Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday launched the ‘Mera Yuva Bharat’ — ‘MY Bharat’ — platform and said it will play a big role in nation-building in the 21st century.

At an event marking the culmination of the ‘Meri Maati Mera Desh’ campaign and the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav at the Kartavya Path New Delhi, the prime minister also laid an e-foundation stone of an Amrit Mahotsav Smarak and Amrit Vatika.

Before the launch, Prime Minister Modi offered soil into the Amrit Kalash and applied a ’tilak’ on his forehead with the ‘mitti’.

The Amrit Mahotsav Smarak and Amrit Vatika will come up near the India Gate.

In his address, PM Modi said the coming generations will be reminded of this historic occasion through the memorial and garden.

Mera Yuva Bharat (MY Bharat) is an autonomous body which will help set the focus of the government on youth-led development and make the youths “active drivers” of development, the Union culture ministry said earlier.

The prime minister said it will play a big role in nation-building in the 21st century.

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday backed President Joe Biden’s nominee, former Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, to be the next U.S. ambassador to Israel, despite Republican objections over his past dealings with Iran.

The Senate voted 53 to 43, largely along party lines, with Biden’s fellow Democrats backing Lew and most Republicans opposing him. Lew needed only a simple majority in the 100-member Senate to win confirmation.

Democrats had pushed to fill the vacancy at the embassy in Israel quickly in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel from Gaza by Iran-backed Hamas militants.

Republicans sharply criticized Lew over the 2015 Iran nuclear deal sealed during former Democratic President Barack Obama’s administration. They criticized Lew’s work while in Obama’s cabinet to implement the agreement with a country that is a sworn enemy of Israel.

Supporting Lew, Democratic Senator Ben Cardin, who chairs the foreign relations panel, noted Lew’s qualifications and said Israel had welcomed his nomination.

“I would hope my colleagues would vote for his confirmation recognizing that we could not have a more qualified individual representing America as our ambassador to Israel,” Cardin said.

Urging “no” votes, Senator Jim Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he wanted to support Israel but felt Lew had mishandled dealings with Iran by giving it access to U.S. financial markets. He called Lew’s selection “very disappointing.”

Republicans – and some Democrats – objected to the international nuclear pact, in which Iran agreed to halt its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. Republican former President Donald Trump, who took office in 2017, pulled Washington out of the pact in 2018.

Washington has not had an ambassador to Israel since July, when Tom Nides left the post. Biden nominated Lew in September.

 Hours after returning home from Italy, an NRI man allegedly killed his wife by repeatedly thrashing her head on the floor of their house in a village here, police said on Tuesday.

Kapurthala Senior Superintendent of Police Vatsala Gupta said the non-resident Indian identified as Sukhdev Singh returned to his house in Sandhu Chatha village from Italy on Monday.

On the same day, he had a heated argument with his wife Harpreet Kaur (45) over some issue, the SSP said.

Singh dragged Kaur to his room and allegedly thrashed her head repeatedly on the floor, killing her on the spot, he added.

The police said a case has been registered against the absconding accused and efforts are on to nab him.