The government on Monday announced a policy and guidelines for remotely piloted aircraft, or drones, which will come into effect from December 1 and aim to open up an array of opportunities in the Indian civil aviation sector.

Unveiling the "Drone Regulations 1.0" here, Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu said that these would help foster technology and innovation in the development of drones - which have an extensive range of applications ranging from disaster relief, aerial surveys and in agriculture to precision logistics.

"The drone market in India holds the potential of hitting over $1 trillion (roughly Rs. 70 lakh crores). We plan to develop drone manufacture not only for the domestic market but to cater to the gobal market as well," Prabhu said, adding that India's expertise in technology is characterised by its capacity to devise low-cost solutions.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is on track to sending a human to space in its ‘Gaganyaan Mission’, the space agency said Tuesday. “The total programme cost is expected to be less than Rs 10,000 crores. Two unmanned Gaganyaan missions will be undertaken prior to sending humans to space,” ISRO chief K Sivan told reporters.

Sivan said the GSLV Mk-III launch vehicle, which has the necessary payload capability for the mission, will be used. “The total programme is expected to be completed by 2022 with the first unmanned flight within 30 months,” he said adding: “The mission will aim to send a three-person crew to space for a period of seven days where they will do microgravity experiments.”

The union steel ministry has launched a first-of-its-kind initiative through a Corporate Sports Policy for its Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs). The move will help nurture the country’s sports talent and groom sizeable number of medal hopes for the Olympics in 2024, an official statement said on Monday.

The policy document was released by Chaudhary Birender Singh,Union Minister of Steel. In his address, the minister said sports now acts as a change agent. India’s steel sector ..

PV Sindhu yet again finished second-best in a major final but grabbed a historic individual silver medal at the Asian Games after losing the women's singles title clash to world number one Tai Tzu Ying on Tuesday. Sindhu lost 13-21, 16-21 to Tai Tzu Ying in the summit clash. No Indian had ever reached the final of a singles event at the Asian Games before the 23-year-old from Hyderabad, who lost 13-21 16-21 to Chinese Taipei's Tai in just 34 minutes. It is the first time that India has won two individual medals at the Asian Games with Saina Nehwal clinching a bronze earlier. (MEDAL TALLY)

The Indian economy is in for a rough ride, with rising oil prices set to continue weighing on its already-weakened currency, widen its deficit, and affect its growth outlook.

Rebounding oil prices — and India's unrelenting demand for it — will push up oil imports and widen its current account deficit, which measures the flow of goods, services and investments into and out of the country, economists say.

That widening deficit will result in a weakening rupee, they say, as more imports mean India has to buy more foreign currencies to meet its needs.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that the absence of an international policy against the generation of blasphemous content is a "collective failure" on part of the Muslim countries.
Addressing Pakistan's senate for the first time as Prime Minister, Mr Khan on Monday said his government will raise the matter before the UN, adding: "However, I do not think that would do much," Dawn news reported.

The senate had passed a resolution to bring the UN's attention to the matter regarding the announcement by the leader of Dutch Freedom Party and Parliamentarian Geert Wilders to hold a competition of blasphemous caricatures.

Pakistan's Foreign Office last week had called the charge d'affaires of the Netherlands to record a protest against the announcement by Wilders.

The union minister J P Nadda has launched the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) today to provide cashless and paperless access to health care services in public and private empanelled hospitals across the country. The scheme is a big leap in improving the healthcare status, as will provide a health insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh to crore of families. The scheme will cover 10.74 crore rural and urban families as identified in SECC 2011.

The 29 states and Union Territories have signed the MoU and have started working on the implementation of the mission. The states are going to decide on the mode of implementation with 7 states plan to adopt the insurance mode, 18 states will follow the trust route while the remaining 9 will follow the mixed model.

Neeraj Chopra became the first Indian javelin-thrower to win an Asian Games gold medal as he shattered his own national record by clearing a distance of 88.06m in Jakarta on Monday.

Chopra’s gold is only the second medal India has won in javelin throw in Asian Games history after Gurtej Singh won bronze in 1982 in New Delhi.

The 20-year-old’s winning throw came in his third attempt. He began with 83.46m and fouled the second attempt.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to launch the second phase of the FAME India scheme on September 7 that offers incentives for buying electric vehicles in bulk with an outlay of Rs 5,500 crore, officials said. An inter-ministerial panel finalised the modalities of the scheme and it is expected to be placed before the Union Cabinet for approval and PM Modi would launch the scheme at the opening session of the ‘MOVE’ – a global summit – that is scheduled for September 7-8, in the presence of many CEOs from the automobile sector, news agency PTI said.

PV Sindhu stormed into the final of the women’s singles event at the 18th Asian Games after beating Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in Jakarta. The Rio Olympics silver medallist beat Yamaguchi for a third straight time in a gritty contest where Sindhu won 21-17, 15-21, 21-10. With the win, Sindhu has become the first Indian to reach the final of Asian Games in either singles or doubles.

Sindhu had beaten Yamaguchi at the World Championships in China and most recently in the team event at the Asian Games.

Sindhu started sluggishly making numerous unforced errors but recovered quickly to take control of the match. Despite Yamaguchi’s energetic game, Sindhu stood tall to weather the attack. Sindhu remained solid at the net, using a variety of stroke to force the Japanese player into errors. A long rally ensued at 20-17 but Yamaguchi sent her smash wide to put the Indian ahead.