The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), in collaboration with the Australian Government, hosted a comprehensive and productive roundtable to discuss the learnings from the Australia-India Critical Agriculture Skills Pilot Project. Led by Shri Atul Kumar Tiwari, Secretary, MSDE, and Mr. Mathew Johnston, Minister Counsellor, Education and Research, Australian High Commission, the roundtable focussed on the opportunities that lay beyond in taking the initiative forward, bringing it up to scale and replicating the model to other sectors. Representatives from the National Council for Vocational Education and Training (NCVET), National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR), Ministry of Education (MoE), and Agriculture Skill Council of India (ASCI) were also part of the roundtable.

Federal Bank has joined hands with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to launch RuPay Wave Credit Card. The new card will help customers with the convenience of UPI-powered transactions on a robust RuPay network. It will seamlessly integrate the benefits and features of RuPay credit cards with the experience of UPI payments, ushering in a new era of simplicity and efficiency in digital transactions.

By leveraging the robust UPI infrastructure developed by NPCI, Federal Bank's cardholders can now link their RuPay Wave credit card to their preferred UPI applications, enabling swift and secure transactions with just a couple of clicks on their mobile devices. This is the simplest and easiest option for credit card users.

Bharti AXA Life Insurance, a wholly owned by Bharti Group, on June 19 announced the appointment of Akhil Gupta, currently the Vice Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, as its new Chairman.

With over 40 years of professional experience, Gupta has played a crucial role in the growth of Bharti Airtel since its inception, the company said in a statement.

Throughout his career, he has consistently demonstrated leadership in forging strategic partnerships for Bharti with leading investors such as Warburg Pincus, Temasek, KKR, Qatar Foundation Endowment, AIF, and Sequoia Capital, the statement added.

Kalash Gupta, a computer science and engineering student at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, has been declared the winner of a global coding contest, TCS CodeVita, season 10 that saw the participation of over 100,000 contestants from 87 countries, said a press release issued by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).

CodeVita holds the Guinness World Records title as the world’s largest computer programming competition. The first and second runner ups of the contest were from Chile and Taiwan respectively.

Famous Canadian actor Donald Sutherland, known for his iconic roles in films like 'The Dirty Dozen' and "The Hunger Games," has died at the age of 88 in Miami following an extended illness, according to Variety.

Born in Saint John, New Brunswick, Sutherland rose to fame with a diverse array of roles that showcased his versatility and talent. He became a countercultural icon with roles in classic films such as "The Dirty Dozen," "MASH," "Klute," and "Don't Look Now," among many others. Throughout his career, he portrayed villains, antiheroes, romantic leads, and mentor figures with equal aplomb, winning accolades and adoration from audiences worldwide.

The State government has appointed S. Tripathy, professor, Department of Geology and Geophysics, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, West Bengal, as the first director of the University of Visvesvaraya College of Engineering (UVCE).

Prof. Tripathy has been appointed for four years from the date of assumption of office or up to attaining the age of 70 years, whichever is earlier.

Earlier, the government appointed D. Manjunath, professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B), on March 8, 2023, as the first director of UVCE. But, he did not take charge even after a year of his appointment.

Inaugurating two ‘Smart Conference Halls’ at the Campus for digital and immersive learning experience, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Earth Sciences, MoS PMO, Department of Atomic Energy, Department of Space and MoS Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Dr. Jitendra Singh, said “Smart Conference halls are a step towards Prime Minister Modi’s Vision of Amrit Kaal”, highlighting that addition of two more conference halls will take the number of conference halls to 9 ,enabling simultaneous seminars to be conducted in these halls enhancing the overall quality of learning.”

Speaking on the occasion Dr. Jitendra Singh praised the institution for its dedication, Commitment and contribution in the field of Statistics, Public Policy and administration. He said, "India is gradually realising the importance of statistics which was well recognized in the 18th century world curriculum.”

The United Kingdom (UK) has overtaken China to become India’s fourth-largest export market in May, commerce department data showed. The UK was India’s sixth-largest export destination in May last year.

While exports to the UK grew by a third to $1.37 billion in May, the shipments to China saw 3 per cent growth at $1.33 billion last month.

The disaggregated data for May wasn’t immediately available, but trends over the past few months showed that exports to the UK were dominated by items such as machinery, food items, pharmaceutical products, textiles, jewellery, iron, and steel, among other items.

India and Cambodia discuss investment treaty, collaboration in UPI and traditional medicine

India hosted the second meeting of the India-Cambodia Joint Working Group on Trade and Investment (JWGTI) on Thursday.

During the meeting, the two nations discussed cooperation in traditional medicine and e-governance, diversification of the trade basket by identifying new products, a bilateral investment treaty, recognition of the Indian Pharmacopoeia, and collaboration in the pharmaceutical sector.

Additionally, the progress of ongoing efforts for collaboration in Unified Payment Interface (UPI) based digital payments to promote trade and tourism was discussed.

Siddharth Mahajan, Joint Secretary, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, highlighted measures to deepen bilateral trade and investment and emphasized the creation of mechanisms for cooperation and collaboration in sectors of mutual interest.

Sangam Networking Event in Delhi has brought out comprehensive blueprints for Digital Twin-enabled solutions, addressing challenges and leveraging diverse data sources. These outputs will guide the design and architecture of solutions, define roles for various parties, identify potential customers, outline funding structures, establish governance mechanisms, and create roadmaps for implementation.

The first Networking Event of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT)’s Sangam - Digital Twin initiative, was successfully hosted by IIT Delhi, on June 18-19 2024. The event brought together over 100 participants, including representatives from leading companies to discuss innovative digital solutions across various sectors.