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National cultural gala concludes in Jabalpur

Jabalpur (NVI): The Jabalpur edition of the national cultural gala, Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav 2019, concluded on October 16 with soulful performances of ‘Dhruvaa- India’s first Sanskrit Fusion band’, Veteran Manipuri dancer, Smt. Priti Patel and Qawwali Composers Sabri Brothers. The Sagar and Rewa editions will begin from October 17.

Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav 2019, is being organized by the Ministry of Culture  from 14th October 2019 in Madhya Pradesh.  For continuously five years,  the festival has been receiving acclaim for playing a major role to effectively connect the collection of state audiences to the rich, diverse and undiscovered culture of the country under the umbrella of Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat. The festival has brought together more than 400 performers to perform over various folk dance forms and showcased handicrafts created by master craftsmen from all over India, clubbed with diverse cuisines prepared by traditional chefs, all under one- roof.

This RSM celebrates the idea of ‘Oneness in all’. Under the broad umbrella theme of Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat has covered a profusion of art forms practised and performed by artists from all Zonal Cultural Centres of India, from Classical dance, viz. Classical Dance, Loknritya, folk music, to visual and culinary arts. Handloom and handicrafts are equally being exhibited in stalls and tents curated at this festival. The gastronomic culture of Bihar, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and several other states is being showcased in food stalls.  Jabalpur witnessed shopping journey viz handicrafts, cuisines, sculpture, photography, and performing arts, for first two days. The inaugural day was replete with fascinating performances by Classical Instrumentalist Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Kathak maestro Smt. Shovana Narayan and famous Hindi and Marathi Playback singer Shri Suresh Wadkar.

The signature of the 10th Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav (RSM) is to present rich diversity and uniqueness of Indian culture and to reconnect the new generation with Indian culture. The second day opened with Dhruvaa’s band performance. with these performances RSM has shed its previous presentation in serious form and adopted novelty and newness.

-bp

Shipping Ministry plans International level security at ports 

Mansukh Mandaviya
Shipping Minister Mansukh Mandaviya while addressing 17th meeting of Maritime States Development Council

New Delhi (NVI): Aiming at strengthening Indian maritime security in a big way, the Ministry of Shipping is planning international levels of security at every port across the Nation. The Ministry has also plans to expand the maritime sector with development of over 200 non-major ports and National ports grid.

Addressing the 17th meeting of maritime states development council here, Minister of Shipping, Mansukh Mandaviya discussed ports security issue and said, “International levels of security would be ensured at every port in the country including the security of both major and minor ports.”

Currently, the major ports like Chennai, Cochin, Visakhapatnam, Tuticorin and some others have been provided level 1 security.

The Ministry of shipping is also planning to expand the maritime sector with development of over 200 non-major ports and National ports grid based on synergy between the major and minor ports in the country.

“There are 204 minor ports in the country, of which only 44 are currently functional. All these ports have been centres of maritime activity in the past, and if revived, they can once again become important centres of sea trade,” said Mandaviya.

Seeking greater cooperation between the centre and states to develop the maritime sector, Mandaviya said, “The Centre will share the study findings with the states so that the non-functional minor ports can be developed and made functional.”

“Development plan for ports and National Port Grid will be ready within six months. The extensive study will be done for the revival of each port, identifying the specific cargo linked to it and the downstream industry,” Mandaviya added.

“The coastal shipping and inland waterways sector are poised to play a vital role in the development of the country. The cost-effective and pollution-free water transport can reduce logistics costs in the country, making Indian goods more competitive in the global markets,” said Mandaviya.

He further added, “The Ministry of Shipping is planning expansion of port capacity through the implementation of well-conceived infrastructure development projects, increasing the efficiency of port operations through the implementation of a package of recommendations to cut time and cost, digitization of processes to reduce and finally eliminate human interface and to strongly address environment-related concerns.”

Meanwhile the ministry also laid emphasis on the advent of cruise  tourism in India and the importance of SEZs being developed at JNPT and Smart Industrial Port Cities at Kandla and Paradip, stating, “Establishment of research-based institutes like CEMS, CICMT at IIT, Kharagpur and NTCPWC, IIT, Madras will help the maritime industry to get indigenous research and skilled manpower.”

–PS

Overall Indian exports grow by about 2 per cent

New Delhi (NVI): India’s overall exports in April-September 2019-20 are estimated to be USD 267.21billion, exhibiting a positive growth of 1.93per cent  over the same period last year. Overall imports in April-September 2019-20 are estimated to be USD 312.16 billion, exhibiting a negative growth of 3.15 per cent over the same period last year, an official statement said.

Exports in September 2019 were USD 26.03 billion, as compared to USD 27.87billion in September 2018, exhibiting a negative growth of 6.57 per cent. In Rupee terms, exports were Rs. 1,85,710.81 crore in September 2019, as compared to Rs. 2,01,234.95crore in September 2018, registering a negative growth of 7.71 per cent.

In September 2019, major commodity groups of export showing positive growth over the corresponding month of last year are

Cumulative value of exports for the period April-September 2019-20 was USD 159.57 billion (Rs.11,16,766.77 crore) as against USD163.48 billion (Rs.11,21,474.97 crore) during the period April-September 2018-19, registering a negative growth of 2.39 per cent in Dollar terms (negative growth of 0.42 per cent in Rupee terms).

Non-petroleum and Non Gems and Jewellery exports in September 2019 were USD19billion, as compared to USD19.84 billion in September 2018, exhibiting a negative growth of 4.20per cent. Non-petroleum and Non Gems and Jewellery exports in April-September 2019-20 were USD118.41 billion, as compared to USD119.01 billion for the corresponding period in 2018-19, a decrease of 0.50 per cent.

Imports in September 2019 were USD 36.89 billion (Rs. 2,63,158.22 crore), which was 13.85 per cent lower in Dollar terms and 14.90 per cent lower in Rupee terms over imports of USD 42.82 billion (Rs.3,09,222.94 crore) in September 2018. Cumulative value of imports for the period April-September 2019-20 was USD 243.28 billion (Rs.17,01,997.27 crore), as against USD 261.63 billion (Rs.17,94,884.20 crore) during the period April-September 2018-19, registering a negative growth of 7.01 per cent in Dollar terms (negative growth of 5.18 per cent in Rupee terms).

Major commodity groups of import showing negative growth in September 2019 over the corresponding month of last year are:

Oil imports in September 2019 were USD8.98 billion (Rs. 64,034.71 crore), which was 18.33percentlower in Dollar terms (19.32 per cent lower in Rupee terms), compared to USD 10.99 billion (Rs. 79,373.45 crore) in September 2018. Oil imports in April-September 2019-20 were USD 64.30 billion (Rs. 4,49,870.52 crore) which was 8.22 per cent lower in Dollar terms (6.37 per cent lower in Rupee terms) compared to USD 70.06 billion (Rs. 4,80,497.71 crore), over the same period last year.

In this connection it is mentioned that the global Brent price ($/bbl) has decreased by 20.96% in September 2019 vis-à-vis September 2018 as per data available from World Bank.

Non-oil imports in September 2019 were estimated at USD27.91 billion (Rs. 1,99,123.51 crore) which was 12.30per cent lower in Dollar terms (13.37 per cent lower in Rupee terms), compared to USD31.83 billion (Rs. 2,29,849.49 crore) in September 2018. Non-oil imports in April-September 2019-20 were USD178.97 billion (Rs. 12,52,126.75 crore) which was 6.57per cent lower in Dollar terms (4.74 per cent lower in Rupee terms), compared to USD191.57billion (Rs. 13,14,386.50 crore) in April-September 2018-19.

Non-Oil and Non-Gold imports were USD26.64 billion in September 2019, recording a negative growth of 8.88per cent, as compared to Non-Oil and Non-Gold imports of USD 29.23billion in September 2018. Non-Oil and Non-Gold imports were USD163.17 billion in April-September 2019-20, recording a negative growth of 6.18 per cent, as compared to Non-Oil and Non-Gold imports USD 173.93 billion in April-September 2018-19.

As per the latest press release by RBI dated 15th October 2019, services exports in August 2019 were USD 18.24 billion (Rs. 1,29,798.22 crore) registering a positive growth of 10.40 per cent in dollar terms, vis-à-vis August 2018. The estimated value of services export for September 2019 is USD 18.11 billion.

-nad

Despite a lower growth, India remains global economic bright spot

IMF

New Delhi (NVI): In a scenario of global economic gloom, India remains a bright spot as the fastest growing economy major economy albeit with a lower than earlier projected growth rate of 6.1 per cent for the current fiscal, according International Monetary Fund’s World Economic Outlook released recently. The IMF cut the global economic growth forecast to 3 per cent.

Although the IMF effected an almost one per cent cut in the India forecast of 7 per cent as in July last citing weaker than expected outlook for domestic demand, New Delhi tied with Beijing as the fastest growing major economy. However, the IMF projected India’s economy to pick up and grow by 7 per cent in the 2020 fiscal year.

“In India, growth softened in 2019 as corporate and environmental regulatory uncertainty, together with concerns about the health of the nonbank financial sector, weighed on demand,” IMF said in its bi-annual World Economic Outlook.

The IMF joins a parade of multilateral institutions, rating firms and brokerages in cutting economic growth estimates for India, after Asia’s third-largest economy grew at its slowest pace in six years in the June quarter at 5%.

Last week, Moody’s Investors Service lowered its 2019-20 growth forecast for India to 5.8% from 6.2% earlier, saying the economy was experiencing a pronounced slowdown partly due to long-lasting factors. The rating agency’s projection is the most pessimistic so far.

The Indian economy is battling a severe demand slowdown and liquidity crunch that resulted in growth rate slowing to 5% in the three months ended June, while growth in private consumption expenditure slumped to an 18-quarter low of 3.1%. India’s industrial output contracted 1.1% in August, its worst show in 81 months, signalling a deepening of the economic downturn.

IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath in a statement said the global economy was in a synchronized slowdown and the Fund, once again, is downgrading growth for 2019 to 3%, its slowest pace since the global financial crisis.

“Growth continues to be weakened by rising trade barriers and increasing geopolitical tensions. We estimate that the US-China trade tensions will cumulatively reduce the level of global GDP by 0.8% by 2020. Growth is also being weighed down by country-specific factors in several emerging market economies, and structural forces—such as low productivity growth and aging demographics in advanced economies,” she added.

“This is a serious climbdown from 3.8% in 2017,” the WEO said of the 2019 global growth projection. World output is projected to increase to a modest 3.4% in 2020 — still lower by 0.2% than the April projection. Unlike the slowdown this recovery is expected to be “precarious” and “not broad based” as per the IMF. Emerging economies will show increased growth — from 3.9% in 2019 to 4.6% in 2020, while advanced economies will slow to 1.7% in 2019 and 2020. The report called for defusing trade tensions, “reinvigorating” multilateral cooperation and “providing timely support to economic activity where needed”.

-Nad

Boost for ‘Fit India’ as Govt opens play-fields to all, free of cost

New Delhi (NVI): In a big boost to Fit India Movement, the Government has decided to give access to state-owned play-fields and sporting infrastructure to the national and state sports federations, leagues and clubs, for organising sports events free of cost. This shall come in force from 1st November 2019.

“This move comes  in order to further the Fit India Movement and to make playfields and sporting infrastructure accessible, to all sports persons all over the country. The sporting facilities will also be accessible free of cost to coaches training athletes who are not part of camps organised in Sports Authority of India centers,” the Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports Shri Kiren Rijiju has said.

In the first phase, stadiums in Delhi like Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Indira Gandhi Stadium, Major Dhyanchand Stadium and Karni Singh Shooting Range will be opened  for state and national federations to host competitions, tournaments and leagues of all sporting disciplines. The Federations and Leagues will not be charged for use of the facilities in these stadiums.

This move will also allow non-SAI coaches to train their athletes at the stadium without any charge, provided that the coach has a minimum of at least 10 wards under his or her training. Coaches can book training sessions online from November 1, however the coach can charge a reasonable training fee from his or her trainees. Youngsters who aren’t training for any sport professionally will also have access to these facilities and can play a game of their choice by advance online booking against available slots, provided they have to get their photo identity cards made from Sports Authority of India at nominal cost.

Consequent to the decision, the All India Football Federation and Hockey India have already charted out a roadmap for conducting a number of leagues and competitions in the next three months. The first league in the calendar is the Khelo India Golden League, at JLN, which will see football played by U-7, U-9 and U-11 boys and girls.

-bp/nad

Army Chief hails troops, NIA

Gen. Bipin Rawat
Gen. Bipin Rawat chairs the Army Commanders meeting

New Delhi  (NVI): Chief of the Army Staff Gen Bipin Rawat has complimented the troops for having steadfastly faced challenges along the Western and Eastern borders and in the hinterlands. He has also congratulated National Investigation Agency for ensuring large number of convictions, saying the synergy between security forces and law enforcing agencies will be reinforced.

Addressing the Army Commanders’ Conference which commenced here on October 14, he said that the operational responsibility has been carried out by all ranks in the most sincere and dedicated manner resulting in foiling many (Border Action Team) BAT action on LC and terrorists’ action in the hinterlands.

The Army Chief, during the Operational Reviews, also complimented the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

He said there has been effective and large number of convictions and this could happen due to synergy among the security forces and the agencies. Such synergy with the law enforcing agencies will be reinforced.

The Army Commanders Conference has now been based on New modality, in which the requirements of field forces, deployed in tough and challenging environment, are to be addressed in time bound manner.

Time-bound completion of tasks and projects to meet the ground situation and the requirements will be the foremost priority for the Army Commanders’ Conference, a Defence official said.

-rb/nad

Skill development ministry announces 14 training Centers for Media, Entertainment sector

mahendra nath pandey
Mahendra Nath Pandey announced the launch of 14 AWSITC

New Delhi (NVI): After the remarkable performance at WorldSkills Kazan competition, Media & Entertainment Skill Council (MESC) is all geared up to mark its best performance at WorldSkills Shanghai 2021 with the help of 14 Authorized World Skills India Training Centers (AWSITC) across nine cities in India that will enhance WorldSkills champions as per the global standards and the training programs.

The Skill Development Minister Mahendra Nath Pandey on October 15 announced that ministry will soon launch AWSITC with the purpose to boost media and entertainment sector.

“The new institutes are being set up for advanced skill training of candidates in the media and entertainment sector, not just to compete in the ‘WorldSkills and IndiaSkills’ competitions but also to further develop the skilling eco-system for training candidates for the international market,” said the statement.

It further added, “The state of the art AWSITCs, set up in partnership with the MESC (Media & Entertainment Skill Council), will help the candidates to enhance their skill as per the global standards and the training programs will be designed as per the National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) level. All candidates will get hands-on training on live projects.”

Addressing the event Pandey said, “With the advent of technology, skilling in the sector is gaining traction worldwide. There are a lot of avenues for skilled workforce across evolving sectors like graphic design, 3D Digital Game Art, Print Media etc. These world-class state of the art centres will help in preparing the candidates to be ready in making our country proud at various competitions and also equip them with enhanced skills in order to become industry-ready.”

AWSITC aims to nurture candidates with the help of industry engagement and participation in live projects. It will also be the platform for ‘Faculty and Student Exchange Programs’ ensuring global standards and cater to the evolving manpower demand from the Industry.

The event was also marked by felicitating winners of WorldSkills competition which held back in August in Kazan, where 48-members of Indian team won the medals. The team won one Gold, one Silver, two Bronze medals besides 15 Medallions of Excellence at the competition.

“Participating in the WorldSkills competition is a great honour. It is a global platform and privilege of being there and then coming back with a medal is something memorable. The platform like WorldSkills go a long way in incentivizing and encouraging people to not just learn a skill but excel at it,” said Subhash Ghai, Chairman, Media and Entertainment Skill Council.

He further added, “We hope that through this institute, we can encourage more youth to get skilled and not just participate, but come back with a medal and make their country proud.”

(sb/ps)

TECC urges India, major countries to support Taiwan into INTERPOL

IMG-20191015-WA0007

New Delhi (NVI): Taipei Economic and Cultural Center in India (TECC) urged the Indian government and other major countries to support Taiwan’s participation in meetings, mechanisms and training courses organised by the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL).

According to TECC, “Taiwan occupies a key geographical place connecting Northeast and Southeast Asia and is a busy transportation hub in the Asia Pacific region. However, due to political factors, Taiwan is not admitted into relevant activities organised by the INTERPOL, and does not have access to critical intelligence instantly shared via its I-24/7 global police communications system”.

Notably, with 194 members, the INTERPOL is the second largest inter-governmental organisation only after the United Nations in the world. Its 88th General Assembly is currently being held in Santiago, Chile from October 15 to 18.

Citing the World Drug Report 2018 published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the TECC said the world’s major production and consumption of amphetamine were found to be in East Asia, Southeast Asia and North America.

There was also evidence showing acetic anhydride exported from Taiwan has made its way to Afghanistan, where it is used for the production of heroin.

The TECC quoting Huang Ming-chao, Commissioner of Criminal Investigation Bureau under the Ministry of the Interior, Republic of China (Taiwan) said, “Criminal activities such as drug trafficking often spread across multiple countries and regions, creating considerable obstacles for the investigative authorities”.

It notes that with criminal methods being constantly evolving, it is very difficult for any single sovereign nation to fully clamp down within their territory on all aspects of various criminal networks such as production, transportation, sales and money flow.

Therefore, it is of extreme importance for all countries including Taiwan and India to work together and learn from others’ experience to crack down in transnational crimes.

It further said that, “The modern age sees telecom and online fraud continue growing above national borders and become a highly organized form of crime, international cooperation must be enhanced to identify sources of these criminal activities, block money laundering channels and seize illicit gains in time, with the ultimate goal of exterminating drugs and fraud syndicates”.

Calling for support from the Indian government and concerned entities, the TECC said global security and social justice must take precedence over political differences.

“The Article 2 of the INTERPOL Constitution says its aims include ‘to ensure and promote the widest possible mutual assistance between all criminal police authorities within the limits of the laws existing in the different countries and in the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,’ it is justified that Taiwan should be part of the INTERPOL,” the TECC said.

(rb)

Indian Railways launches 10 ‘Sewa Service’ trains

Piyush Goyal
Indian Railways Minister Piyush Goyal launched 10 ‘Sewa Service’ trains

New Delhi (NVI): In an effort to improve the connectivity for commuters and faster ease of movement between small towns and major cities, Railways Minister Piyush Goyal on October 15 launched 09 ‘Sewa Service’ Trains along with Health Minister Harsh Vardhan and Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan by inaugurating Delhi-Shamli passenger train. 

The other trains were flagged off through video-conferencing connected to the terminal stations. 

Speaking on the occasion, Goyal said, “These Sewa trains will provide connectivity to the far-flung areas where stoppages of premiere trains were not possible. These trains will act as link trains to serve the common man of the country.”

Goyal pointed out that inauguration of nine Sewa passenger service trains is a unique concept, stating, “With layover rakes as a part of ‘sweating of assets’ initiative by the Indian Railways.”

The Railways has introduced five daily sewa express trains between ‘Delhi and Shamli’, ‘Bhubaneswar and Nayagarh town’, ‘Murkongselex and Dibrugarh’, ‘Kota and Jhalawar City’ and ‘Coimbatore and Palani’.

The other passenger “Sewa Service” trains between Vadnagar to Mahesana, Asarya to Himmatnagar, Karur to Salem, Yesvantpur to Tumkur and Coimbatore to Pollachi, to be run for six days a week. 

“This was part of strategies of Indian Railways to have better utilization of the rolling stock without any requisition for new rolling stock,” Goyal said and thanked Prime Minister Modi for his vision to transform Railways as the engine of growth in the economic and social development of the country.”

Remembering Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, on the occasion of his birth anniversary, Goyal said, “Former President had memorable experience with Indian Railways during his childhood in Rameswaram.”

He further added, “Railways has taken transformational steps like Cleanliness campaign in Railway premises across the country, Wi-Fi facility at 5000 Railway stations, Installation of Bio toilets in coaches to clean the tracks, Ayushmann Bharat facility in Railway hospitals across the country.”

Railway Minister launched 10 Sewa services in the presence of Minister of State of Railways, Suresh Angadi, Health minister Harsh Vardhan, Lok Sabha MP Meenakshi Lekhi and other dignitaries.

Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan expressed his gratitude to Railways Minister for starting a new Sewa Train from Bhubaneswar to Nayagarh. He also appreciated the significant steps taken by the Railways for the development in Odisha.

Meanwhile, at the ceremony, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan congratulated Indian railways for taking an important step in the betterment of life of common citizens of the country, stating, “the new Sewa Trains will connect small stations en route. These trains will be highly beneficial to the common people, especially those who come to metro cities for jobs and education.” 

“Indian Railways has always endeavoured for providing comfortable services to its passengers. The short distance Sewa trains will be a boon to common citizens of the country,” said Suresh Angadi. 

These trains will run on the “Hub and Spoke” model, thereby facilitating passengers to use these trains to reach the “Hub” for availing onward journey to other major stations. Indian Railways plans to run more trains on a similar model to serve the passengers of smaller towns and cities. These measures are also expected to boost the earnings of the Indian Railways to help in strengthening the economy.

–PS

Defence Minister asks scientists to make India global leader in cutting-edge defence technology

rajnath DRDO
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh at the inaugural session of the 41st Directors’ Conference of DRDO at New Delhi on October 15.

New Delhi (NVI) Defence Minister Shri Rajnath Singh called upon defence scientists to strive for developing cutting-edge technologies indigenously to make India not only self-reliant in defence manufacturing but also global leader in the field.

Emphasising that research and maintaining operational superiority is the need of the hour, The Minister said, the world is changing and advanced and disruptive technologies are emerging at a rapid pace.

He called for developing ‘indigenous innovation ecosystem’ with less dependence on imported systems to achieve self-reliance in critical technologies. “Development of technology should be cost effective and time efficient,” he added.

The Minister was Speaking at the inaugural session of the 41st Directors’ Conference of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), with the theme ‘Technology Leadership for Empowering India’, on the occasion of 88th birth anniversary of former President Bharat Ratna Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, here on October 15.

Stressing the need to bridge the technology gap for India to become a global leader in research and development, Rajnath Singh urged the scientists to focus on technologies that provide cutting edge capability and remain relevant for the next 15-20 years.

“There are certain limitations in technology and there is a gestation period for development of products. It is possible that during the gestation period of complex systems, new technical requirements emerge. Spiral development should be given priority for such systems,” he further said.

Suggesting an intense interaction between DRDO and all stakeholders, the Minister urged scientists to devise an action plan for excellence in Defence R&D that can take India to renewed heights in defence capability.

He said, with concerted efforts, India can become a ‘technology exporter’, which will have multi-dimensional benefits.

He termed scientific knowledge, innovation, advanced technology, industrial infrastructure and workforce as ‘currency’ of modern times, adding that basic R&D in science and technology identifies new knowledge that can prove to be useful in both civil and military sectors. “Innovation brings investment and at the same time provides better value to investors. It contributes in establishing a win-win situation,” he added.

He added that through initiatives such as ‘Make in India’, investment facilitation, skills enhancement, intellectual property protection and manufacturing infrastructure, the Government is leaving no stone unturned to make India a global manufacturing hub in near future.

Describing DRDO as the main centre for indigenous R&D, the Minister said, the organisation is committed to progressive enhancement of self sufficiency in strategic defence systems and infrastructure.

He expressed confidence that the world-class weapon platforms and systems like combat vehicles, missiles, multi-barrel rocket launcher, unmanned aerial vehicle, radar, electronic warfare systems, combat aircraft, propellants and explosives, will help in making India self-reliant in defence sector.

He congratulated DRDO for achieving all targets earmarked for 100 days and lauded the organisation for setting a target to become fully self-reliant in the next five years.

He commended DRDO for its vast contribution in providing direct and indirect employment and helping the people as well as Armed Forces personnel in far flung areas such as Ladakh.

Remembering Dr Kalam, the ‘Missile Man of India’, the Defence Minister said, the former President’s contribution in the space research & missile development programme helped India find a place in top countries known for their indigenous capabilities.

Echoing the words of Dr Kalam, “If you want to shine like a sun, first burn like a sun”, the Minister exhorted the scientists of DRDO to strive for excellence in all their endeavours.

Earlier, Rajnath Singh paid homage to Dr Kalam at his statue in the DRDO premises along with other dignitaries.

He gave away awards to winners of ‘Dare to Dream’ contest organised by DRDO and also launched new and improved website of DRDO.

Present were National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Chief of the Army Staff General Bipin Rawat, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Karambir Singh, Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal R K S Bhadauria, Secretary Department of Defence R&D & Chairman DRDO Dr G Satheesh Reddy addressed the gathering. Secretary (Defence Production) Subhash Chandra and scientists and senior officials of Ministry of Defence.

–rb

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