The University Grants Commission (UGC) has released a list of 20 institutes - 10 public and 10 private for the grant of the status of Institutions of Eminence (IoE).

The institutions which are given IoE status from public category includes, Delhi University, BHU, Hyderabad University and IIT Madras and Kharagpur. An official release said, the UGC made the recommendations on the report of the Empowered Expert Committee set up by the government under the chairmanship of N Gopalaswami.

Jadavpur University and Anna University can be considered for issue of the IoE status only after the respective State Governments have issued an official communication allocating their share of the funds (upto 50%).

A British Indian medic, who starts her new job as a junior doctor on Friday, has been crowned Miss England 2019.

Bhasha Mukherjee, who moved to the UK from India with her parents aged 9, will compete in the 69th Miss World contest to be held in December in London.

The 23-year-old beauty from Derby in East Midlands region of England starts her new medical job at Pilgrim Hospital in Boston, Lincolnshire, just hours after winning the contest in Newcastle Upon Tyne in North East England on Thursday night.

Mukherjee speaks five languages and has a Bachelor's degree in medicine and surgery from the University of Nottingham. 

"Bhasha is an incredibly hard-working young woman, an ideal candidate to represent the multicultural country of England," said Angie Beasley, director of the Miss England contest.

Saudi Arabia will allow women to obtain passports and travel abroad without approval from a male "guardian", the government said yesterday, ending a longstanding restriction.

A passport will be granted to any Saudi national who submits an application, said a government ruling published in the official gazette Umm Al Qura. The regulation will be applicable to women over the age of 21, the local media reported, citing senior authorities.

Women's rights activists have campaigned for decades against the guardianship system. The decision comes amid a wide-ranging liberalisation drive spearheaded by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. 

The bill will be again sent to the Lok Sabha for approval. The Bill seeks to repeal the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956. 

Replying to a debate on the bill in the Rajya Sabha, Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said, the legislation will bring major reform in the medical education in the country. 

He assured the members that government will also put a cap on the fee on the fifty per cent of those seats in private medical colleges which are not regulated by NMC. 

In an exclusive interview to All India Radio News, talking about the Bill, Dr. V K Paul, Member Niti Aayog, said, the government will only advice the National Medical Commission. 

British Deputy High Commissioner Dominic McAllister on Wednesday launched a two-year India-UK joint initiative in Bengaluru that would provide a unique air quality measurement system by integrating satellite and sensor data and support India’s transition to Electric Vehicles (EVs). The initiative – Innovating for Clean Air (IfCA) will identify innovations having potential to improve air quality and contribute to a more detailed localised map of the air quality of Bengaluru through the unique combination of satellite and sensor data, including both on-the-ground and mobile data.

The programme will identify relevant challenges around EV-charging infrastructure, grid management and integrating renewable energy to ensure a sufficient, reliable and clean source of power. It will also facilitate opportunities for Indian and UK innovators to collaborate in developing long-lasting relationships to address these challenges.

The price of Non-Subsidised cooking gas (LPG) has been cut by 62 rupees 50 paise per cylinder based on softening international rates. 

Non-subsidised or market priced LPG, which consumers buy after exhausting their quota of 12 cylinders of 14.2-kg each at subsidised rates, will now cost 574.50 rupees per cylinder. 

Indian Oil Corporation in a statement yesterday said, the price of Non-Subsidised LPG was reduced by 100.50 rupees per cylinder earlier last month as well. 

With this, the price of Non-Subsidised LPG cylinder has come down by 163 rupees per cylinder cumulatively in two months.

The Rajya Sabha passed the Motor Vehicles (Amendment), Bill, 2019 with some amendments. The bill was passed yesterday with 108 members voting in favour of the bill and 13 against.

It will be again sent to the Lok Sabha for approval as it was passed with Amendments.

The bill seeks to amend the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 to provide for road safety. Provisions related to increasing penalties of traffic violations, addressing issues on third-party insurance, regulation of cab aggregators and road safety are proposed in the amendment. 

President Ram Nath Kovind has given his nod to the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2019 that abolishes the practice of instant Triple Talaq. 

The law comes into force retrospectively from 19th September 2018. A Gazette Notification to this effect was issued yesterday. The Parliament had passed the bill on Tuesday.
 
The bill seeks to declare the practice of instant Triple Talaq as void and illegal and makes it a cognizable offence. 

It also provides allowance to women victims and their dependent children. The offence is made compoundable with the permission of the Magistrate at the instance of the married Muslim woman upon whom talaq is pronounced. 

United State is working hard with the Indian government to provide India with opportunities to grow its economy as a part of the Trump Administration's Indo-Pacific strategy, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said yesterday in response to a question.

Pompeo's remarks come weeks after a delegation of the US Trade Representatives travelled to India for talks on a wide range of bilateral trade issues, in particular tax and tariffs.

Meanwhile, India's Ambassador to the US Harsh Vardhan Shringla said in Colorado that trade between the two countries has grown to USD 142 billion in 2018, and is expected to reach USD 238 billion by 2025. 

He said the next stage of growth will be driven by the small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in both the countries

NITI Aayog's flagship initiative, the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) will launch a new programme for Community Innovation in New Delhi today. The new initiative aims to encourage the spirit of innovation in the country. 

It will be jointly inaugurated by Union Ministers Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Dharmendra Pradhan. Speaking about it, AIM Mission Director, R Ramanan, said, the purpose of the programme is to make innovation eco-system socially inclusive as well as to ensure equitable distribution of infrastructure for innovation across the country.