Culture Minister Prahlad Singh Patel will today launch the book - the Diary of Manu Gandhi at a function in New Delhi. 
The book has been brought out by National Archives of India, on the occasion of 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi in collaboration with Oxford University Press. The first volume covers the period 1943-1944. 
An official release said, the Diary of Manu Gandhi originally in Gujarati has been edited and translated by Dr Tridip Suhrud, a well known scholar engaged in understanding the Gandhian Intellectual tradition. Manu Gandhi (Mridula) was a grand niece of Mahatma Gandhi, and stayed with Gandhiji till his assassination. She was an aide to Kasturba Gandhi during her imprisonment in the Aga Khan Palace in 1943.

The Modi government on Wednesday appointed outgoing Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba as Cabinet Secretary for two years. His tenure will be effective from August 30, 2019, as per the official order.

The order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training has stated that the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet had also approved his appointment as Officer on Special Duty in the Cabinet Secretariat with immediate effect till he takes over as Cabinet Secretary from August 30.

A 1982 batch IAS officer of Jharkhand cadre, Mr. Gauba will replace P.K. Sinha, who was appointed Cabinet Secretary in 2015 who continues since then, getting several extensions beyond his two-year tenure.

Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju and former India football captain Baichung Bhutia flagged off the Delhi leg of Op-Blue Freedom yesterday. This is an initiative in which a group of armed forces veterans train sports enthusiasts in survival training and self-defence. Op-Blue Freedom is a nation-wide adaptive scuba diving programme for people with disabilities as well as the able bodied. 

After the success of the Chandigarh leg, the group of eight veterans, including from the elite special forces of PARA regiment and MARCO, dived yesterday at SPM Swimming Pool Complex in Delhi.

The dive sessions for civilians will be kept open from August 22-25, from 9 am-5pm, for the civilians. The program aims to train adventure enthusiasts in special forces skills like survival techniques, emergency first response skills, unarmed combat, endurance and fitness.

B.N.S. Reddy, a former Additional Commissioner of Police and a current member of the BCCI’s Anti-Corruption Unit, beat Bruce Barrios of the U.S. 7-6, 6-3 in the men’s singles final to win the gold medal at the World Police and Fire Games in Chengdu, China, recently.

In doubles, Reddy had to be content with silver as he and Surinder Mohan Sharma lost to the pair of Sabandon Eduardo (Phi) and Helminen Risto (Fin) 5-7, 6-4, [10-7] in the final.

This is the third consecutive time Reddy has won a gold medal at the World Police and Fire Games.

With an aim to cater to the busy route between Visakhapatnam and Vijaywada route, a special double decker train will soon become operational. Railways'second double-decker Uday Express will run between Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada, news agency Press Trust of India reported. But the date of operation of the train has not been decided yet. The first Uday Express was a specially-designed air-conditioned chair car which started service between Coimbatore and Bangalore in June 2018. The trains are primarily allocated to routes with heavy passenger traffic.

Here are the features, timing, schedule and stoppages of Visakhapatnam-Vijayawada double-decker Uday Express

Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and senior BJP leader Babulal Gaur passed away on Wednesday morning at a private hospital here after prolonged illness.

Gaur (89) passed away due to cardiac arrest, Narmada Hospital Director, Dr Rajesh Sharma, told PTI. He was suffering from various old-age related ailments and was hospitalised for quite some time.

The veteran BJP leader served as Madhya Pradesh chief minister from 2004-2005 and represented his traditional Govindpura Vidhan Sabha seat 10 times.

A controversial Sri Lankan field commander, accused of grave human rights abuses during the country's 26-year civil war, has been appointed the new Army Commander, the President's office announced on Monday.

Lt Gen Shavendra Silva, 55, will take charge as incumbent Army chief Lt Gen Mahesh Senanayake's service was not extended. President Maithripala Sirisena's office announced that Lt Gen Shavendra Silva has been named as the new army commander.

Silva headed the Army's 58th Division in the final battle against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels in the final stages of the civil war in 2009. His brigade was accused of attacking civilians, hospitals and stopping humanitarian supplies to trapped Tamil civilians.

The Union Home Ministry has fixed the retirement age of all Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel at 60 years, an order issued on Monday said.

The MHA issued the order following a January 2019 Delhi High Court verdict asking the Ministry to fix a retirement age that would be uniform for all members of the CAPFs.

All personnel in the Central Industrial Security Force and the Assam Rifles retire at the age of 60. However, in the other four forces — Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF), Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and Sashastra Seema Bal — those from the ranks of constable to commandant retire at 57, but those above them retired at 60.

India is the world’s largest emitter of anthropogenic sulphur dioxide, which is produced from coal burning, and greatly contributes to air pollution, a study claimed on August 19.

According to an analysis of a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) data released by environmental NGO Greenpeace on August 19, India has more than 15% of all anthropogenic sulphur dioxide (SO2) hotspots in the world detected by the OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument) satellite.

The major SO2 emission hotspots in India are Singrauli in Madhya Pradesh, Neyveli and Chennai in Tamil Nadu, Talcher and Jharsuguda in Odisha, Korba in Chhattisgarh, Kutch in Gujarat, Ramagundam in Telangana and Chandrapur and Koradi in Maharashtra.

Vodafone Idea on Monday said Balesh Sharma has stepped down from the position of chief executive officer (CEO) citing personal reasons. Ravinder Takkar, currently Vodafone Group's representative in India, will be appointed as the new MD and CEO with immediate effect, the telecom major said in a statement.

"The Board of Vodafone Idea Limited today announced that it has accepted Balesh Sharma's request for personal reasons to step down as CEO of Vodafone Idea," the company said in a press release. Sharma will be taking up a new role with Vodafone Group, which will be announced in due course.

Sharma has been the CEO of Vodafone Idea since the completion of the merger. He was Chief Operating Officer of Vodafone India prior to that. "Balesh has driven the strategy of the combined business since its formation and he has also spearheaded the largest-ever equity raise in India," Vodafone Idea said.