India bag 18 medals, including 4 gold on Day 2 of Hangzhou Asian Para Games
Hangzhou (PTI): Prachi Yadav became the first Indian to win a para canoe gold in the Asian Para Games as she led the country's medal rush for the second consecutive day here on Tuesday.
India won 18 medals on Tuesday, including four gold, taking the total tally to 35 in the first two days of competition. India had won 17 medals, including six gold, on Monday.
India remained on fourth spot in the standings with 10 gold, 12 silver and 13 bronze, behind China (155) , Iran (44) and Uzbekistan (38).
Prachi, who had won a silver in canoe VL2 category on Monday, bagged her second medal of the Games as she picked up a gold in KL2 event.
Deepthi Jeevanji (women's T20 400m), Sharath Shankarappa Makanahalli (men's T13 5000m) and Neeraj Yadav (men's F54/55/56 discus throw) were the other gold medal winners on Tuesday.
The 28-year-old Prachi, who is paralysed below the waist, clocked 54.962 to cover the 500m distance and win gold in the KL2 event, meant for athletes who propel themselves with their arms and partial trunk and leg function. She hails from Gwalior.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi appreciated the medal-winning efforts of the Indian athletes in a series of tweets.
"Congratulations to @ItzPrachi on winning the prestigious Gold Medal win in the Para Canoe Women's KL2 event. This was such an exceptional performance, which has made India proud. Best wishes for the endeavours ahead," Modi wrote on X, acknowledging the stupendous effort of Prachi.
Deepthi then won a gold in women's T20 category 400m race -- meant for athletes with intellectual impairment -- with the Games and Asian record timing of 56.69 seconds.
Makanahalli clocked 20:18.90 to win the 5000m race competed by runners with a visual impairment. Only the gold medal was awarded in this event as just two athletes competed in the event.
Indians swept all the three medals in men's F54/55/56 discus throw event with Neeraj Yadav winning the gold with the Games and Asian record distance of 38.56m. Yogesh Kathuniya (42.13m) and Muthuraja (35.06m) were second and third respectively.
Ravi Rongali (men's F40 shot put), Parmod (men's T46 1500m), Ajay Kumar (men's T64 400m) and Simran Sharma (women's T12 100m) clinched a silver each from the track. Rakesh Bhaira picked a bronze in men's T46 1500m event.
The PM also mentioned lauded their achievements on his X page.
In para shooting, Rudransh Khandelwal and Manish Narwal bagged a silver and bronze respectively in the P1 men's 10m air pistol SH1 event while Rubina Francis bagged a bronze in the P2 women's 10m air pistol SH1 category.
The bronze medal winners on the day were Manish Kaurav (men's KL3 canoe) -- who is the husband of Prachi --, Ashok (men's 65kg powerlifting), Gajendra Singh (men's VL2 canoe) and Ekta Bhayan (women's F32/51 club throw).
India picked up a whopping 17 medals, including six gold, on the first day of competitions with star shooter Avani Lekhara leading the way.
Besides Avani (women's R2 10m air rifle standing SH1), the other gold winners on Monday were Pranav Soorma (men's F51 club throw), Shailesh Kumar (men's T63 high jump), Nishad Kumar (men's T47 high jump), Ankur Dhama (men's T11 5000m) and Praveen Kumar (men's T64 high jump).
India is being represented by 313 athletes at the Hangzhou Para Asian Games, the most in any edition, with a target of winning 100 medals.
The country is participating in 17 out of the 22 sports, fielding athletes for the first time in rowing, canoeing, lawn bowl, taekwondo and blind football.
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'Made in India' must become symbol of excellence, global competitiveness: PM
New Delhi (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday called upon states to encourage manufacturing, boost 'ease of doing business' and strengthen the services sector to make India a global services giant.
Addressing the 5th National Conference of Chief Secretaries here, Modi emphasised the need for quality in governance, service delivery and manufacturing, and said the label 'Made in India' must become a symbol of excellence and global competitiveness.
He said India has the potential to become the world's food basket and the country must move towards high-value agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries to become a major food exporter.
"Called upon states to encourage manufacturing, boost 'Ease of Doing Business' and strengthen the services sector. Let us aim to make India a Global Services Giant," Modi said in a series of posts on X.
The theme of the three-day conference, which began on December 26, was 'Human Capital for Viksit Bharat'.
Modi observed that this conference marks another decisive step in strengthening the spirit of cooperative federalism and deepening Centre-State partnership to achieve the vision of a 'Viksit Bharat'.
Highlighting India's demographic advantage, he said nearly 70 per cent of the population is in the working-age group, creating a unique historical opportunity which, when combined with economic progress, can significantly accelerate the journey towards a 'Viksit Bharat', according to an official statement.
Modi said India has boarded the "Reform Express", driven primarily by the strength of its young population, and empowering this demographic remains the government's key priority.
He noted that the conference is being held at a time when the country is witnessing next-generation reforms and steadily moving towards becoming a major global economic power.
Underlining the need to strengthen 'atmanirbharta' (self-reliance), he said India must pursue self-reliance with zero defect in products and minimal environmental impact, making the label 'Made in India' synonymous with quality and strengthening the commitment to "zero effect, zero defect".
The PM urged the Centre and states to jointly identify 100 products for domestic manufacturing to reduce import dependence and strengthen economic resilience in line with the vision of 'Viksit Bharat'.
In higher education, too, he said, there is a need for academia and industry to work together to create high-quality talent.
He highlighted that India has a rich heritage and history with the potential to be among the top global tourist destinations.
Modi urged the states to prepare a roadmap for creating at least one global-level tourist destination and nourishing an entire tourist ecosystem.
He said it is important to align the national sports calendar with the global sports calendar.
"India is working to host the 2036 Olympics. India needs to prepare infrastructure and sports ecosystem at par with global standards," he said.
The prime minister said the next 10 years must be invested in the states, only then will India get the desired results in such sports events.
Every state must give this top priority and create infrastructure to attract global companies, he said.
In the services sector, Modi said, there should be greater emphasis on other areas like healthcare, education, transport, tourism, professional services and artificial intelligence, etc. to make India a global services giant.
He said India will soon be launching the National Manufacturing Mission (NMM).
States should work in tandem with the discussions and decisions emerging from the conferences of both chief secretaries and DGPs to strengthen governance and implementation.
The PM said similar conferences could be replicated at the departmental level to promote a national perspective among officers and improve governance outcomes in pursuit of a 'Viksit Bharat'.
In conclusion, he said every state must create a 10-year actionable plan based on the discussions of this conference with one, two, five and 10-year target timelines wherein technology can be utilised for regular monitoring.
The conference featured a series of special sessions that enabled focused deliberations on cross-cutting and emerging priorities.
It marks another important milestone in strengthening the Centre-State partnership through structured and sustained dialogue on national development priorities, according to the statement.
The PM's principal secretaries P K Mishra and Shaktikanta Das, Cabinet Secretary T V Somanathan, members of the NITI Aayog, chief secretaries of all states and Union territories, and domain experts attended the meeting.
Anchored in the prime minister's vision of cooperative federalism, this conference serves as the forum where the Centre and states collaborate, designing a unified roadmap to maximise India's human capital potential and accelerate inclusive, future-ready growth.
It has been organised annually over the past four years.
The first conference was held in Dharamshala in June 2022, followed by subsequent conferences in New Delhi in January 2023, December 2023 and December 2024.
