After three successful rounds of bidding, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has launched the fourth round of Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) to further enhance the connectivity to remote and regional areas of the country. 

According to a statement released by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the focus of this round would be the priority areas like NER, Hilly States, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, and islands.

Listing out the key features of the scheme, the statement said that the provision of VGF for Category 2/3 aircraft (more than 20 seats) has been enhanced for operation of RCS flights in Priority Areas (Union Territories of Ladakh and Jammu & Kashmir; the States of Himachal Pradesh, Uttrakhand, North Eastern State; UT of Lakshadweep and Andaman & Nicobar). The VGF cap applicable for various stage lengths for operation through category 1/1 A aircraft (below 20 seats) has also been revised to further incentivize the operation of small aircraft under the scheme.

Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have announced that they are stepping down from the leadership role of the parent company Alphabet. Google CEO Indian-American Sundar Pichai (47), will be assuming the role of Alphabet CEO, making him one of the most powerful corporate leaders of the world. Considered as a significant shakeup in the Silicon Valley company, an announcement in this regard was made by Page and Brin in a letter to the company employees, which also included a statement from Pichai.

With Alphabet now well-established, and Google and 'Other Bets' operating effectively as independent companies, it's the natural time to simplify our management structure, wrote the two Google co-founders.

"We've never been ones to hold on to management roles when we think there's a better way to run the company," they said.

Indian maritime forces celebrated Navy Day on 4 December. In case you are wondering why December 4 is celebrated as Navy Day in India, read on.

The day celebrates the strength and bravery of the navy men who brought victory to the country in 1971 Indo-Pak War.
A day before, on December 3, 1971, the attack by Pakistan on our airfields along the border areas led to the war.

Operation Trident, the lethal attack by the Indian Navy sank four Pakistani vessels and completely destroyed fuel fields in Karachi harbour. 500 Pakistani navy men were killed in the attack.

INS Nipat, INS Nirghat and INS Veer were involved in the attack.

The 90-minute long operation began on December 4, 1971. Around 2 pm, the fleet of Indian Navy sailed towards Pakistani waters from Gujarat's Okha Port.

Star wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik registered convincing wins in the finals to claim gold medals at the Senior Wrestling National Championships in Jalandhar.

While Phogat beat 20-year-old Haryana’s Anju 7-3 in the 55kg category, Olympic bronze medallist Malik defeated Radhika of Haryana 4-2 in the 62kg category yesterday.

In the 68kg category, 35-year-old Haryana wrestler Anita Sheoran stunned Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Divya Kakran.

Indian Railways has the worst operating ratio in the last ten years at 98.44% and its revenue surplus has decreased by more than 66% from Rs 4,913 crore in 2016-17 to Rs 1,665.61 crore in 2017-18, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India noted in report tabled in Parliament Monday.

“The Operating Ratio of 98.44 per cent was the worst in the last ten years. Indian Railways, in fact, would have ended up with a negative balance of Rs 5,676.29 crore instead of surplus of Rs 1,665.61 crore but for the advance received from NTPC and IRCON. Exclusion of this advance would otherwise have increased the Operating Ratio to 102.66%,” the CAG noted.

This comes at a time when the national transporter has targeted to reduce its operating ratio to 95% for the current financial year.

A NASA satellite orbiting the Moon has found India's Vikram lander which crashed on the lunar surface in September.

The United States space agency said, the NASA released an image taken by its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, LRO that showed the site of the spacecraft's impact and associated debris field on 6th of September.

NASA released a mosaic image of the site on 26th of September and invited the public to search it for signs of the lander.

A person named Shanmuga Subramanian contacted the LRO project with positive identification of debris.

Sub Lieutenant Shivangi has created history to become the first woman pilot of the Navy.

A native of Muzaffarpur, Bihar, Shivangi was inducted into the Indian Navy under the Short Service Commission Pilot entry scheme. She was commissioned into the Navy in June last year.

Defence Ministry said, a batch of three trainee officers of the 7th Dornier Conversion Course including a lady officer qualified as Dornier pilots and were awarded at the coveted golden Wings ceremony held at INS Garuda. 

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has expressed confidence that the corporate sector will contribute generously for the welfare of ex-servicemen.

Addressing the Armed Forces Flag Day-CSR Conclave in New Delhi today, Mr Singh said he is confident that the corporate sector and wealth creators in the country will contribute to the corpus of the Department of Ex-servicemen Welfare.

He said common people had generously contributed to Bharat Ke Veer Fund for the bereaved families of soldiers who laid down their lives in the line of duty.

The Global Migration Film Festival (GMFF) was organised in Dhaka on Monday. The day long festival screened 15 films on the theme of migration and its various aspects. The GMFF was started in 2016 and this year it is being organised across many cities in the world between 28 November to 18 December.

The short films and documentaries shown during the festival were selected through a global competition for which 600 entries were received. The jury selected 30 best films out of which 15 were screened in Dhaka.

Speaking on the occasion of the festival inauguration, the Ambassador of the European Union to Bangladesh Rensje Teerink praised the German chancellor Angela Merkel for allowing more than one million migrants from Syria into Germany. She said European countries wish to promote migration through aspiration and not based on desperation.

The government has launched a drive to enroll one crore beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maandhan (PM-SYM) and the National Pension Scheme for Traders and Self Employed Persons (NPS-Traders) by March next year.

Labour and Employment Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar launched the drive yesterday at a function to mark the celebrations of Pension week. Stating that both the schemes are simple and hassle-free, Mr Gangwar said, an Aadhaar card number along with a savings bank account or Jan-Dhan account are needed for enrollments.

The monthly contribution has been kept at the lowest level ranging between 55 rupees and 200 rupees depending on the entry ages of subscribers.