken to amend the rule and provide pension at enhanced rate to the family of an employee who died during service before completing the requisite service of minimum seven years.

As a result, now the family pension of 50 per cent of the last pay is also admissible to the family of employees who die even before completing seven years of service.

India crossed yet another significant milestone in its fight against COVID, as the active caseload in the country today has further decreased to stand at 2.43 per cent. With continuous decline in the number of active corona cases, the active cases in the country witnessed a decline of nearly 4 thousand cases in the past 24 hours to stand at around 2 lakh 50 thousand.

The number of new daily cases remained below 20 thousand with nearly 19 thousand fresh cases being reported in the last 24 hours.

The national cumulative recovery rate has also further improved to 96.12 per cent with the recovery of over 99 lakh people so far. With recovery of over 22 thousand 900 people in the last 24 hours, the number of daily recoveries continue to outnumber the new daily cases. The total recovered cases in the country today stands at nearly 40 times the number of active cases.

The Health Ministry has informed that enhanced countrywide medical infrastructure, implementation of the Centre’s Standard Treatment Protocol by the States and Union Territories and total dedication and commitment of doctors, paramedics and frontline workers have led to a persistent increase in the number of total recoveries in the country.

The Health Ministry has said that this has also led to a commensurate dip in the fatality rate which stands at 1.45 per cent. It informed that 224 case fatalities were reported in the past 24 hours. 

A nationwide dry run for Covid-19 vaccination will be conducted today. Dry run is essentially a practice session where a sample number of beneficiaries will go through a mock immunisation process. The exercise is aimed at testing the preparedness for the vaccine rollout. Today’s dry run will be conducted across all States and Union Territories. Each State and Union Territory has been asked to conduct the dry run at minimum three session sites.

Apart from the staff of the designated vaccination centres, the dry run will see the participation of a select group of health care workers as test vaccine beneficiaries. Each centre will identify 25 test beneficiaries for the dry run.

The mock drill will ensure that phase 1 of Covid-19 vaccination goes without any glitch. The dry run will test linkages between planning and implementation and to identify the challenges. The dry run will also test Co-WIN application, developed specifically for Covid-19 vaccination drive, in a field environment.

Health Minister Harsh Vardhan chaired a high-level meeting yesterday to review preparedness for the dry run. Head of the COVID Task Force and NITI Aayog Member Dr VK Paul said that the dry run of vaccination is important to ascertain the preparedness and operational functioning of COWIN under actual circumstances.

States are also augmenting the state helpline 104 which will be used in addition to 1075 for any vaccine related query. Call centre executives have been given an orientation and capacity building training.

A two-day trial run was earlier conducted on December 28 and 29 in four states – Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Gujarat. The planned operations and the laid-out mechanisms for the drive was successful then.

Health and Family Welfare Ministry said all states expressed satisfaction in terms of the operational approach and use of IT platform to ensure transparency and effective monitoring of vaccination processes expected to cover a large number of people across the country.

Today’s startups are the multinational companies of tomorrow, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today adding that the scope of startups is increasing from farming to the space sector.

Prime Minister Modi laid the foundation stone for the permanent campus of IIMSambalpur, Odisha, via video conferencing today. Most startups are coming up in tier II and III cities of the country. From the farming sector to space sector, the scope for startups is increasing,” said PM Modi on the occasion.

The permanent campus of IIM Sambalpur will represent the great heritage of Odisha, the Prime Minister stated.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, India has witnessed more number of unicorns in 2020. The youth have a huge responsibility towards Brand India, he added.

Till 2014, there were 13 IIMs in India. Today, there are 20 IIMs. Such a large talent pool can help strengthen the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ campaign, PM Modi emphasized.

Present on the occasion, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said, set up in 2015, IIM Sambalpur has already proved its mettle. I am delighted that the Prime Minister is laying the foundation stone for infrastructural development of IIM Sambalpur.

In just about five years it (IIM Sambalpur) has been able to cast its positive impact upon the hierarchy of educational institutions in Odisha,” said Mr. Patnaik. Odisha has a tradition of excellence in education since ancient times, he added.  

IIM Sambalpur is the first IIM to implement the idea of the flipped classroom where the basic concepts are learnt in digital mode and experiential learning takes place in the class, through live projects from the industry.

The Institute also outscored all other IIMs in terms of the highest gender diversity with 49  per cent girl students in MBA (2019-21) batch and 43 per cent in MBA (2020-22) batch, the statement said.

Odisha Governor Professor Ganeshi Lal, Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Pratap Chandra Sarangi were present on the occasion.

The ceremony was virtually attended by over 5,000 invitees including officials, industry leaders, academicians and students, alumni and faculty of IIM Sambalpur.

Few countries around the world welcomed 2021 with fireworks, but crowds were only allowed at some displays.  New Zealand was one of the first countries in the world to welcome the New Year and fireworks lit up Hagley Park in Christchurch during New Year celebrations.

Fireworks exploded over the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge as New Year celebrations began in Australia. Taiwan hosted its usual fireworks display by its capital city’s iconic tower, Taipei 101.Thailand ushered in the New Year with a fireworks display at the Iconsiam mall in Bangkok. Officials in Hong Kong cancelled the pyrotechnics over Victoria Harbour, as well as the annual iconic Lunar New Year parade in February. This makes 2021 the second year in a row the city has missed out on the usually lavish annual celebrations.

Japan rang in the New Year without its annual event at which Emperor Naruhito and other imperial family members greet members of the public. In Russia, President Vladimir Putin delivered his annual message online.

Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank today announced the schedule of the CBSE Board examinations for class 10th and 12th. He said that the CBSE board examinations will be held from 4th May to 10th June of 2021. He said the results will be declared by 15th July. The practical examination for class 12th will start from 1st March.

Mr. Nishank appreciated the role of teachers and parents saying that they provided constant support and help to the students during the unprecedented and uncertain situation caused by COVID-19 pandemic.

He said, teachers adopted new techniques and methods for teaching. The Minister also highlighted various steps taken by the government to provide a platform and content for learning through digital medium. He said, the government has successfully conducted JEE and NEET exams during the COVID-19 pandemic which is unprecedented.

Government has ordered 83 crore syringes for COVID-19 vaccination drive and Universal Immunization Programme in the country. The Union Health Ministry said the centre has also invited bids for 35 crore more syringes. Government has prioritized 30 crore people for COVID vaccine which includes health workers, frontline workers and sanitation staff.

Earlier, the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration of COVID-19 has recommended three prioritised population groups including Healthcare Workers of about one crore, Frontline Workers about 2 crore and Prioritized Age Group about 27 crore. As vaccines are temperature sensitive and need to be stored in specific temperature, the present cold chain system consisting of 85 thousand 634 equipment for storage of vaccines at about 28 thousand 947 cold chain points across the country will be used for the cold chain administration.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of Light House Projects (LHPs) under Global Housing Technology Challenge (GHTC)-India at six sites across six States through video conferencing.

The Prime Minister will also announce winners under Affordable Sustainable Housing Accelerators (ASHA)- India and give out annual awards for excellence in implementation of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Urban (PMAY-U) Mission.

During the event, Mr Modi will also release a certificate course on innovative construction technologies named NAVARITIH (New, Affordable, Validated, Research Innovation Technologies for Indian Housing) and a compendium of 54 innovative housing construction technologies identified through GHTC-India.

The Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs along with Chief Ministers of Tripura, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh will be present on the occasion.

The LHPs showcase the best of new-age alternate global technologies, materials and processes in the construction sector for the first time in the country at such a large scale. They are being constructed under GHTC-India, which envisages to provide an ecosystem for adoption of innovative technologies in the housing construction sector in a holistic manner. The LHPs are being constructed at Indore in Madhya Pradesh, Rajkot in Gujarat, Chennai in Tamil Nadu, Ranchi in Jharkhand, Agartala in Tripura and Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh. They comprise about one thousand houses at each location along with allied infrastructure facilities. These projects will demonstrate and deliver ready to live houses at an expedited pace within twelve months, as compared to conventional brick and mortar construction, and will be more economical, sustainable, of high quality and durability.

These LHPs demonstrate a variety of technologies, including Prefabricated Sandwich Panel System in LHP at Indore, Monolithic Concrete Construction using Tunnel Formwork in LHP at Rajkot, Precast Concrete Construction System in LHP at Chennai, 3D Volumetric Precast Concrete Construction System in LHP at Ranchi, Structural Steel Frame with Light Gauge Steel Infill Panels in LHP at Agartala and PVC Stay In Place Formwork System in LHP at Lucknow. The LHPs will serve as live laboratories for facilitating transfer of technology to the field and its further replication. This includes planning, design, production of components, construction practices and testing for both faculty and students of IITs, NITs, other Engineering colleges, Planning and Architecture colleges, builders, professionals of private and public sectors and other stakeholders.

ASHA-India aims to promote domestic research and entrepreneurship by providing incubation and acceleration support to potential future technologies. Under ASHA-India initiative, five ASHA-India Centers have been set up for providing incubation and acceleration support. The potential technology winners under acceleration support will be announced by the Prime Minister. The technologies, processes and materials identified through this initiative will provide a major fillip to young creative minds, start-ups, innovators and entrepreneurs.

PMAY-U Mission has been designed to achieve the vision of Housing For All by 2022. In order to recognize the outstanding contribution by States, UTs, Urban Local Bodies and beneficiaries, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has introduced annual awards for excellence in implementation of PMAY-Urban. The winners of PMAY (Urban) Awards-2019 will be felicitated during the event.