Air Marshal Narmdeshwar Tiwari, a distinguished fighter pilot with more than 3,600 hours of flying experience, on Friday took charge as the new Vice Chief of the Air Staff.

He succeeds Air Marshal S P Dharkar, who superannuated on April 30.

Before taking charge as the Vice Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Tiwari served as the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C) of the Gandhinagar-based South Western Air Command (SWAC).

The air marshal was given a guard of honour at the Air Headquarters -- Vayu Bhawan.

NITI Aayog, in collaboration with the Institute for Competitiveness (IFC), on Thursday released a detailed report titled “Enhancing Competitiveness of MSMEs in India”, which outlines a roadmap for strengthening the role of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in India’s economic growth.

The report offers a sector-specific analysis across textiles and apparel, chemicals, automotive, and food processing industries, identifying the structural bottlenecks and policy-level gaps that continue to limit the competitiveness of India’s MSME sector. It draws on firm-level data and the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) to frame its recommendations.

One of the central findings is the improvement in access to formal credit among MSMEs between 2020 and 2024. The share of micro and small enterprises availing credit from scheduled banks rose from 14% to 20%, while medium enterprises saw a rise from 4% to 9%. However, a significant credit shortfall persists. The report estimates that only 19% of MSME credit demand was met through formal channels by FY21, leaving an unmet demand of approximately ₹80 lakh crore.

Anuradha Prasad, a seasoned civil servant and former Secretary to the Government of India, assumed charge as Member of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Friday. The oath of office and secrecy was administered by Lt. Gen. Raj Shukla (Retd.), the seniormost Member of the Commission.

An officer of the 1986 batch of the Indian Defence Accounts Service (IDAS), Prasad has over 37 years of rich experience in public administration, policy formulation, public finance, and cooperative federalism. Prior to her appointment to UPSC, she served in various key roles across several Union Ministries including Defence, Finance, Food Processing Industries, Labour & Employment, and Home Affairs.

An alumna of Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Prasad holds a Master's degree in History from the University of Delhi and a second Master's in Development Administration from the University of Birmingham, UK.

India and Denmark have strengthened their commitment to sustainable energy by signing a renewed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Friday, aimed at advancing clean energy initiatives and supporting India’s ambitious target of achieving net-zero emissions by 2070.

The agreement was formalized by Pankaj Agarwal, Secretary of the Ministry of Power, Government of India, and Rasmus Abildgaard Kristensen, Denmark’s Ambassador to India, in the presence of Manohar Lal, Minister of Power and Housing & Urban Affairs. The signing marks a continuation of the successful collaboration that began with the original MoU on June 5, 2020, which was set to expire in June 2025.

The renewed MoU expands the scope of the partnership, focusing on cutting-edge areas such as power system modeling, integration of variable renewable energy, cross-border electricity trading, and the development of electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure. It also emphasizes enhanced knowledge sharing through expert interactions, joint training programs, and study tours.

India’s overall exports grew 6.01 percent on-year, touching an all-time high of $824.9 billion in 2024–25, as per the latest data released by the Reserve Bank of India on services trade.

Total exports (merchandise and services) stood at $778.1 billion in 2023-24.

Services exports reached a historic high of $387.5 billion in 2024–25, up 13.6 percent from $341.1 billion in the previous year.

For March 2025, services exports stood at $35.6 billion, reflecting a year-on-year growth of 18.6 percent compared to $30.0 billion in March 2024.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that Amaravati is not just a city but a dream taking shape, as he inaugurated and laid the foundation for multiple infrastructure projects worth Rs 58,000 crore in the region. These projects also mark the resumption of construction projects in the city, which Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has billed as the future capital of the state.

"Amaravati is the land where tradition and progress go hand in hand. Where there is the peace of the Buddhist heritage and also the energy of building a developed India," PM Modi said at the event, news agency PTI reported.

The prime minister laid foundation stones for 74 projects worth Rs 49,000 crore, which include construction of the Assembly, Secretariat and High Court buildings and judicial residential quarters, along with housing buildings for 5,200 families, reported PTI. The other projects include city infrastructure, national highway development, railway enhancements, and defence facilities.

In a significant boost for conservation efforts, the critically endangered Red-Crowned Roofed Turtle (Batagur kachuga) has been reintroduced into the Ganga River after a three-decade absence. On 26 April 2025, twenty of these freshwater turtles were released into the Haiderpur Wetland in Uttar Pradesh, as part of the Namami Gange Mission aimed at restoring the river's ecological health.

The Haiderpur Wetland, a UNESCO Ramsar site located near the Bijnor Ganga Barrage within the Hastinapur Wildlife Sanctuary, was selected for its strategic connectivity to the Ganga, especially during the monsoon season. The turtles, sourced from the Garhaita Turtle Conservation Center under the National Chambal Sanctuary's supervision, were equipped with sonic tracking devices to monitor their adaptation and movement patterns.

This reintroduction employs both "soft" and "hard" release strategies: one group was released upstream of the Haiderpur barrage, while the other was introduced downstream into the main channel of the Ganga. This dual approach aims to assess the most effective method for reestablishing the species in its natural habitat.

Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday announced the launch of the Indian Institute of Creative Technology (IICT) in Mumbai during the WAVES 2025 event, positioning it as a national-level initiative to boost animation, gaming, and digital arts in India.

The institute, envisioned as a national hub for Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comics (AVGC), has already commenced operations.

Several tech giants, including NVIDIA, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Star India, and Adobe, have partnered with IICT to collaborate on course development and training initiatives. The IICT is being established by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting,, in strategic collaboration with FICCI and CII, as a National Centre of Excellence—modeled on the lines of premier institutions like the IITs and IIMs.

The government will soon launch a new portal to monitor food storage depots in real time, ensuring they adhere to the highest standards of quality and safety, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution announced on Thursday.

The “Depot Darpan” portal and mobile application, set to be unveiled on May 20, is part of the government’s broader initiative to enhance food security for over 80 crore beneficiaries through scientific warehousing and smart storage solutions for food grains.

The Depot Darpan platform will empower depot managers to monitor infrastructure, operational efficiency, and financial performance in near real-time. By uploading geo-tagged data on depot infrastructure, managers will receive automated ratings and actionable insights for timely improvements. The system ensures robust oversight through 100% validation by supervisory officers and random third-party audits.

The United States has announced that it has signed an economic partnership agreement with Ukraine that will allow Washington access to Kyiv’s rare earth minerals in exchange for a joint fund to invest in Ukraine’s reconstruction. Washington and Kyiv have been engaged in intense negotiations for a couple of months to reach an agreement to provide the United States with access to Ukraine’s natural resources.

A US Treasury Department press release states that the two countries have mutually agreed to form a Reconstruction Investment Fund, which would receive 50 per cent of profits and royalties accruing to the Ukrainian state from new natural resources permits. The draft states that the US does get preferential access to Ukraine’s natural resources, but Washington doesn’t get Kyiv’s mineral wealth or any gas infrastructure.

The initial agreement, due to be signed in February, fell apart after a heated exchange between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Donald Trump during their meeting at the Oval Office in the White House.