The US has revised its visa policy for the Pakistani citizens by slashing the visa validity from five years to 1 year, according to a media report.

In an official notification issued by the American embassy on March 5, the US said that an additional fee will also be charged for H (Temporary Work Visa), I (Journalist and Media Visa), L (Intercompany Transfer Visa), and R (Religious Worker Visa) visas, the Express Tribune reported.

"The US has reduced visa validity for Pakistani citizens from five years to 1 year whereas journalists and media persons will not be allowed to stay in the country for over three months without renewing the travel permit," the paper said quoting the notification.

Despite the escalation in cross border shelling and the continuing frost in bilateral relations, the government on Wednesday announced that the first India Pakistan meeting to discuss and finalize the modalities for Kartarpur Corridor would be held on the Indian side of the Attari-Wagah border checkpost on March 14.

According to a MEA release, this is in “keeping with Government's decision to operationalise the Kartarpur Corridor on the occasion of the 550th Birth Anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev ji and meet the long-pending public demand to have easy and smooth access to the holy Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib.” India has also proposed that a technical level discussion on the alignment of the corridor be held on the same day on the sidelines of this meeting, the release said.

Over 500 stranded passengers have been airlifted in separate sorties by the Indian Air Force (IAF) in Jammu and Kashmir. State Coordinator, Kargil Courier Service, Aamir Ali said,  as many as 105 passengers were airlifted in two sorties from Srinagar to Kargil, 41 passengers from Kargil to Srinagar, 62 passengers from Jammu to Kargil and eight from Kargil to Jammu. 

He said, around 300 passengers, including children and infants, were airlifted from Udhampur to Leh. The official said, due to the closure of the Srinagar-Kargil-Leh road, the stranded passengers of Kargil at Jammu and Srinagar were provided the facility of AN-32 aircraft, which had not operated for the last few days due to bad weather

Home Minister Rajnath Singh has said, Government is committed to improve the working conditions and quality of life of jawans of the Central Armed Police forces. 

He was speaking at an event in New Delhi after inaugurating 28 projects covering 5,283 housing units, 71 non-residential buildings and 34 barracks. 

The Home Minister said the government has implemented several measures to improve various facilities and amenities to the Central Armed Police Forces during the last five years. 

He listed several recent decisions made by the government to boost the morale of the CAPF jawans. These include free air travel from Jammu to Srinagar and back on duty or leave and also on duty from Delhi to Srinagar and back.

In Uttar Pradesh, Home Minister Rajnath Singh will inaugurate and lay the foundation stones for 80 National Highways projects worth over one lakh crore rupees in Lucknow today. 

Road, Transport and Highways Ministry, in a release, said, MrSingh will also inaugurate and lay the foundation stone for several works under Namami Gange programme worth over one thousand 969 crore rupees.

The Home Minister will be accompanied by Road, Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

"The National Highways to be inaugurated include four-laning of Lucknow-Sultanpur section, four-laning of Kursi Road-Ayodhya Road section of Lucknow ring road which will decongest the traffic of Lucknow. 

Home Minister will lay the foundation stone for construction of Amethi Bypass and widening and construction of various important sections of highways in the State which also includes construction of 12 big and 40 small bridges. On the occasion, Mr Singh will lay the foundation stone for construction of the ambitious Lucknow-Kanpur Expressway project which will half the current travel time between these two big cities of the state. 

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu says India has become the fastest growing large economy in the world and business sentiment in the country now is positive and upbeat. He said India is undergoing a transformation under the present government armed with the mantra of “Reform, Perform, Transform”. Mr Naidu said this while interacting with Indian diaspora in Paraguay capital Asuncion. 

The Vice President said that there is a new dynamism in India's diaspora policy and outreach programme. He said the country is proud of its Diaspora for having taken the spirit of ‘Indianness’ to every corner of the world. Mr Naidu said, the Indian Diaspora in Paraguay has made a mark for itself through hard work and entrepreneurial spirit. They are a reflection of India's diverse cultural and spiritual heritage. 

China on Tuesday set its 2019 GDP growth target at 6-6.5 per cent — lower than the annual 6.6 per cent growth witnessed last year — according to a government report quoting National Bureau of Statistics figures. The country, however, stated that the 2019 growth projection, lowest target set in nearly three decades, was “comparatively high” among major economies in the world and is in accordance with domestic and international expectations.

China also said it will lower its defence budget growth rate to 7.5 per cent in 2019 from 8.1 per cent last year. The defence budget will be 1.19 trillion yuan, a state media report said.

GDP figures in China seen together with India’s show that two of the world’s fastest growing economies have been slowing down. In India, figures released in February 2019 shows that the overall GDP growth estimate for 2018-19 was revised downwards to a five-year-low of 7 per cent as against the Reserve Bank of India’s projection of 7.4 per cent for this fiscal.

Twenty fishing jetties to be constructed across the country at a cost of 4,132 crore rupees for the benefit of the fishermen community. This was stated by the Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping, Nitin Gadkari after laying the foundation stone for the new fishing jetty at Kulai in Karnataka. 

Mr Gadkari said the Kulai Jetty could accomodate 300 boats and would be completed by May 2022. He also inaugurated road development works under Sagarmala and Bharathmala projects at a function held at New Mangalore Port in Panambur Mangaluru.

In Cricket, Skipper Virat Kohli's 40th ODI ton and pacer Vijay Shankar heroics in the 50th over spell helped India to register an eight run victory against Australia in the second ODI at Nagpur last evening. 

Sent to bat, the hosts bowled out for 250 in the 49th over, thanks to Kohli's 116 off 120 balls knock which lifted India to a decent total. The Aussies was in the chase until the last over when, they needed 11 to win with two wickets left. 

Marcus Stoinis was lbw on 52 by Vijay Shankar on the first ball, and Adam Zampa was bowled two balls later to wrap up the visitors for 242. India now lead the five-match series 2-0. The third ODI will be played in Ranchi on Friday. 

Women officers will be granted Permanent Commission in the Indian Army in all the ten branches where they are inducted for Short Service Commission (SSC). 

Now, the Permanent Commission will be granted in Signals, Engineers, Army Aviation, Army Air Defence, Electronics and Mechanical Engineers, Army Service Corps, Army Ordnance Corps and Intelligence to women officers besides the existing two streams of Judge Advocate General and Army Education Corps. 

In a statement, the Defence Ministry said, SSC women officers will give their option for Permanent Commission before completion of four years of Commissioned Service. It said they will have the option for grant of Permanent Commission and their choice of specialisation.