Pawan Singh has become the first Indian to be elected one of seven member’s of the Judges Committee of the International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF). Singh also holds the post of the Joint Secretary General of the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) and was a former coach of the Indian shooting team.
Civil Aviation Ministry announced Saturday it has started the registration process for drone operators in the country, to be done through a portal called ‘Digital Sky’.The government, in August, had put in place regulations for operations of remotely piloted aircraft, to come into effect from December 1. Under these norms, drone users will be required to do one-time registration of their drones. They will also need to register the pilots of drones as well as their owners.
“Happy to announce that we are launching the Online Registration Portal for #Drone Flying Permission, #DigitalSky from TODAY. The platform is now live,” Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu said in a tweet.
For drones of micro size and above categories, operators are required to register on the Digital Sky portal, he said in another tweet.
Nano drones can start flying legally from Saturday, the ministry said in a release later.
It also said the digital platform has begun accepting registrations of users, and payments for Unmanned Aerial Operator’s Permit (UAOP) and Unique Identification Numbers (UIN) will be accepted through the Bharat Kosh portal (bharatkosh.gov.in).
The former Mexico City mayor pledged on Saturday to end corruption and impunity to transform the nation on behalf of the poor and marginalised.
The 65-year-old, popularly known by his initials Amlo, won a landslide victory in July - his third presidential bid.
The political veteran begins his six-year term with approval ratings of 56%.
His predecessor Enrique Peña Nieto leaves office with only 24% - his administration was plagued with corruption scandals and murder rates reaching record-high levels.
López Obrador vows 'radical' new Mexico
Who is Mexico's Andrés Manuel López Obrador?
What is the migrant caravan heading to US?
President López Obrador inherits an immediate foreign policy issue - what to do about the thousands of Central American migrants camping on the US-Mexico border.
Foreign dignitaries including US Vice-President Mike Pence, first daughter Ivanka Trump and Bolivian President Evo Morales attended the inauguration in the capital.
Following a year of devastating climate disasters around the globe, from California to Kerala, and Tonga to Japan, the annual UN climate change conference (COP24) opened in the Polish city of Katowice on December 3 with the goal of finalising the implementation guidelines for the Paris Climate Change Agreement.
The guidelines will provide clarity on how to implement the landmark agreement fairly and transparently for all.
What is the COP24?
In 1992, the UN organised a major event in Rio de Janeiro called the Earth Summit, in which the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was adopted.
In this treaty, nations agreed to 'stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere' to prevent dangerous interference from human activity on the climate system.
Today, the treaty has 197 signatories.
Every year since the treaty entered into force in 1994, a 'conference of the parties' -- a COP -- is held to discuss how to move forward and, since there have been 23 COPs so far, this year's will be the 24th, or COP24.
Train 18, the country’s first locomotive-less train on Sunday (December 2) clocked a top speed of more than 180 kmph during a trial run.
A senior railway ministry official confirmed that the first Train 18 will be made operational in January 2019. This indigenously manufactured train will replace the daytime Shatabdi Express.
India on Friday presented a nine-point agenda to G20 countries, calling for “strong and active cooperation” among them to comprehensively deal with fugitive economic offenders.
Sunil Arora took charge as the new Chief Election Commissioner in New Delhi on Sunday, replacing O P Rawat. He was appointed as the new Chief Election Commissioner by President Ram Nath Kovind on November 26.
An IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre of 1980 batch, Arora was made the Election Commissioner in September last year to fill the vacancy created by former CEC Nasim Zaidi’s retirement.
Arora, 61, has previously served as the secretary of Information and Broadcasting and Secretary in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. He has worked in ministries and departments such as Finance, Textiles and Planning Commission. Arora also served as a secretary to Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje from 1993 to 1998 and as Principal Secretary to the CM between 2005 to 2008.
Arora’s first major task as CEC will be overseeing the smooth conduct of the crucial Lok Sabha polls in 2019.
Goods and Services (GST) collection in November dropped to Rs 97,637 crore, lower than Rs 1 lakh crore collected previous month.
The total number of GSTR 3B returns filed for October up to November 30, 2018, is 69.6 lakh, the finance ministry said in a statement. Compensation released to states for the August-September period stood at Rs 11,922 crore.
Also read: The fallout of deteriorating macros on required GST revenue run rate
Of the Rs 97,637 crore collected, central GST (CGST) collection is Rs 16,812 crore, state GST (SGST) is Rs 23,070 crore, integrated GST (IGST) is Rs 49,726 crore (including Rs 24,133 crore collected on imports) and cess is Rs 8,031 crore (including Rs 842 crore collected on imports).
The total revenue earned by the central government and state governments after regular settlement in November 2018 is Rs 35,073 crore for CGST and Rs 38,774 crore for SGST, according to the finance ministry.
The Indian armed forces received a shot in the arm as the Defence Ministry on Saturday approved military procurement worth Rs 3,000 crore, PTI reported.
The procurement includes Brahmos supersonic cruise missiles for Navy’s two stealth frigates and Armoured Recovery Vehicles (ARVs) for the Army’s Arjun main battle tanks, a senior official told the news agency.
Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), the ministry’s highest decision-making body on procurement, gave the nod for both acquisitions, the senior official said. “The DAC chaired by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman accorded approval for acquisition of defence equipment worth about Rs 3,000 crore,” he said.
India is procuring two stealth frigates at a cost of USD 1 billion and both the ships will be equipped with indigenously developed BrahMos missiles. “The indigenously designed Brahmos missile is a tested and proven supersonic cruise missile and will form the primary weapon on-board these ships,” the official added.
India will play its “due and responsible” role at the climate change negotiations in Poland next week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has assured UN chief Antonio Guterres during a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit here.
Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said the main topic of Prime Minister Modi’s discussion with the UN chief was the forthcoming COP24 climate change meeting in Katowice, Poland from December 3.
“The Secretary General has said India plays a major role in climate change negotiations. He acknowledged that Prime Minister had taken a number of concrete steps towards addressing climate change,” Gokhale said.