Rhea Singha, an 18-year-old from Gujarat, has captured hearts and headlines after being crowned Miss Universe India 2024. Competing against 51 talented finalists, Rhea emerged victorious during the grand finale held in Jaipur, Rajasthan.
While Rhea claimed the top spot, the competition was fierce. Pranjal Priya was named the first runner-up, followed by Chhavi Verg in second place. Sushmita Roy and Ruopfuzhano Whiso secured the third and fourth runner-up positions, respectively, showcasing the diverse talent present at the event.
In a significant achievement for Odisha's sporting community, Pratyasa Ray has been awarded the 32nd Ekalabya Puraskar for 2024. The decision was reached unanimously by the Ekalabya Puraskar Committee, which comprises distinguished jury members from various sectors, during a meeting.
Pratyasa Ray, a rising star in swimming with an impressive track records, has emerged as this year’s standout recipient. As part of the award, Ray will be awarded a cash prize of Rs. 7 lakhs—an increase from the previous Rs. 5 lakhs, along with a citation at the Ekalabya Puraskar award ceremony to be held at a later date.
Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo was elected president of the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) after he beat his rival VK Dhall 36-21 in the polls held at the Constitution Club of India here.
Kalikesh, a former MP from Odisha, was taking care of the day-to-day functioning of the NRAI after the position fell vacant last year following the resignation of Raninder Singh.
Last year, the Sports Ministry had issued a directive that heads of national sports federations (NSFs) cannot hold office for more than 12 years as per the NSC. The ministry had pointed out in March 2023 that Raninder had completed 12 years as president from Dec 29, 2010 to Dec 29, 2022 and as per the code, he cannot continue any further.
After Raninder stepped down in April last year, the NRAI has been headed by its senior vice-president Kalikesh.
During Kalikesh's tenure as caretaker head of the federation, India won three bronze at the Paris Olympics, thus breaking the jinx of going without a medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2020 Tokyo Games. Kalikesh will remain president till 2025.
Union home ministry has cancelled the FCRA (Foreign Contribution Registration Act) licence of the International Cooperatives Alliance (ICA) for its alleged violation of rules, ET has learnt.
ICA is the apex body representing cooperatives worldwide and provides knowledge, expertise and coordinated action in the field.
Founded in 1895, ICA is one of the oldest non-governmental organizations and has over 1 billion members.
ICA is planning to hold a global conference in New Delhi for the first time in November this year. It will bring cooperatives from around the world and explore their role in creating a collective, peaceful and prosperous future for all, according to ICA's website.
The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, and SISA, a global leader in forensics Cyber Security jointly launched the Certified Security Professional for Artificial Intelligence (CSPAI) program which is first of its kind ANAB-accredited AI security certification.
The Public-Private Partnership (PPP) initiative between CERT-In and SISA marked a significant milestone in AI security certification in India. The CSPAI program equips security professionals with the skills needed to effectively integrate AI into business applications while adhering to sustainable practices.
In a ceremony organised by SISA at their Headquarters in Bengaluru, the Director General of CERT-In, Dr. Sanjay Bahl along with Founder and CEO of SISA, Mr. Dharshan Shanthamurthy released and handed over the ANAB-accredited AI Security Certification (CSPAI) certificates to cybersecurity professionals.
The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) is a Government organization under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India. CERT-In has been designated to serve as National agency for incident response under Section 70B of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
SISA is a global forensics-driven cybersecurity solutions company.
Indian delegation attended the first in-Person meeting of the Supply Chain Council of the Indo-Pacific Economic Forum (IPEF) for Prosperity held in Washington DC on 12 September 2024 followed by Crisis Response Network meeting on 13 September 2024.
These formal meetings were preceded by Panel discussions on various topics related to supply chain resilience with special focus on the United States initiatives including the creation of dedicated Supply Chain Centre and development of the tool like SCALE. While the US is the Chair, India is the vice Chair of the Supply Chain Council.
Substantial progress was made in this meeting. The Council adopted the one-year work plan detailing the action to be taken by the Council for the entire year. Apart from this, the major achievements were the establishment of three Action Plan Teams pertaining to three sectors, namely Semiconductor; Critical Minerals with a focus on batteries; and Chemicals.
After the in-person meeting of the IPEF Supply Chain Council, the Crisis Response Network (CRN) meeting, chaired by the Republic of Korea, was held on 13 September 2024. During the meeting, as part of capacity building, CRN conducted an emergency simulation exercise (table top exercise) involving a supply chain disruption impacting the import and,
use of certain chemicals by IPEF countries and discussed ways to enhance collaboration across IPEF. CRN is focused on addressing immediate supply chain disruptions.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) imposed a penalty of ₹1 crore on Jai Anmol Ambani, son of Anil Ambani, for alleged irregularities in Reliance Home Finance. Jai Anmol did not exercise reasonable due diligence for the entire GPCL(general purpose working capital ) lending and the onward lending by these GPCL entities to other Reliance ADAG group companies,
including Reliance Capital, the markets regulator alleged. Sebi said that Jai Anmol approved unsecured loan of ₹20 crores to Visa Capital Partners and ₹20 crore to Accura Production Pvt Ltd. Sebi also imposed a penalty of ₹25 crore on Anil Ambani and restrained him from holding key managerial or directorial roles in any listed company or market intermediary for five years.
Senior IPS officers Alok Ranjan and Amit Garg were appointed as the chiefs of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) and Hyderabad-based Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy (SVPNPA) respectively, according to an official order.
Ranjan, a 1991-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre, has been appointed as the Director, NCRB for a tenure up to his superannuation on June 30, 2026, it said. He succeeds his service and batchmate Vivek Gogia, who has been repatriated to the AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory) cadre.
Garg, a 1993-batch IPS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre, has been appointed as the Director, of SVPNPA for a term up to his retirement on October 31, 2027, the order said.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointments of four senior IPS officers, all from the 1993 batch -- Rithwik Rudra (Himachal Pradesh cadre), Mahesh Dixit (Andhra Pradesh cadre),
Praveen Kumar (West Bengal cadre) and Arvind Kumar (Bihar cadre) as Special Director in the Intelligence Bureau (IB).
All these officers were working as the Additional Director in the IB.
Besides them, Praveer Ranjan has been appointed as Special Director General in Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) for a tenure of two years.
Vitul Kumar, currently ADG in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), has been appointed as Special DG in the same force, till the date of his superannuation on August 31, 2028.
R Prasad Meena, at present ADG in the Border Security Force (BSF), has been appointed as Special DG in the force, till the date of his retirement, that is July 31, 2025.
Under a transformative collaboration with the US, India will get a national security semiconductor fabrication plant that will produce chips for use in military hardware and next-generation telecommunications.
The India-US joint project was announced following talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden in Wilmington.
A joint fact sheet on Modi-Biden talks said the two leaders "hailed" the semiconductor project as a "watershed arrangement".
It will be the first-ever India-US semiconductor fabrication partnership.
It is the first time the US military has agreed to do a partnership for these highly-value technologies with India and,
it is a watershed moment as it is as significant as the civil nuclear deal, people familiar with the matter said.
It said the "fab, which will be established with the objective of manufacturing infrared, gallium nitride and silicon carbide semiconductors, will be enabled by support from the India semiconductor mission as well as a strategic technology partnership between,
Bharat Semi, 3rdiTech, and the US Space Force."
The Fab becomes not only India's first, but one of the world's first multi-material fabs for national security, the people cited above said.
It said Modi and Biden commended ongoing efforts to build more expansive cooperation around 5G deployment and next-generation telecommunications.
S&P Global Ratings maintained India's growth forecast at 6.8 percent while noting that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may cut interest rates in October. In its economic outlook for the Asia-Pacific region, S&P also retained its gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for the financial year 2025-26 (FY26) at 6.9 percent.
It noted that India’s strong growth would help the RBI manage inflation.
"In India, GDP growth moderated in the June quarter as high interest rates tempered urban demand, in line with our projection of 6.8 per cent GDP for the full financial year 2024-25," S&P said. In FY24, India's economic growth rate reached an impressive 8.2 per cent.
The Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA), Government of India has constituted a committee of experts under the chairmanship of Shri Bharat Khera, Additional Secretary, DoCA to recommend a robust framework for Repairability Index and to empower consumers and promote sustainable practices within the tech industry.
By developing Repairability Index, DoCA seeks to provide consumers with greater transparency of repair information for their products and foster a more sustainable technology industry.
In a significant step towards promoting consumer rights and sustainability, the National Workshop on the Right to Repair in the Mobile and Electronics Sector convened on August 29, 2024,
has brought together industry stakeholders to establish a consensus in terms of framework for evaluating components for repairability index, fostering longevity in product design, and democratizing access to repair information as well as the availability of spare parts even after products are discontinued.
The committee is expected to recommend enabling a framework for Policies/Rules/Guidelines that support repairability and integration of the repairability index with the extant regulatory provisions in the mobile and electronics sector to enhance consumer experiences in reusing the mobile and electronics products they own.
Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh inaugurated the 41st edition of Indian Coast Guard (ICG) Commanders’ Conference in New Delhi on September 24, 2024. The three-day meeting serves as a vital forum for ICG Commanders to engage in meaningful discussions on strategic, operational & administrative matters in the backdrop of the evolving geopolitical landscapes and,
complexities of maritime security.
The conference provides a platform for senior ICG leaders to meticulously evaluate key operational, material, logistical, HR development, training, and administrative initiatives undertaken over the past year. They will also deliberate on vital milestones essential for the protection of the maritime interests of the nation.
The Commanders will assess ongoing ICG projects designed to bolster Indigenisation through the ‘Make in India’ initiative, harmonising with the Government’s vision of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’. Defence Secretary Shri Giridhar Aramane, Secretary (Defence Production) Shri Sanjeev Kumar and Secretary (Ex-Servicemen Welfare) Dr Niten Chandra were among the senior officers present.
In a significant step towards advancing carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) technologies, Abhay Karandikar, Secretary to the Department of Science and Technology (DST), laid the foundation stone for India’s first CO2-to-methanol pilot plant at Thermax Limited in Pune, Maharashtra.
With a capacity of 1.4 tons per day (TPD), the plant marks a pioneering effort in carbon reduction and conversion technology. The event was attended by key figures from the DST, including Anita Gupta, Adviser and Head, and Neelima Alam, Associate Head, along with officials from the Climate, Energy, and Sustainable Technology (CEST) division.
The project is being implemented under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) between the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, and Thermax Limited. With an estimated cost of ₹31 crore, the initiative is supported by the DST under the Ministry of Science and Technology.
