The Union Cabinet has approved two projects of the Ministry of Railways with a total cost of six thousand 405 crore rupees. The projects include the doubling of Koderma – Barkakana rail line has been approved at a cost of three thousand and 63 crore rupees, while the doubling of the Ballari – Chikjajur rail line has been approved at a cost of three thousand and 342 crore rupees. Briefing media in New Delhi after the Cabinet meeting, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the Koderma – Barkakana doubling project of 133 kilometres will provide enhanced connectivity to 938 villages and 15 lakh population. He said, the projects will connect four districts in Jharkhand – Koderma, Chatra, Hazaribagh and Ramgarh. Mr Vaishnaw informed that the project section will pass through a major coal-producing area of Jharkhand.

Mr Vaishnaw said, the second project Ballary – Chikjajur doubling rail line of 185 kilometres will connect Mangalore port to Secunderabad. He said, the project line traverses through Ballari and Chitradurga districts of Karnataka and Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh. Mr Vaishnaw said that the project will cater to the transport of iron ore, coking coal, finished steel and fertilizers.

The first State and Union Territory Engagement Workshop under NOHM concluded successfully on 9th June 2025, charting a collaborative path forward for strengthening India's integrated One Health approach. Chaired by Prof. Ajay Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the Government of India, the workshop brought together a diverse array of stakeholders, including state government officials, representatives of all the stakeholder departments, and other agencies.

The workshop commenced with opening remarks from Prof. Ajay Sood, setting the vision for the workshop. He emphasised the pivotal role state governments play in advancing the mission's objectives. Ms. Punya Salila Srivastava, Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, commended the initiative and stressed the need to align and leverage relevant resources to strengthen the state infrastructure. Dr. Rajiv Bahl, Secretary, Department of Health Research & Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research, underscored the critical importance of multi-sectoral engagement in tackling complex One Health challenges, the importance of syndromic surveillance and mock drills like the Vishanu Yuddh Abhyaas that tests the preparedness of rapid response teams and intersectoral coordination in the face of disease outbreaks. Dr. Sindura Ganapathi, PSA fellow, presented a brief overview of the mission’s objectives and governance mechanism.

The Delhi Government today approved the Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Ordinance, 2025, to regulate arbitrary fee hikes by private schools in the national capital. It will give major relief to lakhs of students studying in private schools and their parents in the city. This was informed by City Education Minister Ashish Sood while addressing the media. He added that after the President’s assent, the ordinance will come into effect retrospectively from April this year.

India’s first underwater museum and artificial coral reef will be developed around the decommissioned warship INS Guldar near Nivati Rocks at Vengurla in Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today attended the initiation of the project virtually.

The initiative, supported by the central government, aims to boost marine conservation and tourism, offering scuba diving and future submarine tours. The Union Tourism Ministry has approved 46.91 crore rupees for the project.

The ship, weighing 1,120 tons, was decommissioned in January 2024. It has been officially handed over by the central government to the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation for conversion into a submerged museum. Environmental cleaning of the ship is complete, and it will soon be scuttled at the designated site to begin the coral reef formation.

Indian racewalkers delivered a commendable performance at the Austrian Racewalking Championships in Innsbruck, yesterday, with Priyanka Goswami won gold in the women’s 10km race with a time of 47:54. This was her first win of the season.

In the men’s 35km event, Sandeep Kumar secured silver with a time of 2:38:45, and Ram Baboo took bronze with 2:41:47. Jaromír Morávek of the Czech Republic won gold 2:34:41, and Jerome Caprice from Mauritius finished fourth 3:14:05.

Sandeep Kumar is the Indian national record holder in the 50km racewalk, has competed in the Tokyo Olympics, and won a bronze medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in the 10,000m racewalk. On the other hand Ram Baboo holds the Indian record in the 35km racewalk with a best time of 2:29:56.

The cricket world has been rocked in the last five weeks by a string of high-profile retirements, by superstars of different vintages from different formats of the game. It started with Rohit Sharma, the Indian captain, pulling the plug on his Test career on May 7, five days before his predecessor, the talismanic Virat Kohli, followed suit.

Their decisions weren’t completely unexpected though when they were formalised, there was a touch of the sudden, leaving a huge gap in Indian cricket. These were followed by Glenn Maxwell bidding adieu to One-Day International cricket so that he could channel his energies towards the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka early next year, and South African stumper Heinrich Klaasen walking away from white-ball formats internationally – he had already retired from Tests – within a few hours of each other.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)’s 2025 State of World Population (SOWP) Report, titled, ‘The Real Fertility Crisis’, states that one in three adult Indians (36%) face unintended pregnancies, while 30% experience unfulfilled desire for having either more or fewer children. Notably, 23% faced both, said the report released on Tuesday (July 10) morning.

The report calls for a shift from panic over falling fertility to addressing unmet reproductive goals and stated that millions of individuals are not able to realise their real fertility goals, which is a real crisis and not the underpopulation or overpopulation. Andrea M. Wojnar, UNFPA India Representative said that the answer lies in greater reproductive agency – a person’s ability to make free and informed 150% choices about sex, contraception and starting a family.

The National Highway Authority of India has for the first time outlined its strategy to monetize assets to unlock value and increase public-private participation for developing infrastructure in India.

The state-run agency’s ‘Asset Monetization Strategy for the Road Sector’ provides a blueprint to mobilize capital through toll-operate-transfer (ToT) model, infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs), and securitization.

The strategy is anchored in three core pillars: value maximization of government road assets; transparency of processes and dissemination of investor-relevant information; and market development through deepening the investor base as well as promoting stakeholder engagement.

In the dry heartland of Rajasthan, a transformative rural water conservation model is set to benefit farmers in the upcoming monsoon. Those behind the initiative, which relies on 50 scientifically designed and climate-resilient farm ponds at Kukas village in the State capital of Jaipur, claim it has a 10-crore-litre seasonal monsoon run-off conservation potential.

The village panchayat in Jaipur district’s Amber block is the second place in the State selected for the rainwater harvesting enterprise, following the successful installation of farm ponds in the rainfed land of Dausa district. As many as 250 ponds dug in the agricultural land of Dausa have enabled the farmers to get perennial crops.

On the eve of the World Environment Day, CM Nitish Kumar on Wednesday inaugurated Bikram Lock Canal Bank Solar Energy Project in Patna district.

The project officials informed the CM that solar energy plants are being installed in the state with the goal of promoting green energy, as part of the 10th component of the Bihar govt's Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali Abhiyan.

"A 2-megawatt solar power project has been installed on the land of the water resources department near Bikram Lock along the main canal. Under an agreement with the energy department, a private company will provide electricity to it at a rate of Rs 3.10 per unit for 25 years. Residents of Bikram and nearby areas in Patna district can now avail affordable, green and clean energy," an official told the CM.