Strengthening India-Sri Lanka cultural and educational ties, General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University (KDU) in Colombo has launched a Hindi Language Learning Programme in partnership with the Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre (SVCC), the cultural arm of the High Commission of India.

The programme was jointly inaugurated by Indian High Commissioner Santosh Jha and KDU Vice Chancellor Rear Admiral HGU Dammika Kumara in the presence of senior military officials, faculty, and students.

High Commissioner Jha highlighted that Hindi, spoken by over 600 million people globally, provides access to India’s literature, cinema, media, and professional opportunities. The Vice Chancellor emphasised the role of Bollywood and Hindi music in deepening cultural bonds between the two countries.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on Thursday conferred with Ghana’s national honour, The Officer of the Order of the Star of Ghana, in recognition of his distinguished statesmanship and influential global leadership.

The prestigious award was presented by President John Dramani Mahama during PM Modi's visit to the West African nation.

Expressing gratitude, PM Modi posted on X, "Honoured to be conferred with ‘The Officer of the Order of the Star of Ghana’.” In his acceptance speech, the prime minister said the honour was not just a personal achievement but one that he accepted on behalf of the 140 crore people of India.

A team of students from the Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT), a unit of the Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), which took part in the International Rocket Engineering Competition 2025 held in Midland, Texas, secured second place in the SDL Payload Challenge category.

The team, ‘thrustMIT’, took part in the competition from June 9 to June 14 and won a cash award of $750. The MIT team competed with 138 teams, which passed the Flight Safety Review (FSR) test, a MAHE release said on Monday.

Participating in the highly competitive 30K COTS (Commercial Off-The-Shelf) launching category, the team’s rocket ‘Vayu Vega’ successfully completed all safety protocols during the first two days of competition. The culmination of the efforts came on June 12 when ‘Vayu Vega’ was launched to the desired altitude and executed a flawless landing using parachute deployment systems.

The Union Cabinet approved a Research and Development fund for research and innovation in the private sector. The Research, Development and Innovation scheme with a corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore is intended to encourage the private sector to scale up research, development and innovation in sunrise domains and in other sectors whose indigenization is important for strategic reasons or for economic security or for Atmanirbharta or in public interest, according to government sources.

Within sunrise sectors, the scheme will focus on energy-security, climate-action, deep-tech, artificial intelligence, biotechnology and digital economy.

This corpus of rupees one lakh crore will be established as a fifty-year interest free loan

Scheme will focus on funding projects at higher Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs).

The Union Cabinet has approved the construction of a four-lane highway along the Paramakudi - Ramanathapuram Section of National Highway-87 (NH-87) in Tamil Nadu.

The project, with a total capital outlay of ₹1,853.16 crore, was approved on Tuesday, 1 July.

Currently, connectivity between Madurai, Paramakudi, Ramanathapuram, Mandapam, Rameshwaram, and Dhanushkodi relies on a two-lane stretch of NH-87 and associated State Highways, which experience significant traffic congestion.

Union Cabinet on Tuesday (July 1, 2025) approved the National Sports Policy 2025. Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced this during a press conference in New Delhi.

National Sports Policy is a landmark initiative aimed at reshaping the country’s sporting landscape and empowering citizens through sports.

The new policy supersedes the existing National Sports Policy 2001 and lays out a visionary and strategic roadmap to establish India as a global sporting powerhouse. National Sports Policy also makes India a strong contender for excellence at international sporting events including hosting the 2036 Olympic Games.

The Union Cabinet on Tuesday (July 1, 2025) approved an Employment-Linked Incentive (ELI) scheme with an allocation of ₹99,446 crore to support employment generation, primarily in the manufacturing sector. The government said the scheme would enhance employability and social security across all sectors, with special focus on the manufacturing sector.

“Under the scheme, while the first-time employees will get one month’s wage [up to ₹15,000], the employers will be given incentives for a period up to two years for generating additional employment, with extended benefits for another two years for the manufacturing sector,” Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwani Vaishnaw told reporters after the Cabinet meeting. While the industries have welcomed the announcement, trade unions have looked at it with suspicion.

The Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways (MoPSW), Sarbananda Sonowal inaugurated first-ever ASEAN-India Cruise Dialogue on Monday at Chennai.

The meet hosted by India is being attended by all the member nations of ASEAN; i.e. Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, along with Timor Leste.

The dialogue aims to strengthen maritime cooperation, enhance cruise connectivity, and promote sustainable tourism across the Indo-Pacific region.

Young Divyanshi Bhowmick made history by becoming the first Indian in 36 years to win the U-15 girls' singles title at the Asian Youth Table Tennis Championships here.

The 14-year-old defeated China's Zhu Qihi 4-2 in a high-pressure final, capping a sensational run that included victories over three Chinese players — an unprecedented feat in Indian youth table tennis.

With this win, Divyanshi, who was seeded second, also sealed a berth in the World Youth Championships.

The ban on supply of fuel to old vehicles kicked off in Delhi on Tuesday (July 1, 2025) amid high security.

The Delhi government has installed Automatic Number Plate reader cameras (ANPR) at nearly 350 petrol pumps across the national capital for detection of such vehicles.

The transport department has chalked out a detailed deployment plan involving personnel from its organisation, Delhi Police, Traffic Police and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).