The 119-year-old Curzon Gate in Bardhaman in West Bengal is at the centre of a political row after it emerged earlier this week that the Trinamool Congress (TMC)-run Bardhaman municipality has decided to erect a statue of Bardhaman’s Maharaja Bijay Chand Mahatab and his wife Radharani in front of the city’s prominent landmark. Politicians, historians, and heritage experts have questioned the government, with some claiming that the statutes would block the view of the structure, which was built by Mahatab in 1903, when Lord Curzon, then Viceroy of India, visited Bardhaman.

Defence PSU Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is going to expand it's presence in Malaysia to bag overseas contracts from South East Asia. It has signed an MoU for establishing an office in Kuala Lumpur in presence of defence secretary Dr. Ajay Kumar.

BIMSTEC Secretary General Tenzin Lekphell will visit India from 22nd to 25th August. At the 5th BIMSTEC Summit held in Sri Lanka in March this year, Leaders of the BIMSTEC member states adopted the BIMSTEC Charter.

Maharashtra government will take a loan of 4,000 crore rupees from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for setting up medical colleges in 12 districts of the state. There are 12 districts in the state without a single medical college.

Over one lakh villages have declared themselves as open defecation free (ODF) Plus. The top five performing states are Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, and Himachal Pradesh where maximum number of villages have been declared as ODF Plus.

The 17th Pravasi Bhartiya Divas 2023 will be held at Indore in January next year. Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is celebrated every year on 9th Januray to mark the contribution of the overseas Indian community in the development of India. It also commemorates the return of Mahatma Gandhi from South Africa to India on 9th January 1915.

An Indian Parliamentary Delegation led by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will be attending the 65th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference scheduled to be held in Halifax, Canada from August 20 to 26, 2022.

Seven artefacts, including a stone door jamb stolen from a Hindu temple in Uttar Pradesh, have been transferred back to India by Glasgow’s museums as part of Scotland’s “largest-ever” repatriation of objects from a single collection.The seven antiquities to now find their way back to India include a ceremonial Indo-Persian talwar or sword, believed to date back to the 14th century, and an 11th century carved stone door jamb taken from a temple in Kanpur.

Engineering major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) commissioned a new green hydrogen plant at Hazira in Gujarat. The development comes five months after the company inked a joint venture with Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and ReNew Power for the production of green hydrogen. L&T and IOC had also inked a separate joint venture for the production of electrolysers.

Flipkart has signed an agreement with the Indian Institute of Millets Research (IIMR) to give Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) and Self-Help Groups (SHGs) access to markets.

India has taken rapid strides in reducing child mortality since 2014 from 45 per 1,000 live births to 35 per 1,000 live births in 2019, Union Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar said.Dr. Pawar was speaking after the virtual launch of the ‘Paalan 1000’ National Campaign and Parenting App at the Early Childhood Development Conclave in Mumbai.

The government has directed the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) to extend its social security schemes in all 744 districts of the country by December this year. Presently, ESI scheme is fully implemented in 443 districts and partially implemented in 153 districts, whereas 148 districts are not covered under ESI scheme.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said that the popular entertainment event of “Dahi Handi” would be officially recognised under the state’s sports category.Shinde said Maharashtra would introduce the discipline “Pro Dahi Handi” and “Govindas” who participated in the tournament would get jobs under the sports quota in Maharashtras.

Ministry of Civil Aviation’s flagship program Regional Connectivity Scheme UDAN (UdeDeshkaAamNagrik) has completed 5 years of success since the launch of it first flight by Prime Minister on 27th April 2017.The scheme was initiated on 21st October 2016 with the objective to fulfil the aspirations of the common citizen by following the vision of ‘UdeDeshkaAamNagrik’, with an enhanced aviation infrastructure and air connectivity in tier II and tier III cities.

The State capital of Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow will soon have India’s first night safari, which would be developed on the tunes of Singapore.The Kukrail forest area in Lucknow would be developed as world-class night safari and bio-diversity park. The Yogi government has planned to channelize Kukrail River here and construct an attractive riverfront.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah inaugurated a two-day National Security Strategies (NSS) Conference in New Delhi in pursuance of the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure a safe and secure nation by strengthening all aspects of national security mechanism.

The Border Road Organisation (BRO) is planning to construct a pilot road stretch in Arunachal Pradesh using steel slag, which can withstand heavy rains and adverse climatic conditions. Creating durable roads along strategic areas could become easier if this project gets successful.

Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) is organizing its first hackathon – “Bima Manthan 2022” with the theme Innovation in Insurance. The hackathon invites participants to identify and develop solutions that have the potential to make the insurance available to every individual in a seamless and swift manner with the use of technology and protecting the interests of the policyholders.

Defence forces, RBI and Prime Minister of India are the three most trusted institutions in the country, according to a survey by Ipsos India.The Supreme Court of India came fourth and it was followed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

India's booming seafood sector will soon be on display in all its glory as the 23rd edition of the India International Seafood Show (IISS) will be held in Kolkata from February 15-17 next year. The event is to be held in the city's Biswa Bangala Mela Prangan.

The birth anniversary of Sri Aurobindo was observed on 15 August. Sri Aurobindo was an Indian philosopher, yoga guru, maharishi, poet, and Indian nationalist. He was also a journalist, editing newspapers such as Vande Mataram.

More than five crore tiranga selfies have been uploaded on the Har Ghar Tiranga website. The Union government had recently announced the Har Ghar Tiranga Campaign and asked people to exhibit the Tiranga at their homes to mark the country’s 75th independence day.

Space Kidz India unfurled the Indian flag about 30 kilometres above the planet on Independence Day yesterday. The flag was sent to an altitude of 1 lakh 6 thousand feet above the planet on a balloon that unfurled it.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin said that that the state got its fifth elephant reserve at Agasthyamalai in Tirunelveli district.1,197.48 sq km area of land has been notified as an elephant reserve.

India has added 11 more wetlands to the list of Ramsar sites to make total 75 Ramsar sites covering an area of 13 lakh 26 thousand 677 Hectare in the country in the 75th year of Independence.11 new sites include four in Tamil Nadu, three in Odisha, two in Jammu and Kashmir and one each in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

Microsoft and the Indian government will collaborate for a programme to train nearly 2.5 million civil servants in using the company’s suite of digital tools. The partnership between the tech giant, the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE), and the Capacity Building Commission (CBC) aims to help civil servants in helping the underprivileged. It will help them in delivering last-mile social welfare services, said a statement from Microsoft.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) hosted a virtual meet of the ‘Asian Regional Forum’ on the theme “Making our Elections Inclusive, Accessible and Participative” at Nirvachan Sadan. The Regional Forum meet was a precursor to the “Summit for Electoral Democracy'' to be hosted by the National Electoral Institute of Mexico in the coming month.

A MoU was signed between MD, NHIDCL (National Highways Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited) and COO & Officiating CEO NSDC (National Skill Development Corporation).The MoU provides a formal basis interaction between NHIDCL and NSDC, and will play a significant role in realizing the aims and objectives of Prime Minister’s skill development program.

The government has planed to restore the population of Cheetah that has become extinct in the country. It aims at establishing viable cheetah metapopulation in the country that allows the cheetah to perform its functional role as a top predator and contributing to its global conservation efforts.

Union Cabinet has approved continuation of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U) - Housing for All Mission up to 31st December 2024.Financial assistance is being provided for the completion of already sanctioned over 122 lakh houses till 31st March 2022.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has dedicated to the nation the Second Generation Ethanol Plant at Panipat in Haryana through video conferencing. He said that the country saved at least 50 thousand crore rupees following the introduction of Ethanol blending process and the amount diverted to the farmers.

Corbevax will be available as Covid booster dose at vaccination centres. Biological E, the maker of the vaccine, said that it has delivered 10 crore doses of the vaccine to the Centre so far which is expected to be available as a booster dose on the Cowin App in public and private vaccination centers.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah inaugurated the National Conference of Rural Cooperative Banks organized by the Ministry of Cooperation and the National Federation of State Cooperative Banks (NAFSCOB) in New Delhi. The short-term cooperative credit structure in India comprises 34 State Cooperative Banks, 351 District Central Cooperative Banks, and 96 thousand 575 PACS.

Union Cabinet has approved the signing of an Audio Visual C0-Production Treaty, between India and Australia with a view to promote co-production of films. Such agreements are Umbrella Agreements under which private, government agencies enter into contracts to produce films together.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath launched 'Radio Jaighosh' to mark the anniversary of Kakori Train Action as part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations.The state's Department of Culture is launching the community radio channel to promote folk art, performing art, regional delicacies of Uttar Pradesh and gallantry award winners.

Three Centers of Excellence have been established in Karnataka under the Indo-Israel Agricultural Project. Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar and Chief Minister of Karnataka B S Yediyurappa jointly inaugurated it.Under Government to Government cooperation 29 Centers of Excellence are to be set up in 12 states in India. Out of these, three Centers were launched virtually in Karnataka.

Capturing the milestones India has achieved in its journey of 75 years since Independence, software giant Google unveiled a vibrant online project drawing from rich archives and featuring artistic illustrations to tell the story of the country.Named ‘India ki Udaan’, the project executed by Google Arts & Culture celebrates the country’s achievements and is themed on the unwavering and undying spirit of India over these past 75 years”.