Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari and Union Minister of State for PMO Dr Jitendra Singh on Thursday attended a ceremony to rename 'Chenani Nashri Tunnel' as 'Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Tunnel'.

The 'Chenani-Nashri Highway Tunnel' is not only India's longest highway tunnel but also Asia's longest bi-directional highway tunnel.

The tunnel is 9 km long officially making it the longest road tunnel in India. It is a two-lane main tunnel with a parallel escape tunnel of the same length located at an elevation of 1200 meters.

It is located in the lower Himalayan mountain range, between Udhampur and Ramban in Jammu & Kashmir.

Gadkari paid tributes to Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Tunnel for his sacrifice for the nation.

Indian Railways has launched ‘One-touch ATVM’ at 42 suburban stations of Central Railway to offer fast ticketing to millions of commuters over Mumbai Suburban Network. Railway passenger can avail the service of this new machine at 42 suburban stations. This new machine will reduce the waiting time of the passengers and allow passengers to avoid standing in long queues.

The new machine is loaded with the user-friendly and uncomplicated procedure which will greatly ease the load on ticketing system of Mumbai Suburban Network. A total of 92 ATVMs has been installed at 42 suburban stations.

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted saying, "One touch Automatic Ticket Vending Machines launched at 42 stations over Mumbai Suburban network to render fast ticketing to daily commuters, without the hassle of long queues and waiting time."

ITBP celebrates its 58th Raising Day on Thursday. MoS Home Kishan Reddy attended the function at ITBP's Headquarter in Greater Noida.

The Minister paid his respect to the martyrs of the central armed forces and witnessed the raising day parade celebrations. The parade showcased valour and courage of various contingents and also of the brave four legged soldiers.

The Indo-Tibetian Border Police is one of the seven Central Armed Police Forces of India, raised on 24 October 1962, under the CRPF Act in the wake of the Sino-Indian War of 1962. The ITBP was intended for deployment along India's border with Tibet.

Veteran Mumbai all-rounder Abhishek Nayar has retired from all forms of cricket.

“I’m absolutely satisfied... there are so many cricketers out there who would want to be in the position I am today. I can only be grateful and thankful to have had the opportunity to play for this long... absolutely no regrets...I’m a happy man,” Nayar said on Wednesday.

Nayar represented India in only three ODIs but his record as a first-class player is more promising.

Indian football giants Mohun Bagan on Wednesday conferred their Life Membership to Nobel Prize winner Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee after club officials met him at his residence.

"Srinjoy Bose, Asst General Secretary and Debashis Dutta, Finance Secretary met Noble Laureate Abhijit V. Banerjee at his Kolkata residence at 4:00 pm and conferred him with the Life Membership of Mohun Bagan Athletic Club," the club said in a statement.

Besides conferring him with Life Membership, the club also handed him the First Day Cover of 1911 and the maroon green jersey with his name written on it.

He was also given the book titled "Sona e Lekha Itihase" written by Subir Mukherjee on the history of the club.

India will merge its twin state-run telecom companies in an effort to turn around the money-losing firms, which it considers core assets.

The strategy would also see the government look at ways to exploit the vast land assets of the two companies while paring their manpower by offering incentives to employees to avail an early retirement plan.

The 56,000 crore merger and revival plan for Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Ltd (MTNL) was approved by the Union cabinet on Wednesday. MTNL operates in Delhi and Mumbai, and BSNL in the rest of India.

Praveen Kumar today became the first Indian man to win a Wushu World Championships gold, beating Russel Diaz of Philippines in the 48kg category in Shanghai. The Indian saw off his Filipino opponent 2-1 in the men's Sanda event of the 15th World Wushu Championships.

Praveen had earlier defeated Uzbekistan's Khasan Ikromov 2-0 in the semi-final on Tuesday to set up the summit clash with Diaz.

Among other Indians in the fray, Poonam (women's 75kg) and Sanathoi Devi (women's 52kg) secured silver medals while Vikrant Baliyan bagged the bronze in the men's 60kg category.

India finished third overall in the championship in event with a gold, two silvers and a bronze.

President Ram Nath Kovind laid the foundation stone for Sri Sathya Sai Sanathana Samskruti Project at Sai no Sato, Kakegawa, Japan today.

Sai no Sato will be developed as a temple on the lines of Akshardham and Swaminarayan Temple to promote Indian traditional culture.  
Speaking on the occasion, the President said that in today’s world, where we are searching for inner peace and happiness, looking to bring communities and cultures together, places like Sai no Sato provide us the right answers.

We need not just one but many more such fonts of peaceful existence, where women and men can contemplate about self and society, individual and community and eliminate the distance between “us and them”.

Former South Africa skipper Graeme Smith has been elected an Honorary Life Member of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), custodians of the game’s law.

Smith, who has an impressive record in One-Day International, scoring 6,989 runs including ten centuries, expressed his excitement on being bestowed upon the honour.

The former batsman became South Africa’s youngest ever captain at 22, and went on to enjoy a monumental Test career. He struck 27 centuries amongst his 9,265 career runs.

Named one of Wisden’s Cricketers of the Year in 2004, Smith secured a second place on the Honours Board in 2008, after hitting a century at the Home of Cricket in a drawn Test match against England.

His first tour of England in 2003 became memorable as he slammed two double centuries in the first two Tests of the series - the second at Lord’s broke the record for the highest individual score by an overseas player.

His 259 beat Sir Donald Bradman’s 73-year record to become a part of the Lord’s folklore.

Former Australian off-spinner Tim May was also awarded Honorary Life Membership in recognition of his outstanding achievements in cricket.

The pair follow Paul Collingwood, AB de Villiers, Mitchell Johnson and Adrian Morgan in being awarded Honorary Life Membership of MCC this year.

The Assam Cabinet on Monday decided that no government jobs will be given to persons having more than two children after January 1, 2021.

The important decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting held late Monday evening that also adopted a New Land Policy, which will give three bighas of agricultural land to landless indigenous people and half a bigha for constructing a house.

A communique from the Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal’s public relations cell stated that those having more than two children will not be considered for government jobs with effect from January 1, 2021 as per the small family norm.

In September 2017, the Assam Assembly had passed the ‘Population and Women Empowerment Policy of Assam’ that specified that job candidates with two children only would be eligible for government employment and the existing government staff were to strictly follow the two children family norm.