Startup culture is expanding to smaller cities- PM

In his Mann Ki Baat programme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the mind of the youth has undergone a transformation and today’s young minds, shunning obsolete, age old methods and patterns and want to do something new altogether. They do not want to tread the ready-made beaten paths but want to carve out newer paths. In this context, Modi gave the example of how college students and young people working in the Universities and the private sector enthusiastically came forward, when India opened its Space Sector some time ago. Modi expressed confidence that in the coming days, a large number of satellites will be of those developed by Indian youth. He added that similarly, now young people are moving away from family traditions and expressing the wish to do a startup and willing to take a risk. The Prime Minister said the startup culture is expanding even to smaller cities which is an indication of a bright future.

-Ayush Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has announced a bouquet of activities and campaigns of Ministry of Ayush to commemorate Azadi ka Amrit Mahaotsav. The activities include cultivation of medicinal plants on 75 thousand hectares of land to benefit farmers on 31st August and the launch of the Y-Break App, a five minute Yoga protocol for office goers on 1st September. He said the launch of the cultivation campaign of medicinal plants will ensure the availability of medicines and will be a source of steady income for the farmers. The activity will be implemented through National Medicinal Plants Board. Sonowal said that the week-long activities and campaigns, from 30th August to 5th September, will aim at reaching remote areas of the country and address all categories of the population.

-Finance Ministry has extended the last date to avail benefit of the late fee amnesty scheme from existing 31st this month to 30th November, 2021. Earlier, the government had provided relief to the taxpayers by reducing or waiving late fee for non-furnishing FORM GSTR-3B for the tax periods from July, 2017 to April, 2021, if the returns for these tax periods are furnished between 1st June to 31st August this year.The Ministry said, based on the multiple representations received, government has also extended the timelines for filing of application for revocation of cancellation of registration to 30th September this year. The due date of filing of application for revocation of cancellation of registration falls between 1st March to 31st August, 2021.

-In Mumbai, fifteen persons were injured, five of them seriously, after an LPG cylinder exploded and caused a minor fire at a shanty at Dharavi slum on Saturday. According to a BMC official, five of them have suffered critical injuries in the incident, one is an eight-year-old boy. The LPG cylinder which was kept just outside one of the shanties exploded and led a level one (minor) fire. Fifteen persons suffered burn injuries and they were admitted to the nearby Sion Hospital. Three fire engines that were rushed to spot brought the blaze under control. During the probe, the fire brigade personnel found that gas was leaking from the cylinder and hence it was kept outside the shanty.

-The Civil Aviation Ministry has sought some clarification from the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) on a few provisions on its categorisation of passengers before resuming flights from September 3. In a letter addressed to the Chairman of the CAAB, the Ministry of Civil Aviation referred to its circular dated 16 August which placed India under Category C allowing any passenger from India to travel to Bangladesh irrespective of the COVID 19 vaccination status. However, in its earlier letter dated August 4, the CAAB had laid out a specific category of intended passengers who are allowed to travel between the two countries. India has sought clarification about the categories of passengers who are currently allowed to travel to Bangladesh from India.

-To celebrate the second anniversary of Fit India Movement and as part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Anurag Singh Thakur Sunday launched the Fit India Mobile Application. The Fit India App is available on both Android and iOS platforms and has been developed in such a way that it works even on basic smartphones. Launching it in New Delhi, Mr. Thakur said, this mobile application will help monitor fitness and through it an attempt has been made to show that fitness is easy. He urged the people to download the application. The Minister called upon the people to give half an hour everyday for fitness.