New Delhi , January 13 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the world’s longest river Cruise, MV Ganga Vilas in Varanasi via video conferencing on Friday.

Prime Minister also inaugurated the Tent City at Varanasi and laid the foundation stones for several other inland waterways projects worth more than Rs 1,000 crore.
Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath were present at Varanasi on the occasion.
Speaking at the occasion, Sonowal said, “Today will be written in the history of the world’s river cruise as it will be the longest journey in the world. It will go through UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Bangladesh till Dibrugarh. Through this journey, not only the path of tourism but also the path of trade will open.”

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said, “In the last three days, tourists of the river cruise MV Ganga Vilas visited Varanasi and nearby places and experienced the culture. PM will inaugurate five new jetties in the state today. Kashi is moving ahead with a new identity today.”
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma who joined the ceremony virtually thanked PM Modi for flagging of river cruise connecting Kashi to Assam.

“Passengers who will come on this cruise will get the opportunity to visit Maa Kamakhya Temple, Kaziranga National Park and other place,” Chief Minister Sarma said.
Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav also joined the event virtually. He said the river cruise MV Ganga Vilas will visit Buxar, Chapra, Patna, Munger, Sultanganj and Kahalgaon in the state.

“The tourists will be accorded a traditional welcome at each port and taken to visit historical places,” Tejashwi Yadav said.
An official of Port, Shipping and Waterways told ANI that the world’s longest River Cruise MV Ganga Vilas is the first-ever cruise vessel to be made in India.
MV Ganga Vilas will begin its journey from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh and travel around 3,200 km in 51 days to reach Dibrugarh in Assam via Bangladesh, sailing across 27 river systems in India and Bangladesh.

MV Ganga Vilas has three decks, 18 suites on board with a capacity of 36 tourists, with all the luxury amenities. The maiden voyage has 32 tourists from Switzerland signing up for the entire length of the journey.
The MV Ganga Vilas cruise is curated to bring out the best of the country to be showcased to the world. The 51 days cruise is planned with visits to 50 tourist spots including World Heritage Sites, National Parks, River Ghats, and major cities like Patna in Bihar, Sahibganj in Jharkhand, Kolkata in West Bengal, Dhaka in Bangladesh, and Guwahati in Assam.
The journey will give the tourists an opportunity to embark upon an experiential voyage and indulge in the art, culture, history, and spirituality of India and Bangladesh.
Further, Tent City has been conceptualized on the banks of the River Ganga to tap the potential of tourism in the region. The project has been developed opposite to city ghats which will provide accommodation facilities and cater to the increased tourist influx in Varanasi, especially since the inauguration of Kashi Vishwanath Dham.
It has been developed by Varanasi Development Authority. The tourists will reach the Tent City by boats from different Ghats situated in the vicinity. The tent city will be operational from October to June every year and will be dismantled for three months due to rise in river water level in the rainy season.
Prime Minister inaugurated Haldia Multi-Modal Terminal in West Bengal. Developed under Jal Marg Vikas Project, Haldia Multi-Modal Terminal has a cargo handling capacity of around over 3 Million Metric Tonne Per Annum (MMTPA) and the berths are designed to handle vessels up to around 3000 Deadweight tonnage (DWT).
Further, he also inaugurated four floating community jetties at Saidpur, Chochakpur, and Zamania in Ghazipur district, and at Kanspur in Ballia district in Uttar Pradesh. Besides, a foundation stone was laid for the five Community Jetties at Digha, Nakta Diyara, Barh, Panapur in Patna district, and Hasanpur in Samastipur district in Bihar.
More than 60 community jetties are being constructed along river Ganga across the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal to boost economic activities and improve the livelihoods of local communities in the region.
The community jetties would play a key role in improving the livelihoods of people by providing simple logistics solutions for small farmers, fishery units, unorganized farm-producing units, horticulturists, florists, and artisans focussing on economic activities in and around the hinterland of river Ganga.
A Maritime Skill Development Centre for North East at Guwahati was also be inaugurated. It will help honing the rich talent pool in the North Eastern region and will provide for better employment opportunities in the burgeoning logistics industry.
In addition to these, Prime Minister also laid the foundation stone for a ship repair facility and an elevated road at Pandu Terminal in Guwahati. The Ship Repair facility at the Pandu Terminal will save a lot of valuable time as it takes more than a month for a ship to be transported to the Kolkata Repair facility and back.
Moreover, it will also result in huge savings in terms of money as the transportation cost of the ship will also be saved. The dedicated road connecting the Pandu Terminal to NH 27 will enable 24-hour connectivity. (ANI)

New Delhi: India reported 197 new coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases to 4,46,80,583.

The country’s active caseload currently now stands at 2,309.

India also recorded 5,30,723 Covid deaths so far, with one in Kerala in the past 24 hours.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday expressed condolences over the demise of veteran politician and founder-member of Bihar’s ruling Janata Dal-United (JD-U) Sharad Yadav.

Taking to Twitter, PM Modi said, “Pained by the passing away of Shri Sharad Yadav Ji. In his long years in public life, he distinguished himself as MP and Minister. He was greatly inspired by Dr Lohia’s ideals. I will always cherish our interactions. Condolences to his family and admirers. Om Shanti.”Sharad Yadav passed away on Thursday, informed his daughter Subhashini Sharad Yadav through a social media post.

Facebook Post by Sharad Yadav’s Daughter

Yadav who had launched his own party Loktantrik Janata Dal merged with Lalu Yadav’s outfit RJD in March 2020 which he said was the “first step towards a united opposition”.

The condolence messages also came from Congress with the party president Mallikarjun Kharge.

“I am saddened by the demise of Sharad Yadav, a senior leader of the socialist stream of the country, former JDU president. Serving the country as a former Union Minister and an outstanding Parliamentarian for decades, he strengthened the politics of equality. My deepest condolences to his family and supporters,” Mallikarjun Kharge tweeted in Hindi.“Deeply saddened by the demise of my friend, veteran leader and our colleague in Parliament Sharad Yadav. He was a distinguished student leader who rose to the highest heights in public life. He was an outspoken leader and deeply committed to an inclusive India,” Congress Rajya Sabha MP Anand Sharma said on his official Twitter handle.

Sharad Yadav was a former union minister in various governments.

Sharad Yadav had formed Loktantrik Janata Dal in 2018 miffed with Janata Dal (United) returning to an alliance with the BJP in Bihar.

Patna, Jan 13: Former Union Minister and veteran socialist leader from Bihar Sharad Yadav passed away on late Thursday evening at the age of 75 after a prolonged illness.

His daughter Subhashini Yadav confirmed the news on social media. “Papa Ab Nahi Rahe,” (Papa is no more) she said on Facebook.

Sharad Yadav was ill for a long time and was undergoing treatment in Gurugram’s Fortis Hospital.

Sharad Yadav was considered as one the most respected socialist leaders of Bihar. He has great political sense. He was also considered as a great curator in the state politics.

He had provided several political tips to Lalu Prasad Yadav during the latter’s chief ministerial tenures as well as when he was union minister of the country.

His Rajya Sabha tenure ended in June 2022. After that he vacated his 7 Tughlak Road Bungalow and went to his daughter’s house in Chattarpur locality of South Delhi.

Sharad Yadav was currently associated with RJD and he said that Tejashwi Yadav is the future leader of the party and Bihar. He held several key posts in his political career including important union ministry portfolios in Atal Bihari Vajpayee government between 1999 to 2004. He also joined JD-U and became national president of the party.

Sharad Yadav was elected as Lok Sabha MP seven times in his political career including four times from Bihar’s Madhepura district and twice from Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh. He was also elected as Lok Sabha MP once from Badaun in Uttar Pradesh as well. He was the first MP who was elected from three states.

The politics of Sharad Yadav was inspired from Jay Prakash Narayan, and Ram Manohar Lohia. He also went to jail during the emergency in the country.

The government has cracked down on six YouTube channels that were found to be spreading fake news to its nearly 20 lakh subscribers, an official statement said on Thursday.

The Fact Check Unit of the Press Information Bureau (PIB) of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting said these six channels were working in a coordinated manner and spreading false information and their videos had over 51 crore views.

The YouTube channels were found to be spreading fake news about the elections, proceedings in the Supreme Court and Parliament, and the functioning of the government, the statement said.

The channels are – Nation TV with over 5.57 lakh subscribers, Samvaad TV with 10.9 lakh subscribers, Sarokar Bharat (21,100), Nation24 (25,400), Swarnim Bharat (6,070) and Samvaad Samachaar (3.48 lakh), the statement said.

A senior official said that the channels Samvaad Samachar, Samvaad TV and Nation TV changed their names to Inside India, Inside Bharat and Nation Weekly respectively, after being “busted” by the Fact Check Unit of PIB.

The videos on the channels in question included false claims regarding ban on electronic voting machines, and false statements attributed to senior constitutional functionaries including the President and the Chief Justice of India. “The channels are part of a fake news economy that thrives on monetisation of fake news,” the statement said.

It said that the channels use fake, clickbait and sensational thumbnails and images of television news anchors of TV channels to mislead the viewers to believe that the news was authentic and drive traffic to their channels to monetise the videos published by them.

This is the second such action by the Fact Check Unit of the PIB.

Last month, the unit had exposed three channels peddling fake news and written to YouTube to take them down.

Miscreants today pelted stones at the yet to be inaugurated Vande Bharat Express between Secunderabad and Visakhapatnam while the train was on a trial run in Visakhapatnam.

The train was set to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 19 January at Secunderabad but the now the visit is postponed. A probe was ordered by the DRM.

At around 6.30 pm, when the train which had come from Chennai, was on its way to the coaching centre for maintenance, stones were pelted at it at Kancharapalem, smashing the glass of two windows of a coach.

Miscreants today pelted stones at the yet to be inaugurated Vande Bharat Express between Secunderabad and Visakhapatnam while the train was on a trial run in Visakhapatnam.

The train was set to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 19 January at Secunderabad but the now the visit is postponed. A probe was ordered by the DRM.

At around 6.30 pm, when the train which had come from Chennai, was on its way to the coaching centre for maintenance, stones were pelted at it at Kancharapalem, smashing the glass of two windows of a coach.