Piyush Goyal says India has 45000 registered start-ups

The eleventh and final phase of Bihar Panchayat Elections passed off peacefully on Sunday amid tight security arrangements. Over 62 percent electorates exercised their franchise. No untoward incident was reported from any part of the state. Polling in the final phase was held in 38 blocks spread over 20 districts including Buxar, Nalanda and Darbhanga. 63,718 candidates were in the fray this phase. Polling was held for 17,286 posts, including mukhia, sarpanch and panchayat members. For the first time, EVMs were being used in Panchayat polls in the state. Counting of votes will take place on 14th and 15th of December.

-Manipur on Sunday observed Nupee Lal Day, 2021 remembering the brave womenfolk of the State, who fought against the monopolistic trade interest of British colonial rulers in 1939. The observation was held at different places of the State. However, the State level function was held at Nupee Lal Memorial Complex, Imphal with the presence of Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, state ministers, MLAs, high-ranking officials of the State Government and general public. Biren led the gathering in offering floral tributes to the Nupee Lal statue. A drama that depicted the Nupee Lal of 1939 was also staged. The Chief Minister also announced that the present Nupee Lal complex at Imphal would be developed as a modern complex soon and the state government had earmarked Rs. 1.30 crore in the budget for this purpose.

-India drew curtains on the Asian Rowing Championship in Thailand with a total of six medals, including two gold and 4 silver medals. On the final day on Sunday, Senior rower Arvind Singh bagged a gold in the lightweight Men's single sculls event while his compatriots won three silver medals. India bagged silver medals in Men's Lightweight Double Sculls, Men's Quadrapul Sculls and in Men's Coxless Four. Arvind Singh, who finished 11th at the Tokyo Olympics along with Arjun Lal Jat in the Men's Lightweight Double Sculls finished first in the field as he got the better of Uzbek and Chinese scullers for the gold medal. In Lightweight Men's Double Sculls, India's Ashish Phugat and Sukhjinder Singh won the silver. In the Men's Quadruple Sculls, India's Bittu Singh, Jakar Khan, Manjeet Kumar and Sukhmeet Singh won silver in a photo-finish, losing the gold by 0.523 seconds. In Men's Coxless Fours final, India's Jasveer Singh, Punit Kumar, Gurmeet Singh and Charanjeet Singh won the silver.The Indian women rowers, who figured in the Quadruple Sculls and Light Weight Double Sculls finals, finished fifth in their respective races.

-Union Minister Piyush Goyal has said that innovation is a core factor that defines developed countries today and in the same context India has a unique opportunity with its numbers of young start-ups. The Union Minister was addressing Start-up India's Seed Fund Program at Science and Technology Park at Savitribai Phule Pune University on Sunday. Goyal said, today India has start-up ecosystem across length and breadth of the country. He asserted that the entrepreneurial spirit has always been there in Indian youths. The Minister said, the country may have billion problems but it also has billion brilliant entrepreneurs to solve these problems. He said, 45000 start-ups have been registered in India and it is third largest ecosystem in the world. Goyal informed that it is heartening to note that out of 79 Unicorns in country, four are from Pune. Sci-Tech Park in Pune University has 153 start-ups. He said, it is encouraging that 46 percent of start-ups, registered with DPIIT have women as part of ecosystem. He expressed hope that woman will lead Start-up culture in Maharashtra.  Goyal said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given much-needed push to start-ups by launching various schemes for them. The Minister said, under the National Education Policy, government's vision is to give priority to new skills and talents.

-Centre has asked all States and Union Territories to maintain a strict watch on the Covid situation with focussed district-level measures for containment of clusters of new positive cases. In a letter written to Chief Secretaries and administrators of all States and UTs, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that in case of any district reporting a surge in cases, or rise in positivity rates, intensive action and local containment must be initiated. He said, eight districts in three States - Mizoram, Kerala and Sikkim have been reporting more than ten percent positive rates in the past two weeks. Apart from this, 19 districts in seven States and UTs have been reporting between 5 to 10 percent positivity. Bhushan said, these 27 districts need to be monitored very closely. He asked them for Strict adherence to COVID appropriate behaviour at all places and at all times must also be rigorously enforced and aggressively monitored.