THE HEADLINES:-
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Bihar and West Bengal today to launch multiple development projects.
- Indian Railways to operate 380 Ganpati Special trains to ensure smooth and comfortable travel during festive season.
- ISRO says, India’s maiden manned space mission – Gaganyaan to conduct its first test flight in December this year.
- Election Commission appoints two Observers for Vice Presidential poll; Scrutiny of nominations to take place today.
- External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar calls on Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
- And, 17-year old Shikara boy Mohsin Ali wins first gold medal at Khelo India Water Sports Festival in Srinagar.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Bihar and West Bengal today. Our correspondent reports that in Bihar, Mr Modi will lay the foundation stone and inaugurate multiple development projects worth around 13 thousand crore rupees at Gaya at around 11 AM.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate and lay the foundation stones of several projects that are expected to boost economic activities, strengthen infrastructure, and promote tourism in Bihar. With the construction of the six-lane Mokama-Simaria bridge over the Ganga River, agriculture-based industries as well as other industrial development around the Barauni refinery and nearby areas will gain momentum. This bridge has made commuting between North and South Bihar much easier. After addressing the program in Bodh Gaya, the Prime Minister will also visit Simaria to see this mega bridge. Local residents have urged the government to name the bridge after the national poet Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, who was born in this region. In view of the rise in cancer cases in the state, the newly constructed Bhabha Cancer Research Institute in Muzaffarpur will help provide better treatment facilities to the people. Under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Mr. Modi will also facilitate housewarming for more than 16,000 beneficiaries. Dharmendra Kumar Rai, FOR PATNA ,YASHASVI Akashvani News , DELHI
In West Bengal, the Prime Minister will flag off metro train services on the newly constructed sections in Kolkata at around 4 PM. Further, he will lay the foundation stone and inaugurate multiple development projects worth over 5,200 crore rupees in Kolkata. He will also address the gathering on the occasion. Mr Modi said that West Bengal is eagerly looking towards the BJP with hope because of its development agenda. In a social media post, he said that with each passing day, public anger against the Trinmool Congress is increasing in the state.
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West Bengal government has taken disciplinary action against five officials for irregularities in the voter list. Four officials, including two West Bengal Civil Service officers, have been suspended. A contractual Data Entry Operator has also been suspended in this connection. This disciplinary action was taken against them on the orders of the Election Commission. FIRs have not been lodged against all the officials as per the orders of the Commission. State Chief Secretary Manoj Panth had met the full bench of the Commission in Delhi recently and promised to implement disciplinary action against those officials by yesterday.
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Indian Railways has announced 380 Ganpati Special train trips to ensure smooth and comfortable travel for devotees and passengers during the festive season. More from our correspondent:
The Central Railway will operate the highest number of 296 services, addressing the heavy festive travel demand in Maharashtra and the Konkan region. Western Railway will operate 56 Ganpati Special trips, Konkan Railway 6 trips, and South Western Railway 22 trips. The detailed schedule of special trains is available on the IRCTC website, Rail One app, and computerized PRS. The halts of Ganpati Special trains serving over Konkan Railway also can see on website. Bhavana, Akashwani, News, Mumbai
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ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan has said that India’s maiden manned space mission – Gaganyaan will conduct its first test flight in December this year. Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Mr Narayanan said that Gaganyaan is progressing well as 80 percent tests or around seven thousand 700 tests have been conducted so far.
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Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said that nearly two crore 80 lakh women of the country have become Lakhpati Didis. Addressing the Karmchari Sankalp Sammelan’ in New Delhi, Mr. Chouhan said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had set a target of creating three crore Lakhpati Didis. He said, many of these women have become self-reliant and some are even advancing to become millionaire didis.
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Union Minister of Coal and Mines G.Kishan Reddy said that nine percent of coal import has decreased from last year.Launching the 13th round of commercial coal mine auctions in New Delhi yesterday, Mr Reddy said that the demand for coal in the country has been consistently rising with nation’s growing energy requirements. The Minister highlighted that 134 mines auctioned across 12 rounds have attracted investments worth 41 thousand 600 crore rupees and generated over 3.5 lakh jobs. Mr Reddy said that the 13th Round introduced 14 coal blocks, further reducing reliance on imports and conserving foreign exchange.
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Union Home Minister Amit Shah will visit Tamilnadu today. He will be attending the Party meeting of Booth Committees at Tirunelveli. As a security measure for his visit, flying of drones and UAVs have been prohibited till 10 pm at Tirunelveli district.
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The Election Commission of India has appointed two observers for the upcoming Vice Presidential Election. Additional Secretary of Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Sushil Kumar Lohani and Additional Secretary of Ministry of Finance, D. Anandan have been appointed as observers. The Vice Presidential Election will be held on the 9th of next month. The Vice-President is elected by an Electoral College, which consists of the members of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. The National Democratic Alliance has chosen CP Radhakrishnan as its Vice Presidential candidate, while the opposition INDIA bloc has fielded former Supreme Court Judge B Sudershan Reddy.
The scrutiny of the nominations will take place today. The nominations can be withdrawn till the 25th of this month.
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External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar called on Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow during his three-day visit to Russia. He also held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov yesterday and reviewed the bilateral agenda while exchanging views on regional and global developments. India and Russia vowed to expand their bilateral trade in a balanced and sustainable manner.
Addressing a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart after talks, Dr Jaishankar underlining the need to swiftly address non-tariff barriers and regulatory impediments.
During their talks, Dr Jaishankar and Mr Lavrov also deliberated on ways to combat terrorism.
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The Punjab Police’s Cyber Crime Wing has busted an inter-state mule account racket involved in duping thousands of people of crores of rupees across the country. Four persons running the racket have been arrested in coordination with the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) of the Ministry of Home Affairs. Police have also recovered cash amounting to 10.96 lakh rupees, nine mobile phones, 32 debit cards and 15 bank passbooks from the accused. Our correspondent reports that a mule account is a bank account used by criminals to receive, transfer, or launder illicit funds without the knowledge or sometimes with the complicity of the account holder.
Special Director General of Punjab Police’s, Cyber Crime Department, Ms V Neerja said the racket was involved in obtaining bank accounts, especially from economically weaker sections in lieu of money. They use the accounts to transfer fraudulent funds acquired through various cybercrimes. They were actively operating this criminal ecosystem through social media for the last two years, using hundreds of mule accounts from different banks across Punjab to transfer illicit money abroad through cryptocurrency exchanges. Rajesh Bali, Akashvani News, Jalandhar.
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The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has revealed the Aadhaar-based authentication framework for Cooperative Banks. In a statement, the Ministry of Electronics and IT yesterday said that over 380 Cooperative Banks will leverage Aadhaar services under the new UIDAI framework and will ensure financial inclusion.
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And now, news from the world of sports:
The first-ever Khelo India Water Sports Festival (KIWSF) began on a high note in Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir, with 17-year-old local shikarawalla boy Mohsin Ali winning the first gold medal yesterday. Mohsin, who rows shikaras on Dal Lake, won the men’s 1000m kayaking race with a time of 4:12.41 (Four minutes, twelve point four one seconds), beating competitors from Odisha and Madhya Pradesh.
In the other events, Vishal Kumar from Uttar Pradesh claimed gold in the men’s 1000m canoe singles.
In the women’s 200m canoe singles, Odisha’s Rasmita Sahoo won gold.
Union Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya inaugurated the event via video message. The opening ceremony was attended by several dignitaries, including J&K’s Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha. The three-day festival, running until tomorrow features over 500 athletes from 28 states and UTs.
Now we have from the U20 World Wrestling Championships 2025 where India added two more medals, with Reena and Priya Malik winning silver in their categories.
Meanwhile, Kajal, a 2024 Cadet world champion and reigning U20 Asian champion, stormed into the women’s 72kg final after two dominant wins. So far, India’s medal count at the championships now stands at five including one gold and four silver. AISHWARYA RAI NIGAM, SPORTS DESK, Akashvani .
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Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya has urged the citizens across the country to dedicate one-hour to fitness and play on the National Sports Day to be observed on 29th of the August. The Day commemorates the birth anniversary of hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand.
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The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places over Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, East Rajasthan, Gangetic West Bengal, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Odisha, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh today. Parts of Delhi, Haryana, Chandigarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra, Punjab and Sikkim are also likely to witness heavy rainfall during the next 2-3 days.
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TODAY’S NEWSPAPERS HEADLINES:-
- Taking a swipe at the Trump administration from Moscow, External Affairs Minister Dr. Jaishankar said, he was “perplexed” by additional US tariff over energy imports from Russia, as US told India to stabilise energy market and buy Russian oil, writes The Indian Express.
- Chinese envoy to India has been quoted in Hindustan Times as saying that “China will stand with India agianst trade bullies”.
- The top headline in The Tribune reads, “GoM backs 2-slab structure for GST, Opposition flags revenue loss”.
- Parliament has passed a bill to ban all forms of online money games and promote eSports and online social gaming, writes The Pioneer.
- And finally, the Supreme Court is set to pronounce today the order on a plea to stay its direction to permanently relocate stray dogs from streets to shelters in Delhi-NCR. writes The Times of India.
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THE HEADLINES ONCE AGAIN:-
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Bihar and West Bengal today to launch multiple development projects.
- Indian Railways to operate 380 Ganpati Special trains to ensure smooth and comfortable travel during festive season.
- ISRO says, India’s maiden manned space mission – Gaganyaan to conduct its first test flight in December this year.
- Election Commission appoints two Observers for Vice Presidential poll; Scrutiny of nominations to take place today.
- External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar calls on Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
- And, 17-year old Shikara boy Mohsin Ali wins first gold medal at Khelo India Water Sports Festival in Srinagar.
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