Renowned art director and designer K Shekhar, 72, best known for his path-breaking work in ‘My Dear Kuttichathan,’ passed away on Saturday morning at his residence in Thiruvananthapuram.

Shekhar was the art director of My Dear Kuttichathan, India’s first 3D film. He is especially remembered for designing the famous rotating bedroom set seen in the song ‘Aalipazham Perukkan,’ where children appear to walk on walls and the ceiling.

The scene was created using a real mechanical rotating room with the camera mounted to move in sync with it - a pioneering visual effect in Indian cinema at the time.

A postgraduate in journalism from the University of Kerala (1979), Shekhar entered the film industry as costume publicity designer for Padayottam, Malayalam cinema’s first 70mm film directed by Jijo.

The Bombay High Court has reiterated that civilian honours like Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan, and the Bharat Ratna are not official titles and cannot be used as prefixes or suffixes to names of the awardees.

While hearing a petition involving a 2014 Padma Shri awardee Dr Sharad Hardikar, a single-judge bench of Justice Somasekhar Sundaresan objected to the case title in the writ petition, which read, “Dr. Trimbak V. Dapkekar versus Padmashree Dr. Sharad M Hardikar & Ors", LiveLaw reported.

The bench objected to Hardikar being referred to as “Padma Shri Dr Sharad Moreshwar Hardiker" in the case records and directed that the award prefix be removed.

Surya Charishma Tamiri clinched the Women’s Singles title at the 87th Senior National Badminton Championships in Vijayawada with her victory over Tanvi Patri today. After losing the opening game, Tamiri staged a strong comeback to win the final 17 -21, 21-12, 21-14.

In the Men’s Singles, Rithvik Sanjeevi S defeated Bharat Raghav in straight games, 21-16, 22-20, to win the title. In Men’s doubles, the pair of A. Hariharan and Ruban Kumar emerged champions after defeating Mithilesh Krishnan and Prejan 24-22, 21-17 in the final.

In the women’s doubles final, former champions Shikha Gautam and Ashwini Bhat K overcame Priya Devi Konjengban and Shruti Mishra 21-14, 21-18 to reclaim the title.

With GDP valued at $4.18 trillion, India has surpassed Japan to become the world's fourth-largest economy and is poised to displace Germany from the third rank in the next 2.5 to 3 years with a projected GDP of $7.3 trillion by 2030, an official statement said on Monday.

The growth momentum further surprised on the upside, with GDP expanding to a six-quarter high in Q2 of 2025-26, reflecting India's resilience amid persistent global trade uncertainties.

Domestic drivers-led by robust private consumption-played a central role in supporting this expansion, according to the statement.

Two-time Olympic medallist and former world champion PV Sindhu has been elected Chair of the BWF Athletes' Commission for the 2026-2029 term, as per Olympics.com. In this role, Sindhu will also serve as a member of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Council, providing players with a direct voice in the organisation's global governance. PV Sindhu expressed her gratitude for being entrusted with the role and acknowledged Greysia Polii for her outstanding work in the previous term.

"To be entrusted with this responsibility by fellow athletes is an honour I carry with humility and gratitude. I would also like to sincerely acknowledge Greysia Polii for the exceptional work she has done in the previous term," Sindhu said as quoted by Olympics.com.

Greysia Polii from Indonesia, a Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold medallist and Asian Games women's doubles champion, retired from badminton in 2022. She served on the BWF Athletes' Commission twice, most recently from 2021 to 2025.

VoxelGrids, a start-up backed by Zoho, has developed India’s first indigenous Magnetic Resonance Imaging scanner, marking a significant step in reducing the country’s dependence on imported diagnostic equipment.

The scanner has been installed at the Chandrapur Cancer Care Foundation near Nagpur.

The development is the outcome of a 12-year effort led by founder Arjun Arunachalam and his team to design and build an MRI system entirely in India. MRI machines are critical diagnostic tools for hospitals and are currently dominated by foreign manufacturers.

Odisha is all set to get its first woman chief secretary with the government appointing senior IAS officer Anu Garg to the post. Garg, presently the development commissioner-cum-additional chief secretary, will take over from Manoj Ahuja, who will retire on December 31.

“Anu Garg, IAS, DC-cum-ACS and secretary to Government, Planning and Convergence department with additional charge of additional chief secretary to government, Water Resources department is appointed as chief secretary, Odisha and secretary to government, General Administration and Public Grievance department vice Manoj Ahuja, IAS, retiring on December 31,” read the notification issued by the General Administration and Public Grievance department on Wednesday.

Karnataka’s Tilottama Sen has been crowned national champion in the women’s 50-metre rifle three positions event at the National Shooting Championships, held today at the MP State Shooting Academy in Bhopal.

The 17-year-old, who is the youngest Indian shooter to secure a Paris Olympics quota place for the country, topped the podium with a score of 466.9. Kerala’s Vidarsa K. Vinod won the silver medal with 462.9, while Railways’ rifle stalwart Ayonika Paul claimed bronze after scoring 451.8.

Earlier, Tilottama had topped the qualification round with a score of 591, showing her consistency across the standing, kneeling and prone positions.

Surya Charishma Tamiri clinched the Women’s Singles title at the 87th Senior National Badminton Championships in Vijayawada with her victory over Tanvi Patri today. After losing the opening game, Tamiri staged a strong comeback to win the final 17 -21, 21-12, 21-14.

In the Men’s Singles, Rithvik Sanjeevi S defeated Bharat Raghav in straight games, 21-16, 22-20, to win the title. In Men’s doubles, the pair of A. Hariharan and Ruban Kumar emerged champions after defeating Mithilesh Krishnan and Prejan 24-22, 21-17 in the final.

In the women’s doubles final, former champions Shikha Gautam and Ashwini Bhat K overcame Priya Devi Konjengban and Shruti Mishra 21-14, 21-18 to reclaim the title.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah today virtually inaugurated the Vita Milk Chilling Centre in Salempur village of Bhiwani district, built at a cost of three crore 30 lakh rupees by the Haryana Dairy Cooperative Development Federation, during the Mega Cooperative Conference organised by KRIBHCO in Panchkula, Haryana. Livestock farmers from 100 villages surrounding Salempur will directly benefit from this facility.

On this occasion, Mr Amit Shah also inaugurated the HAFED Flour Mill in Jatusana of the Rewari district. He also released a book related to the campaigns run by KRIBHCO and launched a portal dedicated to the International Year of Cooperatives by pressing a button. The Home Minister also distributed Platinum Debit Cards to farmers and felicitated societies that have registered as multi-purpose cooperative societies.