President hosts High Tea for PM, ministers ahead of I-Day

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 7

President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday interacted with members of the Union Council of Ministers and hosted a High Tea for them at the Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre.

Apart from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah and other members of the Union Council of Ministers, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu was also present on the occasion.

Sources said the Council of Ministers would likely meet daily in the evening between August 10 and 12 ahead of the Independence Day this year.

Police build makeshift wall outside fort

• The Delhi Police have erected a wall of shipping containers at the main gate of Red Fort ahead of Independence Day celebrations.
• The containers have been placed in such a way that no one is able to see inside the premises of the Mughal-era fort, from where the Prime Minister addresses the nation on Independence Day, a senior police official said.
• This is the first time that the police have put up such a high wall, the official said.

The government is planning massive nationwide celebrations to mark the entry into the 75th year of Independence. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair the meetings and chalk out a broad plan for the I-Day and the policy direction the country would take from there on. Celebrations of ‘Aazadi kaa Amrit Mahotsav’ are already a top government agenda with the Culture Ministry spearheading the event.

PM Modi, marking a departure from the norm, has also invited the Indian Olympic contingent as special guests to the I-Day event at Red Fort this year.