THE HEADLINES::
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi to share his thoughts in 129th episode of Mann Ki Baat programme at 11 this morning.
- Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan rejects Congress’ criticism on Viksit Bharat G RAM G scheme; Says number of guaranteed work days increased from 100 to 125 days.
- Supreme Court takes Suo Motu cognisance on issue of definition of Aravalli Hills.
- Government notifies guidelines for Shipbuilding Assistance worth 44,700 crore rupees to boost country’s shipbuilding capacity.
- Polling begins in Myanmar for first phase of general election.
- And, in Cricket, BCCI announces 15-member Indian squad for ICC Men’s Under-19 World Cup 2026; Ayush Mhatre to lead the side.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi will share his thoughts with the people of the country and abroad in the Mann Ki Baat programme on Akashvani today at 11 AM. It will be the 129th episode of the monthly radio programme. The programme will be broadcast across the entire Akashvani and Doordarshan network, the AIR News website, and the Newsonair mobile app. It will also be live-streamed on the YouTube channels of AIR News, DD News, the PMO, and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Akashvani will broadcast the programme in regional languages immediately after the Hindi broadcast.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair the 5th National Conference of Chief Secretaries in New Delhi today. He had also chaired the meeting yesterday. In a social media post, Mr Modi said that during the conference, he had insightful discussions on various issues relating to governance and reforms. The three-day Conference which began on Friday, is aimed at strengthening Centre-State partnership through structured and sustained dialogue on national development priorities.
Anchored in the Prime Minister’s vision of cooperative federalism, this Conference serves as the forum where Centre and States collaborate, designing a unified roadmap to maximise country’s Human Capital potential and accelerate inclusive and future-ready growth. The meeting focuses on the theme ‘Human Capital for Viksit Bharat’ covering best practices and strategies for states and Union Territories to follow.
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Union Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan hitout at the Congress alleging that the party had included the name of Mahatma Gandhi in National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 only for electoral gains. Talking to reporters in Bhopal yesterday, Mr Chouhan said, during the Congress government, MGNREGA became synonymous with corruption. He said the Congress party had repeatedly reduced the MGNREGA budget. He alleged that the opposition has consistently used Mahatma Gandhi’s name for electoral gains.
The Minister said, under the Viksit Bharat: G RAM G scheme, decisions will no longer be made in Delhi, but at the village level. He said, Gram Panchayats will sit together and prepare their own development plans. He emphasized that the number of guaranteed workdays has been increased from 100 to 125 days.
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Supreme Court has taken suo motu cognisance of concerns arising from a recent change in the definition of the Aravalli Hills. A vacation Bench, comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justices J.K. Maheshwari and A.G. Masih, is scheduled to examine the issue tomorrow. The apex court’s intervention follows public protests and strong objections over the redefinition of the Aravalli Hills. Under the accepted definition, Aravalli Hills includes any landform in specified districts with a minimum elevation of 100 metres above the local relief, along with supporting slopes and connected landforms. Environmental organisations and civil society groups have warned that dilution of the definition may legitimise mining and construction activities in the region, resulting in irreversible harm to the fragile ecosystem.
Aravalli hills are known for its critical role in preventing desertification, sustaining groundwater, and maintaining ecological balance in north-western India.
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Government has notified the operational guidelines for two major shipbuilding initiatives worth 44,700 crore rupees outlay, which are aimed at strengthening India’s domestic shipbuilding capacity and improving global competitiveness. The initiatives are – Shipbuilding Financial Assistance Scheme and the Shipbuilding Development Scheme.
Ports, Shipping and Waterways Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said that these guidelines create a stable and transparent framework that will revive domestic shipbuilding, boosting forward and backward linkage. He said, this will enable large-scale investment and build world-class capacity, positioning India as a major maritime nation on the path to Viksit Bharat and Aatmanirbhar Bharat. Mr Sonowal said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership has given India’s shipbuilding sector a decisive policy reset. He said, both the schemes will remain valid until 31st March, 2036.
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President Droupadi Murmu is visiting INS Kadamba Naval base in Karwar in North Karnataka today. She will be flying into Karwar Naval base from Goa where Karnataka Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot and State Ministers will welcome her. After visiting the base, the President will take a sortie aboard a submarine from the Karwar Harbour. She will be the second President to undertake a submarine voyage following Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, who was aboard a naval submarine in 2006 at Visakhapatnam. In view of the President’s visit and the submarine sortie, the local authorities have implemented security measures.
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Union Home Minister Amit Shah will participate in the IMA Netcon 2025 organized by the Indian Medical Association in Ahmedabad today. Later, he will inaugurate the first phase of the drainage pipeline and SG Highway pilot project built by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, besides presenting a charter to the affected family of Nava Vanjar. After that, Mr Shah will visit the Guru Gobind Dham and attend the inauguration ceremony of the Yuva Business Mahasammelan 2025 organized by Vishwa Umiya Foundation.
In the evening, the Home Minister will attend the cultural program Namotsav based on the life of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Manipur.
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The year 2025 stands as a defining chapter in India’s development journey. It saw policies translate into progress and intent into impact. In the Special Series, ‘Year of Reforms’, today our correspondent brings a report on India’s progress in the Infrastructure sector in 2025.
“The year 2025 marks a defining chapter in India’s development journey, with transformative progress across every dimension of infrastructure – rail, road, aviation, maritime, and digital. The government’s capital investment outlay for infrastructure has surged to over eleven lakh crore rupees in 2025-26, accounting for 3.1 per cent of GDP. In 2025 Railway development marked several historic milestones. India’s first vertical lift sea bridge, the Pamban Bridge was inaugurated this year in Tamil Nadu, stands as a timeless symbol of engineering excellence, marking a historic milestone in the nation’s infrastructure journey. Another landmark achievement was the inauguration of the Chenab Bridge under the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link project. For the first time, Mizoram was connected to the nation’s National Railway Network, fulfilling a long-standing demand and significantly improving connectivity for the Northeast. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that this is not merely a railway connection, but a life-line of transformation for the people of Mizoram.
The metro network in the country grew from over two hundred forty kilometres in 2014 to more than one thousand kilometres by 2025, making it the world’s third largest metro system. Bihar’s first Vande Metro was launched to connect Jayanagar to Patna, enhancing regional connectivity. On the aviation front, the country has emerged as the world’s third-largest domestic aviation market as the number of airports increased from 74 in 2014 to 163 in 2025. Meanwhile, the National Highways network length in the country has grown from over one lakh 32 thousand Kilometer in March 2019 to more than one lakh 46 thousand Kilometer as of today, reinforcing infrastructure as a key engine of economic growth. These developments have reinforced infrastructure as a key driver of economic expansion and national integration in 2025. With Samarth, Aman Yadav, Akashvani News Delhi. “
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In Sikkim, MyBharat, Pakyong district organized an awareness and capacity-building programme under the initiative “Workshops on Flagship Schemes” at Kaputhang Government Polytechnic yesterday. Our correspondent reports that youth, students, and community members attended the programme and took part in its deliberations. A report:
” The program intended to inform youth and members of local communities about various centrally sponsored flagship schemes and to facilitate their understanding of procedures for accessing benefits. Mangal Jakhar, Deputy Director, Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs, MyBharat Gangtok, provided an overview of youth-oriented Government programmes and discussed the role of young people in community-based implementation & outreach. The workshop covered a range of Government schemes. Participants were given the opportunity to seek clarification through interactive discussions. With Manas Pratim Sarma this is Mainak Chatterjee from Akashvani News, Gangtok.”
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In Myanmar, polling is underway for the first phase of general election. This is the first election in five years after the army overthrew the government of Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021. The takeover triggered widespread popular opposition. The military has termed the latest polls as a return to multi-party democracy. Voting will be held in different parts of the country in three phases, with the second phase scheduled on 11th of January, while the third phase on 25th of January. Today, polling will be held in 102 of the country’s 330 townships. However, voting has been cancelled in 56 townships.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is scheduled to meet US President Donald Trump in Florida today amid heightened tensions between Russia and Ukraine and ongoing US efforts to broker peace in the region. They will discuss a 20-point peace plan and potential US security guarantees. Zelenskyy noted that his administration is working with Washington on a long-term roadmap for Ukraine’s prosperity.
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The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced a 15-member squad for the upcoming ICC Men’s Under-19 World Cup, scheduled to be held in Zimbabwe and Namibia from 15th of January to 6th of February, next year. The squad will be led by Ayush Mhatre, while Vihaan Malhotra will be the Vice Captain.
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In Women’s Cricket, India will take on Sri Lanka in the 4th T20 International at the Greenfield International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala today. The match will begin at 7 this evening. Harmanpreet Kaur led Women in Blue are already leading the 5-match series with an unassailable lead of 3-Nil.
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TODAY’S NEWSPAPERS HEADLINE
‘Congress to launch nationwide protest over MGNREGA repeal,’ writes The Sunday Statesman while The Asian Age headlines, Congress’ ‘Save MGNREGA’ stir on January 5′.
‘10.56 lakh names cut on draft rolls in Assam’ writes The Hindu.
The Sunday Express reports, ‘Aravalli definition row back in Supreme Court, hearing tomorrow’ while another story in the same paper writes, ‘Two weeks before Supreme Court accepted hundred metre Aravalli norm, its panel cautioned on mining leases.’
And finally, for those who feel life halts after retirement, a story in Sunday Times inspires us to look forward to retirement as a period to enjoy life on one’s own terms. The paper writes, ‘Old and Bold: When 70 plus, go skydiving and bungee jumping.’ From Vadodara and Ahmedabad, a small band of 70 plus Indians is rewriting the script of retirement- skydiving, scuba diving, bungee jumping even trekking across Antarctica’s frozen expanse writes the Sunday Times.
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THE HEADLINES ONCE AGAIN:
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi to share his thoughts in 129th episode of Mann Ki Baat programme at 11 this morning.
- Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan rejects Congress’ criticism on Viksit Bharat G RAM G scheme; Says number of guaranteed work days increased from 100 to 125 days.
- Supreme Court takes Suo Motu cognisance on issue of definition of Aravalli Hills.
- Government notifies guidelines for Shipbuilding Assistance worth 44,700 crore rupees to boost country’s shipbuilding capacity.
- Polling begins in Myanmar for first phase of general election.
- And, in Cricket, BCCI announces 15-member Indian squad for ICC Men’s Under-19 World Cup 2026; Ayush Mhatre to lead the side.
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