Karnataka swimmer Srihari Nataraj has emerged as the most prolific gold medal winner at the Khelo India Youth Games. He has won 7 Gold medals. With SP Likith, picking five, the Karnataka duo were the most decorated gold medalists of the Games.

In Shooting, Patiala-based Sartaj Singh defeated National Junior Champion Aishwarya Pratap Singh Tomar of Madhya Pradesh and won the gold medal in the 50-metres rifle-3 position event.

In the Under-21 Boys hockey played in Mumbai, Odisha were crowned as champions. Maharashtra continues to be way ahead in the medals tally. The hosts have, so far, bagged a total of 177 medals - 64 Gold, 51 Silver and 62 Bronze.

Delhi is at the second spot with 121 medals - 47 Gold, 31 Silver and 43 Bronze, while Haryana is placed third with 110 medals - 37 Gold, 35 Silver and 38 Bronze.

British lawmakers defeated Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit divorce deal by a crushing margin on Tuesday, triggering political chaos that could lead to a disorderly exit from the EU or even to a reversal of the 2016 decision to leave.

After parliament voted 432-202 against her deal, the worst defeat in modern British history, opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn promptly called a vote of no confidence in May’s government, to be held at 1900 GMT on Wednesday.

With the clock ticking down to March 29, the date set in law for Brexit, the United Kingdom is now ensnared in the deepest political crisis in half a century as it grapples with how, or even whether, to exit the European project that it joined in 1973.

“It is clear that the House does not support this deal, but tonight’s vote tells us nothing about what it does support,” May told parliament, moments after the result was announced. “… nothing about how – or even if – it intends to honour the decision the British people took in a referendum parliament decided to hold.”

In order to promote Micro irrigation amongst farmers, Ministry of Water resources and River development is going to organise 9thInternational Micro irrigation conference from today in Aurangabad, Maharashtra.

The conference will focus on the theme of  “Micro Irrigation and Modern Agriculture”.

Union Minister for water resources and river development Shri Nitin Gadkari will be officially inaugurating the event. Chief Minister of Maharashtra Shri Devendra Fadnvis and Union Minister for Agriculture Shri Radha Mohan singh will be presence in this occasion.

The conference will discuss, deliberate and strategize with eminent stakeholders including farmers, to create awareness about the use of Micro Irrigation on a large scale.

740 delegates including 100 foreign delegates from 56 countries and as many 100 Agricultural scientists will also attend the conference.

Shri Nitishwara Kumar, Joint Secretary of Ministry for Water Resources and River development told that this conference was meant to promote interaction between the scientist and farmers and ensure that more farmers adopt the micro irrigation system.

The government on Tuesday announced the composition of a seven-member Group of Ministers (GoM), which will examine and suggest ways to resolve the issues plaguing the real estate sector after the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST). A lower GST rate of 5% is one of the demands of industry players. Gujarat deputy chief minister Nitin Patel will head the panel that has eight terms of reference set for it.

The committee will suggest ways for a scheme to address the problems facing both developers and buyers. It will examine various aspects of levying GST on transfer of development rights and development rights in a joint development agreement and suitable model. It will also look at legality of inclusion or exclusion of land or any other ingredient in the scheme and suggest a valuation mechanism.

At present, GST is levied at an effective rate of 12% (standard rate of 18% minus 6% abatement for land value) on premium housing and effective rate of 8% (12% minus 4% abatement) on affordable housing on payments made for under-construction property or ready-to-move-in flats where completion certificate wasn’t issued at the time of sale.

Union Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu on Tuesday said the government is working on a policy framework for the domestic manufacturing of aircraft and also looking at aircraft financing and maintenance work within the country.

Prabhu also emphasised on carrying out of maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) work domestically. “We will soon roll out a road map for manufacturing of aircraft in India,” Prabhu said while speaking to the media at the Global Aviation Summit 2019, organised jointly by the Civil Aviation Ministry, the Airports Authority of India and Ficci.

The country needs 2,300 new aircraft to meet the future air travel demand, he said. “We would like to join hands with top players from across the globe.” The minister said the government wants aircraft financing to be done by domestic players. “We are already working on financing of aircraft and how that should happen from India. We are losing out lot of resources to outsiders,” Prabhu said.

The nation is celebrating the 71st Army Day today to remember the valiance and exemplary achievements of army personnel who risk their lives for the nation. The day is being celebrated formally with an annual parade at the Cariappa Parade Ground in New Delhi at 10:15 am.

Speaking at the event, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat said that the Indian Army will not hesitate to take strong action to deal with terror activities along the western border. Taking an alleged dig at Pakistan, the Army Chief said, “The country along our western border is providing support to terror groups. We are dealing with them effectively.”

Army Day is celebrated on January 15 every year to mark the day when (then) Lieutenant General KM Cariappa took over from General Sir Francis Butcher as Commander-in-Chief of India on January 1949. Popularly known as “Kipper”, KM Cariappa was the first Indian commander-in-chief of the Indian Army. He is one of only two Indian Army officers to hold the five-star rank of field marshal.

The commerce ministry Monday said Government eMarketplace (GeM) has launched an initiative to enable women entrepreneurs and self-help groups to sell different products at the platform.

GeM is an online platform of the ministry for procurement of goods and services by government departments, public sector units, and other agencies.

The initiative - Womaniya on GeM - seeks to develop women entrepreneurship on the margins of society to achieve gender-inclusive economic growth, it said in a statement.

The initiative would enable women entrepreneurs and women self-help groups to sell handicrafts and handloom, jute and coir products, home décor and office furnishings, directly to various government ministries, departments and institutions, it said.

Private sector ICICI Bank on Monday inducted former SBI Managing Director B Sriram on its board as independent director.

Besides, management consultant Rama Bijapurkar was also appointed director.

Both were appointed for 5 years, subject to the approval of shareholders, ICICI Bank said in a regulatory filing on stock exchanges.

Sriram retired as the managing director of IDBI Bank in September 2018. Prior to IDBI Bank, he was the managing director of SBI.

On Friday, parliamentarians of the Republic of Macedonia voted to change their country’s name to the “Republic of North Macedonia”. The move now awaits approval from Greece’s Parliament. A longstanding dispute between the two countries led to the move, because a region of Greece bordering the Macedonian republic is also called Macedonia. The change of name, if cleared by Athens, would pave the way for the small republic to enter NATO and the European Union.

Macedonia broke away from the former Yugoslavia in 1991 and declared independence. It measures a little over 25,000 sq km, and has a population just over 2 million. Neighbouring Greece has objected to its name all through, suggesting it implied the Macedonian republic’s territorial aspirations over the northern region of Greece. For the Greeks, Macedonia is significant as the cradle of Alexander the Great’s empire. Insisting that the name apply only to the Greek region, the Greeks have been blocking the Macedonian republic’s entry to NATO and EU membership.

In June last year, the two countries reached an agreement. Macedonia said it would change its name, and Greece said it would drop its objection to the neighboring country’s entry into the EU and NATO if the changes are formally adopted. The name appears to have been chosen back then, with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras having said that the neighbouring country would be Severna Makedonija or Republic of North Macedonia. On Friday, 81 of 120 Macedonian MPs voted in favour of the name change, securing the required 2/3rds majority. However, the Greek Parliament still needs to vote — and this will likely prove no easy task given how deeply divisive the issue remains there, a report in The New York Times observed. Before the vote in the Macedonian capital Skopje, a rift seemed to be growing over the issue between Prime Minister Tsipras and his right-wing coalition partner, Panos Kammenos, who has threatened to leave the government, The NYT report said.

Chief Minister V Narayanasamy said on Sunday said that the cabinet has decided to ban production, sale and use of single-use plastic products in the Union Territory from March 1. He said a massive drive would also be launched to create awareness among the merchants and the public on the necessity of the ban.

“We want to gift a plastic-free Puducherry to the future generation and curb the plastic in the larger interest of the environment,” he told newsmen after the cabinet meeting. The neighbouring Tamil Nadu government had in June 2018 announced that it would ban the use of plastic items including non-biodegradable carry bags from January 1, 2019, to “gift a plastic-free state to future generations”.

A nominated BJP MLA caused a flutter on the Assembly premises here on December 31 by resorting to sudden dharna urging the Puducherry government to ban immediately production, sale and use of plastic products in the Union Territory on the lines of neighbouring Tamil Nadu.

Narayanasamy also said the cabinet has decided to introduce ‘voluntary retirement scheme’ for the workers and staff of the century-old Anglo-French Textiles (AFT) mill and two other textile mills, named Bharathi and Swadeshi (run by Puducherry Textile corporation) in a phased manner in the next six months.

The liquor business of the Puducherry Agro Service and Industries Corporation Limited, popularly known as PASIC and the Civil Supplies Corporation (PAPSCO) would be handed shortly to private players by auctioning licenses, the CM said.