The government on Friday launched inter-state portability of ration cards between Telangana-Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra-Gujarat as a pilot project to implement ‘One Nation, One Ration Card’ across the country by June 1, 2020.

Beneficiaries in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh can now buy their quota of ration from Public Distribution System (PDS), or ration shops, in either state. Similar would be the case in Maharasthra and Gujarat.

“It is a historic day. We have started off inter-state portability of ration card pairing two states each,” Food and Public Distribution Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said.

Public sector Indian Bank Friday signed a corporate agency agreement with Cholamandalam MS General Insurance Company for distribution of its insurance products to bank customers.

According to the agreement, Cholamandalam MS, a Murugappa Group company, would sell its range of insurance policies to customers of Indian Bank.

On the signing of agreement, Indian Bank Managing Director and CEO, Padmaja Chunduru said, "The partnership will greatly benefit our customers and through this alliance, our customers will get a wide range of innovative products". Indian Bank has 2,872 branches, across the country.

President Ram Nath Kovind has given his assent to the Motor Vehicles(Amendment), Act 2019. A Gazette Notification to this effect was issued by Ministry of Law and Justice yesterday. The Parliament had passed the bill in the recently concluded session. 

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

The Bill proposes a scheme to allow cashless treatment of victims in a road accident during the golden hour. The golden hour is defined as the time period of up to one hour following a traumatic injury, during which the likelihood of preventing death through prompt medical care is the highest. 

India and Bangladesh have agreed to set up a Joint Technical committee for optimum utilisation of Ganges water as being received by Bangladesh under the Ganga Water Sharing Treaty 1996. 

After the Secretary-level meeting in Dhaka yesterday, both the countries also agreed to prepare a framework for interim water-sharing agreement for eight rivers including Feni, Gumti and Teesta. Both the countries also discussed issues related to pollution of trans boundary rivers.

The Secretary-level meeting was held after a gap of more than 8 years. It is an important step in enhancing bilateral cooperation in the water resources sector between India and Bangladesh.

Water Resources Secretary Upendra Prasad Singh led the Indian delegation in the talks while the Bangladesh side was led by his counterpart Kabir Bin Anwar.

The Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna mega-basin is the second largest hydraulic region in the world. 

Within this basin, fifty-four rivers cross the border between upstream India and downstream Bangladesh. 

The World Archery (WA) today suspended the Archery Association of India (AAI) for defying its guidelines by electing two parallel bodies, asking the federation to put its house in order by the end of this month.

The decision is effective from Monday and the last event in which the archers can participate under the Indian flag is the World Archery Youth Championships in Madrid from 19th to 25th of this month.

World Archery Secretary General Tom Dielen said in a statement that it is implementing the decision taken in June by suspending the Archery Association of India. 

The AAI had to find a solution by the end of last month as per the deadline given by WA's executive board and since no progress has been made, the world governing body implemented the suspension order.

Olympic quota places will be up for grabs at the Asian Championships and Asian Para Championships, to be held in Bangkok in November. India so far have three men's places secured for the next Olympics but has yet to win a women's spot.

The Virasat-e-Khalsa museum in Punjab’s Anandpur Sahib town is all set to find a place in the Asia Book of Records for becoming the most visited museum in the Indian sub-continent on a single day.

The Asia Book of Records has confirmed the record of ‘maximum footfall in a museum in a day’ in the name of Virasat-e-Khalsa, which will feature in the next edition of the Asia Book of Records, a senior official said on Wednesday.

“The museum had witnessed a record footfall of 20,569 visitors on a single day on March 20, becoming the most visited museum in the Indian sub-continent on a single day,” Vikas Pratap, Secretary, Department of Tourism and Cultural Affairs (Punjab), told The Hindu.

The awards will be given away on August 29, the birth anniversary of hockey wizard Major Dhyan Chand which is celebrated as the National Sports Day.

"This year we are trying out a new idea of one selection committee for all the awards. We feel too many committees are unnecessary as they only make things difficult and create controversies," a Sports Ministry said.

The 12-member committee is headed by Supreme Court judge Justice (Retd) Mukundakam Sharma and comprises Sports Secretary Radhey Shyam Jhulaniya, Sports Authority of India Director General Sandeep Pradhan, Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) CEO Commander Rajesh Rajagopalan, Mary Kom, Bhutia, women's cricket team captain Anjum Chopra, celebrated former long-jumper Anju Bobby George and table tennis coach Kamlesh Mehta among others.

Besides, the committee also features two media persons in Chief Editor of Times Group (Digital) Rajesh Kalra and renowned sports commentator Charu Sharma.

Unlike previous editions, this committee will handpick all the winners of National Sports Awards, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Arjuna Award, Dronacharya Award (for coaches), Dhyan Chand Award (lifetime achievement) and Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Award. After considerable delay, the selection committee was finalised on Wednesday. "

Despite decrease in the intensity of rainfall, the flood situation in western Maharashtra remains grim, with nine persons drowning when a rescue boat capsized in Sangli district on Thursday.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis conducted an aerial survey to review the flood situation in Sangli and Kolhapur, which are the worst hit following heavy rain in the area where the Krishna and Panchganga rivers are in spate.

Nine persons drowned and five were missing after a boat engaged in rescue work overturned in Sangli, said Deepak Mhaisekar, Divisional Commissioner of Pune. “Nine persons died and five are still missing when the private boat they were travelling in overturned at Bramhnal village in Sangli’s Palus taluka. The deceased include seven women, one man and one child,” he added.

The Reserve Bank on Wednesday announced creation of a central payments fraud information registry, which could ensure a quick and systemic responses in cases of financial frauds.

At present, there is a mechanism in place for banks to report all banking frauds to the Central Fraud Monitoring Cell of the Reserve Bank and the proposed dedicated registry will further enable this process.

The central bank said with the digital payment ecosystem making substantial progress in terms of growth of the payment infrastructure as well as volume and value of digital payment transactions, fraud risk monitoring and management by the stakeholders have assumed added importance.

"It has always been the endeavour of the RBI to improve the confidence of customers in the payment systems. To carry forward these efforts and ensure quick and systemic responses, it is proposed to facilitate the creation of a central payment fraud registry that will track these frauds," RBI said.

Harley Race, a professional wrestler who overcame serious injuries from a car accident to become a mainstay of the wrestling circuit, winning numerous individual and tag-team titles in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, died on Thursday. He was 76.

The cause was lung cancer, the wrestling organization WWE said on its website. It did not say where he died.

Race was pitted in high-profile matches again Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair, Andre the Giant, Hulk Hogan and other marquee names. In his heyday he was such a name himself, personifying toughness but serving as a transitional figure who helped bring the sport from an era of brawn to one of character-driven performance.