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President’s Secretariat

The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, will visit Gujarat on January 21 and 22, 2018.
On January 21, 2018, the President will grace the 66th annual convocation of Gujarat University in Ahmedabad.
On January 22, 2018, the President will address the 66th annual convocation of the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda.
On the same day, the President will grace the 150th anniversary celebrations of Akshar Deri at Gondal, before returning to Delhi.
President Ram Nath Kovind today felicitated exceptional women
achievers who are the first to set a milestone in their respective fields at
Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi.
President said, women of the country can strengthen and develop rural
India. He said, women in India are breaking traditional barriers and
growing day-by-day.
Mr Kovind said, women have to become an inspiration for the rest of the
world.
He said, in India, women are now flying fighter planes and they are
progressing despite several challenges.
Mr Kovind said, violence against women is a major concern and the
government and society should find ways to deal with this.
Advocating equal rights for women, he said, they have to be empowered
for overall development of the country.
Over 100 women were selected after an extensive research process by
the Women and Child Development Ministry.
The women, who have been felicitated, are those who have been the first in any field
like the first woman judge, first woman porter, first woman to head a missile project,
first para-trooper and first Olympian.

Vice President’s Secretariat

The Vice President of India, Shri M Venkaiah Naidu received the first copy of the book “Home at Last:
A Journey to Higher Consciousness”, from the author Smt. Sarada Chiruvolu, here today.
In the book, Smt. Sarada Chiruvolu has shared her personal experiences and talks extensively about the powerful process of Kundalini awakening. “Home at Last” is a first of its kind book which explains, in an easy-to-understand manner, the landmarks one may experience in the journey to enlightenment, author said.

UNSC and India

India has urged the United Nation Security Council to focus on challenges posed by
terrorism emanating from the safe havens in Pakistan.
Indian Ambassador to the UN, Syed Akbaruddin said, Pakistan needs to change its
mindset of differentiating between good and bad terrorists. He was addressing the
UN Security Council during a special ministerial meeting on Afghanistan.
Mr Akbaruddin said, support for voices of peace in Afghanistan alone is not enough,
the United Nations must focus on addressing the challenges posed by cross border
terrorism emanating from safe havens and sanctuaries to our region and especially to
Afghanistan.
Pakistan raked up the issue of Kulbhushan Jadhav in the UN Security Council after it
was accused of providing safe havens to terrorists.
None of the more than two dozen speakers came out in support of the Pakistani argument
in this regard.

Union Ministry for Housing and Urban Affairs

Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri and Goa
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar launched the Protocol for Star Rating of
Garbage-free Cities in Panaji today.
Swachh Bharat Mission – Urban
The initiative under, will rate Indian cities on a 7-star rating system
based on multiple cleanliness indicators for solid waste management.
The rating protocol provides a single metric to rate a city’s cleanliness
rather than separately evaluating multiple factors that contribute to its
overall cleanliness and garbage-free status.

Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation

The rural sanitation coverage has reached up to 76 per cent from 39 per cent
in October 2014 when the Swachh Bharat Mission was launched.
Secretary Parameswaran Iyer said this at a workshop on Swachh Bharat Mission
at Gurugram in Haryana.
He said, three lakh villages, 300 districts and 10 States and Union Territories
have been declared Open Defecation Free so far.
Mr Iyer also expressed confidence that, with the sustained and focussed
implementation, the Prime Minister’s vision of a Swachh Bharat by 2nd of
October 2019 would be realized.
Focus: Behaviors change

IMF and World Bank

The International Monetary Fund and World Bank have commended the
Reserve Bank of India for its remarkable progress in strengthening banking
supervision.
The IMF and World Bank released two separate Reports of the 2017 India
Financial Sector Assessment Programme (FSAP) in December last year in which
they said, the regulation by the Central bank has improved in recent years.
In continuation, the IMF and the World Bank yesterday released two detailed
assessment reports relating to the 2017 India FSAP.
Market regulator SEBI, in a statement noted that the report on the observance
of Basel Core Principles commends the Reserve Bank for the remarkable
progress in strengthening banking supervision since the last programme.