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<p><strong>Top Cong Leaders, Office-Bearers Across Country To Meet On Jan 4 To Discuss Poll Preparedness, Yatra</strong></p>
<p>Top Congress leaders from across the country will hold a meeting on January 4 to discuss the party’s preparedness for the crucial 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the upcoming Bharat Nyay Yatra.</p>
<p>The Congress will hold a day-long meeting of its general secretaries, PCC presidents and CLP leaders among others, party sources said.</p>
<p>The meeting, which will be chaired by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, will be held at the AICC headquarters here.</p>
<p>Sources said the preparations for the ensuing general elections 2024 and the Bharat Nyay Yatra beginning from Imphal to Mumbai on January 14, would be discussed during the meeting.</p>
<p><strong>Jaishankar And Saud To Co-Chair Nepal-India Joint Commission Meeting On January 4-5</strong></p>
<p>External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and his Nepali counterpart Narayan Prakash Saud will co-chair the seventh Nepal-India Joint Commission meeting on Thursday and Friday during which they will review the overall state of bilateral ties and initiate steps to further enhance cooperation.</p>
<p>Jaishankar is arriving on Thursday on a two-day official visit to Nepal, his first foreign trip in 2024, at the invitation of Saud.</p>
<p>Both leaders will lead their respective delegations at the seventh Nepal-India Joint Commission, according to a Foreign Ministry press release here.</p>
<p>During the Joint Commission meeting, “the entire gamut of Nepal-India relations will be reviewed”, according to Foreign Ministry spokesperson Amrit Bahadur Rai.</p>
<p><strong>VP Dhankhar To Inaugurate Biotech Startup Expo In Kathua On Jan 4</strong></p>
<p>Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar will inaugurate a biotech start-up expo in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday in a bid to develop the district along the international border with Pakistan as hub for budding entrepreneurs.</p>
<p>The expo titled ‘Emerging Startup Trends in North India’ at the Biotech Park in Kathua will see the participation of 25 startups comprising 11 from Jammu and Kashmir, six from Gurgaon and Noida, three each from Chandigarh and Kanpur and one each from Dehradun and Roorkee, Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh said.</p>
<p>Making a strong pitch for the youth to take up entrepreneurship instead of pursuing government jobs, Singh said the bio-diversity rich region of Jammu was home to numerous startups in the biotech sector focusing on plants such as lavender and mint.</p>
<p>"We are developing Kathua Biotech Park as a hub for startups as it offers land at competitive rates to entrepreneurs from Punjab and Himachal Pradesh," Jitendra Kumar, Managing Director of Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) said.</p>