'The love and support I got from my countrymen kept me going in the foreign land.'
The 46-year-old MP from Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh was among the 15 new Cabinet ministers who took oath in the first major rejig and expansion of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi government after it returned to power for a second term in May 2019.
The average age of the new Union council of ministers has reduced to 58 years from 61 years previously following Wednesday's reshuffle.
Veteran Olympian, Ashok Diwan has sought government help to return home after 'developing some health problems in the USA'.
Last month, Diwan had sought help to return from the USA, where he has been stuck because of the travel restrictions in place following the COVID-19 pandemic.
The duo did not receive the Arjuna Awards during the Award ceremony held last year on September 25 in Rashtrapati Bhawan, as they were out of the country taking part in international tournaments.
The Olympic silver-medallist, who out-played Japan's Nozomi Okuhara 21-7, 21-7 in a lop-sided final in Basel, Switzerland on Sunday, earlier addressed the frenzied media at the Indira Gandhi InternationalAirport in New Delhi on Monday
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday participated in a 45-minute yoga session along with over 200 top police officers of the country gathered at Kutch for an annual conference, which has been marked by a distinctive personal touch this time.
'Will tell BFI to decide what's best for nation'
India's champion shuttler P V Sindhu feels more women will win medals for the country in future and hard work is the key to success.
He said the time was right to strengthen and popularise table tennis in India, especially with 27 Indian paddlers currently in top 100 and 17 of them in top 50 in the world rankings.
Narendra Modi is expected to have a 45-member council of ministers who will take oath along with him on Monday evening. The council of ministers is expected to have 23 Cabinet ministers, 10 ministers of state with independent charge and 11 ministers of state, according to sources.
Three Union ministers came out in support of boxer Sarita Devi as sports minister Sarbananda Sonowal sought a report from the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) on pugilist's controversial loss against Korean boxer in the semi-final of the Asian Games in Incheon.
The reshuffle had politics at its heart, so the biggest complement of new ministers, both Cabinet rank and below, came from UP, which will see assembly elections in a few months.
The Virat Kohl-led Indian cricket team shared a video message from the West Indies while other top sportspersons like MC Mary Kom, Sushil Kumar, Saina Nehwal and Sakshi Malik, as well as Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju, greeted the fellow citizens through Twitter.
The Jammu and Kashmir government on Wednesday sent a detailed report to the Centre on the controversial release of separatist leader Masarat Alam, a day after Bharatiya Janata Party sent a stern message to its alliance partner Peoples Democratic Party.
"A roadmap is being prepared. If something happens to top athletes it will be a setback and so we are careful and that's why there are no positive coronavirus cases for our athletes till now. Players are pride of our country and so we can't risk anything," Sports Minister Kiran Rijiju said.
In the backdrop of the release of separatist leader Masarat Alam, Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary Ram Madhav met Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and called for a better coordination between the alliance partners
Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said that the Tibetan spiritual leader's visit to the border state is completely religious and no political motive should be ascribed to it.
The West Bengal government declassified 64 files on freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in Kolkata on Friday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has assets worth Rs 1.26 crore while Defence and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley stands out as the richest minister with assets totalling Rs 72.10 crore.
There is going to be no defence of freedom of thought from this government.
Jammu and Kashmir police Wednesday evening filed an FIR against hardline separatist leader, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Masarat Alam Bhat and other separatist leaders 'for provocative activities and hoisting Pakistan flag' in summer capital Srinagar.
Government on Friday said it will bring a comprehensive law to criminalise marital rape by amending the IPC and was awaiting the Law Commission report on the issue.
Citing the incidents in the Jawaharlal Nehru University and the Patiala House court, the opposition led by the Congress on Thursday slammed the government in Rajya Sabha and alleged that law and order in Delhi had deteriorated
The party alleged that the governor's actions have created a 'constitutional crisis' and constitutional tenets of propriety are being 'wantonly disregarded'.
Nine young men killed in police firing last August have become symbols of oppression of the tribals of Manipur.
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