Shooters Avani Lekhara and Mona Aggarwal opened India's account at the 2024 Paris Paralympics by securing gold and bronze medals, respectively, in the women's 10m air rifle standing SH1 event. Avani, who won the gold medal in the same event at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, successfully defended her title, setting a Paralympic Games record with 249.7 points in the final standings.

India's para-shooter Mona Aggarwal, who secured the bronze medal, finished with 228.7 points in the final standings.

Avani, who became the first Indian woman para-shooter to win gold in the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, is now also the only Indian woman to win two gold medals at the 2024 Paris Paralympics. Avani met with an accident when she was just 11 years old and became wheelchair-bound. She broke her own Paralympics Games record of 249.6 points in Tokyo by scoring 249.7 in Paris.

National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO) has been conferred with the prestigious Biju Patnaik Sports Award for the year 2023 for best contribution to the promotion of sports and games.

On behalf of the company, Shri Sridhar Patra, CMD, NALCO, received the prestigious award from Shri Mohan Charan Majhi, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Odisha, at a special function held on Thursday on the occasion of National Sports Day, at the Convention Centre, Lok Seva Bhawan, Bhubaneswar.

A Navratna CPSE under Ministry of Mines, Government of India, NALCO has been a strong advocate for sports, supporting sportspersons, events and infrastructure development.

Upon receiving the award, NALCO CMD Shri Sridhar Patra expressed his gratitude and said, “We are honoured and inspired to continue supporting and fostering sports and related activities in the State and Nation. Receiving the Biju Patnaik Sports Award will further boost our dedication to support the sporting community”.

Moody’s Ratings raised India’s growth forecast for 2024 to 7.2 percent from 6.8 percent projected earlier, predicting a higher pick up for private consumption.

"These forecast changes assume strong broad-based growth and we recognise potentially higher forecasts if the cyclical momentum, especially for private consumption, gains more traction," the rating agency said.

It also cited strong performances on industrial and service sector, indicated by Purchasing Managers' Index, as sign of higher momentum.

"Household consumption is poised to grow as headline inflation eases toward the RBI’s target. Indeed, signs of a revival in rural demand are already emerging, on the back of improving prospects for agricultural output amid above-normal rainfall during the monsoon season," Moody's Ratings further noted.

Nepal Tourism Board has received the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Gold Award in Sustainable Tourism for Livelihood Recovery Project (STLRP). This is the third time NTB has received a PATA award in community-based tourism. The award recognizes the project’s efforts in creating employment opportunities and enhancing sustainable tourism development in all seven provinces of Nepal.

NTB’s STLRP previously won the PATA Gold Award in 2022 and 2023. In 2022, it was recognized for Tourism Destination Resilience, and in 2023, for its initiatives in women’s empowerment through tourism, sustainability, and social responsibility. This Community-based tourism project has generated short-term employment for around 10,000 tourism workers and provided capacity-building training for 4,000 individuals since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, Kerala Tourism of India has won the PATA Gold Award 2024 in the Digital Marketing category. Kerala’s Department of Tourism online contest of Holiday Heist was a winning entry in this category.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off three new Vande Bharat Express trains on Saturday, including two in the Southern Railway zone. The new trains will operate between Chennai Egmore and Nagercoil in Tamil Nadu, Madurai and Bengaluru Cantonment, and Meerut and Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh.

The ceremonial events will take place at Dr MGR Chennai Central railway station and Madurai Junction in the Southern Railway zone. The two new services are scheduled to begin operations on September 2.

The Chennai Egmore-Nagercoil Vande Bharat Express (20627/20628) train will run six days a week, excluding Wednesdays. The stoppages for the train are at Chennai Egmore, Tambaram, Villupuram, Tiruchchirappalli, Dindigul, Madurai, Kovilpatti, Tirunelveli, and Nagercoil Junction.

NTPC Kanti has proudly been awarded the prestigious Silver medal for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) innovation by the Indo-Continental Trade and Entrepreneurship Promotion Council. This recognition, presented through the esteemed Tusker Awards, highlights NTPC Kanti's commitment to impactful CSR initiatives that foster community development and social welfare.

Shri Madhu S, Head of Project at NTPC Kanti, expressed his gratitude for the accolade, stating, "This award is a testament to our unwavering dedication to CSR. It reflects our efforts in various domains, including skill development, youth employment, women empowerment, health and well-being, mobility and accessibility, infrastructure development, and educational support."

The Government on Wednesday named interim chairmen for top oil firms, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL), as the appointment of full-time heads is work in progress.

Satish Kumar Vaduguri, Director (Marketing), IOC has been appointed interim chairman of the company for three months starting September 1, an oil ministry order said.

He replaces Shrikant Madhav Vaidya who completes his extended term at month-end.

In a separate order, the ministry appointed Rajneesh Narang, Director (Finance), HPCL as the chairman and managing director of the company for three-month period starting September 1.

He would replace Pushp Kumar Joshi who superannuates on completion of 60 years of age on August 31.

With government headhunter PESB not finding anyone suitable, three-member search-cum-selection committees are looking for heads at both IOC and HPCL.

Bangladesh has been crowned the new champion of the SAFF (South Asian Football Federation) U-20 Championship football tournament after defeating hosts Nepal by 4-1 in the final yesterday. This is the first time that Bangladesh has won this Championship.

Along with Nepal and Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, the Maldives and Bhutan participated in the competition that began on August 18, 2024.

India had won SAFFU-20 in 2019, 2022 and 2023. The SAFF U-20 Championship is a biennial football championship for male footballers under the age of 20 and is organized by the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF).

WHO has declared Dhulikhel Municipality of Kavrepalanchok district as Nepal’s first ‘healthy city’ and second healthiest city in Asia. Since 2014, Dhulikhel Municipality has implemented various programmes to achieve the status.

Dhulikhel Municipality, which initiated a campaign to become a healthy city, has been monitored by the World Health Organisation since 2021 to achieve the feat of becoming Nepal’s healthiest city. Dhulikhel scored 65.48 points on various indicators for healthy cities, joining the WHO Healthy City Network. The evaluations were made on various indicators, including citizens’ access to health, their participation in health policy-making, political commitment to health, nutrition, child health and innovative health initiatives such as tuberculosis-free and nutrition-friendly programmes, among others. The municipality is awarded USD 5,000 for implementing various programmes under the Healthy City initiative.

This news comes amidst reports of Nepal being the third most polluted country in the world, based on satellite-derived particulate matter 2.5 data.

Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari, Chief of the Air Staff, Indian Air Force launched the first Comic Book in the series "Heroes of the Indian Air Force" on Wednesday.

Anubhav Khanduri General Manager of National Film Development Corporation of India and his team played a key role in the development and design of the book.

The officials said that it was the vision of the Chief of the Air Staff that heroic narratives of the Air Force's role in the war and the annals of national history be depicted through the medium of comic books.