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Delhi Confidential: New assignment

This is the first time since Chouhan took charge as the Agriculture Minister in June 2024 that he won’t share the stage with PM Modi during the PM-Kisan installment release event

Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will release the 20th installment of the PM-Kisan scheme from his constituency Varanasi on Saturday. Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, however, will not join the PM at the event as he has been asked to attend the programme in poll-bound Bihar. Chouhan will attend the function via videoconferencing from Patna. This is the first time since Chouhan took charge as the Agriculture Minister in June 2024 that he won’t share the stage with PM Modi during the PM-Kisan installment release event. He has attended all three previous functions — at Varanasi (June 2024), Washim (October 2024) and Bhagalpur (February 2025) — in person.

Pledge To Protect

A recent drive showed that the Indian Armed Forces continue to be one of the biggest supporters of the country’s organ donation initiatives. Since rolling out an Aadhaar-enabled digital database of organ donors, NOTTO, the country’s apex organ donation regulator, has been conducting drives to get more and more people to sign up. In one such drive, the Indian Army, Mumbai recorded the highest number of pledges with nearly 26,000 Army personnel signing up for organ donation.

On Back Burner Again

Preparations for the BJP’s annual Tiranga Yatra seem to have put a halt on the party’s organisational elections in states such as UP and Gujarat, which, many within the BJP believe, is causing further delay in the process to elect the next national party president. BJP insiders say organisational activities around the programme have pushed the internal elections beyond “at least August 15”.