India and Pakistan agreed to renew their agreement to operate the Kartarpur Corridor to facilitate pilgrims from India to visit the Kartarpur Sahib Gurudwara for another five years on Tuesday.

The renewal of the project, originally proposed during the tenure of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan as a Confidence Building Measure, has weathered the sharp downturn in relations between India and Pakistan.

“The Agreement, signed on 24 October 2019 to facilitate the visit of pilgrims from India to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur, Narowal, Pakistan through the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor, was valid for a period of five years,” said the Ministry of External Affairs in a statement issued on Tuesday, adding that the extension until 2029 would ensure “uninterrupted operation of the Corridor for use by the pilgrims from India to visit the holy Gurdwara in Pakistan”.

Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) has been awarded with SHRM - HR Excellence Awards for ‘Excellence in Inclusion, Equity & Diversity’ and ‘Excellence in Managing the Distributed Workforce’ categories at the prestigious SHRM India Annual Conference 2024 held in New Delhi, recently.

The awards are a testimony to the pioneering HR practices and initiatives being undertaken across SAIL, at its various plants and units spread nationwide, for inclusive growth of the workforce in the organisation. The company regards its employees as fundamental to its success and at the heart of all its operations. SAIL has been continually undertaking various steps for better employee motivation and engagement.

India has dispatched the first tranche of assistance, comprising 30 tons of medicine and food items today as humanitarian assistance for the people of Palestine. The assistance has been sent through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestine refugees in the Near East.

In a social media post, External Affairs Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, the consignment includes essential medicines and surgical supplies such as dental products, general medical items and high-energy biscuits.

Luong Cuong, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee and permanent member of the CPV Central Committee Secretariat, has been elected as Vietnam’s President.

The ongoing 8th session of the 15th-tenure National Assembly (NA) elected Cuong as President yesterday for the tenure until 2026. All 440 deputies present at the meeting, equivalent to 91.67 per cent of the total number of NA deputies, voted in favour of

Cuong replaces To Lam, who remained president even after he was formally appointed as the general secretary of the ruling Communist Party in August. Taking the oath, the new President pledged to fulfil the tasks assigned by the party, the state, and the people.

The role of the general secretary is the most powerful position in Vietnam while the presidency is mostly ceremonial and involves meeting foreign dignitaries.

The 24th National Para-Swimming Championship concluded on a triumphant note as Karnataka secured the overall championship title with an impressive 392 points.

In a closely contested event, Maharashtra finished in second place with 378 points, while Rajasthan took third with 248 points.

The event witnessed participation from 518 swimmers, with 360 men and 158 women competing across various categories. Remarkably, 231 of the participants were first-time competitors, reflecting the expanding reach of para-swimming across the nation.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has launched its ambitious Moonlight programme, aiming to create a dedicated satellite constellation for telecommunication and navigation services on the Moon. This initiative seeks to make essential services like satellite navigation, video conferencing and data sharing as seamless on the lunar surface as they are on Earth.

The Moonlight Lunar Communications and Navigation Services (LCNS) programme is a collaboration between ESA and a consortium led by space systems developer Telespazio, with support from the UK and Italian space agencies. The project aims to enable precise lunar landings, facilitate surface mobility, and establish a high-speed, low-latency communication network between Earth and the Moon. This infrastructure will be crucial for humanity's long-term presence on the Moon and will significantly reduce operational costs for future missions.

The Election Commission on Monday appointed Jharkhand cadre senior-most IPS officer Ajay Kumar Singh as the state DGP, sources said, days after the poll panel removed Anurag Gupta as the acting police chief.

An officer of the 1989 batch of the Indian Police Service, Singh was selected from a panel of three IPS officers whose names were sent by the state government.

The names were sent after the poll authority on Saturday ordered the removal of acting DGP Anurag Gupta due to his "history" of election-related misconduct in previous polls.

Newly inaugurated President Prabowo Subianto announced Indonesia's largest-ever Cabinet on Sunday (October 20, 2024), with 109 members representing his pledge for a strong government. He named his Cabinet of Ministers, Vice-Ministers and head of national agencies the “Red and White Cabinet”, referring to the colours of Indonesia's flag.

Mr. Subianto became the eighth president of Southeast Asia's largest economy on Sunday (October 20, 2024). The Cabinet of Mr. Subianto's predecessor Joko Widodo had 34 Ministers and head of government agencies.

Mr. Subianto has said earlier that he needs a strong administration, even though analysts said that his “fat” Cabinet would bloat the bureaucracy.

Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu on October 21 announced that the government will extend the regional air connectivity scheme UDAN for 10 more years, which means until 2036.

The Centre’s UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) scheme aimed at enhancing regional air connectivity and making flying more affordable was introduced on October 21, 2016, for 10 years. At an event on Monday, the minister said it would remain operational for another 10 years.

He noted that as many as 601 routes and 71 airports have been operationalised under the regional air connectivity scheme.

Chandigarh Haryana will implement a panel recommendation dividing the Scheduled Caste (SC) community into two groups and apply sub-quotas, chief minister Nayab Singh Saini announced on Friday, making the state India’s first province to put into action the Supreme Court’s landmark verdict on subclassification of Dalit reservations.

In August, before the assembly elections, the Haryana SC commission had recommended subclassifying the Dalit communities into two categories – deprived scheduled castes (DSC) comprising 36 groups such as Balmikis, Dhanaks, Mazhabi Sikhs and Khatiks, and other scheduled castes (OSC) comprising castes such as Chamar, Jatia Chamar, Rehgar, Raigar, Ramdasi, Ravidasi and Jatav.