The Indian Army destroyed five forward posts of Pakistan in a befitting retaliation to firing from across the border in Rajouri and Poonch districts of Jammu Division last night. 

A Defence spokesperson said, Pakistani troops resorted to indiscriminate firing and shelling with heavy calibre weapons in 12 to 15 places in the twin border districts. 

The Pak troops were also seen firing mortars and missiles from civilian houses, using villagers as human shields. The spokesperson said, the Indian troops retaliated strongly and caused a number of casualties to the Pak Army. However, in the exchange of fire, five Indian soldiers were injured. Two of them were taken to Military Hospital and their condition is stable.

AIR correspondent reports that a number of Pakistan Army personnel were killed and injured while their five posts were destroyed across line of Control in Sunderbani Palling ala sector last evening in retaliatory firing and shelling by the Indian side  while a Ranger was killed and six others were injured across Kanachak sector on the International border in Jammu district . In view of heightened tension between India and Pakistan amidst heavy exchange of fire along line of Control in Rajouri and Poonch the respective district administrations have ordered closure of all schools within a radius of  five kilometers from Line of Control.

President Ram Nath Kovind today conferred the Gandhi Peace Prize for 2015, 16, 17 and 18 at a function in Rashtrapati Bhavan. For 2015, Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari was given the award for its contribution in Rural Development, Education and Development of natural resources.

For 2016, the award was presented jointly to Akshaya Patra Foundation for its contribution in providing mid-day meals to millions of children across India and Sulabh International for its contribution in improving the condition of sanitation in India and emancipation of manual scavengers.

Ekal Abhiyan Trust was conferred the award for 2017 for its contribution in providing Education for Rural and Tribal Children in remote areas pan India, Rural Empowerment, Gender and Social Equality.

For 2018, Japan's Yohei Sasakawa was given the prize for his contribution in Leprosy Eradication in India and across the world.

The award, comprises a cash award of one crore rupees, a citation in a scroll, a plaque and a traditional handicraft item.

PepsiCo's India-born former CEO Indra Nooyi has joined Amazon's board of directors, the online retail giant has said. Nooyi, who stepped down as CEO of Pepsico in October last year, is the second women of colour to be added on the Amazon's board of Directors. Early this month, Starbucks executive Rosalind Brewer joined the Amazon Board.

"We're thrilled to have elected two new members to our Board of Directors this month. Welcome, Roz Brewer and Indra Nooyi," Amazon said in its announcement. Nooyi would be a member of the audit committee. 

She was Pepsico CEO from October 2006 to October 2018, where she also served as the Chairman of its board of directors from May 2007 to February 2019.

She was elected to PepsiCo's board of directors and became its President and Chief Financial Officer in 2001, and held leadership roles in finance, corporate strategy and development, and strategic planning after joining PepsiCo in 1994. Nooyi has served as a director of Schlumberger Limited since April 2015. 

With no new tax proposals, Haryana finance minister Capt Abhimanyu Monday presented Rs 1.32 lakh-crore Budget for 2019-20, with an increase of 14.73 per cent over the previous year’s estimates of Rs 1.15 lakh crore.

This is the fifth Budget of the Manohar Lal Khattar government. Coming barely a few months ahead of the Lok Sabha elections as also the state Assembly elections due later this year, the Haryana government has earmarked Rs 1,500 crore for a special pension it announced for the farmers and workers in unorganised sector.

The Budget outlay comprises Rs 37,924.09 crore or 28.7 per cent as capital expenditure, and 71.3 per cent or Rs 94,241.90 crore as revenue expenditure.

“I propose new schemes to provide financial and social security cover to families of cultivating farmers in possession of land upto five acres and for the families of workers in unorganized sector with the family income of less than Rs 15,000 per month. In case of the farmers, this will be in addition to the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme announced by Government of India. I have provided an outlay of Rs 1,500 crore for these schemes,” Abhimanyu said while commencing his Speech in the House.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday inaugurated the country's National War Memorial (NWM) adjoining the iconic India Gate complex in the heart of the capital, nearly 60 years after it was mooted to honour the fallen soldiers after Independence.

Spread over an area of approximately 40 acres, the memorial comprises four concentric circles, namely-- the 'Amar Chakra, the Veerta Chakra, the 'Tyag Chakra' and the 'Rakshak Chakra' with names of 25,942 soldiers inscribed in golden letters on granite tablets.

It also includes a central obelisk, an eternal flame and six bronze murals depicting famous battles fought by Indian Army, Air Force and Navy in a covered gallery (Veerta Chakra). 

The PM dedicated the memorial, built at a cost of Rs 176 crore, by lighting the flame positioned at the bottom of the stone-made obelisk. Rose petals were showered by IAF helicopters and a fly-past in 'Missing Man' formation was also part of the event. 

In Chess, Indian Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta lifted the Cannes International Open trophy yesterday. He took an easy draw with Pier Luigi Basso of Italy in the ninth and final round. Abhijeet won the tournament with 7.5 points. He started well in the tournament winning the first four rounds. Then two more wins and three draws happened on the way to his first solo International tournament victory.

On to Boxing, three more Indians have assured themselves of medals at the Makran Cup underway at Chabahar in Iran. Commonwealth Games silver-medallist Manish Kaushik in 60 kgs, former national champion Duryodhan Singh Negi in 69 kgs and Rohit Tokas in 64 kgs made their way into the semi-finals. The number of Indians in medals round now stands at eight.

And in women's cricket, the Indian team defeated England by seven wickets in the second ODI at Mumbai yesterday to take an unassailable 2-nil lead. The Indians bundled out England for just 161 runs in 43.3 overs.

The country's goods and services exports during the current financial year would cross USD 500 billion despite challenges being faced on the global trade front, Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu said Monday.

Prabhu said that exports are recording healthy growth so far and this financial year, "we will record the highest-ever growth rate".

The country's exports for goods and services will "cross USD 500 billion" this fiscal, he said here at Rising India Summit 2019. He said the ministry is working on identifying new products and new markets to further push the shipments.

During the April-January period of the current financial year, exports grew 9.52 per cent to USD 271.8 billion. India export services worth about USD 130-150 billion per year. Talking about proposed new industrial policy, Prabhu said everything is ready including the implementation part of the policy and "only Cabinet's approval is required".

Union Minister Piyush Goyal Monday launched Rail Drishti Dashboard, an online portal containing information related to passenger and freight trains and links to live feeds of IRCTC kitchens.

At the launch event, Goyal said, “Ours is an accountable government. We hold ourselves accountable to people’s aspirations.”

Goyal also said the NDA government has always given its report card on each of the last five years and now it is time to see people’s mandate.

He said the need for RTI applications has come down drastically due to the increased transparency in the government procedures.

About Rail Drishti, Goyal said the URL of the portal has been made so simple so that it becomes user-friendly. “Those in remote villages can access this and find out everything about Railways,” he said.

The 91st Academy Awards or Oscars ceremony begins in Los Angeles, California. Alfonso Cuaron's 'Roma' creates history by becoming first Mexican movie to win Foreign Language Film Oscar. Cuaron also created history by becoming the first person to win a Cinematography Oscar for "Roma" film that he also directed.

Film 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse has won best Animated Feature Oscar. Produced by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, it has been widely praised both for its fresh story and visual style.

Indian producer Guneet Monga 's film 'Period. End of Sentence' wins Best Documentary Short Subject. 'Period. End of Sentence', an India set film on the taboos around menstruation and featuring the real 'Pad Man',  and emerged the winner.

American Ruth E Carter also made Oscar history by becoming the first woman of colour in history to win in the costume design category for film Black Panther.

American actor Mahershala Ali continued his winning spree as he took home the Oscar for the Best Supporting Actor for his work in Peter Farrelly's biographical comedy-drama 'Green Book', This is his career's second Oscar in the category. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will deliver the keynote address at the Rising India Summit 2019 in New Delhi today. 

Mr Modi is likely to define national priorities at the two-day event beginning today. 

BJP President Amit Shah, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Union Ministers - Nitin Gadkari, Ravi Shankar Prasad, and Piyush Goyal are among those who will speak at the summit. 

Theme for this year's event is "Beyond Politics: Defining National Priorities".