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.

India has made first payment for hybrid power projects in the northern part of Sri Lanka. High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka, Santosh Jha, handed over the first payment to Secretary of the Ministry of Power and Energy, Dr. Sulakshana Jayawardena, and Chairman of the Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority, Mr. Ranjith Sepala.

These projects in Delft, Nainativu, and Analaitivu islands are being executed by an Indian entity under a Memorandum of Understanding signed between India and Sri Lanka in March 2022. The initiative, funded by a USD 11 million grant from India, aims to meet the energy needs of these islands by combining solar and wind power. Initial work has begun at the sites, with project completion expected by early March 2025 and handover by late April 2025, strengthening India’s energy partnership with Sri Lanka.

Bharti Airtel has partnered with Apple to bring exclusive offers for Apple Music and Apple TV+ to customers in India later this year, the telecom company said on Tuesday.

Apple TV+ will be included on Airtel's video-streaming service Xstream with premium wifi and postpaid plans, and users of the company's music-streaming service, Wynk Premium, will have access to offers on Apple Music, the Indian company said.

Bharti Airtel did not disclose a deal value for the partnership, nor did it provide information on the costs of the plans.

Following the deal, Airtel will exit the music vertical, and shut down its Wynk music app, absorbing all its employees, according to a Business Insider report.

Eight railway stations in the Lucknow division of Northern Railways were officially renamed after saints and freedom fighters on Tuesday, officials said.

According to an order issued by the Northern Railways, Kasimpur Halt Railway Station will now be known as Jais City Railway Station, Jais as Guru Gorakhnath Dham, Misrauli as Maa Kalikan Dham, and Bani as Swami Paramhans.

Similarly, the name of Nihalgarh Railway Station was changed to Maharaja Bijli Pasi Railway Station, Akbarganj to Maa Ahorwa Bhawani Dham, Warisganj to Amar Shahid Bhale Sultan, and Fursatganj to Tapeshwarnath Dham.

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday handed over the Indian citizenship certificate to a 78-year-old Pakistani Christian under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, making him the first such person from the coastal state.

Joseph Francis Pereira went from Goa to Pakistan for studies before liberation and subsequently took up a job there. He attained Pakistani citizenship and lived in Karachi before returning to India in 2013.

The chief minister said that though Pereira was married to a Goan woman, he faced hurdles in getting Indian citizenship till the central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi amended the Citizenship Act, 1955. He gave the certificate to Pereira in the presence of state tourism minister Rohan Khaunte.

In a significant stride towards fostering collaboration in the field of cooperative management within the fisheries sector, the Central Institute of Fisheries Education (ICAR-CIFE) and the Vaikunth Mehta National Institute of Cooperative Management (VAMNICOM) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Monday (August 26, 2024).This is an important step forward in realization of the vision of establishment of 2 lakh PACS, Dairy and Fishery Cooperatives in every Panchayat.

Fisheries in India provides livelihood to 14.46 million people and this strategic partnership aims to enhance integration and reach of advanced technology as well as promotion of value addition in fishery cooperatives. VAMNICOM and ICAR-CIFE will together explore new opportunities in the area of Fish, Fish cooperative and Fisheries ecosystem from the perspective of education, research, capacity building and consultancy.

The ceremony, held at the ICAR-CIFE campus in Mumbai, was graced by Dr. Ravishankar CN, Director and Vice Chancellor of ICAR-CIFE, and Dr. Hema Yadav, Director of VAMNICOM. Scientists, faculty members, and key team members from both institutions were also present on the occasion.

The MoU aims to bolster the synergies between ICAR-CIFE and VAMNICOM, paving the way for enhanced cooperative management practices in fisheries. Through this partnership, the institutions will collaborate on research, training and development initiatives that are expected to significantly impact the fisheries sector by improving cooperative management strategies and practices.

RINL, the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, signed a MoU(memorandum of understanding) with IOCL for the supply of hydraulic and lubricating oils & greases for a period of 5 years from 2024 to 2029.

The MoU documents were exchanged by Sri Sri AK Bagchi, Director (Projects) & additional charge Director (Operations), RINL and Sri. B. Anil Kumar, ED & State Head (TPSO-Telangana, Andhra Pradesh State office), IOCL in the august presence of Sri.R.Uday Kumar, ED(Lubes), IOCL, Sri. U. Sridhar, CGM(Works)I/c, RINL,Sri VV Somaraju, GM(MM) & in-charge HOD, MM, RINL, Sri R. Sundara Narayanan, CGM (Lubes),TAPSO, IOCL GM(Lubes), Sri NVS Murthy & GM(Lubes), TAPSO, IOCL, Sri Jayashankar Varikkat, GM, TAPSO, IOCL and senior officials of RINL and IOCL