Pakistan on Thursday announced that it will send its first astronaut to space in 2022 using ally China's satellite launching facilities. 

Pakistan's decision came as India on Monday successfully launched its second lunar mission Chandrayaan-2. 

Fawad Chaudhry, Minister for Science and Technology, said the selection process of the astronaut for the space mission would start from February 2020.

"Proud to announce that selection process for the first Pakistani to be sent to Space shall begin from February 2020. Fifty people will be short listed. The list will then come down to 25 and in 2022 we will send our first person to space. This will be the biggest space event of our country," Mr Chaudhry said in a tweet. 

A Chinese startup successfully launched the country’s first commercial rocket capable of carrying satellites into orbit Thursday, as the space race between China and the US heats up.

Beijing-based Interstellar Glory Space Technology -- also known as iSpace -- said it launched two satellites into orbit around 1:00 pm Beijing time (0500 GMT) from Jiuquan, a state launch facility in the Gobi desert.

The three-year-old company is one of dozens of Chinese rivals jostling for a slice of the global space industry, estimated to be worth about $1 trillion by 2040 according to Morgan Stanley.

The sector is currently dominated by SpaceX and Blue Origin in the US.

The Lok Sabha today passed the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage), Bill, 2019 commonly known as Triple Talaq bill by voice vote. 

Replying to the debate on the Bill, Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said it was important to bring in a law banning instant triple talaq as the practice has continued despite a Supreme Court verdict passed in 2017. 

Mr Prasad said, despite Supreme Court’s direction against the Triple Talaq, the practice is still continuing in different parts of the country. Several hundred cases have been reported. 

The 20th Anniversary of Kargil Vijay Diwas is being celebrated today. The day is named after the successful Operation Vijay in 1999, when India regained the control of the high outposts which had been stealthily taken over by Pakistan. 

The Kargil war was fought for more than 60 days and ended with India regaining control of all the previously held territory. The central theme of this year's celebrations is ‘Remember, Rejoice and Renew’. On the occasion, President Ram Nath Kovind, who is also the Supreme Commander of the armed forces, will lay wreath at Cinar Corps Headquarters, Badamibag at Srinagar. President's earlier programme of paying homage to war soldiers at Dras was cancelled due to bad weather.

The Modi government on Wednesday reshuffled over a dozen Secretaries.

A 1984 batch IAS officer and currently Secretary, Ministry of Power, Ajay Kumar Bhalla has been appointed Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to the Ministry of Home Affairs with immediate effect. He will take over as Home Secretary from incumbent Rajive Gauba.

Mr. Bhalla will have a fixed two-year tenure as Union Home Secretary till August 2021.

In another significant change, Subhash Chandra Garg, Secretary, Economic Affairs, and designated as Secretary, Finance, in the Ministry of Finance, has been shifted to the Power Ministry as Secretary, while Gujarat cadre IAS officer Atanu Chakraborty has been made new Economic Affairs Secretary.

Asian Development Bank has sanctioned 1,925 crore rupees project for upgradation of power generation and distribution in Tripura.

Deputy Chief Minister and Power Minister Jishnu Dev Varma told reporters in Agartala that the amount was recently sanctioned to the Tripura State Electricity Corporation Limited after the state government had sought the ADB's assistance.

Mr Varma said that the project has been sanctioned for upgrading capacity of 63 MW Rokhia Project to 120 MW at an estimated cost of over 699 crore and modernising Gumti Hydro Electric Project at an estimated cost of nearly 1225 crore rupees.

Rokhia project is located at West Tripura district whereas Gumti project is in Gomati district.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has appointed Indian origin Priti Patel as the country Home Secretary.

The Prime Minister named former Home Secretary Sajid Javid to take over from Philip Hammond as the Finance Secretary or Chancellor.

Mr Javid, a former banker from a modest background, was a contender for the premiership but endorsed Johnson when he failed to get enough support from fellow Conservative MPs.

Mr Johnson has also named Brexit hardliner Dominic Raab as the country's Foreign Secretary.

Assam has added to India’s botanical wealth a plant that yields dragon’s blood — a bright red resin used since ancient times as medicine, body oil, varnish, incense and dye.

A trio of researchers led by Assam forest officer Jatindra Sarma has discovered Dracaena cambodiana, a dragon tree species in the Dongka Sarpo area of West Karbi Anglong. The team’s report has been published in the latest issue of the Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas.

This is for the first time that a dragon tree species has been reported from India.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is celebrating the 159th Income Tax Day today. 

It was on 24th July, 1860 that Income Tax was introduced for the first time in India by Sir James Wilson to compensate for the losses incurred by the British regime during the first war of independence against British Rule. 

In a release, Finance Ministry said, the week preceding the Aaykar Diwas has been marked by various activities undertaken by the regional offices of the department across the country. Finance  Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will attend an event to mark Income Tax Day in New Delhi. 

The event will include release of departmental publications, e-journal, publicity kit for outreach programmes among other things.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday lowered the growth estimate for India by 30 basis points (100 basis points means 1 percentage point) for the current as well as the next financial year.

“India’s economy is set to grow at 7 per cent in 2019, picking up to 7.2 per cent in 2020. The downward revision of 0.3 percentage point for both years reflects a weaker-than-expected outlook for domestic demand,” the multilateral agency said in its update on “World Economic Outlook” (WEO). The revision is relative to the April WEO.

However, the good news is despite the revision, India’s growth rate will still be the fastest in the world followed by China. The WEO update says that in China, the negative effects of escalating tariffs and weakening external demand have added pressure to an economy already in the midst of a structural slowdown.

With policy stimulus expected to support activity in the face of the adverse external shock, China’s growth is forecast at 6.2 per cent in 2019 and 6.0 per cent in 2020, which is 10 basis points lower each year relative to the April projection.